Whomever said Battle could wind up a GW all time great, had it right.

20 points 10 boards in 66-61 game.

9 dimes for Armel,  Nice minutes from Chase Paar today

Some FT practice and wind sprints for anyone missing more that 2 in a row.  Not really - I might point out that they would have had to make 11 or 11 from the line to win that game - all other things staying the same.  Which they would have.   The team is young and making youngster mistakes.  And Toro appears to be hobbled in some way.    I for one am encouraged.

39 courageous minutes. One inexcusably idiotic minute.

The team continues to get better by the game. We have been pretty consistent despite being 0-3, dropping all three conference games by exactly 5 points to some good teams. It's pretty clear since the games have more or less ended up the same way that we are able to compete and hang with these teams for about 35-38 minutes, but are unable to keep up offensively after that. Having more offensive weapons coming in next year will hopefully fix this issue. The future is definitely looking up. Just need to learn to finish games.

Offense: Like the past couple games, we more or less took great shots for the majority of the game. Kudos for not committing any dumb turnovers - Jameer trying to fit a pass in traffic to Arnaldo at one point was the only one that really stood out in the game. Duquesne is a pretty stout defensive team with good rim protection, so I'm not exactly surprised by the number of threes we took. The alley oop dunk Jameer had from Armel was the best out of timeout play I've seen all season. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the play when we were down 65-61 late. Credit Duquesne for making Jamison give the ball up, but posting Jameer against a bigger guy down low can't have been the best option in that situation. Also the play just before where Amir hoisted a contested three was a poor decision when we were just down 3. I actually would have preferred us to have used our timeout when we were down 64-61 to set things up instead of calling it with 5 seconds left and the game already over. Also, I know that the last play of the SLU and Duquesne games didn't matter, but can we do away with the hail mary passes? Both teams were playing back and we had enough time to get up the court and at least take a shot. Not sure we need to throw a fullcourt pass in that situation.

Defense: A very good job on this end today. I know we gave up 9 threes to Duquesne and they shot well from deep overall, but sometimes you just need to tip your hat that they made the shots - this team was only 31% from distance on the year, and I think overall we made things tough in the post before we got into foul trouble. The late three by Carry was unfortunate, but Duq set up the play well so kudos to them. This is the best mayhem I've seen all season - we generated 9 steals (I didn't check, but have to imagine that's a season high) and Duquesne turned the ball over 17 times. The Dukes looked completely lost at times and the defense deserves a lot of credit for that. Unfortunately, with some of the double teams it allowed Weathers to get a rebound and put back a number of shots since no one was around to box him out.

The SLU game was fun while it lasted because we may never get favorable ref calls the rest of the season. The fouls called were very one sided, especially in the second half. The number of bs fouls called on our bigs was astounding. We were at home! Such is life when you are the underdog most nights. We were forced to face Hughes one on one because of that late in the game, and pretty much everyone knew where the Dukes were going with the ball late.

Also, agreed with others about Hughes on the hated list. Dude was whining every time when he had the ball and didn't score. The flop in the second half pretty much sealed his dislikability. Glad the refs at least didn't call an offensive on AT and that he converted on the shot.

Not concerned about Armel missing two at the line - he has been pretty good all season and is considerably better from there than he was last year. I'm a bit worried about Jameer however. He is 2-9 in the last two games from the line. I know he's been a good free throw shooter for much of the season, but we can't afford to leave free points on the table like that on this team where we need all the offense we can get. Just some mental lapses to clean up.

Player Breakdown:
Jamison - tough break that he had to sit for periods in the second half, because his three point shooting really helped us get back into the game. Between the last couple minutes of the first half and the first minutes of the second half, Jamison made 4 threes and a couple free throws (14 points). He is not all the way there on defense yet, but is showing improvement by the game. Also want to shout out his rebounding - the number of defensive boards he's pulled down in traffic is much appreciated. His second straight double-double on the year, and he's currently second in the league in scoring so far in conference play! Really excited about what he can give us entering year 2. I'll just let JR sum up the excitement from Colonial fans everywhere:

Pinnock @nockthegreat 3h 
Jamison Battle has the potential to be the best shooter to have played @GW_MBB    

Chase - he has shown advanced skill for a freshman big. Did well contesting down low with a couple of blocks, although he doesn't have the full requisite strength to fully hold his own yet. Still, he has great touch around the rim, and has shown more range on that short jumper in the second half than AT has shown for much of his career. I really like his game and hustle overall.

