Monday, November 27, 2017

#AEHoops Week 2 Roundup

Vermont gets a real nice road win at Yale in week two. The Catamounts are rolling behind their big three, with Anthony Lamb putting up grown man numbers vs both Northern Kentucky and Yale-- average of 24 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2 blocks. While TBH helped out in the NKU game last week, Payton Henson (19 points) played Robin to Lamb's Batman in the Yale contest.

Albany won both of their road contests (@ Dartmouth, @ Holy Cross) by double figures with an average win margin of 17 points. Neither are wins that really pop out at you, however it's always nice to take care of business on the road, especially when you've played four games in eight days. Travis Charles leads the America East in eFG% at 66.7 which is almost unheard of for a player who doesn't take any three point shots. Congrats to Joe Cremo who reached 1,000 points in his Albany career, notching 30 in the win at Holy Cross.

Stony Brook won their home opener-- defeating Brown by double digits, before falling to a tough Bucknell squad by 9. You have to be impressed by the way the Seawolves fought against Bucknell, they could have easily rolled over when they trailed by 14 with just under 14 minutes left in the second half. Tyrell Sturdivant seems to be intent on making himself a 3/4 hybrid this season as he's now taken 32 three point shots (hitting 40.6%) and only 29 two point field goals (37.9%). Stony Brook has to find some paint scoring that doesn't involve a drive from the perimeter or put back. Freshman Elijah Olaniyi (Jersey whattup) is now shooting 68.2% on 22 two point field goal attempts and 40% (6-15) on three pointers.

UMBC had two home contests, an 11 point win over Chicago St. and a 1 point victory over Nicholls St. The offense has continued to look good, even with Jairus Lyles being a bit off (for him) as Joe Sherburne has been Mr. Efficiency-- averaging 17.5 points on 10.5 shot attempts in the two wins. Jourdan Grant and KJ Maura combined for 23 assists last week, including 14 vs Chicago St. where they each had 7.

New Hampshire has now lost 5 straight contests including 3 this past week. After a great showing vs Florida (who had Duke on the ropes last night) the Wildcats laid an egg at home against American before falling to two tough opponents in Furman and Utah State. New Hampshire has to figure out a way to tighten up their two point defense as they allowed Furman to shoot 54.3% and Utah St. to shoot 54.1% from inside the arc. It looks as if JaCoby Armstrong may be suspended again as he's missed the past two contests with no injury announcement from the team.

UMass Lowell has now won 5 straight contests including 4 straight vs D1 opponents-- all at home. Jahad Thomas averaged 20.5 points, 12 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.5 steals for the River Hawks this past week. The defense has looked better, albeit against mediocre competition, but for the River Hawks to really take the next step they need Thomas to be a bit more efficient from the field while limiting his turnovers-- both are easier said than done as Thomas is such a focal point of the UML offense he's often double-teamed and forced to take bad shots.

Binghamton fell to Montana St. by 10 before getting back on track vs Cal St. Northridge with a 5 point victory in Mexico. The Bearcats seem to live and die based on the production of JC Show and Thomas Bruce who combined for 9 points in their loss and 30 points in their win.

Hartford oh Hartford. The Hawks lost at home to Bryant by 5 before being blown out in the second half at home vs Wagner. I guess the good news is they didn't give up vs Bryant as they trailed by 14 with 7:54 left in the contest. Neither result is what you want. Let's move on...

Maine lost at home to Boston University before coming out firing in the first half at Quinnipiac. In their 6 point victory over Quinnipiac the Black Bears shot 64.3% from the field, 71.4% from deep (10-14) and held the Bobcats to 30.4% from the field, and 3-10 from deep. The second half wasn't as pretty as they were outscored by 17, but their first half was special enough to carry them the rest of the way. After only playing 1 minute vs BU Vernon Lowndes Jr. scored 20 points on 7-7 shooting (5-5 from deep) and hauled in 9 rebounds at Quinnipiac for Maine.

Weekly League Awards






*Teams in order of KenPom Rankings

Vermont (65)


Albany (81)


UMBC (216)


New Hampshire (237)


Binghamton (251)


Hartford (332)


Maine (334)





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