Lewis Preview and Game Thread -- 12-05-2020

[Blers42]

Judging by how his teammates and coaches have referenced him in interviews so far, I wouldn’t forget about Hebb either.

I’m just trying to picture how fun the practices must be.

You’re absolutely right. A lot of coaches and players have talked about Hebb in interviews.

Things I’m looking forward to seeing tomorrow:

1) Norris - I’m completely happy with Clemons, but if this kid shoots lights out like they are saying, it’ll be fun to watch. Custer seemed pretty high on him in his podcast interview.

2) Cooper - I can’t wait to see if he’s back to form.


3) Hebb - people have talked about how good he looks in practice. I’m interested to know if he’s going to end up being a contributor now, like Kennedy last year, or if he’s the future.

4) free throws. We’re going to get to the line. I’m praying that we’ve corrected the issues.

I’m not confident about free throws from the starting lineup. I’ll never understand why Tate Hall is so bad at them when he’s such a good 3pt shooter.

[RamblinTank22]

I'm hopeful that it was just an off year for free throws. Tate was 77.3% from the line at UIndy. Not sure how you go from that to 57.9%, so hopefully it was a fluke year. Clemons was 81.7% in JUCO vs. 69.1% last year. Also, it was a small sample size (16 FTs), but Cooper was 81.3% his freshman year.

So there are some signs that we should be better this year!

[JCT]

I'm hopeful that it was just an off year for free throws. Tate was 77.3% from the line at UIndy. Not sure how you go from that to 57.9%, so hopefully it was a fluke year. Clemons was 81.7% in JUCO vs. 69.1% last year. Also, it was a small sample size (16 FTs), but Cooper was 81.3% his freshman year.

So there are some signs that we should be better this year!

Interesting you mention past performance. I looked up Porter's college stats.... he shot 57.4% at the free throw line for his career and only 51.3% as a senior. Valentine got the line a lot (over 100x in his junior and senior years) but only shot 66.7% for his career and 63% as a senior. Dokubo shot 40% (only 10 attempts), and Kimbrough was 72.7% (less than 25 attempts). Maybe put Clayton Custer (76.6%) on that task.

[ahunte1]

Given that this should be a pretty easy game, hopefully this will be a chance for the bench to get some minutes in. I'm very excited to see how our team has developed.

We'll see. As much as I'd like to see the new players, I think it's also important for the core rotation guys to get as many reps as possible.

[natetheskate]

Wonder if BIg Frank is ready to play.....

[Blers42]

I'm hopeful that it was just an off year for free throws. Tate was 77.3% from the line at UIndy. Not sure how you go from that to 57.9%, so hopefully it was a fluke year. Clemons was 81.7% in JUCO vs. 69.1% last year. Also, it was a small sample size (16 FTs), but Cooper was 81.3% his freshman year.

So there are some signs that we should be better this year!

I guess that makes me feel more optimistic about it. It doesn't seem like they could get any worse in that area. Tate's issues may have been related to bigger crowds etc. Krut, and Tate got to the line the most last year (over 100 attempts). Tate's FT percentage was also the worst on the team at 58%, that is not acceptable at all for having 112 attempts. Uguak, Kennedy, and Clemons trailed them (roughly 80 attempts). I was surprised to see that Kennedy's FT percentage was only 62% and like you said Clemons was at 69%. I think it's safe to assume that they will both increase their percentages, along with Cooper and Norris eating up some of their playing time.

Another interesting statistic that I noticed on Kenpom is FTRate:
"FTRate: Free throw rate is calculated by 100*FTA/FGA. This measures a player’s ability to get the line relative to how often he attempts to score."

The players with the highest FT rate on the team were Uguak (70%), Clemons (48%), Kennedy (42%), and Tate(39%).

Our worst FT shooters on the team last year were also the ones most likely to get to the line...

[Dansen]

Frank is in sweats in a picture on Twitter. Will be interesting if Hutson plays this year

[ahunte1]

Per radio, Clemons (ankle) could play. Frank (knee) out, but getting close.

[RamblinTank22]

Benches are on the other side. Any thoughts as to why?

[Dansen]

Tate immediately hits a 3, and misses both free throws... of course...