Category Archives: Gameday
NCAA Tournament Gameday Preview: First Round – LIU Brooklyn vs James Madison
Game Notes: LIU Brooklyn / James Madison
The LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds are back in the NCAA Tournament for their third straight attempt at winning on NCAA Tournament game. The Blackbirds look to get their first ever win in the NCAA Tournament. LIU is 0-5 all-time in the NCAAs. They look to break this streak against the James Madison Dukes of the Colonial Athletic Association in the first round matchup in this year’s NCAA tournament. The game is schedule to tip off at 6:40 pm on TruTV (check your cable listings to find channel). Read the rest of this entry
LIU Brooklyn MBB NEC Tournament Gameday Opponent Breakdown – Finals – Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers
Opponent: Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers
Record: 18-13 (11-7 NEC, #5 seed); Last game: Win at Robert Morris, 69-60
KenPom Rank/RPI: 201/120
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Wellness Center, Brooklyn, NY
TV/Web/Radio Coverage: TV: ESPN2 / Web: WatchESPN (through ESPN2 or ESPN3 depending on where you live, see map.) / Radio: Red Zone Media (LIU)
History between teams: 49th meeting. Mount St. Mary’s leads the all-time series 25-23. The two teams split the two regular season meetings, both winning at home. LIU won the January 12th meeting, 86-72 at the Barclays Center. MSM won the February 21st meeting at home, 83-71. Read the rest of this entry
LIU Brooklyn MBB NEC Tournament Gameday Opponent Breakdown – Semifinals – Wagner Seahawks
Record: 19-11 (12-6 NEC, #2 seed); Last game: Win vs Central Connecticut, 72-50
KenPom Rank/RPI: 175/117
Time: 12:00 PM
Location: Spiro Sports Center, Staten Island, NY
TV/Web/Radio Coverage: TV: MSG2, Fox College Sports/ Web: ESPN3 / Radio: Red Zone Media (LIU)
History between teams: 95th meeting. Wagner leads the all-time series 56-38. Wagner won both regular season meetings, 86-75 on January 10th at Wellness Center and 94-92 on February 24th at Wagner.
Game Notes: LIU Brooklyn / Wagner
Who to watch for on Wagner:
#23 Jonathon Williams - 6’6″ – F – Sr. – 15.3 ppg/6.5 rpg/53.5 FG%/78.8 FT% - Scored season and career-high 33 pts vs Coppin State, scored 20 pts vs Central Connecticut in last game.
#24 Latif Rivers - 6’1″ – G – Jr. – 13.0 ppg/2.6 rpg/42.1 FG%/78.2 FT% - Scored season-high 29 pts vs Quinnipiac, scored 10 pts vs Central Connecticut in last game.
#15 Kenneth Ortiz - 6’0″ – G – Jr. – 11.9 ppg/5.2 apg/42.6 FG%/69.2 FT% - Scored season-high 23 pts vs Penn, scored 8 pts vs Central Connecticut in last game.
Matchups to watch:
Jonathon Williams vs Jamal Olasewere: Two All-NEC players meet again in the NEC semis. Williams has averaged 20.2 ppg over his last four games which includes dropping 20 points on LIU Brooklyn back on Feb. 24. Olasewere is averaging 22.5 ppg over the last four games. He scored 16 and 21 respectively in the two meetings vs Wagner this season. It will be on another defensive test for Olasewere who just came off of back-to-back battles with Quinnipiac’s sizable frontcourt.
The Wagner Scouting Report:
Wagner entered the NEC Tournament as the #2 seed by virtue of sweeping the two-game season series between them and LIU Brooklyn. Currently, they have won four straight and six of their last seven games. In fact since losing three in a row back in late January, they have gone 10-3 up to this point.
Amazingly, Wagner transformed themselves mid-season. They went from a defensive-minded, low-scoring team who wanted to keep games in the 50s and 60s to a fast-paced, high-scoring team who wants to score in the high 70s, 80s or even in the 90s. Before their game at Mount St. Mary on January 24 where theywon 52-50, they score above 70 points just twice. Since then they have scored below 70 points just twice. This team has scored 38 points in a game and 101 points in a game this season and both have been wins.
