Assist Tracker: Dec. 20

Jesse Sanders (G, Liberty) — I’m not really sure playing a game against Montreat College should even count in the assist tracker, but Sanders had 16 assists in the 91-73 win. Three of those assists went to his younger brother John Caleb Sanders. He scored 20 points. The assists were very evenly split amongst layups, dunks, jumpers and threes. The 16 assists were an arena record at the Vines Center.

Vincent Council (G, Providence) — Council had one nice double-double with 17 points and 12 assists for the Friars in his first game after being inexplicably left off the Bob Cousy Award watch list. He helped Providence to a 67-52 over New Hampshire. Half of his assist went to Gerard Coleman, who led Providence with 20 points. Seven of Council’s 12 assists went for layups and just two were for threes.

Matt Carlino (G, BYU) — Carlino also had a double-double with 10 points and 11 assist. He wasn’t done yet though, also recording seven rebounds in BYU’s 93-78 win over Buffalo. Carlino did a nice job of distributing his assists to a bunch of players. Anson Winder and Noah Hartsock each got three, Brock Zylstra two, and Nate Austin, Josh Sharp and Charles Abouo one. Winder had 20 points in 19 minutes off the bench, including 6-7 of three-point shooting, and Carlino certainly helped sparked him.

Jason Brickman (G, Long Island) — Another guy with a bunch of assists, another double-double. Brickman played what might’ve been his best game of the season against Texas State with 12 points, 11 assists and just three turnovers. Four of Brickman’s assists went to Julian Boyd, who scored 22 points. Two of Michael Culpo’s five threes came off assists from Brickman as he got back on track as well. All of that helped LIU put up 100 on the Bobcats.

Will Weathers (G, Troy) — He played 36 minutes and shot 1-7 from the field, but Weathers helped the Trojans to an 80-72 win over Southern Utah thanks to 10 assists. Every assist by Weathers was either a three (3) or a layup (7). He really spread the love around too as no player converted more than three of his passes into buckets. Troy had a super balanced scoring offensive effort as seven players scored between eight and 13 points.

Michael Alvarado (G, Manhattan) — The Jaspers moved to 8-4 overall with an 81-62 victory over Towson and part of it was thanks to Alvarado’s eight assists. The sophomore guard also had six steals in the game. Because Manhattan plays exactly like Louisville it’s no surprise that all of Alvarado’s assists were for either threes, layups or dunks. The one dunk went to George Beamon, who led the team with 21 points. Also, two of Liam McCabe-Moran’s four threes (on 4-4 shooting) were from Alvarado as well.

Scott Wood (F, N.C. State) — Wood is our token big man of the night as the Wolfpack survived at St. Bonaventure 67-65 on Tuesday night. Wood led the team with 20 points and he also had six assists in 36 minutes. Three of his six assist came on jump shots though, so I don’t expect to see him on this list often.

Peyton Siva (G, Louisville) — The Cardinals had to work pretty hard to take down College of Charleston 69-62. The Cougars dropped to 9-2 with the loss. Siva had six assists in the win, including assists on all three of Chris Smith’s threes. Siva had one assist that wasn’t a dunk or a three; it was a jumper by Kyle Kuric.

What’s wrong with LIU?

Long Island is now 5-6 this season after a 73-62 loss at MEAC contender Norfolk State last night. The Blackbirds are 2-0 in the NEC, but Robert Morris seems to have replaced Jim Ferry’s squad as the favorite in the conference. It wasn’t supposed to be this way for the Blackbirds. Sure, title defenses are never easy, but with a bunch of key players coming back expectations were high. What’s changed? Can the Blackbirds turn it around?

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The passing styles of Brickman and Garner

Today when Long Island plays Columbia the Blackbirds will have two primary ball handlers. Sophomore Jason Brickman is a pass-first point guard who is always looking to get his teammates involved. Junior C.J. Garner is more of a combo scoring guard. While Brickman has 56 assists on the season, Garner has 29. Both are enough to give us a relatively solid sample to investigate some of their passing tendencies.

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Season Snapshot: Long Island

At the highest level you can argue that the start to the season has been a disappointment for Long Island, but the only way of doing so is to first acknowledge that the expectations were pretty darn high to begin with. The Blackbirds are 2-3 in their first five games, including close losses at Penn State and Old Dominion. LIU has yet to play at home, but the offense has looked strong and the victories have started to come. Maybe Saturday against Radford was the turning point, but Jim Ferry’s team still looks to be on its way to 20+ wins and a solid performance in the NEC.

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Jason Brickman in Behind the Numbers

This week’s Behind the Numbers on Rush the Court looks at point guard play. The crux of the post is about “old-school” versus “new-school” point guards, which is determined by how much a player shoots. Long Island’s Jason Brickman finished second in the nation last season amongst the Top 100 players in assists per game in assists per field goal attempt. The argument at the bottom of the post is that Brickman should shoot more. I disagree.

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Three Questions – Long Island

As the season approaches every team has questions. This series is going to look at three key ones.

1. How does the team react to everyone gunning for the Blackbirds? – Last season LIU had the advantage that no one was looking at a team that finished 14-17 (11-7) as the team to beat in the NEC. After going 27-6 (16-2) last season the target is squarely on the Blackbirds’ back. There are a number of experienced, talented challengers in the conference and Jim Ferry has to make sure his team is ready for the game against Wagner on Dec. 1 and every other conference matchup.

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