Michigan has continued their strong early start with a twenty-point victory over Elon after a slow start. With a big non-conference win over Creighton under their belt, they will hope to get into the Battle 4 Atlantis with a 4-0 record before an important three games in the Bahamas. To do that, they will have to face a winless Houston Baptist team hungry for their first victory of the season.
Houston Baptist -- An Overview:
HBU is 0-3 to open the season with a tough season-opening loss to Tulsa followed by double-digit losses to Oral Roberts and Texas Tech. HBU has had chances in the second halves of games -- they were up six on Tulsa with 13:50 to play and were tied with Oral Roberts with around ten minutes to play -- but have been unable to close out games. Through their first three games, they have given up 92.7 points per game, which is 351st in the country as of the time of writing. They are a team that historically under long-time head coach Ron Cottrell has let teams score plenty on them while trying to match them. Last season they finished 19th with 82.2 points per game but allowed 82.8 points per game, 349th in the country. The last time they finished outside the bottom-100 of points allowed per game was the 2012-13 season. Interestingly enough, given their level of points per game last year, they only put up 588 threes last season which was 323rd in the nation. They allowed, however, a dangerous combination of 618 threes (34th in the country) to the tune of a 40.1% clip for opponents, which was second-worst in the country. They play an open style and at time of writing are the fourth-highest-tempo team in the country with 77.4 possessions per game. This could be another fast-paced affair for the Wolverines.
Starting Five:
The main man for HBU is Ian DuBose (#0). DuBose was named to the Second Team All-Southland Conference last season and was a pick by the coaches and Blue Ribbon Yearbook as a Preseason All-Southland Team selection as the lone non-senior of the five-man first team. DuBose is a jack-of-all-trades who does everything very well. He is a quintessential 'star' player. He takes a ton of shots (356 attempts last season, 235 from two, 121 from three) and gets to the line a bunch (157 free throw attempts as a sophomore) while stuffing the stat line (seventeen points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists per game last season). This year has been much more of the same, though with some caveats. With the explosion of Jalon Gates as a bonafide number two shooting-primarily/only option, DuBose's 21.1% mark from behind the arc, down from shooting 43.8% from three last year, has not been as much of a blow as it may have been. He is averaging 6.7 rebounds per game and 16.3 points, but has seen a drop to just two per game so far -- helped greatly by Myles Pierre playing an out-and-out point guard role with the Huskies. He has gotten to the line 22 times already and has made an impressive 17 of those (77.3%). DuBose is also one of the better defenders for the Huskies, which is huge when considering they lost Southland All-Defensive Team selection Braxton Bonds to graduation after last season. He has been a double-figure scorer every year in his HBU career and he is hoping to maintain that through his upperclassman seasons.
While DuBose's historical output speaks for itself, the best player to this point in the season has been Jalon Gates (#22). The senior guard stands 6'0" and has been making a splash in his move to the starting five as a full-time starter for the first time in his career. Gates is out to an early PORPAGATU! lead for the Huskies with a 6.1, the early standout of the team. He is a three-point sniper who made 75 threes as a sophomore on 216 attempts (34.7%) and followed that up with 47 makes as a junior (32.4%). He only averaged a shade over thirteen minutes per game, but because of his ability to hit threes, he averaged 8.8 points per game. This was similar to his sophomore year where he averaged 11.5 points per game over 18.5 minutes per game. Currently, he is averaging 20.7 points per game thanks to a 42.4% three-point percentage (14-for-33). He is shooting triple the number of threes to twos, but he does have a mid-range game that he can turn to as well. That said, he is on the court for his ability to shoot and that alone. His career-high in rebounds is 1.4 per game. His career-high in assists is just half an assist per game. Despite being the shortest starter on the court, he has to be supplemented by a true point guard given his skillset being best suited for off-the-ball play.
Ty Dalton (#10) is a junior transfer from Colby Community College and has been averaged thirty minutes a game thus far in his second season with HBU. The 6'4" guard/forward spent a year as a redshirt with Akron before jumping to Colby where he was an all-around threat. Dalton is liked by HBU for his ability to play multiple positions, defend well, and rebound. He is averaging 9.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, three assists, and 2.7 steals per game. Essentially, he is a good glue guy to have on the court. Dalton gets to the rim well, as emphasized by a solid 64% at the rim in D1 games. This season, though, he has lowered his attempts per game early to compensate for Gates and DuBose's output. Dalton is three-for-five from three early and is 60% (nine-for-fifteen) from the field overall. He was also a 78.4% free throw shooter last season but despite getting to the line already fifteen times (second-most on the team) he has made just eight for a 53.3% clip. It has been a pretty big jump up to a number three option on the team (though not as big as Gates's to a number two option) and he has done well to reward the faith.
