Observations from BA’s win over Hall In: Sluggish start, tight finish
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Never in The Basketball Tournament’s first 12 years of existence did two teams meet twice. On Thursday at the Oncenter War Memorial in Syracuse, New York, Boeheim’s Army and Hall In, Seton Hall’s alumni team, met for a second time in three nights.
Thanks to a revised tournament format, the first round of the TBT Alumni Bracket is a best-of-three series to determine which squad advances to Round 2 and single-elimination play.
So even after BA’s 82-52 blowout victory Tuesday, Hall In still stood in the way of Boeheim’s Army moving on.
This time around, it brought reinforcements, inserting former Utah Jazz guard Isaiah Whitehead into its starting lineup after the 6-foot-4 Seton Hall alum wasn’t available Tuesday.
It boosted Hall In, but not enough. Boeheim’s Army took Game 2 81-76, sweeping Hall In and securing a quarterfinals date with La Familia, Kentucky’s alumni team.
Here are some observations from Boeheim’s Army’s series-clinching win:
Both squads start sloppy
It took just over three minutes for the first shot to fall in Game 2. Boeheim’s Army big Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu leapt at the basket and slammed down a dunk to finish a pretty Buddy Boeheim lob pass from beyond the arc. Before that play, both teams had struggled to string together successful possessions.
Tyson Walker sailed a long pass over Elijah Hughes’ head one minute in. Hall In’s Ant Nelson’s pass smacked off teammate Darnell Brodie’s hands and out of bounds 33 seconds later. Thirty-seven seconds after that, Hall In’s KC Ndefo airmailed an uncontested 3-point shot from the corner.
In the first three minutes and change of Game 2, Boeheim’s Army was 0-for-3 from the field. Hall In was worse, shooting 0-for-6.
The first quarter ended in a dead heat, 13-13. Boeheim’s Army finished the first frame shooting 5-for-14 from the field, while Hall In ended 6-for-17.
Poor 3-point shooting persists
Walker sank an uncontested 3 from the top of the arc seven minutes into the first quarter. Then came a 3 from Whitehead. Nelson swished a triple in the corner five minutes into the second quarter. Phillip Carr answered with three more points for Hall In 45 seconds later. Then came a make from Hughes, then Swider, then Buddy.
It sounds like a lot listed one after the other. It wasn’t. Both Boeheim’s Army and Hall In struggled to shoot the 3 in the first half. Boeheim’s Army finished the half 4-for-17, and Hall In sat at 3-for-16 entering the break.
Hall In hangs around
Boeheim’s Army trailed early in Game 1 Tuesday. However, it’s deficit was just one point and lasted a whole 46 seconds.
By the time Ty Nichols had elevated over Hall In’s Al-Amir Dawes and Quatarrius Wilson and floated in a mid-range shot, Boeheim’s Army had reclaimed the lead and held it all game, ballooning the advantage to 30 points.
Game 2 was much closer. The first quarter ended tied, the first half with Boeheim’s Army ahead by four (32-28), the third quarter with Boeheim’s Army leading by two (59-57) and the final score was a five-point difference.
In total, Game 2 was tied eight times and had six lead changes. The largest advantage all game was 13 points, when Boeheim’s Army was up 50-37 with four minutes left in the third quarter.
Akobundu-Ehiogu is BA’s engine
With Boeheim’s Army struggling to shoot the ball early, it was Akobundu-Ehiogu who opened the scoring in Game 2 and kept BA in the game. The big, athletic portal player swatted away many Hall In layup tries and scored BA’s first six points of the game on three alley-oops.
The former UT Arlington and Memphis big had 10 of Boeheim’s Army’s first 19 points and finished tied for the third-most on BA with 14. Akobundu-Ehiogu shot a perfect 7-for-7 and collected five rebounds.
