Monday, November 21, 2016 2:00 p.m.
Sports and Fitness Center, St. Thomas
U.S. Virgin Islands
The Ramblers play for 4th place in the 2016 Paradise Jam vs. Washington State on Monday. Loyola defeated Oral Roberts 78-53 and Washington State beat Montana 87-63 on Saturday to set up the showdown.
The Washington State Cougars are coached by Ernie Kent, who is in his third year at WSU after stints at Oregon and St. Mary’s. Kent is a native of Rockford, and was once a finalist for the head job with the Ramblers. Saturday’s win was Kent’s 350th as a head coach. He has reached the NCAA Tournament 6 times, including two runs to the Elite Eight.
The Cougars start two guards, two forwards and a center. The big man in the middle who tends to get the attention is 7-foot senior Conor Clifford, who has been becoming a more integral part of WSU’s offense lately. Clifford scored 29 points on 12 for 16 shooting in a losing effort on Friday against Creighton, and has played more than 26 minutes the past two games after playing no more than 15 in Washington State’s first two games. He is a rim protector on defense (6 blocks in 4 games), but not a prolific rebounder (3.7 rpg).
While Clifford gets a lot of attention, WSU’s key player on offense and defense is 6’10” senior forward Josh Hawkinson, who averages 18.3 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.0 blocks per game. He also plays a lot of minutes (averaging 35 mpg thus far through the season, including 40 against non-D1 Central Washington last week), and has a tendency to shoot from all over the floor (2.7 three point attempts per game this year). Let him shoot those threes—he’s averaging 18.1% this year and 28% for his career.
Rounding out the starters are 6’1” freshman guard Malachi Flynn (a deceptively good rebounder with his quickness, but turnover prone), 6’2” senior guard Ike Iroegbu (9.8 points and 3.8 assists per game), and 6’6” junior forward Derrien King (very streaky shooter averaging 7.8 points and 4.3 boards per game). Their top bench players are 6’7” sophomore forward Robert Franks (4.0 ppg), 6’0” senior guard Charles Callison (10.5 ppg through two games in the Islands), and 6’2” sophomore guard Vionte Daniels (4.5 ppg).
Loyola will likely start Milton Doyle, Ben Richardson, Clayton Custer, Donte Ingram, and Maurice Kirby. The Ramblers won convincingly against Oral Robert with a diversified attack (four players scoring between 12 and 14 points), a 180-degree turnaround in three point shooting from Friday (47.8% on Saturday after shooting 22.2% on 27 tries the day before), and taking very good care of the ball (11 turnovers to ORU’s 18).
The Ramblers can beat Washington State by exploiting the turnover margin, limiting interior passes to Hawkinson or Clifford, dictating the tempo, and keeping WSU off the free throw line. WSU is turnover prone, and Loyola has won every game in which they’ve had an advantage in turnovers. Loyola has also won every game in which they’ve had more trips to the free throw line than their opponents, while WSU has lost every game where they’ve received fewer than 20 trips to the line.
Finally, one of WSU’s weaknesses is three point shooting defense. After Friday’s game, they ranked 273rd in the NCAA at defending against the three (they did a slightly better job against Montana on Saturday), and their opponents averaged 29.5 three point attempts per game. (For comparison, Loyola ranked 94th of 351 teams in three point defense through Friday, and has allowed an average of only 20.6 attempts per game). Establishing some type of offense in the paint against the 7-foot Clifford and 6’10” Hawkinson is not easy to do, but should open up the three point line for better shots. If Donte Ingram and Aundre Jackson can start to connect on mid-range jumpers, that would help open more opportunities inside the arc.
Links
Ramblermania message board discussion
Paradise Jam Bracket: http://paradisejam.com/wp-content/uploa … unday1.pdf
Loyola game notes: http://www.loyolaramblers.com/sports/m- … 16aaa.html
Washington State game notes: http://www.wsucougars.com/news/2016/11/ … inale.aspx
TV/Streaming video: (pay) http://www.flohoops.com/event/253702-u- … sion-i-men
Radio: http://tunein.com/radio/New-Country-1043-s33042/
Vegas odds: Cougars by 1.5
