La Salle Post Game -- Big 5 Parity?

Last Laughs...
That collective snicker heard out of the Nova Nation Monday night when the sports ticker ran the Temple/Penn score (Temple 73-67 in overtime), the favor was returned Tuesday when Villanova needed an extra five minutes to beat La Salle, 76-69, as the two Philadelphia schools opened the Big 5 portion of their seasons. It was not a pretty game, marred by a combined 33 turnovers (20 committed by the Wildcats), 41 fouls (30 committed by La Salle) and sub 40% shooting from the field (Villanova 35.2%, La Salle 37.1%). Down by 10 at the 1:17 mark of the first half, the Wildcats used the next 2:45 for an 11-0 run to take their second lead of the game, 32-31 at the 18:31 mark of the second half. The last 18 minutes of regulation saw seven lead changes and six ties, as the longtime rivals built leads of up to five points as the half wound down. La Salle's senior wing Earl Pettis tied the game at 50 with a three point conversion at the 6:30 mark of regulation, and the Explorers took the lead on their next possession (a layup by sophomore guard Sam Mills) and used the next 5:08 to build a five point lead (61-56). With 1:22 left the Wildcats mounted one last offensive rush. Maalik Wayns hit a long jumper to bring the 'Cats to within two (59-61), then Wayns fouled to force an inbound play. Freshman guard Darrun Hilliard picked off Earl Pettis' inbound pass to Taylor Dunn, bolted to the bucket for the layup that knotted the game, for the eighth time, at 61, with less than a minute in the half. Hilliard stepped up to block a Taylor Dunn jumper, the deflection going to junior wing Dom Cheek, who passed to Wayns for a runout. Wayns missed the layup and the teams went into overtime. The Wildcats controlled the game virtually from the overtime tip-off, converting 2-2 at the free throw line (sophomore James Bell) on their second overtime possession. The Explorers tied once (at 63) at the 2:45 mark of overtime, but could do no more as the 'Cats closed out the period with a 13-6 run.

The University site posted their AP wire story. The official website also posted the boxscore, thank heaven. The breakdown by halves

Opponent	La Salle
	1st	2nd	OT	Game
Pace	36.7	31.3	10.4	78.4
	Offense					Defense
	1st	2nd	OT	Game		1st	2nd	OT	Game
Rating	70.8	112.0	144.6	97.0		81.7	96.0	86.7	88.1
eFG%	30.4	44.2	50.0	38.9		48.1	40.6	37.5	42.9
TORate	38.1	12.8	19.3	25.5		21.8	12.8	9.6	16.6
OR%	42.1	33.3	33.3	37.5		0.0	33.3	37.5	22.2
FTA/FGA	69.6	57.7	200.0	75.9		23.1	15.6	0.0	15.7
FTM/FGA	52.2	46.2	200.0	63.0		19.2	12.5	0.0	12.9
ARate	57.1	30.0	50.0	42.1		70.0	50.0	0.0	50.0
Blk%	0.0	11.5	11.5	5.6		7.7	6.3	6.3	7.1
Stl%	10.9	12.9	12.9	12.7		10.9	3.2	3.2	6.4
PPWS	0.85	1.06	1.54	1.03		1.04	0.87	0.75	0.92
2FG%	63.6	36.8	100.0	48.4		31.3	47.6	33.3	39.1
3FG%	0.0	42.9	25.0	17.4		50.0	18.2	33.3	33.3
FT%	75.0	80.0	100.0	82.9		83.3	80.0	0.0	81.8
%2FG	53.8	40.0	13.3	39.5		33.3	66.7	66.7	52.2
%3FG	0.0	25.7	20.0	15.8		50.0	20.0	33.3	34.8
%FT	46.2	34.3	66.7	44.7		16.7	13.3	0.0	13.0

