So, I went back and caught some of the highlights of last year's game that we lost by 20 at the beginning of last year. Some things that stuck out from that game was Gardner struggled down in the blocks both on Defense and offense. Undersized against their athletic and taller forward. Both Franklin and Beekman were a combined 0-7 from 3pt land. Clarke was 2-2 from three and Stattmann was 2-3 from 3pt line.
Here was the scoring break down for the top 7 scorers with more than single digit minutes on the floor:
1 Franklin - 11
2 Clark - 8
3 Stattmann -8
4 Beekman - 6
5 Gardner - 4
6 Shedrick - 4
7 Cafarro - 3
The remaining 5 from the bench that came in had a combined total of 3 points (coleman-2, Murray-1)
Houston out rebounded us that day by 4 rebounds: Houston 10-OB, 24DB; UVA 10-OB, 20DB.
Here's Houston's stat sheet and roster for this year:
G - Sasser --------- 6'2" ------- 16.6 ppg
F - Walker -------- 6'8" -------- 12.4 ppg
G - Mark ---------- 6'5" -------- 10.6 ppg
F - Roberts ------- 6'7" -------- 9.4 ppg
G - Arceneax ----- 6'5" -------- 9.0 ppg
G - Shead --------- 6'1" --------- 7.2 ppg
G - Sharp --------- 6'3" --------- 4.3 ppg
They have only one person over 6'8" on their squad that is listed as a 6'9", 250lbs, Center named Bowser who averages 4 minutes a game, with zero points, rebounds, nothing.
I see this as a completely different outcome from last year's 20pt loss due to our core experience, along with shooting this year versus last year's bricks from the 3pt line. Also with Shedrick's play at 6'11" and their tallest guys are 6'8" and below should be like last nights match up against UMES with plenty of alley oop dunks from Clark feeding and others all night.
Add in BVP at 6'8" and scoring ability, McKneely scoring, Dunn's ability and size at 6'8" and Cafarro's improvement and size at 7'1". Our bench scoring is 10 times better than last year so I think if we play like we have the last 5 games we walk away with a win against Houston!
Houston reminds me of Baylor that use their athletic/physical play and aggressiveness with one on one style scoring versus team play like us.
If Franklin, Beekman, Clark, McKneely, BVP start hitting open 3s it should leave Shedrick and Cafarro one on one with smaller defenders to get into foul trouble early.