AmEast Recap: Week 2 – Yahoo Sports

Let’s get into it. 250ish words on each game below.

Thursday, Jan. 8

UMBC 69, Maine 62

-TJ Biel is unbelievable. He’s a sure-fire All-Conference player. There isn’t a single other solid offensive option for the Black Bears, yet he simply willed the team into a competitive performance. He scored 27 of Maine’s 62 points, grabbed 10 of the team’s 24 defensive rebounds, and recorded three of the team’s four blocks. He drew Josh Odunowo on defense, and although UMBC’s power forward has looked off in the early going, Biel still shut him down.

-I loved all the ways Maine got Biel the ball, especially as a roller (which I think might be the best way to unlock Chris Markwood’s ball-screen motion offense), and Markwood drew up some clever post entries for him. There are so many different ways he can score, and he’s a super impactful defender.

-Although nobody could stop Biel, Riley Jacobs did a half-decent job containing him. I thought it was a very good game for the freshman center, who worked his ass off on defense, grabbed seven boards (including four offensive) and managed 10 points with a few nice mid-range jumpers. He was arguably UMBC’s most important player down the stretch, making a few key game-closing plays.

-Still, Maine lost this game. UMBC’s dribble defenders are good, but the Bears have nobody who can playmake or shot-create off the bounce, which results in far too many free-throw-line pull-up jumpers. Even Biel didn’t get to the rim too often, but thanks to his heroics, the Bears shot 8-for-10 in that area.

-Maine did an excellent job messing with UMBC’s off-ball actions, but eventually the Retrievers started driving downhill and getting to the rim. Jah’likai King and Ace Valentine were effective, but I thought Caden Diggs had an awesome game off the bench. Even when Markwood switched to zone, Diggs was good as a high-post pin, and the guards cut very effectively behind Maine’s extended pressure.

-I loved this play right out of the break for UMBC, with Riley Jacobs faking the hand-off and hitting DJ Armstrong on the back-door cut.

-Ace Flagg needs a jumper. He would be a great short-roll and/or pick-and-pop stretch four with a consistent 3-point shot. Alas, he’s rather limited at the moment. As “Sidelines Maine” told me, “honestly, if you watch any of his EYBL and Prep tape, almost all his buckets are kind of grinder points — put backs, layups, and the occasional wide open 3. Seemed to only have success when muscling in buckets.” He’s still a decent defender, albeit not elite.

UMass Lowell 77, Bryant 63

-To say Lowell has been the most surprising, impressive and overachieving team in the conference would be an understatement. This was a Pat Duquette culture win. Austin Green is basically Max Brooks, and Angel Montas Jr. is basically Quinton Mincey, except they’re more likable.

-I was most worried about Lowell’s ability to run its rim-based offense against Bryant’s length. No matter, the River Hawks destroyed the Bulldogs, doubling them in the points-in-the-paint battle (48-24) and winning the rebounding battle convincingly (38-27).

-Once again, Lowell shredded in transition. 27 points on 17 possessions, suitable for a whopping 1.59 PPP. Xavier Spencer is arguably the league’s best open-court guard, while Montas has been equally as dangerous in transition as he is in the half-court, where he earned AEPOTW honors again.

-At the same time, Bryant has been the league’s most disappointing team. I don’t quite understand, because the big-to-big actions you can run with Timofei Rudovskii and Keegan Harvey (who had one of his better games) are so enticing.

-Yet, the Bulldogs’ offense is still rather incompetent. Jamion Christian needs to install a radical scheme change — I would suggest studying Clint Allard’s inverted PNR sets over at UC San Diego.

-Ty Tabales had an OK game. Quincy Allen comes up with one “holy shit” moment per game. Or, as we call it here at MMM, “A Certified Quincy Allen Moment.” Aaron Davis III has some crazy microwave potential, as he showed early in the second half. Yet, the total product is less than the sum of the parts.

Vermont 60, Binghamton 59

-This was a Houdini-like escape from the Catamounts, who didn’t deserve to win.

-I mostly expected Jeremiah Quigley to rip apart Vermont off the bounce, and he did to the tune of 21 points and eight assists. He’s still arguably the best point guard in the league, and that doesn’t include his whopping 10 rebounds and three steals.