The Huskies also have a true point guard in true freshman Myles Pierre (#4) out of Charlotte, North Carolina. Pierre was a high school teammate of a man the Wolverines already played, Appalachian State freshman Donovan Gregory. Pierre is 6'2" and scored over 1,000 points with Carmel Christian. Expectations were high as Cottrell told Blue Ribbon, "We expected him to be on the floor from day one for us." Pierre has been solid out of the gates but is taking time to adjust to the collegiate game and pace. He is averaging 5.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game, but that is also coming with 5.3 turnovers per game. He is shooting 31.8% from the field which is primarily from two as he looks to get to the rim. He is one-for-five (20%) from three, but his job won't be to take threes so the five attempts are not something to really think much about. He struggled with seven assists against Texas Tech, but as a freshman going up against very solid D1 sides he is gaining valuable learning experience right out of the gates.
Rounding out the starting five is another transfer, Ryan Gomes (#50) from Mount St. Mary's. Gomes is a 6'10" junior center who sat out last season as a sit-one, play-two transfer. Gomes was a part-time starter as a sophomore and made an NCAA Tournament as a freshman giving him some valuable experience for this Huskies team. Coach Ron Cottrell likes his ability to run the floor and he also had a solid mid-range game to stretch opposing centers as well. He's averaging five points and three rebounds early on 40% (six-for-fifteen) shooting. Despite being a part-time starter at Mount St. Mary's he only averaged 10.7 minutes per game that season. This year he is at nineteen minutes even per game. He will be Jon Teske's match-up and may look to stretch the floor on Teske hoping to hit a couple baseline or elbow jumpers to force Teske to cover him out there.
Bench Rundown:
The key sixth man for the Huskies at this point in the season has been sophomore Qon Murphy (#2). Murphy is a 6'5" guard who is seeing a jump up in both minutes and expectations this season. As a freshman, Murphy played in just 21 games and averaged under ten minutes a game. His shooting percentage was also low as he shot just 26.5% from the field and 23.1% (6-for-26) from three. In his sophomore season, he has greatly improved already as the key minutes-getter off the bench. He is seeing the fifth-most minutes on the team and averaging nine points even on 37.9% shooting. His two-point percentage is up modestly -- up to 33.3% from 28.6% -- but he is on a hot start from three to start the year going five-for-eleven (45.5%) including a strong six-for-nine night against Oral Roberts complete with fourteen points and two-for-two from three. During his freshman year, he had never had a night of back-to-back multi-three nights and he has already hit that with his last two games. The hope is that he continues to build off this solid start.
The Huskies round out their bench with three more players who play between 25-35% of available minutes for the team. The one who plays most primarily is sophomore forward Benjamin Uloko (#32). Uloko is a 6'7" 265-pounder who can hang out down low and make things tough on the forwards of opposing teams. Last year Uloko played 12.8 minutes per game and averaged 5.4 points and three rebounds on nearly 57% shooting (he only took two threes last year, making them both). This season he is five-for-thirteen (38.5%) and going for 3.3 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. He is still young and learning, which is great for the Huskies. He may be called up in this game to match up with Isaiah Livers at the four if Dalton struggles with the size and strength of the power forward.
Rounding out this preview are those other two pieces: Jackson Stent (#3), a 6'8" senior forward from New Zealand who has played 30% of available of minutes, and Philip McKenzie (#13), a 6'5" junior forward from the Bahamas who has played 26.7% of minutes. Stent has a similar story to Dalton as he spent a redshirt season at D1 Nicholls before playing a pair of seasons at Casper College in Wyoming. Stent saw 12.6 minutes per game in 29 appearances last season with a 45.6% FG% (just under 36% from three). He is a lanky bench presence but is just four-for-ten shooting on the season, going one-for-six from three. McKenzie is zero-for-four shooting on the season but his value comes on the defensive and rebounding end. He is grabbing 3.7 rebounds per game in his limited time and finished with an average of 4.1 boards per game last season as a part-time starter.
Pre-Game Thoughts:
This should be a fun game to watch. Michigan will really have to deal with DuBose and Gates both as threats, but also with neither of them being a true point guard. The man to watch throughout the game is Adrien Nunez. While David DeJulius gets the lion's share of minutes in the rotation at Nunez's expense, Nunez will still need to play at least 10-15 minutes. I would expect those minutes to be spent on Jalon Gates since he is purely a shooting threat and the idea would be to have Nunez chase him around the perimeter and get through screens. Once DeJulius checks in, though, then there becomes flexibility in him, Eli Brooks, and Zavier Simpson in covering DuBose, Gates, and Myles Pierre over the three guard positions. At forward, you need Jon Teske to continue taking care of business against Ryan Gomes. I would also like to see Brandon Johns Jr. make a strong impact in this game. His strength and size over Ty Dalton seems to me that it could be a decent offensive match-up for him, though defensively he may need to step into another gear and stand firm against his drives.
