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Harvard Pre-Game Thread


IUFLA

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When: Sunday, November 26th 4:30 PM EST

Where: Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana 

TV: BTN

Duke alum Tommy Amaker (282-167 at Harvard, 458-306 overall) in his 17th year at the school brings his 4-1 (they have a game tonight vs Colgate...so their teeth will at least be clean :) ) Harvard Crimson into Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis to take on our Hoosiers. They have wins over Massachusetts Boston, Rice, Northeastern, and UMass, while losing their last game vs Boston College.

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Led in scoring by true freshman PG Malik Mack who has been stellar so far in his young career, averaging 21 ppg, while shooting 45% from 3 and a 2.5 to 1 turnover ratio. 6'5 sophomore Chandler Pigge and 6'6 junior Louis Lesmond join him in the backcourt. 6'8 sophomore Chisom Okpara (no relation to Ohio State's Felix) leads the frontcourt along with 6'10 senior center Justice Ajogbor. First off the bench are 6'7 freshman forward Thomas Batties and 6'2 junior guard Denham Wojik.

Kyle Filipowski's twin brother Matt, a 7'0 sophomore center plays sparingly for the Crimson...

I've always thought Tommy Amaker was a pretty good coach who was hobbled when he was at Michigan by sanctions stemming from the Fab 5 era, and he was in a bit over his head. But he's found his niche at Harvard, leading the Crimson 7 Ivy League regular season championships, and has made 4 NCAA tournaments, and 2 NIT appearances.

Mack and Okpara are really good players. XJ will probably draw Mack. X had a bit of trouble staying in front of Louisville freshman Ty-Laur Johnson, which may have been from the lingering effects of his ankle injury. I'd imagine Reneau will draw Okpara, Kel'el will have Ajogbor, Trey on Pigge, and Mac on Lesmond...

I think this will be another good test for us. Harvard is certainly no cupcake (#139 on Kenpom) and will give us a game. I think our depth, if it plays like it did vs Louisville, will be a big factor in wearing them down. Our frountcourt should have a good day, and hopefully we can start getting Trey and Mac into form,

Should be a good one! Go Hoosiers!

Edited by IUFLA
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Here is another chance to take a step forward, I hope we see that. 
 

I hope we have a second game where we out rebound our opponent. I hope we shooter better than 1-11 from three point range.

. Another thing I’m really looking for is a second good game in a row from the bench. There was a lot of joy in their performance on Monday after a lackluster start to the year. It’s going to be very discouraging if they revert to the form of the first four games and not continue and build off of the Louisville game. 

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This is the point and time in the season where roles start taking shape and minutes will not be given if you are playing poorly.  We just need everyone to bring the effort and energy they brought to the Louisville game and this one should be a win (though not an easy one).  Would love to see our best performance of the season before heading into a couple of Big Ten games.  

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IU got a first hand look at what it takes to be a highly rated team. Did they learn any lessons other than how to get rolled by one?

They beat Harvard because losing is not an option. But can they do it while looking like they have a plan that works? Do we see a strong effort on the boards and a commitment to defense? 

If all we see is a continuance of the first five games, it will be beyond disappointing. 

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Here's something interesting...these are Trey Galloway's career splits by venue...

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He averages half (3 ppg) of what he historically averaged home and away (6 ppg) and his shooting percentages are worse...

Maybe he can even out those neutral numbers Sunday a bit...He's due for a good shooting game...

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I actually thought our man to man looked ok for a few stretches in the Louisville game. You could see the ankle was bugging XJ some...

They started committing to going to the basket and we fell apart some... Couldn't stay in front of them, hench the zone...

We'll see what Woody does, but I don't expect a lot of zone Sunday... Unless we need it again... 

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13 minutes ago, BGleas said:

 

 

Not sure Colgate is as strong as they've been in the past couple of years .. 3-3 with wins over Brown, Garner Webb, and Weber State, and losses to Syracuse, Yale, and of course Harvard...

Still, the Crimson shot 9-21 from 3, so if we don't guard the perimeter, it could be a close game... 

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I don't see any way that Ajogbor handles Kel'el...

The Okpara-Reneau matchup will be the biggie to me...It'll be tough for Okpara to deal with Malik on the block, but Malik's gotta guard him on perimeter...And from what I've seen, Okpara can put it on the floor and drive which might mean foul trouble...

Be disciplined and go to our strengths inside...And guard man to man like we did for spurts versus Louisville...

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