The Collegian
Thursday, March 28, 2024

2011 NCAA Tournament Preview: No. 13 Morehead State

DENVER — This was not supposed to be Richmond's match-up in the third round, but then again, Richmond wasn't supposed to make it this far either. Since both teams dispatched of their higher-seeded foe in the second round here in Denver, Colo., on Thursday, they will meet on Saturday at 5:15 p.m. EST to advance to the Sweet 16.

The Eagles advanced to this game on a play that has made the rounds on highlight reels throughout the country. Senior guard Demonte Harper hit a game-winning three pointer with four seconds left in the game and senior Kenneth Faried blocked Mike Marra's attempt at a three as time expired to give the Eagles the 62-61 victory.

Morehead State's defense did a good job of shutting down Louisville's offense by using a combination of a full-court press and then dropping back into a match-up zone. It forced 16 Louisville turnovers and turned that into 20 points.

"We'll try to force tempo a little bit with our press and get the game going up and down a little bit," Morehead State coach Donnie Tyndall said.

Louisville did not score for the first six minutes of the game before Gorgui Dieng got a dunk off of a press break after Morehead scored the first 10 points of the game.

The Eagles averaged 69.8 points per game this season and forced about 15 turnovers per game, equal to the number of their turnovers per game.

On offense, Morehead State is not an exceptional three-point shooting team despite making 9 of 19 three pointers attempted Thursday. It made just 34 percent of its threes this season with Harper being the only player with an average near 40 percent (39.9 percent).

Much of the Eagles' offense comes from the duo of Faried and Harper. Faried struggled through a 4-of-17 day Thursday but averaged 17.6 points per game this year. Harper struggled as well against the Cardinals, going 3 for 10 for eight points.

With their two stars struggling offensively, the Eagles turned to Terrance Hill and Ty Proffitt to do the scoring. Hill made five of his six threes en route to a 23-point performance and Proffitt added 13 points.

While Faried did not dominate the game in terms of scoring, he did grab 17 rebounds despite being a bit under-sized for a center at 6-foot-8 and 228 pounds. He does have NBA potential and has been compared to Dennis Rodman for his rebounding ability (averaged 14.5 rebounds per game this year).

"He's going to get that defensive rebound," Richmond's Kevin Anderson said. "We know once he goes in, he's going to go in and try to bull his way into the post. He's really aggressive and physical."

A challenge for the Eagles to move past their upset of in-state rival Cardinals which the players at Friday's press conference said was a meaningful game. But they all agreed that the team will not get caught up in the hype following the dramatic victory.

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"You can't look back to the past," junior Ty Proffitt, a transfer from Notre Dame, said. "We beat Louisville, that's our past. As big of a win as that was, we have to put it behind us, as hard as it is to do."

Said Faried: "With these group of guys, we're so focused on the next game that we don't dwell on the previous game or anything like that. We just stay focused on what coach wants us to do, to the game plan, get everything we need to do in practice."

Part of that game plan will be its preparation for Richmond's match-up zone defense. Harper said that the team has faced it before and that the Eagles will try to be aggressive against it.

"Those types of zones are packed in a little bit so you tend to take more threes than attacking the basket," Harper said. "We're just going to be focusing on attacking the basket and get some mismatch opportunities."

The Eagles are not a very deep team as Tyndall used only two substitutes on Thursday. Except for starting forward Drew Kelly, every Eagle who entered the game played at least 20 minutes. That has been a season-long trend for Tyndall as the seven used against Louisville average at least 19 minutes per game.

The Eagles played a pair of tournament teams this season on the road and lost both games. On Nov. 21, Morehead State traveled to the University of Florida and lost 61-55 and followed that game with a 64-45 loss at Ohio State. Those teams are a No. 2 and No. 1 seed respectively.

Contact staff writer Andrew Prezioso at andrew.prezioso@richmond.edu

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