road trip

[rainbear14]

ok..now the road trip to the conferences biggest cities and the smallest gyms. Both are really bad and tough places to win. Sac St. is always a battle and they will slow it way down and make it a physical game.(beware of officials here too). Time for Akoh to keep his game up. Then to the rose city and game at divIII school (Lewis & Clark) as PSU gym is being remodeled. PSU plays an up tempo game and wants to run. Question, do the Griz try to keep up or do they attempt to slow the game up? Need at least a split..keep that defense attacking..Go Griz

 

[IdaGriz01]

ok..now the road trip to the conferences biggest cities and the smallest gyms. Both are really bad and tough places to win. Sac St. is always a battle and they will slow it way down and make it a physical game.(beware of officials here too). Time for Akoh to keep his game up. Then to the rose city and game at divIII school (Lewis & Clark) as PSU gym is being remodeled. PSU plays an up tempo game and wants to run. Question, do the Griz try to keep up or do they attempt to slow the game up? Need at least a split..keep that defense attacking..Go Griz

Don't know a lot about Sac State, other than that other people have said they are very physical. But, based on their record (and who they have played), this is a game the Griz should win. If Sac does go for a slow-paced game, then it will be important for the Griz to get off to a fast start ... sometimes slowdown teams have trouble coming from behind. I looked at the box scores for some of their games and noticed that they seem to give up a lot of steals ... so I checked and they're ranked #212 (out of 351) in turnovers per game (13.8). The Griz D could have a field day ... if the refs let them play.

Portland State is a whole different kettle of fish. They'll be tough, no question. I noticed that they do dip into their bench quite a bit. Those guys don't seem to contribute a lot of points ... but, together, they get a lot of minutes. For example, against Loyola Marymount (a game they won), four bench guys got over 80 min of PT. Against EWU (a loss), five bench guy got nearly 70 min of PT. By comparison, the Griz bench typically gets 50-60 min (or less). Bottom line: Probably not a good idea to try to run with them. The usual formula for the Griz -- aggressive D -- looks like a good approach ... don't let them get out for fast trips down the floor, then force them to work for their shots.

 

[Jaredkuehn]

I was shocked to hear that Decuire has yet to win at Sac St. I know its a tough place to play, but I would have guessed the Griz had won down there in the past few years. They are due for a win at the Hornets nest.

PSU definitely presents some challenges, but I'm still not convinced they are as good as they were made out to be in the pre-conference. A tough game for sure, but winnable in my opinion.

Snagging a few road wins will be important this year. I hope the Griz play with the chemistry, confidence and intensity we've seen as of late.

 

[EverettGriz]

Winning two of the next 3 would be enormous. Let's get it started tonight.