In their 5th conference game the Dukes of JMU took on a struggling Drexel team in Philadelphia, PA. The Dukes seemed to undermine their opponent as they started off the game with 6 turnovers and allowed easy buckets in the paint. The Dukes struggled on offense due to a lack of penetration by our guards, particularly Ron Curry. The junior point guard was unable to drive and dish to shooters and post players for easy shots. Brady quickly turned to the bench for freshman Joey Mclean who made a huge impact on the game for the Dukes. Mclean was able to penetrate and get the ball to our bigs, especially Yohanny who dominated Drexel with his physicality and ability to finish in traffic. The Dukes spent the whole game in their zone which cause a lot of havoc on Drexel. The opponent could not get a shot off and often had to throw up a last second shot clock buzzer beater. The Dukes defense was really key to this win and I hope to see more physicality on offense for the remainder of the season.
Key Offensive Takeaways
Key Offensive Takeaways
- despite early struggles, the Dukes caught fire by penetration from PG Joey Mclean that lead to layups and open shots
- except for Dalembert, our bigs really struggled with catching balls close to the rim and left a lot of points on the floor from those mistakes
- 18 turnovers is unacceptable against good CAA teams but we were fortunate that Drexel didn't take advantage of our many mistakes
- Mclean and Dalembert's sparks of energy lead the Dukes back into the game: without their energy the Dukes could have very easily let Drexel run away with the game.
- the Dukes zone held Drexel to just 24% from the field and made it nearly impossible for them to get good looks
- the Dukes also did a good job rebounding in the zone which has been a big issue for them this season: they had a 38-29 rebounding advantage
- before the game I was nervous about how the Dukes would defend CAA leading scorer Damion Lee but their quick rotations held him to just 14 points; Lee was the only Drexel player to score over 10 points