The change in approach come from finally getting healthy during that time. Injuries riddled this team this season. All-NEC second teamer Jonathon Williams missed four games, Wagner’s second-leading scorer Latif Rivers missed 11 games including the last two regular season games with a sprained ankle, and sixth man Marcus Burton missed six games. Without Rivers for most of the start of the season, they played slow, defensive basketball. They were willing to play ugly. Since getting back their full complement of players, they wanted to play fast and outscore teams. This approach has been successful for them in conference.
Wagner still plays solid defense as they’re still second in the NEC in scoring defense (66.2 ppg) and first in points per possession allowed (0.93 ppp). They are also first in opponent’s effective field goal percentage (40.2%) and block shots (5.4 ppg).
The Seahawks will go nine players deep. Williams, Rivers and two-time NEC defensive player of the year Kenneth Ortiz are their top three scorers and go-to guys. Orlando Parker and Josh Thompson rounds out the starting lineup. Mario Moody and Marcus Burton come off the bench and provide plenty of energy and scoring for Bashir Mason’s team. Dwaun Anderson will get about 15 to 20 minutes and if gets a scoring spurt off like he did in the last meeting where he got hot and started their second-half comeback, he become a big factor. Eric Fanning has not played since February 9th after getting suspended indefinitely by Mason.
Josh Thompson will be a gametime decision with an injury he got in the second half of the Central Connecticut game on Wednesday according to silive.com. If he can’t go, Dwaun Anderson could get the start and play a lot more minutes.
LIU Brooklyn Report:
LIU Brooklyn are in this NEC semifinal game thanks to their two senior stars, Jamal Olasewere and C.J. Garner. The two have combined to average 56.5 ppg over the last two games. Garner himself is probably playing at the highest level of his career. He is currently on back-to-back 30 point performances and has averaged 20.6 ppg over his last nine games. His back-to-back 30 point games hadn’t been done by an LIU player since Antawn Dobie did it back in 2003.
Olasewere although he was able to score 20 on Wednesday, he did fouled out for the first time in the last 16 games. He was only able to play in 25 minutes due to his foul trouble. Wagner is another team with plenty of front court size with guys like Williams, Moody, Parker, Thompson and Folahan. He has to play smart to keep himself from another foul-pledged game.
Jason Brickman can’t have a repeat of his career-high ten turnovers he had last time against Wagner. I know he is facing a great defender in Kenny Ortiz but got to really protect that basketball. He got to stay under four turnovers if LIU wants a shot at winning this.
Olasewere with seven points in this game will become LIU Brooklyn’s all-time leading career scoring. His 1824 points is six points shy of Joe Griffin’s (’91-’95) 1830 career points. Jason Brickman with his seven assists vs Quinnipiac on Wednesday broke the NEC single-season record for assists in a season with his 262 assists.
LIU’s keys to the game:
- Jamal Olasewere needs to stay out of foul trouble. LIU will need him for 35 minutes.
- In the two games vs Wagner, LIU was given up 59% and 56% field goal percentage to the Seahhawks. They also allowed 90% and 52% 3FG% in each of the two games. LIU need to create stops. They need to make defense more of a propriety or else, they won’t win.
- LIU needs to win the rebounding battle. They didn’t in the first game and were blown out. They won it in the second game and lost by 2. If they rebound and play defense, they will be in this game through the end.
- LIU needs Brickman to have a better than 2 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. The ten turnovers last time vs Wagner was a killer. He can’t afford to have a similar game.
- Brandon Thompson is got to show up. He has 5 total points in the two games against Wagner. They need him to sink some threes. His offensive will be greatly needed.
Ken Pomeroy’s Game Projection:
Ken Pomeroy on his website has Wagner beating LIU Brooklyn by a projected score of 77-71 with a 70% probability of a Wagner win. This probability is sightly worse than the 67% win probability Wagner got for the last meeting at Wagner.
Up Next:
If LIU wins they will play the winner of the Mount St. Mary’s-Robert Morris game which is at 2:30pm on Saturday in the NEC Championship game on Tuesday. A loss and LIU will have to wait to see if they get an invite to either the CBI or CIT tournament or else, their season will be over.
LIU Brooklyn MBB NEC Tournament Gameday Opponent Breakdown – Quarterfinals – Quinnipiac Bobcats
Record: 15-15 (11-7 NEC, #6 seed); Last game: Loss at LIU Brooklyn, 96-90
KenPom Rank/RPI: 199/192
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Wellness Center, Brooklyn, NY
TV/Web/Radio Coverage: Web: NECFrontRow.com / Radio: Red Zone Media (LIU)
History between teams: 32nd meeting. Quinnipiac leads the all-time series 16-15. Quinnipiac won first meeting this season, 82-74 at TD Bank Sports Center on January 5th. LIU Brooklyn won last meeting on Saturday 96-90 at Wellness Center. This is the final NEC meeting between the two schools.
