Remember the Titans

[Quickzips]

Well, I think the venting from the tough loss against CSU has pretty well died down. Time to move on from that one, put aside the Thanksgiving leftovers and move on to a tough matchup against the Detroit Titans. This game represents our third Horizon league opponent in a row and the second team in a row that we've seen boasting potential NBA talent. The Titans are 4-3 this year, but their 3 losses were all close games against quality teams (@New Mexico lost by 9, @Syracuse lost by 11 and @Mississippi State lost by 6). Freshman Guard and Coach's Son Ray McCallum gets most of the press clippings for Detroit, but he isn't alone out there. 6'10" F/C Eli Holman is a legit NBA prospect who is averaging a double-double so far this season and shots an astonishing 67% from the field. If the Titans have one weakness it may be depth as only 7 players see more than 10 minutes per game and 4 of their starters average 33 minutes plus. Unfortunatly the Zips may not be able to take advantage of this as our bench has come up rather short so far this young season as well. I really don't feel very good about this game. Detroit is a team that is ready made to give the Zips fits as they hit the offensive boards pretty well and they have guards who can attack the rim. The Zips will have to try and control Holman inside first and then hope that McCallum and Co. don't get too hot. I hope I'm wrong, but I feel another double digit loss may be in order for our young Zips.

[skip-zip]

Well, I think the venting from the tough loss against CSU has pretty well died down. Time to move on from that one, put aside the Thanksgiving leftovers and move on to a tough matchup against the Detroit Titans. This game represents our third Horizon league opponent in a row and the second team in a row that we've seen boasting potential NBA talent. The Titans are 4-3 this year, but their 3 losses were all close games against quality teams (@New Mexico lost by 9, @Syracuse lost by 11 and @Mississippi State lost by 6). Freshman Guard and Coach's Son Ray McCallum gets most of the press clippings for Detroit, but he isn't alone out there. 6'10" F/C Eli Holman is a legit NBA prospect who is averaging a double-double so far this season and shots an astonishing 67% from the field. If the Titans have one weakness it may be depth as only 7 players see more than 10 minutes per game and 4 of their starters average 33 minutes plus. Unfortunatly the Zips may not be able to take advantage of this as our bench has come up rather short so far this young season as well. I really don't feel very good about this game. Detroit is a team that is ready made to give the Zips fits as they hit the offensive boards pretty well and they have guards who can attack the rim. The Zips will have to try and control Holman inside first and then hope that McCallum and Co. don't get too hot. I hope I'm wrong, but I feel another double digit loss may be in order for our young Zips.

I wish I could convince myself of the same thing. It might take away some of the sting of not looking so hot early on. But, we have 2 Seniors and 2 Juniors in the starting lineup, along with a Soph. who got significant Freshman-year experience. And a Sr. in Bardo as one of the early guys off the bench. Can we really call ourselves "young"? I don't know. And how does that experience level stack up against our competition, especially in conference play?

[RootforRoo44]

Quick preview of tonight's game as well as an embedded live feed of it as well.

LINK

[RowdyZip]

Well, right off the bat...Alex Abreu starts. Interesting.

[Quickzips]

Very interesting with Abreu starting over Roberts. KD is going to have to stick with him for a lot of this game as McNees already has 2 early fouls. For that matter Zeke picked up two cheap early fouls as well. The youngsters are going to have to step up tonight as foul trouble is piling up early. Zips up 15-12.

[Dave in Green]

Greatest Bardo move ever. The ball went to him inside with his back to the bucket. He spun around, faked the defender off his feet and banked it in. I am in total shock and awe.

[Quickzips]

So far this Zips team looks much better than the one we saw last week. Nikola and Nitro with 6 a piece, McNees has an early 3, playing some pretty good defense. Going to have to keep it up.

[RowdyZip]

Greatest Bardo move ever. The ball went to him inside with his back to the bucket. He spun around, faked the defender off his feet and banked it in. I am in total shock and awe.

