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Post by husky on Nov 15, 2014 0:14:37 GMT -5
WOW!!
Thought I was in an alternate universe for a minute. Great effort against a quick talented well coached SEMO. I was entertained throughout. Mike's coaching was superb; clearly quashed the "slow" or "sluggish" evaluations. My own complaint about not seeing depth in the UCSD game with the bench scoring only a handful of points was certainly blown out of the water. Our scoring was surprisingly spread even except for, naturally, Evan...damn I am glad he stayed with us-- plus he seems to have fit in very nicely with Coach Dunlap's system. The cherry on top was Patson losing his metaphorical Division 1 "cherry" in the last second!
Good Job LIONS! Hoping for more against Boise State tomorrow.
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Post by LIONS90045 on Nov 15, 2014 0:57:40 GMT -5
Husky - your comments are right on!
My take:
Well done Lions!
After an exhibition contest that I can only describe as a bit “underwhelming,” the Lions played a gem of a game for their season opener against a very athletic team from Missouri. Our disciplined play set the Lions apart from the Redhawks tonight. I liked the demeanor of Coach Dunlap on the bench – no ranting, just calm teaching during time outs and coolly observing the play of the contest taking mental notes along the way.
I liked the Lions spirit throughout from all the players – this is a real TEAM. Dunlap's system of play doesn’t put too much pressure on any one player to score or carry the game and it shows with our balanced box score with 4 players in double figures. Of course, however you draw the X’s and O’s, the cream always rises to the top and Evan Payne did so again tonight. He made some tough points when we needed them and finished with 9 for 14 shooting and a team leading 23-point total. There were a few times when he tried to force the action and he paid the penalty – I’m sure Dunlap will focus on those moments in reviewing the game – but Payne’s value to the team is beyond question.
One mistake that I’m sure Dunlap will cover time and again in practice was our failure to in-bound the ball in the crucial final minutes of the game with the Lions holding a slim lead. We turned the ball over on a 5 second violation. Otherwise, I have kudos for the team’s efforts tonight.
One question mark has been erased from my mind regarding the play of Siame – the young man showed determination and is ready to mix it up in the paint with the opponents biggest players. He was called on time and again to stop the burly Nino Johnson in the paint and generally delivered. Okonji did OK too but doesn’t have the bulk to withstand athletic 250 lb foes in the paint. Patson’s time on the court will likely increase as the season progresses. He reminds me of Bill Russell of USF and the Boston Celtics.
I like Dunlap’s approach of relying on the veterans to get the contest underway – the starting rotation was Seniors Godwin, Chase and Deji with Juniors Mornar and Humphries. He then worked the younger players into the game at the right moments without pressuring them to perform like they were starters. This is great for building their confidence and it showed as the game progressed.
Matt Hayes showed his wares today – I like his game. Hit some key shots. Herman impressed with this contributions on the court, including a 3-pointer that probably surprised the Redhawks. Clint showed his Senior leadership on the court – not expected to score but to handle the ball, play defense and facilitate. Deji was a beast on offense, defense and the boards. His play will help the Lions lots this season. Humphries played a solid game – he’s not the fastest player but his game is solid. I suspect the Redhawks keyed on him based on his scoring in the UCSD game. Mornar was a gem – long-armed defense and an offensive weapon to boot. Payne – the cream of the crop – no more need be said.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow’s contest against the physical Boise State Bisons, who whipped USD tonight.
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Post by ALioninWinter on Nov 15, 2014 3:11:40 GMT -5
I completely missed the game since I'm out of town so all I can go by are others' comments and the box score
Great way to start the season. I like winning going away. That's usually a sign of a good team
SEMO was missing 3 key players, including a couple of their inside guys. Their top scorer was 9 for 12. Almost nothing off their bench and that killed them. Missing 3 key players means their coach was reaching pretty deep. No wonder their bench contributed so little
Payne and Hayes seem to make a big difference. No surprise there. Both are very good players with winning attitudes. I also suspect the team looked a lot faster with those two on the court.
Great clutch free throws from Deji. It looks like he's going to give us some good senior leadership. And there aren't many guards this side of the NBA who can match his strength.
Other than Money, not a lot of stat line strength from our bigs. Patson had a good number of rebounds and someone commented that he played strong defense. Given SEMO was missing some bigs, it would have been nice to see more from our bigs. Herman is disappointing me so far. He sure seems to possess the physical attributes to have a better stat line than what I see tonight.
How was the crowd'?
Do we hit 2-0 tomorrow night?
The WCC had a good night. San Diego was the only loss
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Post by longtimelionfan on Nov 15, 2014 13:22:33 GMT -5
Much, much improved performance overall. Team lookeduch fresher and quicker. Aussielion's caution about dead legs from training may be correct as a contributor to slow look of team. SEMO was quick and athletic and Lions defended well and mostly man-to-man. Patson proved during game, rebounded, blocked and altered shots. Showed competitiveness and hustle.
