That was a good road win. Took a first half lead and every time they made a mini run, we punched them in the dick before it got too far.
They went the final ten+ minutes of the first half without a field goal until a banked in half court shot. I thought this was a combination of great energy from the Owls forcing them to work their offense more than they are probably used to. They grew frustrated and lost focus and when they did get an open three, they missed.
This was my first look at Queens. The bottom line is, we exposed them for the good D2 team that they are. Our players are bigger, longer, more skilled, better shooters, and more athletic. 46-22 points in the paint. I'm honestly surprised we didn't win by 15-20.
Like a good D2 team they have some solid guards, but no bigs. Their starting big is not a D1 player - I don't care what his rebounding numbers are. They have no size/athletecism from their forwards/wings besides McLauren who was forced to play backup center when he should be playing the 4. He was the only guy on Queens over 6'5" that passed the eye test for a D1 athlete. Dye is a good little player but is undersized if you're asking him to be the guy. McKee is okay but got exposed when he had to create vs. our lengthy wing athletes. I don't know if Queens caught people off guard early on, or if somebody got hurt, but I would say they are the third best team we've played thus far.
My Q1 expectations were met with a 3-1 start.
Here are my updated ASUN tiers (alphabetical)
Tier 1: Liberty
Tier 2: FGCU, JU, KSU
Tier 2.5: EKU, Stetson
Tier 3: Austin Peay, North Florida, Queens
Tier 3.5: Lipscomb
Tier 4: Bellarmine, Central Arkansas, Jax State, North Alabama