Long Beach St. 49ers @ Kentucky Wildcats: Pre-game

by Glenn Logan on Dec 23, 2009 12:29 PM EST in Kentucky Wildcats Basketball

Today at the unusual time of 1:00 PM, the Long Beach St. 49ers of the Big West conference make the long trek from Long Beach, California to the Bluegrass to take on the Kentucky Wildcats.

Here are the particulars of the 49ers season so far:

Rank and Records	LBSU	UK
RPI	#47	#12
Strength of Schedule	#21	#156
Overall	6-5	12-0
Conference	0-0	0-0
Home	3-0	7-0
Away	2-3	1-0
Neutral	1-2	4-0
Top 25	0-3	2-0
RPI Top 50	1-3	2-0

The 49ers' notable games so far have been defeats at the hands of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the West Virgina Mountaineers, the Clemson Tigers, and the Texas Longhorns. Long Beach St. does have one significant win, over the UCLA Bruins on a neutral floor.

The 49ers have won three of their last five games, and come into Rupp Arena off a loss at the Loyola Marymount Lions. The 'Cats are giving up about 20 points in this game, for those who care about such things.

The Long Beach St. Roster

Long Beach St. 49ers Basketball Roster

	#	Pos.	Comments	W	H	College
Larry Anderson	21	G	Starter/Major contributor	200	6-5	sophomore
Lin Chang	11	F	-	235	6-9	sophomore
Andrew Fleming	50	C	-	290	7-0	senior
Stephan Gilling	33	G	Starter/Role Player	205	6-2	senior
Jerramy King	20	G	-	170	5-11	freshman
Arturas Lazdauskas	10	F	-	239	6-7	senior
Jules Montgomery	1	F	-	195	6-9	freshman
Brandon Nevens	5	G	-	210	6-3	senior
Eugene Phelps	2	F	Starter/Role Player	213	6-6	sophomore
Greg Plater	3	G	Role player	165	6-1	junior
Kyle Richardson	34	F	Role player	222	6-7	freshman
T.J. Robinson	15	F	Starter/Significant contributor	210	6-8	sophomore
Sean Starkey	23	G	-	185	6-4	junior
Mike Vantrimpont	14	C	-	220	7-0	freshman
Casper Ware	22	G	Starter/ Major contributor	175	5-10	sophomore
Tristan Wilson	32	G	-	203	6-5	junior
Jesse Woodard	24	G	Role player	193	6-1	sophomore

Long Beach St. Team Statistics

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
T.J. Robinson	11	33.6	6.2	10.6	58.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	4.6	7.6	60.7	2.7	8.0	10.7	0.6	2.7	0.6	0.2	2.1	17.0
Larry Anderson	11	32.5	4.1	9.5	42.9	0.6	2.3	28.0	4.0	6.0	66.7	1.8	2.0	3.8	3.9	3.5	2.4	0.5	1.5	12.8
Stephan Gilling	11	29.4	4.5	10.4	43.0	3.5	7.8	45.3	0.4	0.7	50.0	0.5	1.0	1.5	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.1	2.3	12.8
Casper Ware	11	32.0	3.8	9.6	39.6	1.2	2.6	44.8	3.4	4.8	69.8	0.5	2.3	2.8	5.6	3.6	1.9	0.0	2.5	12.2
Eugene Phelps	11	28.5	3.6	6.1	59.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.6	2.9	56.3	3.4	3.6	7.0	1.0	1.8	0.8	0.5	3.3	8.9
Greg Plater	11	20.7	3.3	7.7	42.4	1.8	5.4	33.9	0.5	0.6	71.4	0.4	1.8	2.2	1.5	1.2	0.8	0.3	1.4	8.8
Jesse Woodard	7	9.1	0.6	2.1	26.7	0.1	1.0	14.3	0.7	0.9	83.3	0.0	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.9	0.0	0.1	1.1	2.0
Arturas Lazdauskas	6	10.2	0.8	1.3	62.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	100.0	0.8	1.2	2.0	0.7	0.2	0.2	0.3	2.2	2.0
Kyle Richardson	9	6.2	0.4	1.0	44.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.6	1.0	55.6	0.6	0.3	0.9	0.2	0.6	0.2	0.0	0.7	1.4
Mike Vantrimpont	4	2.5	0.3	0.3	100.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.3	0.3	0.5
Andrew Fleming	9	4.7	0.1	0.4	25.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.0	0.3	1.0	1.3	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.4	0.9	0.2
Lin Chang	7	4.6	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.4	0.7	1.1	0.1	0.3	0.0	0.1	1.1	0.0
Jerramy King	5	3.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.2	0.6	0.0	0.2	0.0

Four Factors Analysis (from Kenpom.com)

