Eastern Kentucky at KSU

Wingman

The Colonel Sanders come to town Monday Jan 2 and they will attempt to fry the Owls. They are coming off a home win Saturday against Queens. I watched part of the game on ESPN+ and EKU looked good.

They will have to travel from KY after a closely contested game while the Owls will be resting at home. This will give KSU an advantage. I am looking for the Owls to get a better start in the first half… I think that the holiday break caused the Owls to get a slow start against UCA.

Wingman

Isaiah Cozart, a 6-7 forward who plays for EKU recorded 7 blocks in the game against Queens.

bb_fan

Matchup between the best mascot in the ASun versus the worst. How do you recruit when your mascot is an angry old white man?

Should be a good game. Last year at their place EKU won by a point in triple overtime, but then KSU got revenge with a 9 point win at home in the tourney. That doesn't happen every year. 🙂

KingOwl

bb_fan Wasn't half their team hurt last season?

bb_fan

Lets see what the computers are saying the day before the game:

Sagarin: KSU -4.5
Massey: KSU -2 (76-74; 55% chance of winning)
NCAA NET: KSU 175, EKU 230
Pomeroy: KSU 212, EKU 250 (His lines are behind a paywall, but unofficially KSU is 3.5 points better on a neutural court. I have no idea what he considers the "home court advantage" to be worth.

bb_fan

KingOwl I don't remember.

KingOwl

bb_fan i am almost positive they were playing down a bunch of players and some that they had playing weren't entirely healthy.

bb_fan

Gonna be a wild night; we're in a 7 way tie for first place and all 7 teams are in action. 🙂

KingOwl

bb_fan whos gonna join is on the top?

bb_fan

FGCU and Liberty are obvious.
KSU, but if we lose it wouldn't suprise me.
Stetson over UNF but its a tossup.

UNA loses to 1 loss Bellarmine but it's a tossup.

So thats 2 that are obvious, 2 that are tossups, and KSU which "should" win but not if first half KSU shows up again.

I certainly wouldn't bet on getting all games right.

KingOwl

bb_fan it seems there's no true pushovers this year except Central Arkansas. I havent watched much asun bball yet, though. FGCU is looking like the cream of the crop because Liberty hasn't done much to add to their team. If they could have found a star player to put alongside McGhee, theyd be on top.

bb_fan

Line: KSU -5.5

KingOwl

bb_fan now swinging between 6 and 6.5

OwlFan

Measly 36.7 percent from the field. 1-12 from 3. Not typical of this team. Gotta get some 3's the find the bottom. Nice to see Rodgers get 7 points.

Wingman

OwlFan reminds me of the UCA first half. I hope AAR gives the same halftime speech.

OwlFan

Wingman this team seems better than UCA though. Might be wrong.

bb_fan

If you bet on the Owls you had to hate that meaningless 3 at the end of the game.

Wingman

I watched this one in person, it’s been a while since I did that. It was a very physical game lots of fouls and more could have easily been called. Finding the range on the 3 pointers in the second half made the difference.

I get real nervous when the Owls go to the free throw line late in the game when it’s close. I hope we can improve on that.
I think we will see a number of hard fought intense games in our conference this year.

chandler-wright

Wingman sitting right behind the basket in the second and half those shots that missed looked like missed from the hand so we got to work on those

KingOwl

You'd think a team that shoots threes so well could hit free throws at a high clip