Follow me on Twitter @RMAB_Ryan for plenty more college basketball coverage, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and Liverpool FC coverage as well!
Houston Baptist -- An Overview:
HBU is 0-3 to open the season with a tough season-opening loss to Tulsa followed by double-digit losses to Oral Roberts and Texas Tech. HBU has had chances in the second halves of games -- they were up six on Tulsa with 13:50 to play and were tied with Oral Roberts with around ten minutes to play -- but have been unable to close out games. Through their first three games, they have given up 92.7 points per game, which is 351st in the country as of the time of writing. They are a team that historically under long-time head coach Ron Cottrell has let teams score plenty on them while trying to match them. Last season they finished 19th with 82.2 points per game but allowed 82.8 points per game, 349th in the country. The last time they finished outside the bottom-100 of points allowed per game was the 2012-13 season. Interestingly enough, given their level of points per game last year, they only put up 588 threes last season which was 323rd in the nation. They allowed, however, a dangerous combination of 618 threes (34th in the country) to the tune of a 40.1% clip for opponents, which was second-worst in the country. They play an open style and at time of writing are the fourth-highest-tempo team in the country with 77.4 possessions per game. This could be another fast-paced affair for the Wolverines.
Starting Five:
The main man for HBU is Ian DuBose (#0). DuBose was named to the Second Team All-Southland Conference last season and was a pick by the coaches and Blue Ribbon Yearbook as a Preseason All-Southland Team selection as the lone non-senior of the five-man first team. DuBose is a jack-of-all-trades who does everything very well. He is a quintessential 'star' player. He takes a ton of shots (356 attempts last season, 235 from two, 121 from three) and gets to the line a bunch (157 free throw attempts as a sophomore) while stuffing the stat line (seventeen points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists per game last season). This year has been much more of the same, though with some caveats. With the explosion of Jalon Gates as a bonafide number two shooting-primarily/only option, DuBose's 21.1% mark from behind the arc, down from shooting 43.8% from three last year, has not been as much of a blow as it may have been. He is averaging 6.7 rebounds per game and 16.3 points, but has seen a drop to just two per game so far -- helped greatly by Myles Pierre playing an out-and-out point guard role with the Huskies. He has gotten to the line 22 times already and has made an impressive 17 of those (77.3%). DuBose is also one of the better defenders for the Huskies, which is huge when considering they lost Southland All-Defensive Team selection Braxton Bonds to graduation after last season. He has been a double-figure scorer every year in his HBU career and he is hoping to maintain that through his upperclassman seasons.
While DuBose's historical output speaks for itself, the best player to this point in the season has been Jalon Gates (#22). The senior guard stands 6'0" and has been making a splash in his move to the starting five as a full-time starter for the first time in his career. Gates is out to an early PORPAGATU! lead for the Huskies with a 6.1, the early standout of the team. He is a three-point sniper who made 75 threes as a sophomore on 216 attempts (34.7%) and followed that up with 47 makes as a junior (32.4%). He only averaged a shade over thirteen minutes per game, but because of his ability to hit threes, he averaged 8.8 points per game. This was similar to his sophomore year where he averaged 11.5 points per game over 18.5 minutes per game. Currently, he is averaging 20.7 points per game thanks to a 42.4% three-point percentage (14-for-33). He is shooting triple the number of threes to twos, but he does have a mid-range game that he can turn to as well. That said, he is on the court for his ability to shoot and that alone. His career-high in rebounds is 1.4 per game. His career-high in assists is just half an assist per game. Despite being the shortest starter on the court, he has to be supplemented by a true point guard given his skillset being best suited for off-the-ball play.
Ty Dalton (#10) is a junior transfer from Colby Community College and has been averaged thirty minutes a game thus far in his second season with HBU. The 6'4" guard/forward spent a year as a redshirt with Akron before jumping to Colby where he was an all-around threat. Dalton is liked by HBU for his ability to play multiple positions, defend well, and rebound. He is averaging 9.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, three assists, and 2.7 steals per game. Essentially, he is a good glue guy to have on the court. Dalton gets to the rim well, as emphasized by a solid 64% at the rim in D1 games. This season, though, he has lowered his attempts per game early to compensate for Gates and DuBose's output. Dalton is three-for-five from three early and is 60% (nine-for-fifteen) from the field overall. He was also a 78.4% free throw shooter last season but despite getting to the line already fifteen times (second-most on the team) he has made just eight for a 53.3% clip. It has been a pretty big jump up to a number three option on the team (though not as big as Gates's to a number two option) and he has done well to reward the faith.
