Thursday, February 6, 2014

Game #24: Appalachian State

On Saturday, February 8th, the Appalachian State Mountaineer basketball team will cross the mountains to play the Catamounts for the final time as a member of the Southern Conference.

The Cats and Mountaineers first played in 1928, and the Cats are 67-112 against App State.  Last season the two teams split, with each winning at home.

Appalachian State University men's basketball was selected fourth in the Southern Conference preseason coaches poll, tied with Samford.  However, the Mountaineers are currently in 9th place in the standings, with a 7-15 overall record and are 3-6 in the SoCon.  The Mountaineers have wins over Georgia Southern & The Citadel (home) and The Citadel (away), for a 1-10 record on the road.

ASU is currently in 6th place in scoring in the SoCon, putting up 71.2 points per game and are in 8th place in scoring defense, giving up 74.2 points per game.  The Mountaineers have two players scoring double figures. junior guard Tab Hamilton (6-3, 180) leads ASU in scoring with 13.4 ppg and junior guard Mike Neal (6-2, 185 lbs) is averaging 10.6 ppg.  While averaging just 5.8 ppg overall freshman forward Michael Obacha scored 15 points and 17 rebounds against UNCG last week. Over his past four games, Spagnolo is averaging 10.8 points and 10.5 rebounds per game while connecting on 60.7% from the floor.

ASU Projected Starters
Guard - Tab Hamilton, junior 6-3 180 lbs - 13.4 ppg - 2.8 rebs
Guard - Mike Neal,  junior 6-2 185 lbs - 10.6 ppg - 2.1 rebs
Forward - Michael Obacha,  sophomore 6-8 215 lbs - 5.8 ppg - 9.1 rebs
Forward - Chris Burgess,  sophomore 5-8 175 lbs - 8.7 ppg - 1.5 rebs
Forward - Tommy Spagnolo, senior 6-7 210 lbs - 5.5 ppg - 6.0 rebs



RealTime RPI projects a 21 point win for the Catamounts, 84-63.

RPI:                           Sagarin:                    Pomeroy:                 Massey:
WCU 232                    WCU 235                   WCU  240                 WCU 238
ASU 341                     ASU  330                   ASU  324                  ASU   336


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