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North Dakota at ORU


theeagleman5

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North Dakota coming to Mabee Center for the first time at 6-8 on the season....they don't appear to be very good having lost 7 of the past 9 and they haven't beaten anybody decent......this is a real chance for ORU to get off to a 2-0 start in the Summit which would be quite a surprise for many of us considering the start of this season....TheEagleman still needs to do more analysis before making a prediction but hopefully the Good Guys didn't party too hard last night and are preparing for the Fighting Hawks this afternoon at the ORU practice facility.....GO BLUE!...:tb-white:

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North Dakota had a rough first game in their new league losing by 12 at home to IPFW.  One would have to imagine that their coach got on them after the holiday break and they may come out playing inspired ball.  ORU needs to improve at home because so far they are 0-3 at home against Division 1 teams.  By the way, Happy New Years and God bless to everyone on this sports forum in 2019!

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1 hour ago, Keenan Henderson said:

By the way, Happy New Years and God bless to everyone on this sports forum in 2019!

Thanks for the new year's wishes - right back atcha, to you and everyone else who makes the ORU message board one of the best around.

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Image result for merry christmas poems for friends

May this year 2019 be a blessing as we look forward with encouragement and forget the past of 2018. We at ORU have so much to be thankful!

ORU GRAD

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Yes....Happy New Year to all on the ORU board....this is truly a fun place to hang around....and hopefully the Good Guys will bless us with a win over ND to start 2019.....with freshman newcomers Weaver and Obanor to go along with E-Man....ORU may actually be the favorite in this game....I would expect a very close line....probably just a point or two either way.....TheEagleman has his hopes up for better things in the next two months.....:tb-blue:

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Coming off a great conference road win, I really hope to see ORU carry that momentum and capitalize at home against what seems to be an even opponent.

KenPom has ORU ranked #292 and ND at #285. His analytics have ORU's chances of winning at 62%, with a final score prediction of 73-70. Those certainly aren't very convincing numbers, and as much as I want to say ORU will come out and get an easy win, I just don't think this team is there yet.

Maybe another close game that is decided in the last minute or two, ending with an ORU win could be a good thing for this team to continue to build some confidence.

Or, maybe a double digit win would be a better positive builder.

I think this game may just come down to who makes their free thows....

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The zone that ORU has been having some success with of late appears to have given the team something that's been sorely lacking:  an identity.

I've been surprised how well they rebound out of it.  Scott Sutton used to always say he hated to play zone because he thought it hurt the defensive rebounding numbers, though I was always under the impression zones were supposed to help in that regard.

Maybe it just boils down to who is running (and coaching?) the zone in the first place...

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It will be interesting to see how Summit teams try to match-up against the zone, especially the second time they see us.  I certainly hope we are prepared to make adjustments if opponents figure out how to exploit it.  You can't be a "one-trick pony", even in a low-major conference.

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6 hours ago, TrueBlue82 said:

It will be interesting to see how Summit teams try to match-up against the zone, especially the second time they see us.  I certainly hope we are prepared to make adjustments if opponents figure out how to exploit it.  You can't be a "one-trick pony", even in a low-major conference.

Right, I remember we won our first 2 or 3 conference games last season but once teams had some time to prepare for us, they lit up the zone. I do think the added length makes a difference. We only have two players under 6’3 getting minutes and our opponents are struggling to shoot over the top. Kerwin Smith has done a pretty good job of getting to the corners when the ball is moved around quickly. We didn’t have that last year with Owens and Miller.

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As for comparisons with last season, I think it really helps to have a rim protector like Kerwin Smith in the paint.  Makes it hard for teams to go inside-out or drive to the basket against the zone.

Last year's zone was a donut:  nothing in the middle.

This year is more like a danish, with cream cheese filling.

Or a bearclaw, or maybe even one of those big ol' fried cinnamon rolls.

(Can you tell I haven't had breakfast yet??) 🍩🍩🍩🍩😋

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Having Weaver & Lacis on the wings is helpful. I think the guys are getting used to playing together in the zone; there seems to be more movement.

