SECOND HALF
FIRST HALF
PREGAME
FINAL ... Miami 73, Kent State 61
As is usually the case in a game like this one, the Flashes didn't have enough in the tank to battle back in the second half.
The run started a little too late, and then some questionable three-point shots on tired legs led to KSU going cold after pulling to within eight points.
Disappointing end to the home careers of Mark Henniger and Darren Goodson here at the M.A.C. Center. Would have liked to see them go out on a better note, although Henniger had a nice game with 11 points and a career-high four blocked shots in 26 minutes. Henniger also hit all four of his shots from the field and all three of his free throws.
K.K. Simmons was a big part of the comeback with 11 points – nine of them coming in the second half. He also had three steals in 19 minutes.
Manley led the way for KSU with 12 points in 29 minutes.
Felder was the best player on the floor, though. The Miami forward finished with 26 points on 10-for-18 shooting from the field and 6-of-7 from the line. He also grabbed nine rebounds in 38 minutes.
Flashes will need some help now to avoid going on the road for a first-round MAC Tournament game.
3:24 ... A 5-0 Miami run has helped Miami handle this Kent State run. The lead is back out to 13 points.
7:48 ... Another Miami timeout as Kent State has trimmed the RedHawks lead to just eight points on a Henniger layup.
Flashes trail 59-51. Hopefully they didn't dig themselves too deep a hole.
Since Miami jumped up 24, the KSU run is 18-3.
9:55 ... Flashes run continues ... another Simmons steal leads to a Jackson three... then two Henniger free throws.
Flashes down just 57-45.
10:43 ... Finally a little life for Kent State. A layup for a three-point play by Henniger. Then a steal in the backcourt for an easy Simmons layup. Flashes inch closer.
11:54 ... No run yet. Kent State trails 57-35 and time is running out.
The Flashes have to find a way to pressure the basketball and speed up the Miami offense.
Kent State is shooting just 3-for-10 from the field while Miami is 4-for-10.
Need 12 minutes of perfect basketball to get back in it.
15:50 ... Kent State has made up no ground in the first 4:10 of the second half.
As is usually the case in a game like this one, the Flashes didn't have enough in the tank to battle back in the second half.
The run started a little too late, and then some questionable three-point shots on tired legs led to KSU going cold after pulling to within eight points.
Disappointing end to the home careers of Mark Henniger and Darren Goodson here at the M.A.C. Center. Would have liked to see them go out on a better note, although Henniger had a nice game with 11 points and a career-high four blocked shots in 26 minutes. Henniger also hit all four of his shots from the field and all three of his free throws.
K.K. Simmons was a big part of the comeback with 11 points – nine of them coming in the second half. He also had three steals in 19 minutes.
Manley led the way for KSU with 12 points in 29 minutes.
Felder was the best player on the floor, though. The Miami forward finished with 26 points on 10-for-18 shooting from the field and 6-of-7 from the line. He also grabbed nine rebounds in 38 minutes.
Flashes will need some help now to avoid going on the road for a first-round MAC Tournament game.
3:24 ... A 5-0 Miami run has helped Miami handle this Kent State run. The lead is back out to 13 points.
7:48 ... Another Miami timeout as Kent State has trimmed the RedHawks lead to just eight points on a Henniger layup.
Flashes trail 59-51. Hopefully they didn't dig themselves too deep a hole.
Since Miami jumped up 24, the KSU run is 18-3.
9:55 ... Flashes run continues ... another Simmons steal leads to a Jackson three... then two Henniger free throws.
Flashes down just 57-45.
10:43 ... Finally a little life for Kent State. A layup for a three-point play by Henniger. Then a steal in the backcourt for an easy Simmons layup. Flashes inch closer.
11:54 ... No run yet. Kent State trails 57-35 and time is running out.
The Flashes have to find a way to pressure the basketball and speed up the Miami offense.
Kent State is shooting just 3-for-10 from the field while Miami is 4-for-10.
Need 12 minutes of perfect basketball to get back in it.
15:50 ... Kent State has made up no ground in the first 4:10 of the second half.
A layup by Kellon Thomas drawing a foul for a three-point play looked helped, but then the Flashes gave it right back seconds later when Thomas was slow on a back-door cut by Rollins, giving the RedHawks an easy layup and a three-point play of their own when Thomas whacked Rollins on the arm.
Miami has been sloppy in the second half, offensively, but Kent State isn't doing much on the other end, going 2-for-8 from the field with a turnover on the offensive end.
FIRST HALF
HALFTIME ... Miami 45, Kent State 25
Easily the worst half of basketball of the season ... and longer.
Kent State not doing much of anything right. Started out 2-for-2 from three, but missed the last six. Just 10-for-26 from the field. A total of 12 turnovers against just three assists.
Teams can be flat on senior night but this is as lifeless as I've seen a team.
Miami ends the half shooting 7-for-7 from three point range and 17-for-27 overall (63-pct).
The RedHawks need only one more three to match season high of eight in a game.
3:05 ... Nightmare continuing for Kent State.
RedHawks are 7-for-7 from three-point range. They are just a 29-percent three-point shooting team ... That's 11th out of 13 teams in the MAC.
7:24 ... Miami lead has swelled to 30-16. Kent State isn't doing much of anything right. Sloppy on offense. Not working hard enough on the defensive end, allowing too many second-chance points.