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas
If I highlighted the good numbers with green and the disappointing numbers with red, the table above would take on the look of a Christmas card (actually a Valentine's Day card, not a whole lot of good news here), but instead I will use a Christmas-neutral yellow to highlight the four factors numbers that were critical to shaping the outcome. Converting shots at a 38.9% clip is a recipe for a loss, especially when your opponent is converting at a rate 4% greater (42.9%). Not until the overtime period, when Dr. Giannini's squad was most likely exhausted (three Explorers logged more than 40 minutes to Villanova's one), did Villanova convert at a 50% efficiency. Combined with a 25.5% turnover rate makes the win almost impossible. How did the 'Cats counter? They dominated the boards. Dominated might be an understatement, as the Villanova outrebounded La Salle by 15 (50-35). Offensively, the 'Cats grabbed 37.5% of their own misses, providing them with 15 more scoring opportunities. Defensively, Villanova grabbed nearly 78% of La Salle misses -- including a very impressive 100% defensive rebounding rate in the first half -- denying the Explorers the chance to "net out" Villanova's scoring advantage. Though La Salle took 16 more field goal attempts, Villanova held a 41-11 free throw attempt edge on 30 La Salle personal fouls. Freshman center Steve Zack fouled out in 18 minutes, while freshman starting forward, Jerrell Wright logged four fouls in 12 minutes of play. In all one Explorer (Zack) was DQ'd, while four others (Wright, plus Mills, Dunn and senior forward Devon White) played with four fouls. The 'Cats held a 34-9 margin in converted free throws, enough for the win.

Notes & Observations
1. The staff continues to show a four guard staring lineup, using Wayns at the point with Bell playing the "#4" and Hilliard and Cheek rotating between the #2 and the #3. Versus Monmouth Hilliard received a fairly short run, but versus La Salle the freshman logged an upper classman-like 34 minutes. Both the rotation was deeper (11 players to 10 used by Dr. Giannini) and the time more evenly distributed (one player with >40 minutes vs. three for La Salle) than the Explorers, but the regular rotation is clearly not carved in stone. Junior foward Maurice Sutton, an afterthought for the European Tour and Monmouth game (he logged five minutes in that 36 point romp last Friday) caught four very important overtime minutes versus La Salle. The junior was credited with a blocked shot and two defensive rebounds during his run. JayVaughn Pinkston picked up another 20 of playing time, while fellow freshman forward/center Markus Kennedy had only 10 minutes of time. Observers have suggested Kennedy is the "more ready" of the two, but the staff apparently likes what they see in Pinkston a bit more.
2. Among the starters, Wayns (36% Shot%, 36.3% Poss%) and Bell (26.3% Shot%, 27.7% Poss%) were the offensive engines. Neither was efficient, converting their shots at 37.5% and 41.7% respectively. Both however, redeemed themselves at the free throw line, using their converted free throws (Wayns was 10-10; Bell 5-6) to push their PPWS (points per weighted shot) above the 1.00 threshold. For Wayns, despite his horrific 5-16 shooting (though he did hit a crucial three point attempt at the 1:10 mark of regulation to cut La Salle's lead to a managable two), managed a number of heady plays at crunch time. He fouled with under 45 seconds left after La Salle broke Villanova's press. With fouls to give it forced an inbound play, thus setting the table for Hilliard's end-game heroics.
3. Mouphtaou Yarou and Cheek among the starters, along with Pinkston from the rotation, form a second/third option for scoring. Among the first/second/third options, only Yarou with a 57.1% eFG%, was efficient. Given Yarou's 19.4% Shot Rate, the guards will have to find him more often if the big is to have an impact on offense. Hilliard, with a 66.7% eFG%, was nearly invisible (statistically) on offense. His crucial conversion, a tying layup with under a minute to play, was the most obvious of several timely conversions.
4. Offensive boards came complements of Yarou (11.3%) and Kennedy (22.5% on limited minutes). Bell (8.9%) and Cheek (8.2%) are following that tradition of rebounding Villanova guards. On the defensive boards, again Yarou (31.2%) led the way with Wayns(!) following (18.7%), Pinkston (15.0%), Cheek (12.2%), Kennedy (10.0%) and Sutton (28.6% -- very limited minutes). The Explorers lack a dominant rebounder; Zack and Williams are not experienced enough yet.

Big 5 Notes
1. Dr. Giannini has never beaten Villanova, going 0-8 in his tenure at La Salle. Coach Wright is 10-1 versus La Salle in his 11 year run at Villanova.
2. As part of the Big 5 series dating back to 1955, Villanova holds a 30-23 edge over La Salle.