-What I didn’t expect was for Vermont’s offense to get entirely stuck in the mud. Gus Yalden was effective, and while he did go down with cramps in the second half (something that’s becoming more problematic), the TJs can’t combine for six points on 13 shot attempts.

-I wonder if Noah Barnett’s absence has a greater impact on the offense than we suspect. He’s been an absolute stud as a roller, poster and cutter. Plus, he’s a board crasher — he has the highest Offensive Rating on the team for a reason (143.9, sixth nationally). However, he’s also tough as nails, a great screener and a good side-to-side ball mover. For the most part, I thought Vermont just got bullied and bodied by Binghamton, and I wonder if Barnett would’ve made a difference. Credit to the Bearcats, nonetheless.

-John Becker closed with a Momo Nkugwa-TJs-Jackson Skipper-Ben Michaels lineup, and those guys were plus-seven over the final three minutes, taking the Catamounts from down 57-51 to up 60-59.

-Momo was the MVP of that group, scoring four tough buckets late in the second half on four awesome dribble-drives, and every bucket was needed in this one-point win. Speaking of elite O-Ratings, he posted a game-high 164 in this one.

-Speaking of one-point wins, too many have slipped away from Binghamton this season. Combine this loss with the Bearcats’ two overtime losses, their brutal 3-point delta (-9.3%), and all the injuries, and they have a case as the nation’s most unlucky team this season.

-Another very good game for Zyier Beverly, muscling in nine points while blocking three shots on the other end — he’s an interesting roller and cutter off Quigley. Binghamton still needs more from Wes Peterson Jr., and the Jackson Benigni/Ryan Richardson duo is too ineffective on defense to shoot a combined 3-for-13 off the wing.

NJIT 80, New Hampshire 76

-This was a fun game. It played out mostly as expected, with Comeh Emuobor bashing the Highlanders inside while the Wildcats’ individual defense struggled against NJIT’s ISO-heavy attack.

-The story of the game is David Bolden, who is a certified clutch shot maker. He struggled mightily to get downhill, and he finished with four turnovers. However, with NJIT down 75-69 with three minutes left, Bolden made two tough 3s and a pair of free throws as the Highlanders ended the game on an 11-1 run.

-Ari Fulton was awesome, finishing with a team-high 18 points, mostly off spot-up drives to the rim. And Melvyn Ebonkoli is proving to be a huge difference on the interior as his six offensive rebounds were key in NJIT’s 18 second-chance points. He’s a very physical presence on the interior, leading a Highlander front-line that has been surprisingly active in the early going — Fulton, Ebonkoli and Jordan Rogers combined for 23 rebounds and six blocks.

-New Hampshire played fine. The guys were productive in the post, scored 30 paint points, got to the line 30 times, and obviously should’ve won the game. But you can’t have a late-game collapse, and you can’t turn the ball over 15 times. The Wildcats have 39 turnovers through three games, compared to just nine steals, which is hurting them badly in the shot-volume battle.

Saturday, January 10

UMBC 75, New Hampshire 74

-Speaking of late-game collapses, New Hampshire held a double-digit second-half lead and let it slip away again. Brutal 0-3 start to conference play for the Wildcats, and a little bit unlucky.

-I thought they played well, and the game script went mostly as expected, as Shakery and John Squire muscled their way to interior buckets against the weakest area of UMBC’s defense. They scored 46 paint points and won the rebounding battle convincingly (36-23).

-Alas, there’s nobody more clutch than DJ Armstrong Jr. He scored a team-high 17 points on uber-efficient shooting (190 O-Rating!), and the Retrievers would have three fewer wins without his late-game heroics.

-This is still a rather concerning game if you’re a UMBC fan. The interior defense looked like last year, the dribble defense was questionable, and while they forced 10 turnovers (that might be a New Hampshire problem), the Retreivers also allowed 23 points on 16 cuts (1.44 PPP). Once the Wildcats got past the front line, they scored at will.

-But UMBC did what UMBC does. The guards were elite, with Valentine, Armstrong and King combining for 44 points on 17-for-31 shooting, seven assists and just one turnover (that might be a New Hampshire problem). The bench was productive, with Diggs chipping in another impactful 10-point performance. Jacobs played solid defense, including three stocks. And the Retrievers scored 45 second-half points to remain undefeated in league play.

