NCAA Tournament 1st Round-Kent State Pre-Game

[IUFLA]

When: Friday, March 17th 9:55 EDT 

Where: MVP Arena Albany, NY 

TV: TBS Spero Dedes, Deb Antonelli, and AJ Ross 

Former IU Assistant Coach Rob Senderoff brings his 13 seed Kent State Golden Flashes to Albany to meet our Hoosiers. Senderoff was on Kelvin Sampson's staff when he resigned in 2007 as part of a recruiting scandal. Senderoff received a 30-month show-cause penalty for his role in the scandal.

Senderoff has a 247-146 record in his 12 years at the school, and has led them to one other NCAA Tournament berth (2016-17). Kent State was 28-6 (15-3, 2nd in MAC to Toledo who they beat in the conference championship game).

The Flashes come in on a 6 game winning streak, including 3 wins in their conference tourney. Last loss was at Ball State. 

Kent State did not play any P6 teams but did play at Houston, losing by 5, and at Gonzaga, losing by 7. 

They are 4-0 on neutral courts beating New Mexico State early in the season, in addition to their 3 conference tourney wins. 

Kent State is led by Senior PG Sincere Carry (18 ppg, 5 apg), a Pittsburgh product like our JHS. Malique Jacobs, Miryne Thomas, Voncameron Davis, and Cli'Ron Hornbeck also start. Jacobs and Thomas average double figures.

Jalen Sullinger, Chris Payton, and Giovanni Santiago see double digit minutes off the bench.

34% as a team from 3, with Sullinger, Thomas, and Santiago all over 35%.

66th in the nation in ORtg and 21st in DRtg so they do play well both sides of the ball. SOS was 177th.

Highlights of their championship game win over Toledo 

They have some length, but I'm not sure they can deal with our inside game. Play our D, get Trayce working early, and survive and advance. 

Go Hoosiers! 

Edited March 13, 2023 by IUFLA

[Madison22]

Here is the Kent State fan forum.  They do not like the idea of going against Trayce and JHS.

So far in their thread, they seem like pretty good fans.

https://csnbbs.com/thread-966942.html

[Dawg Bawls]

We need to watch out for Gates ... heard hes a beast...handles and runs like a tight end

[IUFLA]

9 hours ago, Dawg Bawls said:

We need to watch out for Gates ... heard hes a beast...handles and runs like a tight end

Man, at first you had me thinking I'd missed somebody!  

More on the Golden Flashes

Read they like to run high ball screens and get their guards going downhill...Tough defensive squad...Average outside shooting...They will turn the ball over, but they can turn you over too...

They did collect some MAC Post Season Awards...

All-MAC First Team
Sincere Carry, R-Sr., G, Kent State

All-MAC Second Team
Malique Jacobs, R-Sr., G, Kent State

Defensive Player of the Year: Malique Jacobs, Kent State
Sixth Man of the Year: Jalen Sullinger, Kent State

All-Defensive Team
Malique Jacobs, R-Sr., G, Kent State
Sincere Carry, R-Sr., G, Kent State

They were picked 1st in preseason polls in the MAC, but finished 2nd to Toledo...

Ranked #71 by KenPom, #65 in Sagarin,  and #59 NET

 

  

[Dawg Bawls]

2 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

Man, at first you had me thinking I'd missed somebody!  

More on the Golden Flashes

Read they like to run high ball screens and get their guards going downhill...Tough defensive squad...Average outside shooting...They will turn the ball over, but they can turn you over too...

They did collect some MAC Post Season Awards...

All-MAC First Team
Sincere Carry, R-Sr., G, Kent State

All-MAC Second Team
Malique Jacobs, R-Sr., G, Kent State

Defensive Player of the Year: Malique Jacobs, Kent State
Sixth Man of the Year: Jalen Sullinger, Kent State

All-Defensive Team
Malique Jacobs, R-Sr., G, Kent State
Sincere Carry, R-Sr., G, Kent State

They were picked 1st in preseason polls in the MAC, but finished 2nd to Toledo...

