UNF Basketball Thread: 2015-16 Season

[spuwho]

UNF 117 - Coastal Georgia 71

It was tight for about the first 4 or 5 minutes, then UNF went on a 12-0 run and that was it, the rout was on.

The lead got to 40 points and varied between 40 and 45 points and ended with a 46 point difference.

Beau Beech fouled out with about 8 minutes left. The guy from CG was giving him the business throughout the whole game, and Beau kind of cleaned him out on the 5th foul. Coach Driscoll was clearing the bench anyway so it had no impact on the game.

CG tried to get chippy a little after UNF was still bombing in the threes with a 40 point lead, but the UNF players kept their cool and it just delayed the inevitable.

The only moment it got irritating is when the game degraded into playground ball before the end of the first half, but a time out by coach but that to rest for good.

The new scoreboard at center court had 1 malfunction and the clock had to be reset once in the second half.

The graphics are pretty cool and the clips they play when a player does something is funny. Beech probably has the funniest clip. Dallas Moore beating his chest the same way he did when they won the A-Sun tourney.

But the "over the top" award goes to the battle cry video of Coach Matt Driscoll.  They only play it twice, at the start of each half. The guy has energy, no doubt about it.

Small crowd due to students finished with finals on Friday and left town.

Moment of silence at the start for the long time UNF scorekeeper who passed away.

[spuwho]

UNF 91 - FIU 72.

They will play Austin-Peay tonight at UNF Arena.

UNF shot 16 three pointers on FIU and are still national leaders in 3 pointers. On a per game basis, UNF shoots more threes than anyone in Division 1.

Just 2 more home games before they head back for a tough road schedule.

Arkansas
VCU

And then against Eastern Michigan outside Detroit before starting their Atlantic Sun Conference schedule.

ESPN Bracketology guru, Joe Lunardi still has UNF getting a #15 slot. Which means he is expecting them to avoid the play in game in 2016 by winning the season and ASun tourney. Hang tough, Ospreys!


Big date coming up? UNF vs JU. Saturday, January 9th @ UNF Arena.

[ProjectMaximus]

Gotta win both of those road games to have any shot at an at-large. I don't think UNF will pull off an at-large or a win in the tourney, but it looks like it will be a fun season anyway and who knows?

[spuwho]

UNF 41 - AP 24

Mackey hit a 3 at the buzzer to end the half.

UNF is playing a trapping zone on defense tonight and it has AP stuggling. Its helping the rebounding alot.

Beech has been shooting 3 to 4 feet beyond the 3 pt line tonight. Not sure why so far out as he hasnt made one that far out yet.

[spuwho]

UNF 80 - AP 70

UNF was up by 20 at one point then went south mentally.

AP pressed and got a lot of late game turnovers which converted to 3's or alley oops for AP.

The game ended on a huge alley oop by Chris Horten from AP.

If AP had started pressing 1 min sooner, it would have been even closer.

[Dapperdan]

Uh Oh, did AP discover the template to slow down UNF ? Look for other teams to copy.

[Westside Guy]

Unf struggled against the full court press last season too. Let's just hope they can build big enough leads to overcome it, especially when they start conference play.

[spuwho]

Uh Oh, did AP discover the template to slow down UNF ? Look for other teams to copy.

Well, AP was effective in the 2nd half. I checked the stats last night and UNF only made 3 baskets in the final 6 minutes of the game. 2 threes and a layup.

Granted UNF chewed up alot of clock on their possessions, but it was rife with miscues as they attempted to run their offense with much less on the shot clock. Most of that dur to the pressing.

But what got me was the lack of blocking out on rebounds in the same period near the end.  They were superb in the first half, but in that final 6 min I saw them standing around under the basket with their hands up in the air. Chris Horten of AP got this great rebound by basically out jumping them from behind.

I am not down on the Ospreys, I just see these lapses periodically and I cant attribute it to the other teams abilities. Its something I noticed last year in ASun conference play as well.

But the Ospreys did play much better defense this time around. Makes me wonder if the LSU game prompted it.

[spuwho]

UNF 87 - FAMU 70

Ospreys take their record to 10-4 with a victory over the FAMU Rattlers at UNF Arena.

Once again the Ospreys held a sizable lead in the first half (20 points at the half) and then let it melt away down to 9 points in the second half before the offense woke up.  FAMU missed 2 consecutive 3 pointers to get the margin back to 6, before Beau Beech came back in and restarted the offense. The lead then returned to 15 thereafter, but FAMU outscored the Ospreys in the second half.

Brent Martineau and Lee Moon Jr, who were announcing for ESPN3 coverage made mention that UNF needs to raise their defense and their mental edge coming out from the half or they are going to get challenged by a couple of Atlantic Sun teams. They also noted that UNF is a first half team against all their opponents, especially against the Power Conferences, but their weak defense in the second halves have allowed them to lose unrecoverable leads. Against weaker opponents in Div 1, they have gotten by, but they can't get away with it against Big10, SEC and ACC teams.

So in short, they need to stop the mental breakdowns in the 2nd half, get a killer mentality on defense, and for crying out loud, can someone show them how to block out under the basket for a rebound? Just like Austin Peay, I see FAMU guys jumping over their backs to get rebounds.

Hire Dennis Rodman for a week for goodness sake!

[spuwho]

UNF 72 - Arkansas 97

Arkansas led the entire game last night. UNF had no answer to their inside game and were out rebounded.

UNF did make a run late in the first half to get the margin to 5, but they never got closer as they were dominated inside and outside.

Arkansas did have back their star guard on the court from injury and that helped their perimeter defense, but UNF was only 10-27 from 3 point range.

Just to give you an idea how dominate Arkansas was, they out rebounded the Ospreys 52-28 for the game and shot 53% from the field, mostly because the shots were under the basket.

The Ospreys are off for the holidays before they head up to play VCU and Eastern Michigan. After that the A-Sun schedule starts.

UNF is now 10-5 for the season so far. All 5 losses were on the road against power conferences.

[spuwho]

UNF 68 - VCU 80

Tough road loss to a good team. Can't wait to get back on the A-Sun schedule.

VCU shut off the three pointers (7-19). UNF fought back to within 9 with 2.5 minutes left but VCU went on a run to seal the deal.

Once again UNF was in range at the half, but allowed a 14-4 VCU run coming out of the locker room.

Next is Eastern Michigan.  Go Ospreys!

[spuwho]

UNF 82 - EMU 77

In a road game up at the Convocation Center in Ypsilanti Michigan, the Ospreys took on Eastern Michigan from the MAC Conference today.

After a nip and tuck game where the lead changed multiple times in both halves, Beau Beech hit a critical three for the lead with 1:23 left and UNF's defense stiffened where EMU missed several 3's in the last minute. Dallas Moore's layup at the buzzer sealed the victory.

UNF is now 10-6 for the season. This is the 2nd non-conference road win.

This now completes the Ospreys non-conference schedule and they open the A-Sun at Stetson on January 6th.

[ProjectMaximus]

Interesting...LSU destroyed Kentucky 85-67 last night. Maybe not such a bad loss for the Ospreys.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25439542/lsu-picks-up-massive-win-over-no-9-kentucky-as-cats-struggle

[Downtown Osprey]

LSU has the number one overall pick on their team and a few other talented players. That game shows just how good they can be when they play a complete game.

[spuwho]

LSU has the number one overall pick on their team and a few other talented players. That game shows just how good they can be when they play a complete game.

Ben Simmons didn't play all that much in the Kentucky game.

Some LSU fans were "thanking" UNF for helping the team finds its mojo.