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Here is a link to North Dakota stats for the season so far:

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/north-dakota/2019.html

They are 6-8 with wins against Northland, Milwaukee (2x), MN-Morris, Concordia and Maryville St. They have lost their last three games: Marquette (26), Northern Iowa (2) and IPFW (11).

North Dakota shoots 53.0% from the field (35.9% 3-pt) and 70.6% from the free throw line. They average 14.9 turnovers per game and 14.4 assists.

 

Their top three players are:

Seales (6'4"):  13.0 ppg (50% fg and 20% 3-pt) with 4.4 rpg and 2.2 TO's

Stewart (6'3"):  11.3 ppg (40.6% fg and 27.3% 3-pt) with 4.3 assist and 2.3 TO's

Avants (6'7"):  10.8 ppg (59.2% fg) with 5.6 rpg and 2.1 TO's

 

Against IPFW, they had a couple of bench players do well:

Moody (6'3"):  21 pts (35% fg and 16% from 3-pt line; 6/16) with 6 rebounds

Walter (6'8"):  18 pts  (42.9% fg and 40% from 3-point line; 2/4) with 8 rebounds

 

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This is a real test for ORU because it's a game we SHOULD win.....UND isn't that good with 4 of 6 wins over non-D1 schools and their 2 D-1 wins are over Milwaukee who stinks.....but nothing is ever easy for the Golden Eagles.....thought we would beat FGCU also....and look how that turned out....TheEagleman has no feel for this game at all.....any prediction will be a shot in the dark.....😜.....PS....another big game on Thurs. night is SDSU at Fort Wayne....that's a dandy.....could be the best shot for the Jacks to lose a Summit League game.....:sdsu:

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ORU Hosts League Newcomer North Dakota Thursday
 

TULSA, Okla. – The Oral Roberts men's basketball team will host North Dakota, who is in its first year as a member of The Summit League, Thursday night.

Thursday's game will tip off from the Mabee Center at 7 p.m. and will be streamed exclusively at ORUAthletics.com. Adam Hildebrandt's radio call of the game can be heard on The Franchise at 107.9 FM and 1270 AM, and online at TheFranchiseOk.com.

Scouting the Opponent
• Cortez Seales (13.0 ppg) lead a trio of scorers averaging double figures for the Fighting Hawks. Marlon Stewart (11.3 ppg) and Edmond, Oklahoma, native Conner Avants (10.8 ppg) are also averaging double digits.

• North Dakota enters the game 0-1 in the Summit League after falling 84-73 at home to Purdue Fort Wayne last Saturday, in a game that was postponed a day due to inclement weather.

read the rest at ORUAthletics.com
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Early line has ORU by three, which sounds  about right. It’s been a while since we’ve been favored.  Students won’t be back in campus yet, but that probably doesn’t significantly impact attendance anyway.  I expect a tight game throughout, but the Eagles to both win and beat the spread.  

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I’ve got us by 5 or 6 tomorrow as well. Should be a close game that we can hopefully squeak out in the end. I think this is a big test for coach. Last year we got blown out by EVERYBODY after they had a little tape on us. Can he continue to win games now that opponents have a scouting report or was Sunday a fluke? In the early stages of the season I was worried he didn’t have what it takes to coach up a team. I really have seen drastic improvement from then, and a 2-0 start to conference play would be a fantastic surprise after the way we looked the first few games.

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ORU's win at Omaha looking even better tonight because the Mavericks crushed NDSU tonight....ya gotta believe....😛

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20 minutes ago, EagleManiac said:

I’ve got us by 5 or 6 tomorrow as well. Should be a close game that we can hopefully squeak out in the end. I think this is a big test for coach. Last year we got blown out by EVERYBODY after they had a little tape on us. Can he continue to win games now that opponents have a scouting report or was Sunday a fluke? In the early stages of the season I was worried he didn’t have what it takes to coach up a team. I really have seen drastic improvement from then, and a 2-0 start to conference play would be a fantastic surprise after the way we looked the first few games.

That's the big question. Hopefully there are some situational options in the zone that can be used to mix things up a bit.

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