By Sean Kennedy
Yesterday’s Action
Southern Miss 66, Drexel 49
When the Dragons went 1-14 from beyond the arc in their loss to Buffalo, you figured there was nowhere to go but up. However, although they performed slightly better from three, Drexel once again put on a horrific shooting display, this time sinking just 5-17 free throws in a lopsided loss to the Golden Eagles. When they weren’t busy missing foul shots, the Dragons were also getting bullied on the glass, as they were outrebounded 52-24 by Southern Miss. It’s tough to come up with a key defensive stop when you give up more offensive rebounds than you collect defensive boards.
Despite those shortcomings, Drexel was still managing to stick around for a while, only down three at the half. Tavon Allen was in double figures after the opening 20 minutes, finishing with a game-high 15 points. However, the Golden Eagles began the second half on a 10-0 run, basically putting the game out of reach with the way Drexel was struggling to score the ball. The Dragons will now begin their grind through the Colonial Athletic conference, and they’ll need to shake off this recent stretch of poor play in a hurry.
Today’s Action
2:00 PM: Saint Joseph’s (8-4, 0-0 A-10) vs. Denver (7-7, 0-0 Summit)
Playing their best stretch of basketball this season, the Hawks host the Denver Pioneers Saturday afternoon in search of their fifth-straight victory. Denver plays at the second-slowest pace in the nation, and will attempt to limit the possessions for the efficient Hawks scoring attack. The Hawks have seen four different players lead the team in scoring during their current winning streak, and that balance will continue to serve them well going forward.
Brett Olson (14.8 ppg) and Chris Udofia (13.1 ppg) anchor the offense for the Pioneers, with Udofia also among the nation’s leaders in blocks (2.6 per game) despite standing at just 6’6″. Olson is tied for 11-best in the country in free throw percentage, a great weapon for Denver to salt away leads down the stretch of a game. However, given the way St. Joe’s have played of late, I wouldn’t expect things to come to that and instead see the Hawks carry their momentum into the Atlantic 10 portion of their schedule.
4:00 PM: Pennsylvania (2-9, 0-0 Ivy) vs. La Salle (6-6, 0-0 A-10)
La Salle continued their trend of bowing out against quality opponents in their recent loss to Miami; unfortunately for Penn fans, the Quakers do not fall into that category. Both teams are in search of their first victory against a city opponent this season, with Penn having lost to Temple and both squads falling prey to the Villanova juggernaut thus far. The Quakers have not defeated the Explorers in their yearly matchup since the 2006-07 season, but this version of the La Salle squad is obviously not up to level of past rosters.
Penn would love to earn some confidence in their final contest before entering Ivy League play, while La Salle could certainly use a tune-up prior to starting Atlantic 10 action next week. The biggest x-factor for the Penn will be Miles Jackson-Cartwright’s recent hot shooting from the outside. Over his past 5 games, MJC has shot 19-31 from three, and is a fantastic 48.3% on the season. For La Salle, they need one of their guards to break out of their shooting slump. Aside from big men Jerrell Wright and Steve Zack, no Explorers’ regular is shooting 40% or better from the field. If there’s any time to break out, it would be against the struggling Quakers.
4:00 PM: Temple (5-6, 0-1 AAC) @ UCF (8-4, 0-1 AAC) – ESPN News
Following a disappointing loss in their conference opener at Rutgers, the Owls will travel to Orlando looking for their first win in the American Athletic Conference. Although Central Florida is no pushover, its 8-4 record is a bit misleading as the Knights have played one of the weakest schedules in college basketball. Their best win on the year was a road win at Miami, but their only other matches against quality opponents resulted in sound defeats to Florida State and Louisville.
Still, the Owls will have a difficult time on the boards against a Central Florida team that ranks among the best rebounding teams in the nation. The starting frontline of 6’8″ Tristan Spurlock and 6’7″ Kasey Wilson both average over 6 boards per game, and do a great job stretching the defense on the offensive end. Spurlock shoots 40% from three, while Wilson drains a sparkling 53.1% of his outside attempts. The Owls are capable of taking down UCF, but they’ll need a more balanced effort than we saw against Rutgers where DeCosey and Pepper took turns as the sole scoring option. Without much depth on the current roster, it will need to be all hands on deck for Temple to get back in the win column.
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