Bellarmine....ooof

Yeah, that was a rough one. Bellarmine is a well-coached, experienced team that is used to playing each other and they completely took it to the Falcons MBB team last night. The Knights rained 3FGs which kept BG out of transition and in the half-court they played a packed-in matchup thing that forced us to the perimeter without kickouts and that did not work out for us, 85-67. 

We are a work in progress to start with and playing without our floor general on top of that.

It was trouble from the drop.  BG led for only 1:11 and never in the last 37 minutes of the game.  BU came out to a 17-6 lead 7 minutes into the game.  BG got it down to 4 once (with the ball) in the second half and went to the locker room trailing by 8. BG shot 1-12 from 3FG in the first half.

BG was never closer than 6 in the first half. The lead got over 10 with about 15 to play and was never in single digits again. BG got it to 11 a couple times but Bellarmine answered with a hoop each time.

It was as one-sided as it looks.

BU won the tempo battle.  The game was played at 65 possessions. BG ended up at 1.03 points per possession, which is slightly below average.  BU scored 85 in those 65 possessions, a scorching 1.3 points per possession.  Since at least 1999, BG has not won a game when allowing that many points per possession, which is no surprise, few teams have. We beat WMU in 2018 allowing 1.24.

BG shot 48% from 3FG and 28% from 3FG. Unfortunately, more than half of BG's shots were from 3FG.  BG is 14-52 over the last two games from 3FG.  BG took good care of the ball and rebounded well and got to line but made only 50%--12 of 24.  We are #335 in the country in FT shooting to date.

Meanwhile, BU made 55% on 2FG and 65% from 3FG. That's the highest against BG since Evansville in 2018. They had an average game with turnovers, better than the usually do on the offensive boards and got to the line a whole bunch, and made 18 out of 23.  Bellarmine made 80% around the rim.

This is all below. I doubt if any team has won a game where the shooting looks like this.

Coach Simon substituted liberally trying to find a combo that might click. Only McComb and Greer had positive +/-.

So, Thomas didn't play.  Hill was in foul trouble and logged only 20 minutes.  The leading scorers for BG were McComb (career-high 15 points, 3 of 4 from 2FG, 2 of 6 from 3FG, in 18 minutes), Dajion Humphrey (12 points, 3 of 9 from 3FG, 3 of 7 at the line), Agee (11 points on 4 of 7 shooting, 6 rebounds and 3 assists in 20 minutes, also 3 of 8 at the line) and Spurgin (10 points, 4 of 7 shooting, 2 of 4 from 3, 6 rebounds and 4 assists).

So on we go. We seem to expect Thomas back for the next game, which is Friday against WKU in Montreal, where we will spend the weekend with 3 games.  Sacre Bleu.