School Databank:
Location: Savannah, Georgia
Enrollment: 3200
Famous sports alumni: Ernest "The Cat" Williams (WWE), Shannon Sharpe (NFL)
Last game: Defeated North Florida 58-32
Last game vs Creighton: N/A
Series: This is the first-ever meeting
The Tigers of Savannah State make the first of two trips to the state of Nebraska tonight when they come to Omaha to play the Jays. They return to play the Huskers on December 11, as part of their ambitious non-conference slate. With a game against Wisconsin already under their belt (a 79-32 loss), they have upcoming games against Marquette, Maryland, and Kansas State in addition to the aforementioned games with Creighton and Nebraska. In all, just four of their first 15 games are at home, making their 5-4 record thus far pretty impressive.
Savannah is perhaps best-known as the team that went winless in 2004-05, when they went 0-28, but to associate that teams' woes with the current squad would be a mistake. The current version is more athletic, deeper and infinitely more competitive; but when you're using one of the handful of worst seasons by any team in history as a measuring stick, saying a team is "better" is perhaps a misnomer.
Having graduated their two best players from a team that went 12-18 a year ago, coach Horace Broadnax will look to continue his rebuilding project with a younger group. Broadnax was the tactician behind Bethune-Cookman's resurgence into an NCAA-Tournament regular in the late 90s, so he certainly has the pedigree to continue improving the Tigers.
They certainly have nowhere to go but up. Last year the Tigers were 322nd in D1 in scoring (57 points per game) and were second-worst in turnovers (324 total, or 20 per game). They were fairly solid defensively, finishing among the top 100 teams in points allowed, field goal percentage allowed and steals. Those qualities continue with this years' team, as the Tigers held North Florida to just 16% shooting in their win on Tuesday.
They're also a deeper team than in years past, as 10 players saw double-digit minutes against North Florida. Top returning scorer Joseph Flegler played point guard for the Tigers a year ago, but his 87 turnovers proved too much for coach Broadnax to stomach. This year, Flegler has shifted to shooting guard and newcomer Ray Begley has seen most of the minutes at point guard.
6-8 senior Lazarius Coleman sees most of the time in the post, and is described as a scrappy player who makes up for what he lacks in size with grit and determination. Indeed, he's been a consistent scorer and rebounder this year, despite his obvious size disadvantage.
The truth is, I don't see the Tigers being able to hang with the Jays for very long tonight. A team with an average RPI of 315 the last five years, that doesn't match up well in the paint, has trouble scoring, and is prone to turnovers is not a team that can play a competitive game on the road against a perennial top-40 program, much less pull an upset.
My predictions are 25-30 minutes of all-out play from the Jays, followed by Dana Altman resting his horses for the rugged three game stretch that begins on Saturday. Look for season highs in minutes for Aaron Brandt, Dustin "The Nickel" Sitzmann and Kenton Walker. I'd say there's also a fair chance Dane Watts could go for 30 points tonight, based on the extreme mismatch he'll face on the interior.
Prediction: Creighton 101, Savannah State 54
Leave a comment