Amir - has been somewhat of a disappointment the past couple of games. I'm not convinced he's 100% healthy with the way he gets up and down the court and overall hustle. There was one 50-50 ball where he just didn't get down fully to secure it which was upsetting. He did have a couple of impressive drives to the rim when he was operating at the top of the key - hope to see more of that because his contested hoists from deep are not what this team needs. His rebounding activity is always nice and he overall remains one of our better defenders. He just hasn't had the impact I would've hoped for the past couple contests.

JNJ - minus his free throw struggles, thought he had overall a pretty good game. His threes were similarly poor contested hoists for the most part (the three he made in transition late to get us up 1 was also somewhat contested too) but his takes to the rim overall were strong and effective. He had his usual steals and makes in transition. One play that stood out was him streaking out ahead off a missed shot from Duquesne. We passed the ball out to him ahead of three Duquesne defenders which proved to be successful. Hope to see more of that in the future.

Maceo - minus the St. Bonaventure game, it seems like he and Jamison can't both be successful in the same game of late. Maceo had a couple strong performances to close out OOC play against Longwood and Vermont, and Jamison was quiet. Battle has been very strong these last two games, but Maceo has had just two combined points, with the lone score coming on a broken play against SLU. Had we not turned the ball over on that play, Jack would have been scoreless in each of the past two games. We just cannot have that happen. I appreciate Maceo knowing when he's not on from deep. He preferred to pass the ball around after missing from deep three times - including that one play where he wisely pulled the ball out after being surrounded by three Duquesne defenders which ended in a Jamison corner three - one of the better offensive plays today. However, for us to be successful we need one of our main offensive weapons (Jack) to contribute to help us put up points, whether it's getting to the hoop and finishing at the line, or getting his points in some other way. Even just showing up a little could have made this game a win. The staff could have done a better job just setting up a play for him to have success, whether a backdoor cut or something. At times, Maceo's body language suggested low confidence.

Armel - more or less had his standard game. Nice to see the threes go in lately, although he seems hesitant to take many unless he absolutely has to. The last couple have been nothing but net. Credit Duquesne for making it tough on him for getting to the hoop, but Armel is able to provide value with his great passing. The pick-and-roll scheme has done wonders for this offense from last year. If we could just have finished on a couple more plays each game, Armel would easily have 10+ assists every game. He makes sound decisions more often than not. I had mentioned in an earlier recap that he has never finished with more turnovers than assists in a GW uniform. Again, going to miss this next year. Amir and Jameer have had moments at the point, but Armel has just been less turnover prone overall. Maybe that's just experience.

Arnaldo - yes, he missed a couple of bunnies in the first half but I'll give him credit. He looked a heck of a lot better in this game compared to previous games. His defense was solid against Hughes, and after halftime he started to look a lot healthier on his finishes. I will admit I lost hope that we would keep pace with Duquesne once Jamison had to come out of the game with the four fouls. However, we managed to not only keep pace, but take the lead and AT had a lot to do with that offensively (along with some timely JNJ layups). The Toro-Hughes battle late was fun to watch. Hopefully, the strong second half performance is something to build on going into the Mason game.

Ace - he made his free throws. Was happy to see that. Would have liked a rebound or two in 6 minutes of play but that's nitpicking I guess.

Mezie - nice to see him back on the court. I think he could be a good option defensively with his long arms disrupting passes. Hard to judge based off only two minutes, but he looked like he wasn't overthinking as much today. Can be a useful piece to give guys breathers.

We may be 0-3, but it's nice to know that no team will be able to walk all over us, minus Dayton. Next up is match 1 of the revolutionary rivalry against Mason at the Smith Center. Mason doesn't have a big quite on the level of Osunniyi, French, or Hughes (although AJ Wilson has improved greatly from last year), so hopefully we just get back to running guys off the three point line. Mason does have some shooters so we probably don't want to let them make threes. They had a strong second half against La Salle today, but I think we can keep things close again.
 

Last edited by dmvpiranha (1/11/2020 9:15 pm)

Duquesne is the best team we’ve played all year (KenPom-wise) and the lads gave them all they could handle. Super fun game.

