Campbell Preview

So, next BG is scheduled to play the home team at this event, the Campbell Camels.  Campbell finished 7th last year in the Big South but also ended up 19-18 with a run to the finals of the conference tourney and made the CIT and won two games in the tourney.  They return 4 of 5 starters from last year, won 6 of their last 8 games and are picked to finish 5th this year by kenpom.

According to Blue Ribbon, there is a misconception that Campbell plays automated Princeton style ball which is considered not to be true, but honestly, there has to be some truth to it.

Campbell is located in Buies Creek, North Carolina.  They count Cy Young award winner Jim Perry as an alumnus.

They are off to a 2-3 start.  Most notably, they lost the opening game of this tournament to Abilene Christian, 85-80 in overtime.  Remember, this is a home game for Campbell.  They have yet to win a D1 game, while they have their other losses to Penn State and UNC-Wilmington.

The headline for this team is Chris Clemons.  The young man is a scoring machine.  Last year, he ranked 2nd in the country in scoring (25.1), field goals made (301) and attempted (673) and 3-pointers attempted (332), 6th in 3-pointers made (118), 12th in 3-point FG/game (3.28), 16th in steals (70) and free throws made (184), 23rd in free throw attempts (223), 36th in steals per game (1.94).

He's a junior and a little guy at 5'9".  He actually entered the NBA draft process last year before returning to Campbell for this season.  He dropped 39 on Penn State earlier this year.

Now, he was injured in the UNCW game and DNP Monday against Johnson & Wales (Providence, RI, alums include Emeril Legasse) but he was back in the lineup last night against Abilene. He may not have been at full strength, scoring 16 points and struggling to shoot.  He is still averaging 24.8 per game (on 40% shooting), 5 rebounds and 3.8 assists.

They are also getting big scoring from Marcus Burk, a 6'3" SO who scored 8 a game last year but is scoring 18 this on 63% shooting in only 25 minutes.  He's shooting 50% from 3FG and has hung 30 up twice.

They have another injury, which is the 6'8 Jr Spainaird, who has only played two games this year (Jon Ander Cuadra).

They are scoring 1.026 PPP this year, which is slightly lower than the D1 average to date this year.  They shoot 40% of their FGs from 3FG, which is above average as well.  They make 52% of their 2FGs and 36% on 3FG, which are all about 2 points above the national average.  They take good care of the ball and get to the line decently, with their only weakness on offense being 308th ranked offensive rebounding.

They have struggled on defense.  They allow1.07 PPP.  They are weak on defending the shot and they are weak on the defensive boards.  They do force some turnovers, but they also give up a lot of free throws.

Anyway, after the loss last night, this is a tough one.  If Abilene Christian can beat them, you have to figure BG can too.  I'm sure the Camels aren't interested in losing two straight at home.  BG won their opener...and you'd like to think they could bring this one home.