The Huskies also have a true point guard in true freshman Myles Pierre (#4) out of Charlotte, North Carolina. Pierre was a high school teammate of a man the Wolverines already played, Appalachian State freshman Donovan Gregory. Pierre is 6'2" and scored over 1,000 points with Carmel Christian. Expectations were high as Cottrell told Blue Ribbon, "We expected him to be on the floor from day one for us." Pierre has been solid out of the gates but is taking time to adjust to the collegiate game and pace. He is averaging 5.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game, but that is also coming with 5.3 turnovers per game. He is shooting 31.8% from the field which is primarily from two as he looks to get to the rim. He is one-for-five (20%) from three, but his job won't be to take threes so the five attempts are not something to really think much about. He struggled with seven assists against Texas Tech, but as a freshman going up against very solid D1 sides he is gaining valuable learning experience right out of the gates.
Rounding out the starting five is another transfer, Ryan Gomes (#50) from Mount St. Mary's. Gomes is a 6'10" junior center who sat out last season as a sit-one, play-two transfer. Gomes was a part-time starter as a sophomore and made an NCAA Tournament as a freshman giving him some valuable experience for this Huskies team. Coach Ron Cottrell likes his ability to run the floor and he also had a solid mid-range game to stretch opposing centers as well. He's averaging five points and three rebounds early on 40% (six-for-fifteen) shooting. Despite being a part-time starter at Mount St. Mary's he only averaged 10.7 minutes per game that season. This year he is at nineteen minutes even per game. He will be Jon Teske's match-up and may look to stretch the floor on Teske hoping to hit a couple baseline or elbow jumpers to force Teske to cover him out there.
Bench Rundown:
The key sixth man for the Huskies at this point in the season has been sophomore Qon Murphy (#2). Murphy is a 6'5" guard who is seeing a jump up in both minutes and expectations this season. As a freshman, Murphy played in just 21 games and averaged under ten minutes a game. His shooting percentage was also low as he shot just 26.5% from the field and 23.1% (6-for-26) from three. In his sophomore season, he has greatly improved already as the key minutes-getter off the bench. He is seeing the fifth-most minutes on the team and averaging nine points even on 37.9% shooting. His two-point percentage is up modestly -- up to 33.3% from 28.6% -- but he is on a hot start from three to start the year going five-for-eleven (45.5%) including a strong six-for-nine night against Oral Roberts complete with fourteen points and two-for-two from three. During his freshman year, he had never had a night of back-to-back multi-three nights and he has already hit that with his last two games. The hope is that he continues to build off this solid start.
The Huskies round out their bench with three more players who play between 25-35% of available minutes for the team. The one who plays most primarily is sophomore forward Benjamin Uloko (#32). Uloko is a 6'7" 265-pounder who can hang out down low and make things tough on the forwards of opposing teams. Last year Uloko played 12.8 minutes per game and averaged 5.4 points and three rebounds on nearly 57% shooting (he only took two threes last year, making them both). This season he is five-for-thirteen (38.5%) and going for 3.3 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. He is still young and learning, which is great for the Huskies. He may be called up in this game to match up with Isaiah Livers at the four if Dalton struggles with the size and strength of the power forward.
Rounding out this preview are those other two pieces: Jackson Stent (#3), a 6'8" senior forward from New Zealand who has played 30% of available of minutes, and Philip McKenzie (#13), a 6'5" junior forward from the Bahamas who has played 26.7% of minutes. Stent has a similar story to Dalton as he spent a redshirt season at D1 Nicholls before playing a pair of seasons at Casper College in Wyoming. Stent saw 12.6 minutes per game in 29 appearances last season with a 45.6% FG% (just under 36% from three). He is a lanky bench presence but is just four-for-ten shooting on the season, going one-for-six from three. McKenzie is zero-for-four shooting on the season but his value comes on the defensive and rebounding end. He is grabbing 3.7 rebounds per game in his limited time and finished with an average of 4.1 boards per game last season as a part-time starter.
Pre-Game Thoughts:
This should be a fun game to watch. Michigan will really have to deal with DuBose and Gates both as threats, but also with neither of them being a true point guard. The man to watch throughout the game is Adrien Nunez. While David DeJulius gets the lion's share of minutes in the rotation at Nunez's expense, Nunez will still need to play at least 10-15 minutes. I would expect those minutes to be spent on Jalon Gates since he is purely a shooting threat and the idea would be to have Nunez chase him around the perimeter and get through screens. Once DeJulius checks in, though, then there becomes flexibility in him, Eli Brooks, and Zavier Simpson in covering DuBose, Gates, and Myles Pierre over the three guard positions. At forward, you need Jon Teske to continue taking care of business against Ryan Gomes. I would also like to see Brandon Johns Jr. make a strong impact in this game. His strength and size over Ty Dalton seems to me that it could be a decent offensive match-up for him, though defensively he may need to step into another gear and stand firm against his drives.
Follow me on Twitter @RMAB_Ryan for plenty more college basketball coverage, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and Liverpool FC coverage as well!
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