11:26 ... Easily the sloppiest start we've seen by Kent State. I've watched teams play tight on senior night, but this is starting to get scary as the Flashes have turned the ball over eight times.
Miami – an awful three-point shooting team – is 4-for-4 from the arc and 9-of-12 from the field. Twenty and 21-percent three-point shooters have hit from deep.
15:22 ... An extremely sloppy start to senior night for Kent State as seniors Darren Goodson and Mark Henniger have combined for three of the Golden Flashes' four early turnovers.
Easily the worst half of basketball of the season ... and longer.
Kent State not doing much of anything right. Started out 2-for-2 from three, but missed the last six. Just 10-for-26 from the field. A total of 12 turnovers against just three assists.
Teams can be flat on senior night but this is as lifeless as I've seen a team.
Miami ends the half shooting 7-for-7 from three point range and 17-for-27 overall (63-pct).
The RedHawks need only one more three to match season high of eight in a game.
3:05 ... Nightmare continuing for Kent State.
RedHawks are 7-for-7 from three-point range. They are just a 29-percent three-point shooting team ... That's 11th out of 13 teams in the MAC.
7:24 ... Miami lead has swelled to 30-16. Kent State isn't doing much of anything right. Sloppy on offense. Not working hard enough on the defensive end, allowing too many second-chance points.
11:26 ... Easily the sloppiest start we've seen by Kent State. I've watched teams play tight on senior night, but this is starting to get scary as the Flashes have turned the ball over eight times.
Miami – an awful three-point shooting team – is 4-for-4 from the arc and 9-of-12 from the field. Twenty and 21-percent three-point shooters have hit from deep.
15:22 ... An extremely sloppy start to senior night for Kent State as seniors Darren Goodson and Mark Henniger have combined for three of the Golden Flashes' four early turnovers.
Miami is up 12-5 in large part due to the turnovers and Kent State doing a very poor job of getting back in transition, including after the Flashes' own made baskets.
And the worst turnover of the night just came on the inbound pass as Brewer threw it right to a Miami player ... a 15-5.
PREGAME
Flashes will try to send them off on a good note and guarantee them one more home game on Monday in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
6:40 p.m. ... One of the reasons Miami came back to make the score respectable on Feb. 19 was pressure defense in the last 10 minutes forcing a glut of Kent State turnovers. The Flashes have experienced some difficulties with full-court pressure.
The good news, though, is Kent State should have a target number.
The Flashes are 3-0 in games in which they turn the ball over 19 times. I've never heard of a number like that.
Senderoff had a good sense of humor about the stat when I informed him of it, saying "well, we know what we have to get."
5:35 p.m. … Tonight is arguably the most important game of the year thus far for Rob Senderoff’s Golden Flashes.
The good news, though, is Kent State should have a target number.
The Flashes are 3-0 in games in which they turn the ball over 19 times. I've never heard of a number like that.
Senderoff had a good sense of humor about the stat when I informed him of it, saying "well, we know what we have to get."
5:35 p.m. … Tonight is arguably the most important game of the year thus far for Rob Senderoff’s Golden Flashes.
Kent State has a chance to secure a home game in Monday’s Mid-American Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament’s first round. With five wins needed to capture a title without claiming a bye, it is important for the Flashes to eliminate the pressure that would be created by a long travel day on Sunday and Monday before returning home to northeast Ohio for the start of the second round in Cleveland.
The Flashes should have some good feelings about tonight’s game against Miami considering the ease with which they dispatched of the RedHawks on Feb. 19 in Millett Hall. That game was not as close as the 75-63 score, considering Kent State led by 22 with 10:55 to play.
Of course, games are supposed to be easy when you shoot 15-for-26 from three-point range, as the Flashes did that night. That was Kris Brewer’s big 9-for-11, 7-for-7 from three-point range, 28-point effort. Devareaux Manley added 5-of-8 from the arc.
Manley has been on fire of late, making 61 percent of his threes (17-for-28) in the last four games.
Miami was just 3-of-9 from the arc in the loss to Kent State and isn’t much of a three-point threat. The RedHawks can hurt the Flashes the most by getting to the line, where they had a 28-attempt-to-7-attempt advantage in that earlier meeting.
Will Felder was a one-man show for Miami, scoring 23 points while going 6-for-9 from the field and 11-for-13 from the foul line. The 6-foot-7 senior is averaging 14 points and 6.7 rebounds per game while shooting 53-percent from the field this season.
Felder runs the floor hard to get easy baskets and is a good scorer from 17 feet and in. Mark Henniger and Khaliq Spicer will need to avoid biting on his pump fakes and sending him to the line, where he is shooting 82 percent this year on 115 attempts. He will also turn it over (4 times in the last meeting) if the Flashes give their bigs some help with dig downs from their guards.
Will Sullivan is the biggest threat from three-point range, where he is shooting 43 percent. Jaryd Eustace (32 percent off the bench) is the only other perimeter player on the team who makes better than 28 percent of his threes.
With Miami boasting only marginal size, the Flashes were effective moving the basketball in Oxford and not just settling for the quick three. In the last few weeks, Kent State has made a concerted effort to get the ball into the paint. Look for that continue tonight with threes coming on drive-and-kick and extra passes.
Miami is also one of the worst teams in the country in allowing second-chance points. Kent State scored just five second-chance points on nine offensive rebounds at Miami. Improving on that mark will be important tonight considering its hard to depend on shooting again at a 58-percent clip from the arc.
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