** LU vs IWU Game Thread **

Saturday's game is slated to tip off at 4:30 p.m., and will be the second half of a men's and women's doubleheader. The game will also be televised on ESPN3 – the network's online platform.

 

http://www.lamarcardinals.com/news/2016/2/4/MBB_0204161325.aspx?path=mbball

 

Women play at 2.

 

http://www.lamarcardinals.com/news/2016/2/5/WBB_0205161638.aspx

 

 

LU jumped out to the early lead with a starting lineup of Chatman, Nzeakor, Owens, Garth and Jones. Got out to a lead of 12 points with about 13:30 left in the first half before Price started going to the bench. As the bench came in shot selection got worse, turnovers picked up and by the four minute mark the game was tied.

For any others that watch the games on ESPN3, I get a lot of lost audio and mismatched audio. Is it just my computer or do others have this issue?

Solid first half, Garth has 14 points and the combination of Nzeakor and Chatman have 19 which is fairly balanced. Only three turnovers and nobody in foul trouble.

LU has good start to 2nd half and pushes out to a five point lead, before substitutions, turnovers etc. pulls IW back to a one point lead at the 12 minute timeout.

One minute left LU down by five. LU went over 9 minutes without a field goal.

Tic keeps getting out coached. He doesn't make adjustments well. I do not understand when we run the motion and trap we do well the. We go to the damn stand and pass offense and crap tastic zone d

LU trades field goals for IW's two free throws for the last couple of minutes to end up with a final score of IW 74 and LU 71.

Garth fails to score in the 2nd half and a lack of inside scoring to go with it really hurt in the 2nd half. Agree that LU got out coached as IW went to a zone and forced more LU turnovers and made LU try to beat them with outside shots. LU tried to force the ball in and tripled up their first half turnovers and couldn't make an outside shot to save themselves from about the 11 minute mark until about 2 minutes left in the game.

LU is in last place, not good. Weak non conference schedule was supposed to build confidence for conference play? This long losing streak doesn't bode well for next year, especially if Price's coaching ability is in question.

Who is questioning his coaching ability? They shouldn't be.

They lost their best players,and have a team comprised of mostly underclassmen. Did anyone really think they would be in contention for the conference title? If the guards are not hitting outside shots due to the other team being in a zone, that is not the coach's fault. Edited February 7, 2016 by Sweet T

The guards play to much one on one. If they are not running the motion offense, it is because they refuse to do do, because they want to drive and shoot over 4 people.

The poor play against zone defenses may also be that LU doesn't have a motion offense to break down the zone. I agree the guards dribble and play one on everybody, but the key to beating a zone is movement, working the ball into the post back out and reversing the ball. As much as possible this must be done without dribbling. The worst thing you can do against a zone is stand around. If there is lack of motion and options against a zone, then that probably falls on the coach as well as the players execution.

This is what happens when you have a young team, lack of consistency. Freshmen and sophomores getting a lot of playing time. But I also I personally feel we won't see some of these players on the team for next year, if they don't start to step up and produce. A lot of new blood is coming to this team next season and some positions are up for challenge.

They do have a motion offense. I have seen them run it. The guards will not always comply. All four of the guards play selfishly and he can't bench everybody. They ran the same offense last year. Holliday did what he was supposed to do as a guard.

It would be stupid to kick freshman off of the team for playing like well.....freshmen. what is up with that? Why wouldn't they be on the team next year. I guess he can bring in another group of freshman and hope they play like seniors or he can keep who he has knowing that they will be a year wiser. I think it is a no brainer. Edited February 7, 2016 by Sweet T

While I have know idea of how well it would work, he could bench all four of the guards. There is no reason that LU couldn't play Nzeakor, Chatman and Gregory up front and use Mattingly, Bosha and Owens as the guards. He would still have Kennedy, Sears, Hubby and Williams to work into the mix. This combination might not work out as well from a defensive stand point but it might send the message to the four guards. Again I may be wrong but I have thought for years that one of Lamar's biggest issues has been a lack of size. Edited February 7, 2016 by geezer

It is worth a try. They don't have anything to lose.

At this point I am hoping that the players signed for next year are able to produce and push some of these problems to the bench. I remember seeing Weisbod play for UNO as a freshman and was impressed. Hopefully he is able to come in next year and produce immediately. According to the thread for recruiting next year we have a trio of mid sized players coming in. Hopefully they can all handle the ball.

Schools replace players all the time if they don't have what coaches want in their system. That's why you have one year renewable contracts for kids on scholarships. Coaches' jobs are on the line and it's a business. They will go out and if they get better players to commit, they will make room. That's another reason why you see the transfer rate up too.

While I have know idea of how well it would work, he could bench all four of the guards. There is no reason that LU couldn't play Nzeakor, Chatman and Gregory up front and use Mattingly, Bosha and Owens as the guards. He would still have Kennedy, Sears, Hubby and Williams to work into the mix. This combination might not work out as well from a defensive stand point but it might send the message to the four guards. Again I may be wrong but I have thought for years that one of Lamar's biggest issues has been a lack of size.

At this stage, you can't bench Garth, he is one of you better scorers and a freshman. Yes his shooting % is below 40%, from what I read on here, but he also is getting experience for next year like the other Frosh.

Tic Price ' s job is not on the line. He is not getting rid of any players. That would be stupid and unethical.

Benching Garth might be for the best. I was told that a lot of players have stopped speaking to him, because they feel that he is a "ball hog" and they feel he shoots too much. I think that they are having a lot of internal conflict. They are not a cohesive unit. An adult close to the team told me this. I believe the person.

Let's clear something up here,while most scholarships are for one year if a player leaves because his scholarship isn't renewed or they just want to leave it can hit your team's APR and a team may end up ineligible for tournament play like Central Arkansas the past two years.Their coach came in and didn't renew a lot of scholarships artfully thus the team is paying the price.It is important that if a player leaves they have above a 2.6 GPA and go to another school.So you can't just run your recruiting mistakes off which is also someone's kid.Most coaches understand this and take the high road and help kids if it's better for both to not be together.