What to Watch For: QU heads to Hartford

What to Watch For: QU heads to Hartford

By Matthias Gausz, QBSN Co-Director

The Bobcats men’s basketball team (3-4) travels to West Hartford to take on the University of Hartford Hawks (0-8) at the Chase Arena at Reich Family Pavilion on Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 7:00 p.m. The game will also be televised locally on CPTV-Sports.

After dropping their first NEC game, Quinnipiac came back on Saturday with an 83-72 victory over Bryant to pull even at 1-1 in conference play. Jamee Jackson (Newark, N.J.) led the Bobcats with a career-high 21 points and pulled nine rebounds. James Johnson (Queens, N.Y.) added 17 points; Ike Azotam (Boston, Mass.) and Dave Johnson (Jackson, N.J.) both had 11 points. The Bobcats led by double digits for the majority of the game and came close to a 30-point lead in the first half, where it seemed they couldn’t miss a shot.

For the game, Quinnipiac shot 47.5 percent from the floor, above its average. They did allow the Bulldogs to shoot over 50 percent, but they limited their number of possessions by good ball movement and taking smarter shots. Again, Quinnipiac was unable to hit their free throws, going 19-32 from the line. Only seven players played significant minutes, allowing for four of the starting five to score in double-digits.

Hartford comes into the game on an eight game losing streak, and its’ lack of scoring is the main culprit. They currently rank 329^th out of 345 Division I teams in the country in scoring with 56.0 points per game.  They have scored over 58 points in only two games this year, despite playing against lower competition. They have only faced one major conference opponent in Penn State. They are led by freshman forward Nate Sikma, who is averaging eight points per game and four and a half rebounds per game. Hartford is one of only seven winless teams left in the country.

Key for the Bobcats:

They need to play exactly like they did on Saturday against Bryant, taking smart shots. They need to continue having a third or fourth scorer to add with Aztoam and James Johnson, and key minutes off the bench from Garvey Young (Washington, D.C.) and Ousmane Drame (Boston, Mass.). If QU can dictate the tempo of the game and hit glass like usual, they should be able to come away with the victory.

Key for the Hawks:

They are going to try and slow down the tempo of the game to a grind-it-out style, every-possession-counts game. They don’t have the treat of a pure scorer, so they will look to pass the ball and share looks. Overall, they have not been able to play a 40minute game, and if they want to grab their first W, then they need to do it tonight.

Last Meeting: November 16, 2010 in Hamden. Quinnipiac won 66-64. James Johnson had 23 points with seven rebounds and Justin Rutty had another double-double for Quinnipiac. Morgan Sabia led Hartford with 23 points on 8-14 shooting. Quinnipiac leads the all-time series 14-5, including nine wins in the last 10 meetings.