Denver Double-Header

[kiyoat]

Home, sweet home, back in the Skuh-Skuh.  1PM Sunday (men play at 3:30)

Denver 6-8 *(1-1) RPI #280
@
USD 12-2 (2-0) RPI #33

Massey predicts: Yotes win 91-69 (22 pt margin)
W.Nolan predicts: Yotes win 91-74 (17 pt margin)

It's hard for me to take the Pios very lightly, since they were the team that upset the Yotes in the regular season last year, and they have brought back most of the starters from that team.  What they like to do seems to be a bad match-up with what we like to do, but it depends largely on which team is hitting arc shots on that particular night.  I'm hoping that Coach P and the girls have learned a lot from last year's loss, and will have a great game plan for them.

[kiyoat]

Denver's loss to North Dakota might shed a little light on how to contain Denver.  Here's a post-game interview with Jim Turgeon:




So some of the things he mentioned:  Rebounding, toughness (loose balls).  UND was a very physical team last year.  To the point of over-the-line on number of fouls.  I think we are not as physical on defense as we have been in the past couple of years, with Allison and "Junkyard Jas", but we are still capable of that kind of "scrappy-ness" when necessary.

Also he mentioned that North Dakota did a good job of taking L. Loven and M. Nelson out of the game.  also the team went cold from the arc in the fourth quarter.  In my opinion the cold shooting just happens sometimes, and you can't always count on it.

[kiyoat]

Players to watch: Denver's Dynamic (senior) Duo, Lovin and Nelson:



#3 Lauren Lovin - 5'-7" Senior Guard
14.2 ppg (#6 Summit)
111 3PT Attempts (#1 Summit, #12 NCAA)
2.80 3PT per game (#2 Summit)
37.8 3PT% (#2 Summit)



#23 Madison Nelson - 6'-1" Senior Forward
17.8 ppg (#2 Summit, #50 NCAA)
11.3 rpg (#1 Summit, #9 NCAA)
10 double-doubles (#1 Summit, #2 NCAA)
2.53 Steals/game (#1 Summit)
1.80 blocks/game (#3 Summit)
86 FT Attempts (#3 Summit)
47.3 FG% (#3 Summit)
77.9 FT% (#3 Summit)

[Men's League Waterboy]

I was at the loss last year in Denver. It was probably the most incredible offensive basketball game I've ever seen in person. Losing Romanowski will hurt Denver and I wouldn't imagine Jeffcoat will be able to replicate either her offensive or defensive effort against Sjerven this time around, but you never know. That said, the last thing you want to do is give Loven some open looks early and let her dial in.

They come out like they did against Western Illinois or Fort Wayne and it could get interesting in a hurry.

[Yotes]

Yotes lead 59-32 at half. Sjerven is 8/12 for 18 points.

[kiyoat]

[captaincoyote]

Just saw the score. Looks like we took it to them.

[kiyoat]

Wow. Apparently we play well at home.

[elcoyote]

The 'Yotes were an absolute machine today.

[flagshipU]

Love this team. So fun to watch.

[sdyotefan]

Awesome game for O rebounds (which NC taught us the importance of) and rebounds in general!! As always the Lady Yotes share the ball extremely well! Main area I'd say for improvement is 3 pt D otherwise great game against a dangerous team!!

[coyoteglory]

If we play like this, we will be tough to beat in league play!

[kiyoat]

All smiles in the post-game interview:

[hoopsmom]

Something a few of us noticed and discussed after the game yesterday.... When a player hits the floor, from either team, the USD ladies offer a hand down. Man down, hand down. It was really strange when the players from the other team blatantly refused the proffered hands, time and again....

[Deleted]

Jan 5, 2020 16:29:53 GMT -6 captaincoyote said:

Just saw the score. Looks like we took it to them.

At 5:06 of Q2 the Coyotes already had put up a 50.  That extrapolates to 133 points in 40 minutes or in NBA terms, 160 points in 48 minutes!  And we had our Yotes diving after loose balls with under a minute left to play!!!