Mens Basketball versus Liberty University

Lamar takes on Liberty this evening at 7:00 PM in the Montange. As this is the last meaningful opponent before conference I see this as a near must win game for the Cards. Lamar is a slight favorite according to Massey even though Liberty is currently ranked higher. The next two games before conference are feel good games that Lamar should dominate and if they don't, then expectations for conference play goes down fast. McNeese is currently the only conference opponent ranked lower than Lamar.

Cards open the game solidly and through the first four minutes build a 12-2 lead. Cards have hit four three pointers and although they have no baskets from inside they are moving the ball well and all of the made three pointers are on open looks.

Cards maintain their lead through the second four minute period as the game spreads out a little more. Cards up 20 -9.

At the under 8 minute timeout of the first half Lamar is maintaining the lead at about ten points, but the scoring has slowed down as the Cards have mostly subs in and the ball movement and flow is not as good as it was with the starters was.

Foul trouble and a loss of intensity contribute to Lamar allowing Liberty to close to within three points before extending the lead back to seven at halftime. Lamar leads 39 - 32. Cards have 8 turnovers to Liberty's 3 through the first half. Lamar is leading in rebounds 18 - 11. Edited December 20, 2016 by geezer

After /Weisbrod and Noel pick up their 3rd fouls Garth comes in and hits four three pointers to extend Lamar to a 53 -39 lead. All of Garth's shots are off of passes and he was stepping into the shot.

Through the first eight minutes of the second half the Cards are doing a much better job of moving without the ball and making the extra pass to get a good shot. Foul trouble is an issue but some of the more seldom used players are really contributing. Nzeakor and Chatman each have four fouls and Weisbrod and Noel have three each.

7:02 left in the game and the Cards are up 71 - 52. Garth has seven three pointers for the night, six of them in the second half. Liberty has four players with four fouls.

Lamar wins 82 -65. This was a good win for the Cards although there is still plenty to work on. Cards big men have a tendency to try to force the ball when they receive it in the low post rather than pass it back out if they're double teamed. Didn't see near as much of it tonight but sometimes the guards try to do too much and force up bad shots. Bosha is playing much better but his shooting isn't where it needs to be. Just my opinion but he needs help to change his shooting motion. I can't explain it but his shooting motion is not the fundamental one that many coaches teach early in a players development and since neither his free throw or field goal percentages are average or better if he could improve his shooting it would really make him a strong player as he is a very solid defensive performer. As stated earlier in this thread Lamar has two feel good games to end the non-conference before going on the road to UCA to open conference action on the 2ne of January. Edited December 20, 2016 by geezer

His shooting motion is okay when he is not tired. If his shot looks weird, it is because he is having a hard time taking a deep breath. He has asthma and problems with bronchoconstriction. That is why he chews gum while he is playing. That is supposed to help with gas exchange. I think the sudden change in the weather is the problem. He looks awkward and his movements are not fluid when he having a hard time and he doesnt look to shoot.(the #1 sign that he is having a hard time breathing along with an awkward looking shot) He looked great the last 3 games. He had 21 points and his movements were fluid the last game. He looked like a totally different person in this game. He might need to get his medication dosage adjusted. I need to figure out how to help him, before the next game. He played 37 minutes, maybe he shouldve played 20. It is a tricky situation, we have to play it by ear. I didnt get a chance to talk to him last night.

This was only LU's second home game against a D1 opponent, the other being UTSA which LU also beat. So why did Price chose to start the season this way, especially for a relatively young team?

I dont know. Bosha said he is absolutely exhausted. I know that some teams pay us to play them. I guess they need to pay the bills.

Congrats to Coach Tic Price on his win over Liberty being his 200th career win as a head coach. How many years has Coach Price been a head coach? I know he has been the Lamar HC for ~2.5 years, 6 at Mcneese, and spent time at New Orleans (2 years?) & Memphis (2 years).

Side note to last nights game. Since I live out of state now I watch most of the games on the computer. Last nights game was on the Big Red Sports as opposed to the ESPN3 feed. It may just be my system but last nights game was a much better quality video than I'm normally getting on ESPN3 and didn't have any pauses in audio, which also happens routinely with ESPN3. I know LU is getting money for the ESPN3, but I really appreciate the BRS quality. Also much prefer Harold Mann to Dan Gresham announcing.

ESPN3 has much better quality. Last night I could barely hear Harold Man due to the fuzziness and a high pitch squealing noise. The video quality was also much poorer on BRN. With ESPN 3 I usually get at least 1080p quality. I doubt I got above 240p last night on BRN. The part about the audio breaking up for you on ESPN3 is explainable. On ESPN3 if the quality of the video is too poor, they remove the audio to help give more power to the picture to make it more clear. It depends on how fast your service is as to whether or not you will have a good or bad experience with ESPN3. The faster your internet, the clearer your picture is, and the audio will not cut out. Either way i'll still watch, but it is confusing as to why your experience with BRN last night was so much better than mine.

Thanks Big T. Sounds like I need to replace my modem and router as I am supposed to be on an upper tier internet feed.

Side note to last nights game. Since I live out of state now I watch most of the games on the computer. Last nights game was on the Big Red Sports as opposed to the ESPN3 feed. It may just be my system but last nights game was a much better quality video than I'm normally getting on ESPN3 and didn't have any pauses in audio, which also happens routinely with ESPN3. I know LU is getting money for the ESPN3, but I really appreciate the BRS quality. Also much prefer Harold Mann to Dan Gresham announcing.

 

Gresham is an awful sports announcer. It's obvious he knows nothing about sports and in the past he was constantly butchering the players names.