SLU 60, Bradley 57: Game Six

SLU hit some big threes in the final minute and shot well throughout, beating Bradley 60-57 in the consolation game of the Corpus Christi Coastal Classic holiday tournament.  The Billikens improve to 2-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play 🙂

Lineups

Starters:

  • Austin McBroom
  • Ash Yacoubou
  • Marcus Bartley
  • Reggie Agbeko
  • Brent Jolly

In the wake of the shellacking SLU took Friday, changes were inevitable.  And if the goal was staying out of an early hole, it was a success.  SLU never led in the first half, but was within four at 22-18 thirteen minutes in.  Compare that to the same point one day prior  — down 33-18 to Mississippi St.

Changes to the starting lineup have been a constant.  Since Starting Is For High School (TM), the intrigue is in overall minutes.  And this was the biggest departure from the first five.

Minutes Leaders (non-starters in Bold):

  • McBroom (35)
  • Jolly (32)
  • Agbeko (26)
  • Yacoubou (23)
  • Yarbrough (23)
  • Bartley (22)

Going into this game, SLU was #2 in the country in Bench Minutes, trailing only #1 Kentucky and far ahead the rest of the country.  As has been well-discussed, Kentucky is employing a Two Platoon system with two complete and separate five-man lineups swapping in and out wholesale.

SLU had arrived at #2 by employing a Safecracker approach, as Coach Jim Crews twisted the dial back-and-forth looking for combinations that would click.  Twelve guys playing double-digit minutes each. As Stu noted late, this Game Six was different:

 

We have not seen the last of Davell Roby, Tanner Lancona, and John Manning, but with 11 starts among them thus far it was certainly noteworthy that all three were DNP-CD.

SLU Player Stats

(Definitions at bottom of post)

Data: www.kenpom.com
Data: www.kenpom.com

 

  • McBroom was dominant, accounting for 66% of the overall production.  He made his bid for all-tournament with a fantastic shooting performance and a solid floor game.
  • Yarbrough was the Minutes Leader among the non-starters, and made the most of his 23 minutes, perfect from the field and adding four rebounds
  • Jolly lightened the holiday season with a strong performance, the first time this season someone other than McBroom logged more than 30 minutes (32)
  • Career high eight points for Agbeko to go with four rebounds
  • With our first taste of a conventional distribution of minutes came a conventional problem: foul trouble (Bartley fouled out)
  • When your top guy goes for 40+ AdjGS, you can afford a few negative performances.  Call the 61 minutes shared among Yacoubou, Reynolds and Bartley and investment in the future.

Summary

This game was different from the first five.  Coach Crews played only 9 guys, and rode the starters most of the way.  We may find out this was a one-game correction after getting blown out by Mississippi St the day before, or the Safecracker might have decided a dozen moving gears is three too many.  With Grandy Glaze yet to play this season, there will be a myriad more combinations to try out.

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AdjGS:  variation on the Game Score metric created by John Hollinger, detailed here.  Hollinger’s original formula is Adjusted to reallocate the points in the game by ratio of the player’s overall impact.  Credit to the team at Rock M Nation for this improvement.

DNP-CD:  stands for “did not play – coach’s decision”.  A healthy, available player who sat out because the coach went with other players, not due to injury, suspension, etc.