BG vs Zips

[gmartin]

Wiggins was clearly hacked on that putback.

BG loses 81-79. Absolutely sucks.

He wasn't pushed. Defender was close but Wiggins lost his footing. I'm thinking his knee buckled on him, again. He missed 3 easy shots. Make one of those or some more FTs.

[gmartin]

And a team we beat twice, EMU is now the #4 seed. Go figure.

[gmartin]

6 MAC games tonight. Home team won 5 of them. BG only home team to lose.

[guest44]

BG trails at half of almost every game because all players must sit with 2 fouls first half. Even bench players who might play 2 minutes 2nd half.

[Class of 61]

Would seem we lost tonight at the line. Was wondering when Akron was going to miss, while we had WAY too many misses. Nelly Cummings missing TWO shots was the worst offender IMO. You can't come into a game to give someone a rest and miss as badly as he did. Thought they said he was at 56% for season? How did he score 30 pts a game in HS?

[gmartin]

Would seem we lost tonight at the line. Was wondering when Akron was going to miss, while we had WAY too many misses. Nelly Cummings missing TWO shots was the worst offender IMO. You can't come into a game to give someone a rest and miss as badly as he did. Thought they said he was at 56% for season? How did he score 30 pts a game in HS?

And I made this comment during the game. How can we not even have a player down there for a rebound. All 4 other players were down by our bench just talking. You have someone shooting under 60% and have NO ONE for a rebound.

[mbenecke]

Attendance was just 1540 tonight. Kinda sad for a team with a winning record that was in a position for a bye coming into this game.

[Class of 61]

Attendance was just 1540 tonight. Kinda sad for a team with a winning record that was in a position for a bye coming into this game.

What kind of student turnout? Hard to see on ESPN3.

[Globetrotter]

Crowd seemed into it at the end, but then we disappointed. They want a winner. Should have won but typical stupid stuff at the end. Terrible passing and we have no heart. Caldwell, Cummings and Wiggins all come up short. When they put it together, if they put it together they can be special.

I am not sure what we have in Cummings or Caldwell. They seem like they just don't believe in themselves.

[Globetrotter]

8 points from bench and Caldwell is only getting about 12-15 minutes a game.

[guest44]

Huger used his last 2 timeouts last night with 1.1 seconds left after 3 of 4 bad offensive possessions down the stretch. Atleast he didn’t take them home with him. I’m not sure how that happens. Also, how does Wiggins play 27 minutes against a team with 1 player over 6’6”? Foul trouble? He finished with 2 fouls.

BG also had no coaches aware enough to ask the refs to check the clock on the foul with BG down 1. You ask and they look in that situation.

[hammb]

Wiggins picked up 2 fouls pretty quickly in the first half (first 10 mins maybe?) He ended up sitting the rest of the half, and that led to less minutes than he would have otherwise gotten. Lillard and Plowden also had 2 first half fouls and sat out the rest of the half. Really hurt us in the first half, but only LIllard continued to have foul issues into the 2nd half.

The bigger question with Wiggins is how he failed to dominate even when he was on the floor. Yeah, 17 points, 12 boards, shot 5-9. Looks like he played well. But he really struggled, IMO. At least 3 of those 4 misses were easy layups that he blew (including 2 huge putback attempts in the final minutes). He turned it over a LOT by taking too long to make a move, or by trying to pass out of the double to somebody who was equally guarded. He just didn't do a great job getting open for shots against a team with nothing inside. That was disappointing.

Really though the reason we lost was that we got zero production beyond our top 4 guys last night. Frye, Turner, Lillard, and Wiggins all played well enough to win the game. Koch really struggled last night, but I mostly blame coaching. Why in god's name did they continue to have him guarding Utomi? We all know Koch is limited defensively and abysmal on the perimeter. Yet we continued to force him to guard their best scorer who was having a fantastic night...just made no sense at all. Of course that should have been a spot for Plowden and he didn't have a good game at all either.

The entire bench was worthless last night.

If this team isn't going to get contributions from Plowden, Caldwell, Fox, or Koch they're not going to win many games. Our top guys are good, but they're not capable of carrying a team. When we were winning we were getting good games from the role players...Fox was big against EMU, Plowden had several double digit scoring 2nd halves, etc.

Last night really hurt. The attendance was (as typical) terrible, but when the game was coming down the stretch the place was loud and rocking. Student turnout was actually pretty good for a weeknight game, they just weren't there for tipoff.

[gmartin]

What do we know about this 6'7 guy who was a medical redshirt for us this year. He it's from Latvia. John Wagner was really talking him up. I assume he will play the 3 spot. That's also a Lillard's position. And can Lillard please stop taking outside shots. His game is drive and slash to the basket.

[mbenecke]

What do we know about this 6'7 guy who was a medical redshirt for us this year. He it's from Latvia. John Wagner was really talking him up. I assume he will play the 3 spot. That's also a Lillard's position. And can Lillard please stop taking outside shots. His game is drive and slash to the basket.

He's looking like he will be a great talent. He's 6'7 and long, and he can stroke the outside shot. I'm looking forward to seeing him play.

[Globetrotter]

He is actually listed at 6'9. Looks like he was a late bloomer in HS. Great shooter. Glue type in HS who does all the little things. I think he is a 3/4 which will give us depth from the 2-5. Koch can play the 5 more. Plowden or Matiss the 3. Lillard the 2. How much of an impact he makes will likely come down to athleticism. Can he guard the other teams quicker bigs (Koch can't) and can he get past them off the dribble?

Notes:
Averaged 17.2 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.1 assists as a senior … Shot 55 percent from the field, and 40 percent from three-point territory as a senior

2018-2019 2 scholarships available
1 Frye, Jr-Caldwell, Jr
2 Turner, So(R)-Cummings, So-Fields, Fr
3 Lillard, Sr-Plowden, So-Kulackovskis, Fr
4 Koch, So-Uju, Sr(R)-
5 Wiggins, Sr-Gadson, So

If you pencil him into the rotation then we have (This ignores likely progression from Cummings and Gadsen and the wildcard which is Fields)
1 Frye-Caldwell
2 Turner-Frye
3 Lillard-Kulackovskis
4 Koch-Plowden
5 Wiggins-Koch

Here are some links from last year.

http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/ma" target="_blank ... lackovskis
https://twitter.com/RyanBBallFan" target="_blank
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAYRTq3PnU0" target="_blank
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovNnunb_P4g" target="_blank\
He is number 33
http://www.hudl.com/profile/6921208/Matiss-Kulackovskis" target="_blank

http://www.cityofbasketballlove.com/new" target="_blank ... id=1566508
http://highschoolsports.pennlive.com/ne" target="_blank ... ing-green/