Game Notes: Quinnipiac / LIU Brooklyn
Who to watch for on Quinnipiac:
#4 Ike Azotam - 6’7″ – F – Jr. – 13.6 ppg/8.0 rpg/49.7 FG%/67.4 FT% - Scored season-high 22 pts vs St. Francis (PA), scored 6 pts vs LIU Brooklyn in last game.
#1 Zaid Hearst - 6’4″ – G – So. – 10.6 ppg/3.9 rpg/42.1 FG%/77.5 FT% - Scored season-high 18 pts vs Boston University, scored 18 pts vs LIU Brooklyn in last game.
#23 Ousmane Drame - 6’9″ – F – So. – 9.2 ppg/7.2 rpg/53.0 FG%/62.7 FT% - Scored season and career-high 21 pts vs LIU Brooklyn in last game.
Matchups to watch:
Ike Azotam vs Jamal Olasewere: The battle between these two big forwards should be a good one. Both like to dominate the glass. Both like to attack the basket. Neither is afraid to bang.
The Quinnipiac Scouting Report:
So we meet again. That is what both teams will be saying to the other as the same two teams meet for the second time in five days. The loss on Saturday dropped the Bobcats to the six seed and forced them to go on the road for the NEC Tournament quarterfinal instead of hosting a home game instead of being the two-seed and hosting CCSU. Quinnipiac lost two two of their last three games to put them in this position. Before that though, Quinnipiac was arguably one of the hottest teams having one of eight of nine.
Quinnipiac is far and away the best rebounding team in the NEC. They are the number one rebounding team in the nation. Their 38.6 rebounds per game is five more than the second best rebounding team in the league (Wagner). LIU is third at 31.7 rebounds per game. The rebounding numbers help the Bobcats out a lot since they are the second-worst effective field goal shooting team in the NEC with a 46.6 eFG percentage. LIU is second-best at 53.9 eFG%.
All-NEC second teamer Ike Azotam is the leading scorer for Quinnipiac at 13.6 points per game. His 8.0 rebounds per game ranked him sixth among all NEC players. He is strictly an inside post player. His job is to work inside the paint and grab rebounds. He struggled with fouls in the last meeting on Saturday, playing in just 17 minutes and scoring six points. For outside shooting, there is no shortage of perimeter shooters. Starting with Zaid Hearst, who is their second leading scorer at 10.6 ppg. He lit up LIU for 14 first half points before finishing with 18 for the game. Dave Johnson also went on a tear for Quinnipiac scoring 24 points. Add Evan Conti and Shaq Shannon to the mix and you see that they have plenty of outside firepower.
Joining Azotam as inside presences is Ousame Drame and Jamee Jackson. Drame off the bench scores 9.2 ppg and grabs 7.2 rpg while Jackson as a starter scores 7.8 ppg and 5.6 rpg. Drame had a career-high scoring game with 21 points in 20 minutes off the bench vs LIU on Saturday. Between Azotam, Drame and Jackson, they have taken all of one three pointer this entire season. All three do their dirty work inside, in the paint.
The Bobcats are fifth in the NEC in scoring offense at 71.4 ppg and have scored 1.01 point per possession on offense. The Bobcats are among one of the best defensive teams in the NEC. They are third in the NEC in both scoring defense and points allowed per possession, allowing 71.0 ppg and allowing 1.01 point per possession. They are third in block shots per game at just under 4 per game with all those big bodies in the frontcourt. They are just as vulnerable to the three as LIU is, giving up 37.7% of three pointers to their opponents.
LIU Brooklyn Report:
LIU Brooklyn did want they had to do in the season’s final two games. Get much needed home wins. Now they host at least one NEC tournament home game. They got a huge effort from their two All-NEC seniors Jamal Olasewere and C.J. Garner. Both finished with career-highs of 33 and 30 points respectively.
Jamal Olasewere on Tuesday was named the 2012-13 NEC Player of the Year making him the second straight LIU player to win the award after teammate Julian Boyd won the award last season.
LIU used a 62 point second half to erase a nine-point halftime deficit and win 96-90 on Senior Day on Saturday against Quinnipiac.
