Dukes Escape Radford With a Win
JMU took the short trip down 81 South to play the Radford Highlanders last night. Thus far in this young season, the Dukes have had a little of a Jekyll and Hyde thing. Some nights they’ve been very good, but other nights they’ve been pretty bad. Last night, they weren’t consistent, but they managed to avoid being bad. It was more like they were really good in the first half, and then just good enough in the second frame. Thanks to some clutch free throw shooting, JMU managed to escape with a 70-68 win.
Thanks to some hot shooting by Shakir Brown and a few big threes from Jackson Kent, JMU got out to a 19 point lead early in the second half. Then Radford stormed back to tie the game at 63-63. It looked as if the Dukes were going to collapse and give one away. But they didn’t. They hit enough free throws down the stretch and Radford missed a wide open three at the buzzer. Game. Set. Match.
The win moved JMU to 5-3 on the season and a perfect 3-0 on the road. Shakir Brown led the way with 20 points and 7 boards. He was 5 of 8 from long range. Radford defeated Georgetown earlier this season and is actually a decent team. The fact that JMU managed to hold off the Highlander’s comeback and pick up another win on the road is encouraging. The CAA is definitely trending upward and the league’s teams have proven capable of defeating teams from traditionally stronger conferences. CofC upsetting Ben Simmons and LSU just the latest example. It’s going to be a battle night in and night out once league play kicks off. Winning tough ones on the road will only help prepare the Dukes.
Not sure why Brady plays Vodanovich so much more over Cabarkapa, anyone know? Seems the much more polished player with an overall better offensive game, and sure he rebounds at a higher average. Just looking for some insider information if anyone has any.
This was a really good win on the road. I think JMU was something like an 8 point underdog and most folks expected JMU to lose this one.
JMU had a great flow in the 1st half and the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half. After that it seemed like Brady tried to go in to stall ball way to early which led to sloppy play and no flow to the offense. Bury teams don’t try to not lose when you have a big lead.
Also JMU needs for Curry and YoYo to show up every night. Those two guys need to fix their free throw shooting b/c they will be shooting a lot of them this year.
Regarding Vodan the Barbarian and Cabarkapa, Brady basically has a rotation of those forwards playing different positions. Cabarkapa typically replaces Dalembert and Satkus replaces Vodanovich. But Satkus sucks, and I’ve been glad to see the more athletic Lukic getting more minutes at forward.
Nice start to the season, and it’s been encouraging to see Brady using the bench and that lots of guys have stepped up when they’ve needed to.
JMU-28
Colgate-17
Dear Chewbacca,
Stop thinking you are a 3 point shooter. Make the 3 point shot part of your game but do something else. When you blast away from 3 point land and don’t make it, Coach don’t like that. You get to ride bench.