Hopkinsville 77 University Heights 73

[silo11]

Final.

[the game guy]

No D played by either team. Very little offense by either, just a track meet. Should be a better game when they meet again at UHA.

[flex169]

Actually UHA had 16 turnovers and the best guard duo in the state Jalen Johnson with 33 and shorty 16 points respectively. Shorty got in foul trouble in 2nd and sat Jalen set out for 3rd quarter with injury and some of 4th or he would have had 40. Second day in a row where a Mr. Basketball candidate has been held by under 15 points. Four games in five days is tough for any team. Pedro Bradshaw had 12

[flex169]

Actually UHA had went turnovers and the best guard duo in the state Jalen Johnson with 33 and shorty 14 points respectively. Shorty got in foul trouble in 2nd and sat Jalen set out for 3rd quarter with injury and some of 4th or he would have had 40. Second day in a row where a Mr. Basketball candidate has been held by under 15 points. Four games in five days is tough for any team.

[westernky]

Tray Hollowell had 17 and KyKy Tandy had 33 according to @chrisjung.

[flex169]

Uha had only 13 turnovers

[flex169]

Uha had only 13 turnovers and Trey did have a quiet 17 points. There were at least four mid level D1 players on the court, the score should be higher plus a couple of jucos.

[Hoptown b-ball fan]

Great high school basketball game last night. A couple of things I noticed. Hoptown fan here, so i'm biased.

 

A. Johnson saved our tail last night. he can't keep carrying us. UHA probably outplayed us the last 3 quarters and the score showed. I suspect teams are going to start shading their defense to Jalen.

 

B. We rebounded better. CJ played the role he needs to play. He's not a primary option on offense.

 

C. Shorty isn't developing like I hoped he would. I think he's probably peaked. I also think some teams are figuring out how to defend him.

 

D. UHA has IMPROVED DRASTICALLY over a year ago. they play MUCH better defense. If they had a big man they'd be the best 2nd region team this year. They may still win the region. We were very lucky to escape with the win.

 

E. In years past our Pressure defense shut down hollowell and tandy. It didn't work last night. That's worrisome to me for the rematch and the probable matchup in the 1st round of district. To me, county is the clear favorite.

 

In terms of the Blue Paducah's comment about no defense and a track meet. That's just not true. UHA has improved a ton on defense and HOptown has always been known for our scrappy defense under Haworth. And why wouldn't you run with the athletes on the floor last night?

 

And I'm not sure what Ryme is saying about Hollowell? Hollowell is playing much more as a true point guard. From what I've heard he's one of the leaders in the region in assists. They're getting more scoring from Tandy and the white kid, McGowan so they aren't asking him to shoot as much.

 

Hollowell is the best senior in the region in my opinion with sebree close behind. I give hollowel the edge due to his consistency. Jalen has a tendency to disappear. But Tandy is the most talented player. he's developing greatly. Johnson is turning into a stud too.

 

Always remarkable to me that the 3 best teams in the region are all in the city of Hopkinsville....

[Hoptown b-ball fan]

Uha had only 13 turnovers and Trey did have a quiet 17 points. There were at least four mid level D1 players on the court, the score should be higher plus a couple of jucos.

 

I'm devastated that Jaqualis dropped out of school. I'm starting to get frustrated that our guys aren't sticking it out in college. How many have we had flunk out?

[westernky]

Completely agree with @Hoptown b-ball fan

[silo11]

Hoptown this year starts out fast and then it seems like they think they can cruise the rest of the way. They are a terrible 2nd half team this year.

Once again they had a commanding lead against UHA last night, and just let them back into the game. That is the 4th time this year that has happened.

 

I think Hoptown has more talent overall than any other team in Region 2. If the team can learn to play an entire game, they would have a strong chance of returning to Rupp and doing damage. But right now, they are a mediocre team with a lot of talent. But as the last 4 games have shown Tiger fans, talent just doesn't cut it against good teams.

 

I would have to agree that County is the best team currently. However they have yet to play a worthy opponent to judge really how good they are. We will find out this weekend. Fern Creek will give us a good idea if the are worthy of the #6 BGP ranking. I know Hoptown is NOT worthy of #11, maybe not even top 20.

