Final Result: GW takes the opener 78-66 over the Blue Hens of Delaware.

The Revs opened the 2024-25 season with Andrews, Lewis, Mott, Reynolds, and Sims on the starting five. Both teams seemed a little ragged to start, resulting in a scoreless first two minutes of the game. Reynolds ended the drought with a 3-pointer, and both teams settled down a bit, with the Blue Hens taking a 10-8 lead into the 1st timeout. After the break, the pace picked up for both squads and a lot of fouls on both sides led to a 21-20 GW lead at the end of the period. Andrews led GW with 9 points. In the 2nd quarter, the teams went back and forth with GW taking a 31-29 lead at the 4:36 mark of the period. Things again turned a little ragged from there, but GW managed force some timely turnovers to take advantage and ended the period with a 39-30 lead. Andrews led all scorers with 15 points and Reynolds chipped in 9 points. Ande’a Cherisier led a balanced Delaware team with 7 points. GW shot 48% for the half and outrebounded the Blue Hens 24-14. 10 turnovers hurt the Revs, who held Delaware to just 34.5% shooting. GW came out hot to start the 3rd, with Reynolds driving to the basket for 3 easy lay ups, forcing a timeout by Delaware after taking a 48-35 lead at the 5:56 mark. The GW defense shut Delaware down for the rest of the period and closed with a 60-42 advantage. In the 4th, GW started out sloppy against the trapping press, but regained their composure and on the strength of a pair of 3’s by Engel, and pushed the lead to 22 points with just 4:05 left. The Blue Hens never quit, and a late barrage of 3’s coupled with more sloppy play by the Revs reduced the margin to 78-66 at the buzzer. Andrews finished with 24 points, Reynolds had 17 points (on 7-10 shooting), and Planes Fortuny had 14 points and 6 boards. Alieghya Bartholomew had a good game off the bench for Delaware and finished the game with 14 points.

Delaware was a pretty good team, and their trapping defense was problematic at times. That said, there were a lot of positives for GW. Although just 4-14 from distance, GW finished the game shooting 50%, taking advantage of openings in the Delaware zone to score 36 points in the paint. The newcomers appear to be significant upgrades from last year’s team, especially offensively. Andrews and Reynolds are smooth scorers and didn’t force things, while Planes Fortuny and Mott did a good job on the inside. In the half court offense, GW was patient against the zone, and had a lot of good looks close at the basket. GW held Delaware to 34.4% shooting for the game, but too many turnovers (20) led to a 19-6 edge on points off turnovers for Delaware. GW Bench play was pretty solid with 24 points and depth seems pretty good, with many players contributing good minutes tonight.

A tougher test awaits on Friday, with the Revs travelling to Howard. Howard, picked to finish at the top of the MEAC, is looking to avenge losses from the past two years

Last edited by xAC (11/05/2024 1:48 pm)

Overall, a very good first impression from this year's WBB team. Last year's team had major issues in the second quarter, so to see the team not only win that quarter but use it to expand their lead was really promising. Obviously, the offense really stuck out - I did not have WBB outscoring MBB last night on my bingo card, and the ball movement was in a different stratosphere from last year. It's fair to ask whether the issues putting the ball in the basket in previous years had to do with Rizzotti's recruits but perhaps a change in staff also made a difference. It's just a one game sample size, but a good start!

Reynolds in particular was fantastic last night, especially as a freshman. Her game seems a lot more polished compared to Robertson when it comes to playing in control and playmaking. Andrews was the culprit for many of the turnovers which needs to be cleaned up but she is money in the midrange and may be the best FT shooter this team has had in years which will be key in close games. Planes-Fortuny was really good inside especially coming off injury during the preseason. Like MBB, seeing scoring from the post was great.

Sims was quiet for a while but had a nice stretch of plays in the second half. Her size can cause real matchup problems for the opposition and she is a great passer. Looking at just last night, Lewis seems to have taken a step forward. She showed potential last year but some of that potential was realized yesterday as a connecting piece on the squad. Was less out of control driving the ball.

Three questions moving forward are:

1) Does the three point shooting improve? The roster on paper looked limited in this regard and that was not disproven last night. Engel making a couple threes really helped, and Reynolds seems to have a good stroke. Andrews is a career 24% from 3 but maybe one of the JUCOs can help. Teams will throw different zones at GW otherwise and it will be tough to crack consistently.

2) Transition defense - it was just the first game of the year but obviously getting back on defense will need to improve later in the year.

3) Turnovers - playmaking/passing was significantly better, but 20 turnovers is still a tad high. Specifically, when Delaware pressured in the backcourt in the fourth quarter I wish McCombs would call timeout more often. That was a complaint I had last year as well. It's fine to let the team try to play through those things as learning moments, but it happened on several consecutive possessions. The result was not in doubt, but that will be important in a close game.