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Kenner League Recap: July 23, 2016

Isaac Copeland: 27 pts, 10-14 2pt, 4-5 ft, 1-7 3pt, 6 reb (1 off), 1 st, 4 to

-matched up with Darion Atkins (UVA) for much of the game

-Had some issues on D. Lost Atkins a few times in rebound/loose ball situations, resulting in some wide open outside shots. He did not contest/close out effectively on a number of jump shots throughout the first half, most of which the shooters knocked down. But in Isaac’s defense, his entire team played really poor D in the first half, so it was not always his fault that he was sometimes in bad defensive position

-Played very well in transition. Ran the court, attacked the basket and finished aggressively.

-Particularly good example: caught a pass on the run at mid court, and immediately recognized that the defense was scrambled. He attacked immediately, dribbling past/around a few defenders and finishing with a strong dunk in traffic

-made a good cut through the lane, caught the pass on the move, and finished.

-missed most of his threes. Took too many quick , contested pull up threes off the dribble, when he probably should have kept the ball moving so the offense could look for a better shot.

-had a good defensive play where he hustled back in transition D and stole the ball, leading to him catching a return pass and finishing with a dunk on the other end

Jonathon Mulmore: 9 pts, 2-3 2 pt, 5-6 ft, 0-2 3pt, 2 reb, 1 asst, 1 st, 2 to

-his team had a lot of guards who liked to shoot, so he ended up playing more of a facilitator role

-threw a few really nice bounce passes to the rolling screen man in the lane. He definitely has a good feel for some fairly creative passing on the PnR

-But he did try to do too much with his passing a few times, leading to a couple of sloppy turnovers

-Had a real nice finish +1, cutting under the rim to protect the ball from the defender and finishing with his left hand

Jagan Mosely: 9 pts, 2-7 2pt, 2-4 ft, 1-3 3pt, 3 reb (1 off), 4 asst, 2 st, 4 to

-Split 2 defenders off the PnR for a tough finish at the rim through contact. Absorbs contact very well on drives - very strong and solidly built.

-aggressive, but also quite under control when moving at high speed. He really shows his coordination/athleticism in these instances. most guys moving that fast don’t have as much body/ball control as Jagan

-grabbed a defensive board, looked right up and saw pryor just past midcourt. Immediately fired a pass to Pryor, who finished with a +1

-Best play: lob pass to Pryor in transition for a big dunk. Saw Pryor flying down the middle before they hit midcourt, and timed/placed the pass perfectly.

-really nice left handed post entry pass to Derrickson, leading into a Derrickson lefty jump hook in the lane.

-Generally moved the ball very well with his passing throughout the game

-Played solid D on Mulmore - did not let him get all the way to the rim very often, usually forced him to throw passes out to the perimeter when Mulmore was able to get into the lane

Rodney Pryor: 40 pts, 6-13 2pt, 10-13 ft, 6-10 3pt, 10 reb (3 off), 2 asst, 1 st

-On D: contested a jump shot, then bolted to the rim to grab the rebound of the miss. Always very active on defense, never just stands around

-Took a lot of tough jump shots. He makes a lot of them sometimes, but it would probably be wise for him to be at least a bit more selective with his jumper.

-Hit two really lucky 3s: one a bank from straight on, the other a real brick long that plopped down on the back of the rim and died before falling into the basket.

-Looks to attack in some way almost every time he touches the ball. hustles his butt off all over the floor all the time. He is really a lot of fun to watch because he plays so aggressively and so hard. Like Josh Hart in a way, but not nearly as reckless (some might replace "reckless" with "dirty" in that last sentence)

-Good touch pass to a teammate underneath for a basket. Made 3 or 4 other good passes that teammates did not finish successfully

-had back to back dunks in transition, once off the great lob pass from Mosely

-basically played PG a lot in the second half, initiating the offense

-Just a great all around performance. He clearly feels he has the complete "green light" in these games, because he is almost always hunting his shot. But he is good enough that this is exactly what he should be doing, and he does not do it in a selfish way. Makes plenty of good passes, consistently looks for open teammates. But if there is a sliver of space to attack the rim or get off his jumper, he is going for it.

Marcus Derrickson: 17 pts, 2-5 2pt, 1-2 ft, 4-6 3pt, 9 reb (3 off), 1 asst, 1 st, 2 bl, 1 to

-Had a couple of real nice blocks, smothering inside shot attempts

-was matched up with Kevin Marfo - a 6’8 235 pound freshman for GW. Mario is really, really strong, He has had a couple of games this summer where he completely overpowered his defender

-he could not do anything against Marcus. Pretty much every time he tried to power through/over Marcus - he was stuffed, stripped, or missed badly. Really strong defense against a powerful (though not particularly skilled) post player

-On offense - marcus did not post up much. Instead, he pulled Marfo away from the basket. Marfo usually gave him a lot of room, so he took quite a few threes, and hit a good % of them. Did take him off the dribble once or twice when margo tried to close harder on his outside shot

-Had a real nice play where he trailed a fast break in secondary transition, caught a pass at the top of the circle, and stepped right into an NBA length 3 that he nailed.

