By: Laura Chapman
Assistant Sports Information Director
chapmal@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: T.J. Chance-Chin
HUNTINGDON, Pa. – After earning the season sweep of Moravian College last Saturday, the Juniata College men's basketball team will look to continue the momentum, as they take on Goucher College at home in a mid-week Landmark Conference matchup. Last months the Eagles took on the Gophers in Towson, Md. and held off a Goucher surge in the final minutes to earn the 60-57 victory.
"Our first game [against Goucher] was so long ago that if you think about what we've gone through since then and what they've gone through since then, we're in a very different stage in the season," said head coach Greg Curley. "They're playing a different style. They were playing a lot of zone then and all we're seeing now is man-to-man. What they'll do against us, we don't know. We're going to have to be prepared on a number of fronts."
Juniata is still well in the playoff hunt at 4-6 in conference play. Catholic University of America and The University of Scranton currently hold the top spot with both teams at 8-2 in Landmark action. U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and Moravian hold the final two playoff-spots at the moment, tied for third at 5-6. Currently in the hunt with a league record of 4-6 are Drew University, Susquehanna University and Juniata.
"We want to continue to get better," said Curley. "I thought [last Saturday] was probably our most complete effort on both sides of the ball – defensively and offensively. We were consistent from the start to the finish. We want to try and take some step in areas we can improve on. We're going to have to because Goucher is playing very well right now. They can really score with individually talented offensive players. It's going to take a complete team effort to have a chance to be successful."
The Eagles have already concluded the series' over Catholic, Scranton, and Moravian. With four conference games remaining, Juniata will look for the season sweep of Goucher and to pull out a split against the two fellow fifth place teams.
Goucher sophomore forward Julian Livingston is leading the Gophers and stands at third in the Landmark in points per game (17.6) and fifth in three-point percentage (42.6). Sharing the offensive output for Goucher is junior forward Alex Noble who is averaging 12.6 points per game from an 85.6 shooting percentage. As a team, the Gophers are averaging 76.3 points per game and are shooting 43% from the floor.
"We're going to have to control the game," added Curley. "We're going to have to dictate what's going on through our defensive effort and through taking care of the ball and being sound offensively. We're going to have to execute from start to finish at both ends."
The Juniata defense has gotten back to it's stingy ways, only allowing opponents on average of just 66 points per game. The team is first in the conference in scoring defense and defensive field goal percentage. The Eagles have also picked up their play on the boards now averaging 34 rebounds a game and taking away over six steals a game.
"We're starting to figure out a lineup rotation that works," said Curley. "One of the things that gave us problems at time is that we've had a hard time coming up with a consistent rotation. When that happens you wind up keeping guy out there too long or having to wholesale substitute and that's not always the best thing. I think we've made some progress there and I think we have a better idea of what exactly our rotation lineup looks like and I think that should give us some more consistency to be able to maintain our defensive energy across the course of an entire game."
Tip-off for the Juniata Goucher men's basketball game is set for 7 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 12, in Kennedy Sports + Recreation Center.
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