WSU vs North Carolina Central

[blackandgold]

NCCU looks like a team that could be overlooked but shouldn't. They beat North Carolina State in overtime. North Carolina State pretty much manhandled Tennessee last night. NCCU is lead by senior guard Jeremy Ingram who is averaging 23 ppg. They also have a +5 rebound advantage per game for the season. Look to be very solid.

[Bluzrover]

My question is: does Marshall sit Baker this game? Is he confident in his bench enough to allow Ron to get healthy for conference play?

[kcshocker11]

My question is: does Marshall sit Baker this game? Is he confident in his bench enough to allow Ron to get healthy for conference play?

no

[kcshocker11]

WU 83
NCC 71

[Play Angry]

Two Final Fours 86,
Zero Tournament Bids 61

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

This game is the new normal for WSU over the next 2 months. Regular games where WSU is a significant favorite, but not cupcakes like Chicago State. The strength of WSU's resume on selection sunday is now about how well WSU can avoid meltdowns. Hopefully we don't see any games where 5 different guys decide to go cold shooting or anything crazy like that.

[1972Shocker]

My question is: does Marshall sit Baker this game? Is he confident in his bench enough to allow Ron to get healthy for conference play?

No reason to at this point unless the tweaking of his ankle in the 2nd half at Alabama was more than just a tweak. He will get some decent rest for the ankle this week and then we have a full week between the NCC and Davidson games. I expect and hope Ron will be in the starting lineup.

I think this will be a tougher game than many Shocker fans are expecting. Hopefully, the Shocks will be energized with the return to Koch Arena for a game.

We had Carl, Ron and Evan in the lineup last year when we played these guys and road a big 1st half to a 71-57 win. However, NCC did outscore the Shocks in the 2nd half 39-35. So I don't expect their guys to be in awe of the Koch Arena atmosphere.

Right now NCC is a Top 100 RPI team although they are projected to finish the year around 150 in the RPI.

NCC only lost on the road to Cincy by 7 and they knocked of NC State on the road but they did lose a 6-point game at Ooey-Pooey.

They should do very well in the MEAC. Unfortunately, the MEAC as a conference is ranked 31st (dead last among conference RPI ratings).

NCC has good size and a lot of experience in their Top 8 guys. They shoot a very good 74.2% from the line as a team and having been getting about 25 attempts per game on average. 3 of their 7 wins have been in OT. 2 wins have been Non-D1 opponents.

Probably Starters:

Jeremy Ingram, 6-3 175 Sr, 23.2 PPG, 4.3 RPG
Alfonso Houston, 6-3 190 Sr, 12.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG
Emanuel Chapman, 6-1 160 Sr., 5.2 PPG, 5.1 RPG
Jay Copeland, 6-7 255 R-Jr, 8.3 PPG, 6.2 RPG
Karamo Jawara, 6-8 220 Jr, 7.7 PPG, 5.3 RPG

Top Reserves:
Jordan Parks, 6-7 200 Jr, 10.3 PPG, 6.8 RPG
Reggie Groves, 6-2 190 R-Sr, 7.2 PPG, 2.6 RPG
Ebuka Anyaorah, 6-4 194, R-Sr, 6.8 PPG, 2.3 RPG

I am not seeing anything about this game that leads me to believe this is going to be easy.

[Cdizzle]

Right now NCC is a Top 100 RPI team although they are projected to finish the year around 150 in the RPI.

Another way to look at them is as a team that could very well finish 2nd in the Valley.

[lemuel777]

Have you looked at NCC's schedule? Pretty weird.
Dec 18th Winthrop
Dec 22nd Wichita State
Dec 31st Maryland

[MadaboutWu]

Have you looked at NCC's schedule? Pretty weird.
Dec 18th Winthrop
Dec 22nd Wichita State
Dec 31st Maryland

Nice catch. The WSU coaching carousel reunion tour.

[im4wsu]

Comparative Stats from StatSheet

This makes it look like we better win it with out defensive superiority.

[shox1989]

This is going to be a tough opponent. Shocks 69 NCCU 63

[ShockTalk]

This makes it look like we better win it with out defensive superiority.

Our "numbers versus" looked a lot better against Tennessee and Alabama, even the defensive margin.

[Cdizzle]

Our "numbers versus" looked a lot better against Tennessee and Alabama, even the defensive margin.

That is probably because NCCU is a better team than Tennessee and Alabama.

[im4wsu]

Here are some more tidbits:

Rank and Records	NCCU		WSU
RPI	#102		#12
Strength of Schedule	#289		#93
Overall	7-2		11-0
Conference	0-0		0-0
Home	4-0		6-0
Away	3-2		3-0
Top 25	0-0		0-0
RPI Top 50	0-0		1-0