	Kentucky		Long Beach St.
Category	Offense	Defense	Offense	Defense	D-I Avg
Adj. Efficiency:	116.4 [15]	91.1 [48]	107.6 [77]	95.4 [98]	100.0
Adj. Tempo:	69.0 [160]	68.6	71.1 [77]	68.6
*Four Factors*
Effective FG%:	55.5 [21]	44.3 [51]	50.8 [111]	52.4 [274]	48.9
Turnover %:	23.3 [276]	20.5 [188]	21.3 [186]	19.1 [264]	21.0
Off. Reb. %:	45.9 [1]	30.4 [86]	30.8 [241]	34.3 [220]	33.0
FTA/FGA:	40.7 [100]	27.3 [28]	42.2 [79]	27.4 [29]	37.4
*Miscellaneous Components*
3P%:	42.1 [14]	35.4 [214]	36.3 [115]	30.5 [59]	34.2
2P%:	52.9 [46]	39.3 [9]	49.1 [127]	55.3 [322]	47.7
FT%:	69.9 [128]	67.3 [140]	65.6 [247]	67.9 [153]	68.4
Block%:	7.9 [108]	20.7 [3]	8.3 [128]	5.3 [303]	9.2
Steal%:	11.0 [252]	10.3 [139]	9.8 [168]	9.6 [181]	10.0
*Style Components*
3PA/FGA:	26.0 [294]	36.2 [272]	31.4 [196]	30.5 [116]	32.6
A/FGM:	55.1 [147]	53.3 [165]	52.6 [192]	54.4 [198]	53.8
Defensive Fingerprint:	Inconclusive		Inconclusive
*Point Distribution (% of total points)*
3-Pointers:	23.5 [248]	35.9 [18]	26.4 [179]	22.6 [294]	27.2
2-Pointers:	56.1 [88]	46.9 [307]	52.2 [177]	62.3 [8]	52.1
Free Throws:	20.4 [179]	17.2 [296]	21.4 [138]	15.1 [328]	20.7
*Strength of Schedule*
Components:	99.7 [212]	100.8 [208]	112.3 [2]	95.5 [19]	100.0
Overall:	0.4700 [216]	.5000	0.8658 [2]	.5000
Non-conference:	0.4700 [227]	.5000	0.8658 [3]	.5000
*Personnel*
Bench Minutes:	27.3% [279]	32.1%	21.6% [336]	32.1%
Experience:	0.92 yrs [332]	1.69	1.47 yrs [245]	1.69
Effective Height:	+2.5 [31]	0.0	-1.3 [259]	0.0
Average Height:	78.7" [8]	76.6"	75.6" [295]	76.6"

Analysis

The 49ers have played a very tough schedule, and have given a good account of themselves in most of them. Ken Pomeroy's site has the 49ers ranked at #80, which is by far the best team Kentucky has played since UConn.

Long Beach St. takes good care of the basketball, and they get to the line a lot. As with most teams that UK has played this year, they are much smaller than Kentucky. Like Kentucky, they are a young team, starting only one senior and four sophomores.

Like Kentucky, Long Beach St. likes to get up and down the floor, although their pace numbers are slightly lower than that of the Wildcats. They shoot the three-point shot adequately, but they defend it remarkably well, holding opponents to around 30% from the arc. The 49ers take more shots from the arc than UK does, which is as you would expect for a team like this.

Overall, Kentucky's size and skill should be too much for them, but don't look for the Wildcats to run over the 49ers like they did the Drexel Dragons. This team can play, and they are capable of pulling the upset.

Projected score: UK 80, Long Beach St. 64.

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Comments

at the game

Cuz warmed up in his black uk2k shirt – rest of the team was in white shirts….

only one rule in my house - uk has to be your favorite college bball team

by memphis wildcat on Dec 23, 2009 12:36 PM EST via mobile reply actions

Cuz is making

a statement of “Kentucky Pride” with that shirt. Bet it looks good with that fuzzy cap of his.

by kywineman on Dec 23, 2009 12:51 PM EST up reply actions

anyone got the online link??

is it still on justin.tv??

Remember, we're having fun now!!!

by ALLBLUCAT on Dec 23, 2009 12:37 PM EST reply actions

nevermind.....

it is www.justin.tv/beyondthedoor

Remember, we're having fun now!!!

by ALLBLUCAT on Dec 23, 2009 12:41 PM EST reply actions

by cincyblue on Dec 23, 2009 1:06 PM EST up reply actions

trap game or not?

Emotionally I think it could be – will be interesting to see how this young team comes out

only one rule in my house - uk has to be your favorite college bball team

by memphis wildcat on Dec 23, 2009 12:48 PM EST via mobile reply actions

if this is a trap game, then we dont have to worry about a NC.......

a team that wins that does not have trap games……honestly I think we are past the “trap game” part of the season. Cal does not seem to believe that anyone should sneak up on you

Remember, we're having fun now!!!

by ALLBLUCAT on Dec 23, 2009 12:49 PM EST up reply actions