Oh Canada! La Salle Wraps Up North Country Tour With a Win

La Salle 66, Carleton 64
Trailing by four at the half, 37-33, La Salle poured in another 33 points while holding the Carleton Raven shooters to 27% conversion rate, allowing them to score ony 27 second half points. Carleton shot 6-22 (6-16, 0-6) from the field. "We got experience in two intense games that came down to the last possession..." observed Explorer head coach Dr. John Giannini, and indeed this was the second game decided by three or fewer points -- a single possession. The possession-based breakdown...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
La Salle	61.9	1.07	54.5	19.4	34.5	16.4	29.6	1.11
Carleton		1.03	51.0	17.8	29.7	39.2	65.0	1.06

I had to check the calculation twice after I computed the Explorers' possession rate to 61.9, the lowest of the trip, and about 15.1% below their average possession rate in 2011. La Salle modestly outrebounded the perimeter oriented Raven squad 32-28, pulling just above the Division 1 average for offensive rebounding rates (34.5% vs 33%) while holding Carleton to less than 30% (29.7%) of their missed field goal attempts.

Carleton's Philip Scrub posted a game-high 19 points on 5-9 (4-6, 1-3) from the field to go with a perfect 5-5 from the line. Earl Pettis countered for the Explorers, scoring 18 points on 8-12 shooting (2-4, 6-8) from the floor. Two other Explorers, Sam Mills (17 points) & Jerrell Wright (11 points) also recorded more than 10 points. Wright paced all rebounders with eight. Other observations about the game....
1. Carleton was without two starters, Tyson Hinz and Cole Hobin, who are preparing with the Canadian National Team for the World University Games in China.
2. Tyreek Duren started, played 23 minutes and fouled out. Steve Zack picked up four fouls in eight minutes of play..
3. Dr. Giannini used a starting line up of Tyreek Duren (pg), Sam Mills (#2#/3), Earl Pettis (#2#/3), Jerrell Wright (#4/#5) and Devon White (/#4/#5), giving those five 66% of the time. He used a 10 man rotation, allocating double digit minutes to eight players.
4. Jerrell Wright started all three games, Earl Pettis, Sam Mills and Tyreek Dureen started two.


. Jeanty posted a game-high 34 points on 11-17 (8-13, 3-4) shooting from the field to go with a 4-5 night from the line. Jerrell Wright paced the Explorers with 19 points on a perfect 7-7 night from the floor to go with a 5-7 run at the line. Three other Explorers, Sam Mills (14 points), Tyreek Duren (10 points) and Devon White (10 points) logged double digit points. Mills also grabbed a game-high seven rebounds. The teams played for about 69 possessions, closer to the NCAA Division 2011 average of 66.7 than the exhibition-level 73 possessions versus Ottawa.

Next...
La Salle returns home with a 2-1 exhibition record. And hopefully some ideas to improve their showing in the conference.

Further Reading
A background piece on the CIS by Mark Wacyk, who blogs about Canadian basketball on the CIS Hoops.ca blog.
The game recap as told by La Salle along with the box score.
The Carleton University game recap.

Oh Canada! La Salle's North Country Tour, part 1

Why Canada?
Though initiated by Duke as a weekend whirlwind tour of Ireland scheduled to fill in a university-scheduled mid-semester break, the idea of a four game, 3-5 day barnstorming excusion did not catch on until 9-11 caused more than a few Division 1 members to reconsider the traditional 10 to 14 day tour to Europe (or Australia). At one point nearly 30 Division 1 programs per year squeezed through the loophole developed by Coach K. Local destinations like Canada, along with the Bahamas and Mexico, became popular Labor Day weekend destinations that allowed full squad practices without closing off the possibility of taking a longer foreign tour within the four year window. The NCAA banned these in-semester excursions as of the fall of 2009, and nearly banned foreign tours altogether. Cooler heads prevailed however and foreign tours were spared. Canada remains a popular destination for schools that want the full squad practices, but may not want to spend the time or the money on an intercontinental junket. The Carleton University Ravens, by consensus the most dominant basketball team in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS -- the Canadian equivalent of the NCAA) organization, has seized the opportunities presented and turned these tours into a cottage industry, hosting eight Division 1 teams this summer alone.

