Awful Shooting Night Dooms the Dukes

JMU lost to Kent State in the Convo tonight by the score of 71-51. It was, to put it mildly, a God-awful shooting night for the Dukes. JMU struggled from the opening tip and finished 21-63 from the field. Amazingly, the Dukes were able to overcome the poor shooting in the first half and somehow managed to take a 29-26 lead into halftime. This was largely due to Kent State’s sloppy play and inability to hold onto the ball. The Golden Flashes had 15 turnovers before the break. After the half Kent State held onto the ball better and shot 60% from the field. Put that up against JMU’s 33% shooting effort and it all adds up to a 20 point blowout. Here are 3 quick thoughts on the game.

When It Rains, It Pours

As we mentioned it was a very bad shooting night for the Dukes. Heading into tonight’s match-up, JMU had been shooting particularly well. As a team, JMU was shooting 43% from the field and an outstanding 41% from behind the arc, equating to an effective field goal percentage (eFG) of 51%. A.J. Davis, a guy who hit 5-50 3 pointers in his 2 years at Wyoming, came into the game 18-35 from 3 as a Duke. Humpty Hitchens added a mid-range jumper to his game, and had an eFG of 55%. Well tonight, a couple of the Dukes cooled off and came back down to earth a bit. And by a couple, I mean everyone who saw the floor. JMU set a season low for points, field goal percentage, three pointers made, three point percentage, and free throws.

Advanced Metrics

In case you missed it while paying attention to football, Julius Wells’ game has shown signs of maturity this year. No longer is he one of the top options on offense and he seems to be comfortable in that role. He’s rebounding the ball much better and taking better shots. Tonight unfortunately, he had a terrible shooting night. He went 0 for 11 for the game, including 0-3 from long range. That’s good enough for a 0.o FG percentage. And if we dive in a little deeper, we see that he also had a 0.0 3-pt FG percentage. And if we carry it all the way forward, that’s a perfect 0.0 eFG. So yeah, it was a tough night for Julius and the Dukes.

No Need to Panic

This win moved the Golden Flashes to 6-1 on the season. They’re a solid team and were probably JMU’s toughest opponent of the young season. It’s never good to have a 20 point loss at home, but this isn’t the end of the world. There was a lid on the basket for Wells tonight, but he’s been a much better player this year. He could be a valuable “glue guy” once he truly gets comfortable with his role on this team. Humpty has arguable been the most improved player in the CAA and A.J. Davis is an explosive scored. Tonight was an ugly loss. No doubt about it. JMU has plenty of room for improvement, but Devon Moore will be eligible next game and the Dukes managed to go 4-3 (1-0) in his absence. The CAA is wide open this year and the Dukes could be right in the mix after Devon returns.