Here’s a little bit about the three other games that were played last night. Unfortunately all ended in losses for the New York City area schools, but there were some interesting takeaways.
#4 Connecticut 70, Columbia 57 —
It’s obviously tough to open your season against the No. 4 team in the country. I’m not surprised that Columbia attempted only eight free throws, that’s pretty much what the Huskies do defensively. They just make teams miss shots and a 34.9% effective field goal percentage is pretty miserable. Noruwa Agho was the epitome of the problem. He scored 16 points, but went 6-25 from the field. Brian Barbour went 1-9 from beyond the arc and scored 10 points. Blaise Staab was a bright spot with 11 points and 12 boards. Columbia couldn’t contain Jeremy Lamb, who scored 30 points and had this dunk, but holding Connecticut to 1.08 points per possession isn’t terrible.
Indiana 96, Stony Brook 66 —
For a team renowned for its defense, Stony Brook sure didn’t show it on Friday night. Part of the reason was Indiana attempted 24 free throws, and made 21. Cody Zeller had a double-double for the Hoosiers with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Indiana basically got any shot it wanted with 72.1% effective field goal percentage. That led to a ridiculous 1.39 points per possession. The Hoosiers’ offense is projected to be pretty good, but there’s obviously some work to do for SBU as well. After making his first shot of the game, Bryan Dougher struggled from the field going 1-8 (1-6 from three). Anthony Jackson led the Seawolves with 14 points.
Buffalo 72, St. Peter’s 65 —
St. Peter’s was done in by the efficiency man himself, Javon McCrea. Buffalo’s sixth man last season McCrea was beloved by stats guys because of his incredible offensive efficiency. He moved into the starting lineup and in 31 minutes didn’t disappoint. McCrea went 7-10 from the field, 4-4 from the free throw line and scored 18 points. Chris Prescott actually led all scorers with 23 points for the Peacocks, but it took him 19 shots to get there. St. Peter’s does have some bright spots to take away from this game, the offensive rebounding was good and Karee Ferguson had a nice debut with 10 points and eight rebounds. With three freshmen in Ferguson, Lamin Fulton and Gaetano Spera in the rotation there’s a lot of learning to do. I wish Jack Hill would shoot more. He went 5-6 from the field for 10 points in 29 minutes against the Bulls. The Peacocks have a tough task against a good Robert Morris team up next on Tuesday.
NYC Buckets Archive 