La Salle University headed north for a three game (plus a closed scrimmage) four day run to the Ontario Province city of Ottawa, home of the CIS Champion Carleton University Ravens and the The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees late last week (August 6). La Salle is one of two Atlantic 10 conference teams who will make the trek north in August. The Explorers began with a closed scrimmage with Carleton University on Saturday (8/6), and followed with a 75-61 win over the Gee-Gees on Sunday night. The possession-based breakdown...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
La Salle	73.1	1.03	52.4	16.4	36.7	22.2	41.4	1.08
Ottawa		0.83	45.4	26.0	20.6	37.0	95.0	0.96

73.1 possessions is high even for La Salle, and given the horrific shoot conversion rate (eFG% was 45.4) of the Gee-Gees, combined with their very low offensive rebound rate (20.6%), suggests the Ottawa squad had too many one-and-done trips. La Salle did a nice job on the boards, the Gee-Gees clearly were not able to compete for missed shots. Other positives for the Explorers include....
1. Despite losing scoring from Aaric Murray, Ruben Guillandeaux and Jerrell Williams, La Salle nearly matched their overall offensive efficiency from 2011 (1.04) while holding the Gee-Gees to an impressive 0.83 points per possession (ppp).
2. Ottawa's assist rate (95%), combined with their 35.5% two point shooting rate (and board domination) suggests La Salle shut down the inside completely, Ottawa's guards were not getting into the lane much at all and their bigs were not able to finish. Though the Explorers allowed a 39% completion rate from the three point line (the equivalent of a 58.7% completion rate inside the arc), it did not hurt them because they essentially kept pace on the arc, hitting eight of their own.
3. Dr. Giannini used a starting line up of Tyreek Duren (pg), Tayor Dunn (#2#/3), Sam Mills (#2#/3), Jerrell Wright (#4) and Steve Zack (#5), giving those five 50% of the time. He used an 11 man rotation, allocating double digit minutes to five.
4. Ottawa's Gill Vikas paced all scorers with 20 points on 7-11 shooting from the field (6-10, 1-1). Earl Pettis led the Explorers with 15 points on 5-10 (2-4) shooting from the floor and 2-2 from the line, in 18 minutes of play. Steve Zack grabbed a game-high six rebounds, with Williams and Pettis taking five apiece.

1-1 After 2 Games
The Carleton Alumni Team edged the Explorers, 80-77, in their Monday night game, also played at the Ranven's Nest on the Carleton University campus. Though leading by seven at the 35:00 mark, the Explorers could not hold off a closing rush by the Carleton Alums, a tieing three point attempt at the buzzer missed. The possession-based breakdown...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
La Salle	69.4	1.11	57.5	15.9	26.9	45.3	25.9	1.20
Carleton A's		1.15	55.3	17.3	32.4	45.6	50.0	1.15

Though La Salle had good offensive stats and compared favorably in shooting categories (eFG%, PPWS), the Carleton Alumni Team controlled the Explorers' backboards and, using their possessions more efficiently, squeezed out a more efficient 1.15 ppp to La Salle's 1.11 ppp. The alumni team, made up of several professional ball players (Osvaldo Jeanty, Neal Dawson, Stu Turnbull, etc.), were due to give La Salle a more competitive game than the University of Ottawa, but beating the Explorers is not a good sign for the coming season. These tours tend to show false positives, rather than false negatives. Teams that sweep up north may not necessarily have great seasons (see St. John's 2009 tour), but teams that lose games do tend to struggle in the regular season. Jeanty posted a game-high 34 points on 11-17 (8-13, 3-4) shooting from the field to go with a 4-5 night from the line. Jerrell Wright paced the Explorers with 19 points on a perfect 7-7 night from the floor to go with a 5-7 run at the line. Three other Explorers, Sam Mills (14 points), Tyreek Duren (10 points) and Devon White (10 points) logged double digit points. Mills also grabbed a game-high seven rebounds. The teams played for about 69 possessions, closer to the NCAA Division 2011 average of 66.7 than the exhibition-level 73 possessions versus Ottawa.

Next...
La Salle closes out their junket with an exhibition game against their host, Carleton University, tonight at 7:00 pm. Ravens starters Tyson Hinz and Cole Hobin, currently rostered with the Canadian World University Games Men's Team and in China, will not be available for tonight's game.

Further Reading
A background piece on the CIS by Mark Wacyk, who blogs about Canadian basketball on the CIS Hoops.ca blog.
The Ottawa game recap and box score.
The Carleton Alumni Team game recap and box score.