Harding won their first home game of the season last night, 68-55 over the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers. This game was hardly true to form for a Bisons win, which is typically characterized by hot shooting and consistent defense. In last night’s case, the Bisons outrebounded the comparatively unathletic Chargers by about 33% and turned the ball over a third less. Personally, I think this is how the Bisons will have to win games against tough teams, because I’m not sure they can rely on consistent scoring from anyone other than Matt Hall.
Hall was again the leader for the Bisons in scoring and rebounding, with 22 points and 8 boards to his credit. Patrick Andrepont, Brandon Sims, and Rick Hamilton all reached double digits in scoring, and now I’m curious as to what Hamilton plays like in person. I suppose that’s what I get for leaving Searcy after I graduated.
The point guard position was mostly invisible for the Bisons, which is only a bad thing if no one else performs. Other scorers stepped up in this game, so it wasn’t a problem. Barnett and Bibb continue to essentially split time, although I guess Barnett is the starter. The two combined for 5 points, 5 assists, and 3 turnovers, presumably distributing the ball adequately enough.
Cole Kee shot a dismal 1-for-13 to pull down his PER to unspeakable levels. He missed all 8 of his 3-point attempts and will have to improve dramatically in order to remain a justifiable alternative in the player rotation. Jacob Thies only played nine minutes, picking up three fouls along the way, so the Bisons again played a mostly small lineup. Thankfully, it appears to work.
Here are the stats for the keys:
| UAH | HU | +/- | ||
| Eff | 90.8 | 108.2 | -17.4 | Actual net efficiency |
| TS% | 50.4 | 51.6 | -0.012 | |
| OR% | 26.7% | 40.5% | -0.139 | |
| TR | 17.8 | 12.8 | -0.050 | |
| -17.1 | Predicted net efficiency |
And the non-traditional player stats:
| ## | Player Name | MIN | GS | GS/M | TS% | PPR | AR | TR | RR | |
| 24 | Andrepont, Patrick | f | 19 | 6.5 | 0.342 | 71.4 | -5.3 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 3.1% |
| 30 | Hall, Matt | f | 32 | 16.6 | 0.519 | 72.9 | -8.3 | 9.5 | 19.0 | 14.9% |
| 42 | Thies, Jacob | c | 9 | -0.9 | -0.100 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 6.6% |
| 21 | Sims, Brandon | g | 28 | 14.0 | 0.500 | 78.6 | 8.3 | 38.5 | 7.7 | 12.7% |
| 22 | Barnett, Steven | g | 22 | 2.9 | 0.132 | 25.0 | 1.5 | 22.2 | 11.1 | 13.5% |
| 04 | Kee, Cole | – | 22 | -8.3 | -0.377 | 10.8 | -10.6 | 5.6 | 16.8 | 8.1% |
| 10 | Morgan, Kellen | – | 1 | 0.0 | 0.000 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0% |
| 12 | Bibb, Reggie | – | 17 | 2.1 | 0.124 | 25.0 | 11.8 | 42.9 | 0.0 | 7.0% |
| 15 | Hamilton, Rick | – | 27 | 11.7 | 0.433 | 63.6 | -2.5 | 14.9 | 14.9 | 13.2% |
| 32 | Morgan, Trent | – | 16 | 4.5 | 0.281 | 72.7 | 4.2 | 22.5 | 0.0 | 11.1% |
| 34 | Bynum, Jesse | – | 5 | -0.4 | -0.080 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0% |
| 40 | Howard, Brian | – | 2 | 0.0 | 0.000 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0% |
The Bisons will play again tonight at home against Ecclesia, an NCCAA (National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association, I think) Division II team. In other words, it should be an easy win. The Bisons lost their only previous game this season that was played on no days’ rest, but this one will clearly be different.
I’ll try to get season-to-date stats up today when I break for lunch.
jfwiii.net 
Hamilton appears to be a good addition for the Bisons. He can play on both ends and has good quickness – something missing in most of the scorers.
Kee is dangerous around the perimeter – dangerous to Harding. He has the size and is actually petty good in the paint. Geting him in there is apparently mission impossible.
Bibb and Barnett do work HARD on defense – wish they were shooters.
Thanks for the info on Hamilton. I’m hoping to see them play at UAH a week from Saturday and get a little better feel for the new players.
Those are pretty much my opinions on Kee, Bibb, and Barnett, too. Kee definitely plays around the perimeter too much and tends to settle for those outside shots when he could be going inside. As for the point guards, they do seem to work hard defensively, and hopefully they’re adding value on that end of the court. It’s awfully hard to measure defensive value in comparison to offense, so it’s much easier to see their weaknesses and overlook their strengths.