I think every Zips fan watching this game said the same thing. Especially against a guy who is a solid defender in Holman.

As far as Zeke...man, I don't know if he's instructed to pop out and defend the perimeter in the zone, but he's just not quick enough with those long pointy knees and elbows, especially when the opposing Gs are fast like tonight. Another silly foul picked up in that fashion tonight.

[Quickzips]

Zips went to Detroit for a basketball game and a track meet broke out. Both teams getting up and down the floor. Foster has gotten hot for the Titans who now have a one point edge with Quincy Diggs going to the line after the under 8:00 timeout (incidentally I believe it is on Detroit's first foul of the game).

[tpsjugglerdude]

Do we get a return trip from them to the JAR next year? Bardo has 4 pts.

[Dr Z]

Looks like a pretty sloppy game by both teams to me.

Best line by the announcer so far.."McClanahan for threeeee.....McClank off the back of the rim"

[Quickzips]

Detroit puts together a little run and goes up 5 with a minute and a half left forcing KD to call at TO. Had a couple good looks at the basket and they just aren't falling. The Zips cannot afford to go into that extended scoring drought that we are all too familiar with.

[Dave in Green]

Zips continue to have a problem stopping opponents from driving to the basket and getting easy layups, but can't return the favor at the other end.

[tpsjugglerdude]

Nik has had 2 nice dunks, one was coast to coast when Detriot tried to do a full court press. Not a bad half only down 1 at the break.

[Quickzips]

Zips get it back to one going into the half off a breakaway flush by Nikola and a nice little layup by Roberts. All in all a pretty good first half for the Zips. Very fortunate to be able to bring Zeke and McNees back in for a few good minutes after each picked up two cheap fouls early and not see either pick up their third. KD can't be happy with the foul disparity as the Zips are getting called for a lot of touchy stuff and those whistles aren't coming on the other end. Zips doing a little better job on the boards tonight, although they've given up a few bad ones when they go zone again. Nikola has been the sparkplug tonight as he has 10, has been pretty good on the boards and has a few assists and at least one steal for good measure. Zips will need to come out in the second half and keep scoring and tighten up the defense a little bit and they can get out of this one with a W to start this extended road trip.

[Dave in Green]

Some good and bad in the halftime stats. Bad news is the Zips were outrebounded 22-13, and didn't get to shoot a single free throw. Good news is that the Zips had only 4 turnovers to 9 for Detroit. Other than that, the numbers are fairly even.

[RowdyZip]

I'll tell you one thing, Detroit will not win the Horizon championship. They are nowhere near on par defensively with CSU, or even YSU. They'll score well with their two studs, but they lack any form of perimeter defense.

[tpsjugglerdude]

Zips forced a full time out 18 seconds into the 2nd half.

[eguins]

I'll tell you one thing, Detroit will not win the Horizon championship. They are nowhere near on par defensively with CSU, or even YSU. They'll score well with their two studs, but they lack any form of perimeter defense.

They aren't playing to their potential just yet this year. If they do get it going, watch out.

In other news, it won't be long before Cleveland State finds itself in the AP Top 25. They are fabulous this year!

[jem101]

Twice since I've been watching the Zips have failed to convert layups on the break. Things like that will kill you. Loving the D so far this half.

[Dr Z]

My gawd, this announcer has zero idea what traveling is, he is calling it every time down the court now.

Better defense so far this half by the Zips is the difference.

[Quickzips]

MUCH better defense for the Zips in the second so far. Save letting one of their bigs get lost on an inbounds play the Zips have been all over Detroit and they are getting some easy looks on the offensive end from all that pressure. Keep it up Zips!

[jem101]

Blocking foul on Bardo was BS.

[jem101]

Ticky tack fouls are only going one way right now. Zeke with his 4th. Bardo in same situation.

[tpsjugglerdude]

Are these MAC refs?