Sorry for this being pretty late, but life is gonna life. Anyways, Tech fresh off of a victory over perennial juggernaut Bethune-Cookman finds itself going up against Southland foe NW State, another buy game staple for Tech. In all honesty, this one should not be any closer than the first game Tech played to open the season. NW State is in the second year of Rick Cabrera's tenure, and he has yet to find his footing. A former stud JUCO coach, Cabrera has really leaned into that avenue of player recruitment and has a good number of JUCO players on the roster and barely any returners from the previous year. NW State wants to pressure, create turnovers and generally cause chaos on defense. Which is fine in theory but in reality, has left them overextended regularly and given opponents a layup line at the basket more often than not. On Offense they will work in a ton of ball screens. This is not a good team and Tech should roll.
NW State by the numbers:
- 324th per Kenpom
- 305th on offense
- 329th on defense
- 348th per Torvik
- 337th on offense
- 347th on defense
- 340th per Haslametrics
- 344th on offense
- 330th on defense
Players to know:
- Addison Patterson - Wing, 6'7 205 - Patterson is a big bodied wing transfer from the JUCO ranks who is a former top 100 recruit and is somehow only a junior after being a Freshman in 2019-20. He is by far the most talented player on the NW State roster and will initiate a ton of their offense. Patterson has good size for a wing and while not explosive he is a smooth athlete with plus body control. He will work out of both the post and in ball screens and has good ball skills for a wing of his size. Uses his body well and has good footwork and likes to work in the midrange/mid post areas of the court. Solid passer but can get tunnel vision and isn't a knock down shooter from deep. Quick hands defensively but not overly quick laterally.
- Love Bettis - Guard, 5'11 165 - Junior transfer from FAMU. He is a small waterbug type PG who is a bit frame limited. Very quick in short spaces but not overly explosive. Most dangerous as a shooter and has a quick/compact release. Works in screens both on and off ball. Off the dribble he wants to get to his jumper but will shoot the odd floater. Struggles with physicality. Pesky on defense but not a super impactful defender. Averaged 9.7 ppg, 1 apg and 1 rpg last year.
- Jon Sanders - Guard, 6'2 190 - Senior transfer from Coastal Carolina where he was a rotation piece. More penetration oriented than Bettis and not as reliant on his jumper. Sanders is not exceedingly quick but has a nice craft to his game and works in ball screens solidly. Average finisher and a solid passer who has a really nice crossover and step back into the mid range. Very bad shooter from deep and has a slow releasing lefty set shot. Averaged 7.2 ppg, 2.6 apg and 1 rpg last year.
- Jerald Colonel - Big, 6'9 200 - Junior JUCO transfer. Colonel is a twitchy, thin big with good length. Very raw on both ends but has good length and explosiveness. Tries to dunk everything and has a high motor. Solid shot blocker but finds himself out of position often and has a thin lower base. Very little offensive skill to speak of and will get all of his buckets off put backs or dump offs.
Keys to the game:
- Make FTs - Tech was a fantastic FT shooting team last year, an ability that served them well in tight spots. But they lost Pop and Joe T. who were there two main closers in that regard. Tech looked a bit shaky from the line in the first game so I would love to see them turn it around a bit.
- Clean basketball - NW State wants to make this messy. Tech was mostly fine in the TO column in the first game but got a bit careless at times. Need to tighten that up a bit.
- Ball Screen Defense - This was borderline awful for stretches against BC.... NW State works in a ton of ball screens so I will be watching to see if this has tightened up at all.