Off last night I'll be disappointed if Lions don't play well tonight. SEMO played better than Boise State yesterday.. Boise State's two suspended guards back tonight.
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Post by uncurselmu on Nov 15, 2014 14:03:10 GMT -5
Went to the game. Here are some thoughts.
The crowd: While it was by no means was it a large crowd, attendance at out of conference games has been terrible the last few years. This was without a doubt the biggest home opener crowd since we played blew our game against morgan state in front of a packed house about four years ago (ESPN picked us to finish at the top of the conference that year). The student section has been awfully pathetic and I'd say the crowd on that side was at about 60-65%. Nothing to brag about, but it's a good sign that students seem more willing to give this team a chance than they have others over the years.
The excitement: I don't know If I've ever seen so many highlight dunks in an LMU game. Mornar and Payne in particular had some nasty ones. The shotblocking and absolutely relentless rebounding also got the crowd into the game.
The coaching: If anyone still wants to argue we should have kept max good I'd encourage you to rewatch last nights game. I saw better offensive execution/discipline, off the ball movement, and well used screens than I ever did with max good. In fact, I'd argue that if dunlap was coaching those teams we would have easily finished with a half dozen more wins. The coaching style translates to the players and you can just tell there isn't the same kind of panic that max evoked. Our guys were patient, directed traffic, didn't go through the classic LMU scoring droughts, and OH MY GOD for the first time ever we looked great on the glass against a respectably athletic team. Our interior defense and shotblocking is so much better with Patson, Mornar, and Godwin. Our perimeter defense wasn't overly impressive, but I did like that we didn't seem to instinctively all collapse and leave the roll man or 3pt shooter open. Hayes was impressive for his first outing, and I liked that he had some decent entry passes into the post (last game deji was the only one getting making nice entry passes). I was wondering if he could really handle PG but he's got the handles and instincts to make it work.
Calm, that's how I would describe our guys. I just can't say enough about how hard they tried to execute the game plan. It wasn't all pretty but our guys are actively trying to survey the floor and make the right decisions. Godwin in particular is doing this well (which if you look at his previous years is impressive as hell). When you see evan payne get the ball w/ ten seconds left, hold onto it so he can direct traffic and get the corner man moving, and then passing it away instead of trying to blow by his man or jack up a shot you know something has changed. Granted a lot of our damage came on the offensive glass, I was really impressed with how relentless they were. Our transition D wasn't too shabby either. All of this is relative as I'm cutting some slack for it being the first game, but there was so much to be encouraged about. I'm so happy we are past the days of max good hot potato basketball where we rotate the ball around the perimeter for 30 seconds and jack up a shot.
A few notes on the players.
Mornar-he kind of set the tone out of the gates. He's disruptive with his length and is quick for his size. Early on he broke out and took it to the basket. He lept and ****ed the ball back and laid down an absolutely ferocious dunk on the defender. He's bulked up enough now to where he doesnt get pushed around as much. Having a versatile player like him on D is great.
Patson-Some of us were worried he might be a bit soft but I think that can be put to rest. He wasn't necessarily imposing, and his offensive game isn't quite there but he's got some good agility for a bigman. He's quick and his help defense was looking ok. He picked up a number of fouls on shotblocking attempts but overall I liked his efforts. He tried to go straight up and down, he went for the ball, had great timing, and almost as important he didn't allow and1's. He wasn't by any means a bruiser inside, but he was very willing to meet any man at the rim and you can kinda tell that the message from dunlap has been not to worry about anything else but rebounding, blocking shots, and rebounding. save an injury I doubt he'll end up starting this year, but he will be able to play solid valuable minutes off the bench. I found his game very encouraging.
I'd echo what's been said about Humphries, godwin, deji, hayes and payne. Max good did some things really well and one of those was getting his guys to play passionately and that's carried on with dunlap. They all around out hustled the other team. We had some blown bunnies around the rim but there were many times where we had guys who simply out worked their man for position, or beat him down the floor so that we had the numbers. It was pretty deflating for the other team to force a miss and then see those guys sky in for the offensive rebound.
If we can stay healthy I expect this team to crush expectations and finish somewhere around 4-6 in conference.
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Post by ALioninWinter on Nov 15, 2014 14:40:52 GMT -5
Uncurse - great rundown. I sure hope you're right. Thanks for your thoughts on the crowd. I remember the Morgan State game. There was a lot of excitement going into that season. Glad to see students are taking some notice.
Sounds like the guys played the way you'd expect a Dunlap team to play. Their failure to do that in the exhibition game was what bothered me
Let's go Lions tonight!
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Post by ironlion on Nov 15, 2014 14:45:07 GMT -5
Very entertaining game with both teams playing hard start to finish. I really liked the semo team and with there top guys back should do well in the ovc. What I liked best is having a health Lmu team for once. Boise state will be a challenge but should be a good game.
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