-best play: behind the back move from 18 feet, which opened up a driving lane for a lefty finish.

LJ Peak: 20 pts, 8-13 2 pt, 4-4 ft, 0-1 3pt, 3 reb, 3 asst, 2 st, 1 bl, 3 to

-Jumped a passing lane for a steal, leading to a transition finish with his left hand

-Had a spectacular help defense block, slamming the ball out of bounds

-Made a great cut to the hoop, caught a bounce pass from Govan, finished with a dunk

-Good PnR pass to Jesse cutting down the lane

-Threw a good pass out of a post double team to open 3 point shooter

-Posted his man up successfully a number of times when matched with a smaller defender

-Interesting to compare him to Pryor in the way they attack off the dribble: Pryor can change directions more quickly. Peak is more of a straight line driver, which leaves him trying some more difficult finishes than what Pryor is able to create. LJ is very good attacking off the dribble, and he has developed a nice eurostep as his main change of direction move. But Pryor is so quick and has so much bounce, plus he has a tighter handle than LJ.

-Played a bit more of a facilitator role in this game - passing from the post, drive/kick to open 3 point shooters off the dribble.

-hit a tough lefty drive in traffic with the game tied and 4 seconds left for the game winner. Got fouled and hit the foul shot to put his team up 3

Jessie Govan: 22 pts, 9-15 2pt, 1-3 ft, 1-1 3pt, 8 reb (3 off), 2 asst, 1 st, 3 bl, 3 to

-real strong game for Jessie vs. Mourning

-Called for a moving screen on a handoff on the game’s first possession. That caused a painful little flashback to last year!

-took Mourning off the dribble from the low post. Spun to his left hand to finish when Trey overplayed his right hand

-very good bounce pass to peak cutting through the lane

-Drove from the foul line directly into a help defender - was bailed out by what looked like a weak foul called on the defender

-Best play: crossover dribble at the foul line, then hit an awkward 10 foot step back/floater hybrid shot

-made an excellent pass on the run in transition - to LJ for a dunk

-hit a classic Nowitzki step back 8 footer just off the baseline

-used a very quick first step, spin to his right into a jump hook

-Was very aggressive in his post offense all game, using his size/strength to overpower Mourning consistently

-Called out picks on D all game. All of our bigs seem to be doing this much more consistently than in the past

-Stepped right into a secondary break 3 from the top of the circle - just like Marcus did earlier, but in a little closer

-was breathing hard in the second half (I think he played the entire game, or close to it), but continued to play hard and effectively. Sometimes Jessie gets real sloppy when he gets winded, so it was good to see him play well even though it looked like he was sucking some wind.

Trey Mourning: 8 pts, 3-10 2pt, 2-2 ft, 0-1 3pt, 6 reb (2 off), 1 bl, 3 to

-Could not handle Jessie’s size/strength on either end

-Hit a nice pick and pop 17 foot jumper early in the game

-had a bad turnover : holding the ball with his back to the basket at the foul line, he did not feel a second defender coming up behind him who stole the ball and went the other way for an easy layup at a key moment late in the game. Another of the kind of turnover we saw far too often from our bigs last year.

-with 14 seconds left he initiated a good baseline drive, and hit Cameron cutting to the basket. Reggie got fouled just before the shot clock sounded, and hit the first foul shot to tie the game, but then missed the 2nd foul shot.

Reggie Cameron: 11 pts, 2-5 2pt, 1-2 ft, 2-3 3pt, 6 reb (2 off), 1 asst, 1 st, 1 bl

-probably Reggie’s best game of the summer. Hit his first 3 jumpers (2 of them were threes)

-had a good pump fake and drive for a plus 1 finish

-good steal on a 2-1 break, reading LJ and dropping off him to defend the lob pass Peak was throwing to the streaking wing player

-had a nice block on help defense.

Other notes:

-Hayes was on the bench with DCX, but did not play. He played (and apparently played well) on friday night, and there was no obvious sign of injury (e.g. cast, boot, sling - all things Hayes has worn at different times in previous summers due to injury!)

-Muresan was again in street clothes on the bench with the Tombs today

-Otis Livingston: sophomore PG for George Mason - has probably been the best non-Hoya in the league this year. small guy (5’11, maybe 165?), but very skilled, confident player. He probably had 30+ today, hitting all kinds of tough jump shots. He is exactly the kind of small, quick, skilled, confident mid major guard that has killed us so often in the past 9 years.

-according to reports, Agau played his first Kenner game on friday night (6 points). His team plays tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll be able to report a little something on how he is looking. Mostly it is just good that he is back on the court playing in game conditions.

- Pryor was fantastic again. i can't believe he was only scoring 17-18 points a game at Robert Morris, he looks like he should have been a dominant player at that level. But I guess 18 points a game is kind of dominant when you consider that the pace of real games is a lot slower than the lightning pace that the Tombs has been playing at this summer.

Stay Casual, my friends.