[sweet16]

I hate the misconception that teams that play fast don't play any defense. If the tempo is faster there are going to be more possessions therefor more points will be scored.

 

A more accurate way to grade defense is Points Per Possession.

[Hoptown b-ball fan]

Hoptown this year starts out fast and then it seems like they think they can cruise the rest of the way. They are a terrible 2nd half team this year.

Once again they had a commanding lead against UHA last night, and just let them back into the game. That is the 4th time this year that has happened.

 

I think Hoptown has more talent overall than any other team in Region 2. If the team can learn to play an entire game, they would have a strong chance of returning to Rupp and doing damage. But right now, they are a mediocre team with a lot of talent. But as the last 4 games have shown Tiger fans, talent just doesn't cut it against good teams.

 

I would have to agree that County is the best team currently. However they have yet to play a worthy opponent to judge really how good they are. We will find out this weekend. Fern Creek will give us a good idea if the are worthy of the #6 BGP ranking. I know Hoptown is NOT worthy of #11, maybe not even top 20.

 

I definitely think HOptown has talent. But I think expectations for some specific players may not have been accurate.

 

Govan, the transfer from county who was to be our "shooter" this year started out super hot. He really didn't play much at county last year but was getting minutes for us and shot lights out for the first few games. He's been non-existent since. Then you look at a guy like Toliver who was supposed to be their next Matlock. He's kind of a Kelena Azabuike case. Looks terrific but doesn't play like he's a physical player. And James Nicholas hasn't lived up to the hype. Again, I love all of those kids but I'm not sure they are as good as the expectations a lot of folks put on them.

 

So you're basically left with Cager, hennigan and Johnson. Johnson has developed in a tremendous way, but I don't think Shorty has. I think that's partially why this team seems to have regressed. We lost our best shooter and leader from last year. We haven't really replaced that guy and a couple of guys we needed to step up haven't. CJ was never gonna be an impact player. In my opinion you can't win with just one "impact" guy. Right now Jalen is that guy. We need somebody else to step up. I'm not sure we will get that from our current roster?

 

Not to say that they can't. Tim Haworth teams need an alpha dog like Jaqualis Matlock. I think we still miss not having him. It's what lead our press, which was our signature. he's who would take over a game when we needed it. I just don't see anybody on our roster close to him. And I think that's what we need to beat the best. I'm afraid to say it, but because of matchups I think County may be a bigger favorite over us than they would be vs uha.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Hoptown b-ball fan
gramar fix

[the game guy]

They will have a few more games this season to see if they can play defense. No one in the region can guard the 2 UHA stars. They will have to play defense when they play the colonels. Last few years in Lexington the teams that make them play defense have had very good success against them, just like County did last year 4 times?

[Hoptown b-ball fan]

They will have a few more games this season to see if they can play defense. No one in the region can guard the 2 UHA stars. They will have to play defense when they play the colonels. Last few years in Lexington the teams that make them play defense have had very good success against them, just like County did last year 4 times?

 

That's actually not the case. The teams that give hoptown trouble are teams that don't turn the ball over against us. Hoptown plays defense. We play very hard. It's just that our style is as such that if we don't force turnovers we have trouble scoring.

 

When you don't turn it over against hoptown it forces us into a halfcourt game. When we have to run halfcourt offense we lose. Good teams are able to do that.

 

There are some folks amongst us fans who wish (again, not complaining, we are in the midst of a great run) that we would focus more on a halfcourt defense early in the year in order to force us to learn to run halfcourt offense. We get in too much of a habit of relying on turnovers against non-sweet 16 teams and then when we play the best teams who are able to handle our pressure we are kind of like a lost puppy dog.

 

The difference between us and UHA the last few years has been about a 6 or 7 minute stretch when we force them to speed up and turn the ball over. We end up winning by 20 or so in those games. Last year in 1st round of district they led for most of the first half. We went on a run in the 3rd quarter and that was the difference.

 

The other night they "only" turned it over 13 times. that still seems like a lot. But by "only" turning it over 13 times they kept it within 4 on our floor.