Albany 71, Bryant 46

-Again, a truly pathetic offensive performance from Bryant. The Bulldogs shot 9-for-25 from inside the arc while chucking up 30 triples, all against an Albany defense that allowed Lowell to score 50 paint points just seven days earlier.

-Rudovskii continues to impress, although he did turn it over five times. Unfortunately, the rest of the roster was horrific. Tabales’ box score is gross (zero points on 0-for-10 shooting), but I thought he really only took a few bad shots. Still, you gotta make your open jumpers, and the team shot 1-for-11 on unguarded catch-and-shoot jumpers (and 0-for-8 on guarded). But also, if your jumpers aren’t falling, you need to get downhill and attack the rim, and the Bulldogs can’t do that right now.

-As expected, Albany found its mismatches against Bryant’s switches and attacked. Lindsey was phenomenal, per usual, but Zach Matulu once again impressed — I like him a lot.

-Okechukwu Okeke might be flying under the radar. He bullied the Bulldogs down low (eight points on eight post-up sets, two offensive rebounds) while recording four stocks and eight boards on the other end.

-It’s great to see Abdoulaye Fall back. He started the game and scored nine. He’ll be an important contributor and has the frame to be a super impactful two-way AmEast wing/forward ‘tweener.

Maine 74, NJIT 70

-Boy, did Maine need this one. Yes, the Bears were super lucky to win, shooting 45% from 3 while NJIT shot 28%, losing the shot-volume battle 56-45, and making a late-game comeback despite the Highlanders being down Jeremy Clayville and Malachi Arrington (the duo actually missed both games this weekend).

-But still, Biels stepped up with another 20-point performance, the Black Bears shot 60% from inside the arc, and they closed out a ballgame. The wings stepped up, with Flagg, Logan Carey and Yanis Bamba combining for 35 points and 16 rebounds — Biel can win games with some help.

-Maine finally got some ball-screen actions going, even as its own dribble defense was surprisingly ineffective against SebRob, who went nuclear (24 points on 9-for-15 2-point shooting). Of more importance, the Black Bears stepped up against NJIT’s post actions, holding Ebonkoli, Fulton and Rogers down. Surprisingly, they did all that despite the zone defense being relatively ineffective (NJIT scored 24 points on 18 possessions).

-I was surprised to see the Bears push the ball more, scoring 14 points on 10 transition possessions. That might be a smart way to get the offense going, given that the half-court sets are mostly a mess.

UMass Lowell 73, Binghamton 68

-Binghamton’s home loss to NJIT was bad. The Bearcats’ performances this week against Vermont and Lowell were good but unlucky. Things look bleak now, but Sanders will get this squad to grind out a few more games down the stretch, especially with Quigley playing at this high level while Beverly, Peterson and Bryson Wilson find their strides. The team scored 40 paint points, although Lowell’s dribble defense is still not great.

-Despite that, I can’t believe how good Lowell’s offense is. The Hawks didn’t even look all that good this game, but Spencer, Montas and Green battled for 47 points, getting downhill enough to draw a combined 18 free throws (the team shot 30 in total, making 20).

-Through the first week of action, Lowell has the league’s best offense by efficiency (116). The Hawks are also running at the league’s fastest pace. I don’t trust their one-on-one defense, but they’re disruptive enough to be effective on that end of the court, and they’re good at finishing possessions on the glass. This team is super dangerous.

Updated AmEast Power Ratings

Team (Conf. Record)	Net Rating	O-Rating	D-Rating
Vermont (2-0)	-2.66	110.04	112.70
UMBC (2-0)	-9.88	103.96	113.84
UMass Lowell (3-0)	-12.38	103.39	115.77
Albany (1-1)	-12.98	103.81	116.79
New Hampshire (0-3)	-15.23	97.27	112.51
Bryant (1-2)	-17.64	95.67	113.31
NJIT (2-1)	-21.27	94.55	115.82
Maine (1-2)	-21.35	90.77	112.12
Binghamton (0-3)	-23.98	96.33	120.32

Source link