Friday, December 5, 2008

Houston Baptist Post Game: Cupcakes

The opening tipoff was won by Villanova. The Huskies hung with the Wildcats for 0:57 seconds, until Scottie Reynolds broke a 0-0 tie with a jumper. And for HB it was all downhill from there. After Nova scored 8 unanswered points the Huskies put their first points on the board. They drew to 11-8 and then Villanova went on a 19-1 tear and never looked back. Chris over at IBBW noted that "...There wasn't much to this game at all...'Nova finished with 5 men in double figures and shot the ball well...it's hard to make any real judgements on the team from this game...". And indeed it would appear to be true, given the scoring differential and the liberal use of substitutes. Nova News Blog's Tim said it all with his post title -- "Nova Destroys HB"...

The Official website published the AP wirestory, which duly noted Scottie's season high point haul. Mike Sheridan published another edition of his Post Game Notes feature, and the official box score was up pretty quickly. The box by halves...

OpponentHouston Baptist 
 1st2ndGame 
Pace36.431.167.5
 Offense Defense
1st2ndGame1st2ndGame
Rating131.9144.7137.960.4112.584.4
eFG%68.865.267.343.564.353.4
TORate16.712.714.837.922.831.1
OR%33.330.832.011.833.320.7
FTA/FGA12.578.340.017.466.740.9
FTM/FGA12.565.234.58.738.122.7
ARate45.072.754.862.560.061.1
Blk%0.08.73.64.30.02.3
Stl%2.89.55.919.09.814.8
PPWS1.421.431.420.881.271.08

Believe It or Not!
The defense limited the Huskies to 0.84 points per possession, but that will most likely hurt their Defensive Rating! It is their own fault...the 'Cats held HB to a very robust 60.4 (that is 0.604 points per possession) for the first half, but note (table above) that they could not keep the pressure up in the second half. The Huskies' improved their eFG% substantially complements of senior forward Baron Sauls, who hit a very unlikely 6-6 from behind the line. Sauls was responsible for 30% of the Huskies' FGAs and 60% of their FGMs for the half. Villanova's defensive effort fell off across the board -- eFG%, turnovers (TO%), offensive rebounding (OR%) and getting to the line (FTA/FGA). The dropoff resembles the defensive dropoff in the Monmouth game. A fall off in interest or the product of significant adjustments made in the HB locker room at the half? Maybe...

Observations
1. HB was not world beater on the offensive boards, but they were within the upper 2/3s of D1 (the 65th percentile...). Villanova killed them on their offensive boards, limiting the Huskies to 20.7 for the game, after suffocating them with a 11.8% rebound rate in the first half. That rate beats the #1 ranked Brigham Young by 8%...
2. The Huskies lost nearly 4 in 10 possessions in the first half (37%). Like offensive rebounding, the 'Cats were unable to extend the pressur through the second half. But that 22.8 turnover rate for the second half would rank in the low 100s (#105). Still pretty strong. The letup in eFG% hurt the overall defensive rating.
3. Clark, Cunningham and Pena maintained the front court presence for this game. Shane and Dante shot enough to maintain status as 2nd/3rd offensive option. Antonio scored 10 points, the fifth time in eight games this season.
4. Corey Fisher met his season average for points again last night. Fisher who averages 11.4 points per game posted 12 points. He continued his own rebounding tear by grabbing boards (1 offensive, 2 defensive) to go with his 3 assists.

Ref Notes
Chris Beaver, Bernard Clinton and Mike Stuart were nearly invisible in the first half, blowing a total of 12 fouls and doling out 5 trips to the line. Someone must have said something at halftime (or the teams got very tired...), because the whistled a total of 22 fouls in the second half, good for a total of 32 FTAs. At 34 total fouls, this contest was among the more civil ones this season.

Roster Notes
Villanova --
1. Dwayne Anderson was DNP "Coach's decision" tonight. Coach Wright reported that the pain from the Penn game was not a re-injury, but rather soreness from lack of use.

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