The Blackbirds begin their quest to become the first-ever NEC team to win three straight NEC tournament championships. LIU enters the NEC tournament as the three seed after Wagner beat Monmouth Saturday night to take the two seed.
LIU is 4-3 over their last seven quarterfinal round NEC tournament games although they are 4-1 when the game was at home. LIU is 1-2 all-time vs Quinnipiac in the NEC tournament, 1-1 at home. They won last season’s NEC tournament meeting in the semifinal round 78-75.
LIU’s keys to the game:
- Once again it has to be stated, LIU can’t allow Quinnipiac to completely dominate the glass. LIU did a decent job of not letting that happen although it took a +5 second half rebounding margin just to get the total rebounding margin to be a -6. LIU has to stay close to them in the rebounding margin and have to do a better job denying offensive rebounds. LIU gave up 15 offensive boards to Quinnipiac on Saturday.
- LIU has to make their free throws. Quinnipiac made 81% of their free throws on Saturday so LIU needs to keep pace. They got to once again win the free throw battle and get up more attempts than they give up.
- Can Olasewere and Garner have back-to-back big games? Logic will say no since Quinnipiac will game plan differently this time around to help defend against both Olasewere and Garner having huge games. LIU will need more balanced scoring which will mean they need Thompson, Reed, and Brickman to have better scoring games.
- E.J. Reed had a tough time with Quinnipiac’s front court size. Reed having to guard Drame is a size mismatch which Quinnipiac took advantage of. Same thing with Booker Hucks. They got to do their best to deny them good first looks and keep them away from attacking the glass for second and third chances which Quinnipiac is very good at doing.
- Limit the turnovers. LIU did a good job of that on Saturday committing only eight turnovers. They need to do the same thing if they want to repeat the same result.
Ken Pomeroy’s Game Projection:
Ken Pomeroy on his website has LIU Brooklyn beating Quinnipiac by a projected score of 79-75 with a 63% probability of a LIU Brooklyn win.
Up Next:
It is either a game on Saturday afternoon with a win at a yet to be determined place and time or it could mean the end of the season unless they get an invite to play in either the CBI or CIT tournament.
Extra:
LIU Athletics has a promo video for tonight’s game. First 400 students gets FREE white T-shirts courtesy of LIU Athletics. Here it is:
LIU Brooklyn MBB NEC Gameday Opponent Breakdown – Game 18 – Quinnipiac Bobcats
Record: 15-14 (11-5 NEC, T-2nd); Last game: Win at St. Francis Brooklyn, 78-67
KenPom Rank/RPI: 201/194
Time: 4:30 PM
Location: Wellness Center, Brooklyn, NY
TV/Web/Radio Coverage: Web: NECFrontRow.com / Radio: Red Zone Media (LIU)
History between teams: 31st meeting. Quinnipiac leads the all-time series 16-14. Quinnipiac won first meeting this season, 82-74 at TD Bank Sports Center on January 5th. This is the final regular season meeting between the two schools. Quinnipiac is heading to the MAAC Conference next season along with Monmouth. Read the rest of this entry
LIU Brooklyn MBB NEC Gameday Opponent Breakdown – Game 17 – Sacred Heart Pioneers
Opponent: Sacred Heart Pioneers
Record: 9-18 (7-9 NEC, T-8th); Last game: Loss at Bryant, 84-68
KenPom Rank/RPI: 270/240
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Wellness Center, Brooklyn, NY
TV/Web/Radio Coverage: Web: NECFrontRow.com / Radio: Red Zone Media (LIU)
History between teams: 26th meeting. LIU Brooklyn leads the all-time series, 16-9. Sacred Heart snapped an LIU five-game winning streak in the series with a win in the last meeting back on January 3rd. Read the rest of this entry
LIU Brooklyn MBB NEC Gameday Opponent Breakdown – Game 16 – Wagner Seahawks
Record: 15-11 (9-6 NEC, 5th); Last game: Loss at St. Francis Brooklyn, 76-75
KenPom Rank/RPI: 194/150
Time: 8:00 PM
Location: Spiro Sports Center, Staten Island, NY
TV/Web/Radio Coverage: TV: ESPNU
History between teams: 94th meeting. Wagner leads the all-time series 55-38. Wagner snapped a four-game series winning streak for LIU in last meeting. Read the rest of this entry
