Belmont beats Trevecca, 86-61; Previewing Kennesaw State

 

Chad Lang, 6-11 freshmen, was perfect on the boards against Trevecca, scoring 8 points during five minutes of play.

Belmont Wins Home Opener

In a game where I would have liked the score to be more like 86-22, the Bruins ended up beating the Trojans by 25 in a second half that showed domination, that is,  in stark contrast to a rather messy first half.

Belmont is ranked 14th in the NCAA in points per game now, but really didn’t look like that team in the first half.  After turning the ball over 11 times in the first half and being basically evenly matched in rebounds (Belmont only had 1 more rebound than Trevecca heading to the locker room),  Michael France, the Trojan’s star player who put up 28 in their game before Belmont, put up 14 in the first half sending Trevecca into the locker room only down 10 in a game that seemed a little bit closer than any Belmont fan would like to see.

But the second half was another story.  Belmont held France to only 5 points, out-rebounded the Trojans, and put up 46 points to Trevecca’s 31.

 

The Good

Belmont scored 86 points, making them the 14th ranked team in the NCAA in points scored.  Mind you, this is after playing teams like Duke and Memphis.

The Bad

That first half.

The Ugly

Belmont turned the ball over 18 times to a NAIA team.  (We only turned the ball over 17 times against Duke)

 

 

 

Kennesaw State at Belmont:  First Conference Matchup Preview

 

 

Kennesaw State comes into its first conference game of the year with a 2-3 record and a miserable loss against Wisconsin,  85-31 (other losses come from Auburn and South Carolina State).  They are averaging about 20 points less a game than the Bruins and bring a new head coach, Lewis Preston, to the team as the fourth in franchise history.  He comes from Penn State as an assistant, but the most notable spot on his resume might be his time under Coach Donovan during back to back National Championships.

The School

-Mascot is the Owl

-Third largest in Georgia boasting a 24,100 student enrollment

-384 acre campus northwest of Atlanta

-Offers 80 degree programs

-Founded in 1963

 

Players to Watch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Markeith Cummings, 6-7 Junior Guard.  Cummings is averaging 18 points a game this season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spencer Dixon, 6-0 Senior Guard.

Dixon hit six 3-pointers in their loss against SC State and scored 26 total.

 

The Gameplan

As always, my guess here is as good as yours (or worse).  In the Trevecca game, I was surprised at how little we attacked below the basket in the first half.  In the second, we were more aggressive down-low, and quickly found our game working.  I would like to see that again in this game offensively.  Defensively, guarding the perimeter against Cummings and Dixon will be our major issue, and getting more rebounds and keeping turnovers to a minimum will be an important goal.  If we play this team like we did Trevecca in the first half, we could see the game getting away from us.

That being said, I don’t see us playing like that again at home.

 

 

All-Time Series: Belmont Leads, 10-2

 

 

Belmont, Belmont, gooooo Belmont!