HardingSports.com game summary
Matt Hall had 35 points in a close season-opening game to lead the newly-21st-ranked Harding men’s team. Sadly, I didn’t get to hear much of the radio broadcast, since it cut out on me for good at about the 7-minute mark in the first half. It apparently turned out to be a pretty exciting one, after reading the game summary. Rick Hamilton missed a free-throw that might have won it for the Bisons, but it was all good in the end.
Here’s how the game went down according to the keys:
| HU | SEU | +/- | ||
| Eff | 112.2 | 107.0 | 5.2 | Actual net efficiency |
| TS% | 65.8 | 54.8 | 0.110 | |
| OR% | 33.3% | 29.5% | 0.038 | |
| TR | 20.0 | 13.3 | -0.067 | |
| 7.4 | Predicted net efficiency |
That’s some efficient shooting for the Bisons, led again by Hall, who shot just 50% from the field but made 14 of 18 free throws, making for a great night. Rick Hamilton, Cole Kee, and true frosh Trent Morgan joined hall as double-digit scorers. Morgan led the team with seven assists, while Hall’s 8 rebounds were the most by any Bison.
Here are the stats you don’t typically see in the box score:
| ## | Player Name | MIN | GS | GS/M | TS% | PPR | AR | TR | RR |
| 14 | Andrepont, Patrick.. | 13 | 1.9 | 0.146 | 44.4 | -15.4 | 0.0 | 18.2 | 18.7% |
| 30 | Hall, Matt………. | 42 | 31.1 | 0.740 | 62.7 | 0.8 | 6.5 | 3.2 | 11.6% |
| 42 | Thies, Jacob…….. | 11 | -1.3 | -0.118 | 100.0 | -27.3 | 0.0 | 75.0 | 11.1% |
| 12 | Bibb, Reggie…….. | 13 | -3.5 | -0.269 | 0.0 | -30.8 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 4.7% |
| 50 | Sims, Brandon……. | 4 | 1.3 | 0.325 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0% |
| 4 | Kee, Cole……….. | 34 | 12.0 | 0.353 | 82.5 | 0.0 | 23.3 | 15.5 | 8.9% |
| 15 | Hamilton, Rick…… | 31 | 12.8 | 0.413 | 88.9 | -6.5 | 19.4 | 25.9 | 13.7% |
| 22 | Barnett, Steven….. | 30 | 4.0 | 0.133 | 51.5 | 0.0 | 33.8 | 22.5 | 8.1% |
| 32 | Morgan, Trent……. | 36 | 9.8 | 0.272 | 55.6 | 7.4 | 38.9 | 11.1 | 6.8% |
| 34 | Bynum, Jesse…….. | 6 | -0.4 | -0.067 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0% |
| 40 | Wise, Jordan…….. | 5 | 0.2 | 0.040 | 100.0 | -6.7 | 33.3 | 33.3 | 0.0% |
From left to right, those are the game score (quick calculation of aggregate performance), game score per minute, true shooting percentage (takes threes and free throws into account better than FG%), pure point rating, assist ratio, turnover ratio, and rebound rate.
A few quick thoughts:
1. The Barnett-Bibb combo still isn’t producing much, but if Trent Morgan can distribute like he did last night, that might not matter. Seven assists is great, especially for someone who’s not even playing the point.
2. Rick Hamilton’s seven boards are pretty impressive, especially for a guy his size. The Bisons may need something like that out of a guard, since they’ll have to throw out a small lineup a lot.
3. Cole Kee made his shots. If he’s shooting well, he can be another offensive weapon for Harding this season, but if he takes bad shots like he has in the past, that could turn a potent offense into something not so great.
Overall, I’m impressed with Harding’s performance against a solid D-II team. This afternoon at 4PM central, they’ll face Heartland Conference doormat Incarnate Word. Hopefully they’ll have their legs back under them after a short turnaround.
On a side note, I’m trying to get a stats page functional this weekend, and I’ll probably be messing around with the site some. So, if you visit later and some things mysteriously aren’t working properly, let me know.
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