Ranked #71 by KenPom, #65 in Sagarin,  and #59 NET

 

  

Sounds like a solid team

[IUFLA]

Indiana analysis starts at 21:15

 

[IUCrazy2]

I hope we play straight up and don't help into the post.  Pressure the perimeter and let Race, Malik, and TJD play the interior straight up.

Also, I doubt Woody does this, but I would also be tempted to move Galloway to the 3 and have Bates at the two for quite a bit of the game.

[IUCrazy2]

1 minute ago, btownqb said:

... you're sitting Kopp? Yeah I'm glad Woodson won't do that. 

I would start him, but I don't know if I trust Kopp to basically keep up with a guard on the perimeter.  I might play him at the four over Race and have Reneau back up TJD though.

I don't want to get Iowa'd and Penn State'd out of the tournament.  What we have done against those teams hasn't worked.

Edited March 13, 2023 by IUCrazy2

[btownqb]

2 minutes ago, IUCrazy2 said:

I would start him, but I don't know if I trust Kopp to basically keep up with a guard on the perimeter.  I might play him at the four over Race and have Reneau back up TJD though.

I don't want to get Iowa'd and Penn State'd out of the tournament.  What we have done against those teams hasn't worked.

Kopp will play 32 mins+ Friday night. 

[IUCrazy2]

5 minutes ago, btownqb said:

Kopp will play 32 mins+ Friday night. 

Probably.  I doubt we see any change from what we have seen all year.  Kent State appears to be a poorer shooting Penn State.  I don't know if they are a streaky team or not, but on paper, they are the type of team we should be pretty worried about.

I would like to see something different and I never said to sit Kopp.  I said I would like to see us go smaller (basically) from 1-3 and that our bigs play the interior straight up.  I would be fine with sitting Race and putting Kopp at the 4 to be honest.

ETA:  And you could slide him over to the three at times to get the 3 guards a rest and bring in Race/Malik to give TJD a breather and play our traditional sets for the year.  I just hope we see some different looks.  If for no other reason then we need more than JHS and TJD to make a run IMO.

Edited March 13, 2023 by IUCrazy2

[btownqb]

6 minutes ago, IUCrazy2 said:

Probably.  I doubt we see any change from what we have seen all year.  Kent State appears to be a poorer shooting Penn State.  I don't know if they are a streaky team or not, but on paper, they are the type of team we should be pretty worried about.

I would like to see something different and I never said to sit Kopp.  I said I would like to see us go smaller (basically) from 1-3 and that our bigs play the interior straight up.  I would be fine with sitting Race and putting Kopp at the 4 to be honest.

ETA:  And you could slide him over to the three at times to get the 3 guards a rest and bring in Race/Malik to give TJD a breather and play our traditional sets for the year.  I just hope we see some different looks.  If for no other reason then we need more than JHS and TJD to make a run IMO.

I've always wanted us to play smaller. I see why we don't though without XJ. 

[Hoosierfan1901]

12 hours ago, Madison22 said:

Here is the Kent State fan forum.  They do not like the idea of going against Trayce and JHS.

So far in their thread, they seem like pretty good fans.

https://csnbbs.com/thread-966942.html

Great find, wondered if they had a fan forum anyways

[IUFLA]

 

[5fouls]

2 hours ago, IUFLA said:

 

Sorry, I can't help but to look ahead to a possible matchup against Montana State.   

[kyhoosier29]

Get after it on D and we’ll win hands down ….. give up 20 open threes and we COULD lose if we shoot anything like we typically do from the perimeter (which means low volume and missing). Should dominate the paint, but can’t give up 10 threes. 

[KoB2011]

Must win game.

On paper, no reason we shouldn't win. They appear to take a high volume of threes which has given us problems at time, but they aren't nearly as good from deep as Iowa or PSU. Still, have to come ready to guard on the perimeter. We've got the two best players on the court, Bates has been solid the past few games, Malik seems to be coming on..... just need guys like Kopp, Race, and Galloway to play solid.

Whatever Race was doing in Chicago.... he can't do that again. 

[5fouls]

4 minutes ago, KoB2011 said:

Must win game.

