And just like that Calvin gave back every* advantage they had gained by beating Hope on the road on Wednesday.
*Actually this probably isn't true. I thought it was at first, but on a second look, beating Hope and losing to Kalamazoo is better, in the eyes of the tournament committee, than vice versa. One of the primary criteria for tournament selection is "in-region results versus regionally ranked opponents." Hope will, in all likely hood, be regionally ranked this season, so, for that category, Calvin is 1-0.
Let's give a hat tip to Kalamazoo for executing their defense well. They seemed to "want it more," and that's disturbing to me as a Calvin fan.
Calvin's defense simply wasn't good. They were slow rotating out to guard the three point shooter, several players got lost around screens, and they were a step slower than the Hornets in general. Kalamazoo moved the ball around well, and it always seemed that they were able to find the open man.
In the span of two games, we've probably seen the best and worst the Knights can play.
Terrible effort aside, this was still a game that Calvin could have won. The starters were 1-12 from the three point line, and the bench was 2-7. Many of those were nice open looks that just didn't go down. Two or three times, the shot seemed to be halfway down before rattling out. If even one more of those shots went down, we'd probably be here talking about escaping with a win.
Game Chart:
| Player | %Min | %Shots | eFG% | PPWS | FTr | Ar | TO% | Rb% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Powell | 0.50 | 0.19 | 0.167 | 0.58 | 0.33 | 0.21 | 0.22 | 0.05 |
| Salo | 0.43 | 0.11 | 0.333 | 0.67 | 0.00 | 0.38 | 0.50 | 0.06 |
| Rodts | 0.73 | 0.19 | 0.111 | 0.55 | 0.44 | 0.00 | 0.34 | 0.10 |
| Snikkers | 0.65 | 0.43 | 0.444 | 0.93 | 0.17 | 0.18 | 0.20 | 0.24 |
| Schuster | 0.50 | 0.16 | 0.500 | 1.01 | 0.40 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.14 |
| Brink | 0.58 | 0.16 | 0.833 | 1.75 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.12 | 0.00 |
| Haverdink | 0.23 | 0.14 | 0.500 | 0.81 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.11 |
| Schnyders | 0.60 | 0.18 | 0.286 | 1.06 | 1.29 | 0.19 | 0.00 | 0.04 |
| Kruis | 0.50 | 0.13 | 0.000 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.10 | 0.25 | 0.10 |
| DeBoer | 0.10 | 0.00 | 0.000 | 2.11 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.24 |
| DeYoung | 0.20 | 0.31 | 0.250 | 0.67 | 0.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.30 |
| Team | 1.00 | 1.00 | 0.352 | 0.89 | 0.42 | 0.43 | 0.20 | 0.57 |
I seems to me that the Knights were in an offensive rut. They were content to pass the ball around the perimeter until someone like Rodts or Schuster put up a three, or until Snikker or Schnyders tried to drive to the bucket. There wasn't much creativity, and there wasn't much movement.
Kudos to Jordan Brink who consistently puts up efficient offensive performances. Unfortunately, one of his three pointers was made after the outcome was sealed. He needs to look to score more because he's quite good at it.
The worrisome part is that they seemed to be totally befuddled by Kalamzoo's defense, and I don't think Kalamazoo's defense is all that good. I just hope that they aren't incapable of scoring every time an opponent steps up the intensity.