The freshman cohort has me really excited for the future of the program. Today Chase, JNJ, and Battle combined for 40 of the teams 61 points. Chase is going to really benefit from the offseason of strength training and has a high ceiling. Jameer played with a ton of energy and is had some dynamic plays. He often gets himself in situations without good options resulting is impossible shots or turnovers, but that will improve with experience. Battle has improved every game. In my opinion this was his most complete game, even though he got in foul trouble. Battle is a great shooter and I’m glad he is getting a more clearly defined role on defense. Every game he improves. He got caught up in a couple unnecessary fouls that unfortunately forced him to miss significant time in the second half, but his rebounding, in particular, has been a game changer. Our team rebounding in November cost us several wins so I’m really glad he is helping the team improve in that crucial facet of the game.

I left the arena with questions about Amir. He showed glimpses of excellence with the mall in his hands, but is typically a passive offensive player. I’d love to him see him play more aggressively on the offensive end. I thought he played solid defense against weather, though. You can see the talent and why he was a contributor on a Big Ten team last year, but sometimes he just disappears from the game. Hopefully he isn’t playing hurt.

I saw several other people mention it, so forgive me for beating a dead horse, but we NEED to be better at the charity stripe, including just GETTING to the free throw line. Free throws have been a factor in three straight 5 point losses. In the last 3 games we’ve shot a combined 7 first half free throws, going 3-7.

Improvement is the name of the game. There was a lot to be proud of from this game, eventually it was will translate to wins. Let’s hope for one  against Mason on Wednesday, and if not, tricone world record? That’s not nothing!

Free throw shooting is within our control. The refs are not. I also don’t  really remember any stand out bad calls going our way, but do remember a few for bad foul calls on Hughes for Duquesne. Don’t blame the refs when you’re getting calls and shoot 45% from the line.

Three losses, each by 5 points, to three teams which are now a combined 10-1 in the A10 and a combined 39-10 overall.  Nobody should accuse these guys of not giving it their all.  Unfortunately, we are finding different ways to lose.  Against SBU, the Bonnies discovered their two man game with Lofton and Osun taking the game over midway through the second half.  Against SLU, the team fell behind 23-7 before battling all the way to a three point deficit late in the game before falling.  And against Duquesne, collective inexperience took over as the team failed to score in the game's final 2+ minutes along with making some dubious decisions along the way.

GW's final points were scored by Jameer on an electrifying alley-oop courtesy of Armel.  This gave GW a 61-60 lead with around 2:20 left.  Duquesne hit a 3 on the next possession but GW was still very much in it.  Armel successfully got into the lane but missed a shot in traffic.  The Dukes hit two free throws to go up by 3.  With just under a minute left, it looked like we were clearing out for Amir to go one-on-one.  A layup or two free throws is just fine here; it would have cut the lead to 1 with more than enough time left.  Instead, Amir mysteriously hoisted a three point shot which was too strong.  I say mysterious because: a) Amir has been so good at taking opponents to the hole and b) Amir, though he is capable of making a three, isn't necessarily who you would want shooting that three. (Jameson and Maceo are obvious choices but Jameer and Armel may also have been better candidates.  Each had even made one a few minutes earlier.).  GW fouled, the Dukes made 1 of 2 and here's where things got downright weird.  Down 4 with about 25 seconds left, the play here should be to go in for an easy 2.  The last thing Duquesne wants to do in this situation is foul and stop the clock.  An "and 1" cuts the lead to 1, and a 2 shot foul carries the risk of an offensive rebound.  Given the success GW had in getting into the paint, an easy 2 here would have been a reasonable possibility.  Instead, the team looked utterly confused as to whether to go for a 3 or a 2, pulled the ball back out, burned 10 seconds off of the clock, and called timeout with 14 seconds left.  

Hard to know where the problems lied but this is a common end-of-game situation that teams practice over and over again.  It was disconcerting to watch what had really been a very organized effort become so chaotic over the game's final minute.  JC looked pissed which makes me think that the players should have had a better idea what to do but simply failed to execute properly.  From a fan's perspective, it was very frustrating to watch what had really been a great effort against a good team fall apart during the game's final possessions.

 

Now...if there were two plays that reminded me why I keep coming back, it was (1) forcing the turnover with about 4 seconds left in the half and then Battle drilling the three at the buzzer (how often do you see a GW team do that), and Nelson jr. hitting that step back 3 with about 2.5 minutes left to give us a one point lead.  See...I am not all negative.

Now that we've had these moral victories, let's start to focus on actually winning some games while building for the future.
That's the best way to start the upward trajectory, keep up morale and improve recruiting, no matter what the expectations are for this year.
We do have some A10 talent and Jamison is an excellent surprise.

Fairfield.