On paper, no reason we shouldn't win. They appear to take a high volume of threes which has given us problems at time, but they aren't nearly as good from deep as Iowa or PSU. Still, have to come ready to guard on the perimeter. We've got the two best players on the court, Bates has been solid the past few games, Malik seems to be coming on..... just need guys like Kopp, Race, and Galloway to play solid.

Whatever Race was doing in Chicago.... he can't do that again. 

For me, it's pretty simple. With their lack of size among the rotation players, we should target TJD every single time until they start stopping him 50% of the time or more.  Seriously, go in with the mindset that TJD should score 40, and don't deviate from that until the game is out of hand or Kent State proves they can prevent it (and I don't think they can).

 

[Hoosierfan1901]

Unofficial depth/injury report 

IU is 1-1 in against Kent State in the tournament losing against them in 2001 and winning against them in 2002 in the Elite 8. This year, Kent State comes into the matchup winners of 6 straight and 28-6 overall winning the MAC championship.

Probable Starters:

6’5 218 F Voncameron Davis (6.6 PPG, usually a 20+ MPG player)

6’8 215 F Miryne Thomas (10.7 PPG, team’s leading rebounder, 35.3% 3PT)

6’9 225 C Cli’ron Hornbreak (5.5 PPG, 73.1% FG, lives underneath the basket)

6’3 195 G Malique Jacobs (13.0 PPG, team’s 2nd best player and has been on a roll lately, been playing heavy minutes)

6’1 185 G Sincere Carry (17.8 PPG, KSU’s best overall player and one of the best guards in the MAC, pretty much plays the entire game)

Impressively this group has gone 10-0 when playing together. But they have switched up their starters multiple times before, but I will focus on the overall team. Carry, Jacobs, and Thomas can play up to over 35 MPG, while Davis and Hornbreak can play substantial minutes each game too. Seems like Kent State averages around 20 fouls per game, as their interior strength does get into foul trouble. However, their guards are fairly consistent in terms of usage and TO%. While their offense can be questionable sometimes, their defense is consistently strong in games, especially in perimeter defense. Kent State really likes to play about 7-8 players in their game.

The 3 most common names coming off the bench is 5’10 175 G Jalen Sullinger (8.6 PPG, teams best 3 point shooter) and 6’7 215 F Chris Payton (6.6 PPG, has increased his role with Kent State and one of their biggest improvers). Another name that comes off the bench is 6’5 200 G Julius Rollins.

Injury Report

6’1 165 G Giovanni Santiago (7.5 PPG, 27.0+ MPG) has been seemly ruled out since March 4th due to an undisclosed hand injury.

[Parakeet Jones]

I have zero doubt Woody will lay out the game plan for victory.  If our guys execute, we move on. 

[Drroogh]

A lot of prognosticators even before selection Sunday were talking about Kent State as a Cinderella!! I’m sure there is some locker room material in there, but I would think Woody is working them on the actual matchups. Wonder who has been assigned the game plan?

[btownqb]

Voncameron... what a name

[5fouls]

5 minutes ago, btownqb said:

Voncameron... what a name

The best name I recall was Baskerville Holmes, who played for Memphis in the 1980's.  

[btownqb]

20 minutes ago, 5fouls said:

The best name I recall was Baskerville Holmes, who played for Memphis in the 1980's.  

I'll see your Baskerville and raise you, Barkevious Mingo. 

[IUFLA]

5 minutes ago, btownqb said:

I'll see your Baskerville and raise you, Barkevious Mingo. 

God Shamgod

[kyhoosier29]

2 hours ago, 5fouls said:

For me, it's pretty simple. With their lack of size among the rotation players, we should target TJD every single time until they start stopping him 50% of the time or more.  Seriously, go in with the mindset that TJD should score 40, and don't deviate from that until the game is out of hand or Kent State proves they can prevent it (and I don't think they can).

 

Agree, but we can’t give up ten 3s or it won’t be out of hand. Guarding the perimeter is beyond key here. Don’t go under any screens, don’t get lost on D, make them try to beat us with 2’s. And like you said, there’s no way that should happen. 

Edited March 13, 2023 by kyhoosier29