Use this thread to talk about anything game-related. For away games, we'll have a separate travel thread.

Date: Tuesday December 16th, 2025 7:00 PM

Opponent: Ohio Wesleyan  (3-6)

Site: Convocation Center

TV/Webcast: ESPN+

Radio: The Varsity Network App (free) 

Ohio Wesleyan statistics, roster and media guide

It looks like OWU played an exhibition vs Wright State and lost by 53 with Wright playing all ten guys who usually play, between 14 and 23 minutes each.

A good chance for Evans and Burris to get some floor time.

Would love for PAV, Simmons and Captain Chaos to play no more than 10 minutes each...if that.

I get the desire to avoid injuries and it makes sense, but I feel like we should be building on the momentum and making sure our core units are executing well.

Three game win streak since JJ Kelly has been a regular in the starting lineup, FWIW.

Worth a lot, I think!

We have three five man lineups with a positive +/- (minimum 25 possessions) and Kelly is in 2 of 3 of them. All three are within a point/two points of each other.

Breath / Hadaway / Kelly / Pavs / Sheldon = +8
Elliot / Hadaway / Sheldon / Pavs / Simmons = +7
Elliot / Hadaway / Kelly / Pavs / Simmons = +6

That +7 group's played against the hardest opponent lineups though by a pretty healthy margin.

I've been a bigger fan of Kelly than anybody, but it's a little unfair to boil things down to that. The first 7 games were always going to be very tough.

Anyway, while I am not thrilled about 2 such games, I always enjoy the annual D3 opponent game and look forward to seeing everyone play tonight. You know the bench guys are excited to get a decent chunk of playing time.

OWU is 3-6 and go whacked by Wright State 100-47. I think scoring 100 and keeping them under 50 should be the goal (under ethical 2nd half treatment of course). They have a roster of 20 poor saps paying 50+ grand a year for the privilege of being able to say they played college basketball for the rest of their lives.

Hopefully this is a stat-padder game for the whole squad.

Get Jack his 20 and get him off the floor, unless he's really cooking then go for 30+ buddy. Hadaway double-double. Then catch some rest.

I want to see 20+ mins of Kuany, Evans. Evans needs a confidence game in a big way. Kuany still finding his sea legs. See if Burris can find his shot. Dior hasn't looked as good as I had hoped. All guys we're gonna need to make a run.

I hope we get to see a lot of Fisher down the stretch. In any other year I'd be surprised his high school accolades don't get him on the floor, but we do have the guard/wing depth and (knock on wood) health ahead of him. With losing three senior guards thiscoming offseason, it would be nice to have an idea what he has.

Tedder OWU is out of eligibility,correct?

To our Ohio managers screwing around behind Gabe doing his spot before the second half, my wife saw you and thinks you're a couple of assholes.

I'm looking forward to the the Dunk Tracker review of this game!

Kuany with a strong 17 in 15 minutes. Love to see it.

Cool to see all 12 guys get points.

Ayden Evans only getting 7 minutes is strong signal that he'll be playing elsewhere next year.

Well I hate to complain about a 33 point win but we had some problems last night. They had way too many wide open threes and way too many successful cuts and bounce passes to the paint. Offensively got a little too cute at times. Still had some starters in with 5 minutes to go. Overall not terrible but not great.

Had to be disappointing for Fisher (and I suppose Reese too)...expecting a chance to play a lot and he got the final 3 minutes. Kuany was 8 for 8 from 2, tremendous. 0 for 3 from 3...trying not to get too annoyed by that. He is a really exciting player. Kelly & Kuany are the 2 guys I desperately hope are back, I think they both have really high ceilings.

I thought Simmons & Breath had weak nights considering the opponent. I thought they would have their way in the paint and grab every rebound but it just didn't ever really turn out that way. And Sheldon had a few of his classic get lost and make a bad turnover plays. Thought EE had a real good game.

Only 2 points from Pav is crazy, never went to the line and never attempted a 3. I thought he would have his way driving to the hoop. OWU used a zone that we seemed to struggle with some, or exploit for easy buckets/dunks with entry passes. Alas, lots of assists and few points for JP.

I am not sure I have ever seen Boals more mad at his own player than when Hadaway got his technical. For those that did not see, Hadaway had an all alone breakaway with 9 to go and he attempted a windwill dunk that he clanked. It was really embarrassing. On the other end of the court, he was jawing with an OWU player. I suspect he maybe said something about his missed dunk? Or even worse, maybe Hadaway was just deflecting like an upset child. Then about 1 minute later, Hadaway got the ball and you could tell he was determined to avenge his embarrassment. He took it strong to the rim against this guy and flushed it strong. He immediately taunted and got a technical, which unfortunately for Aiden led to the media timeout where he had to face his coach.

Boals got in his face and screamed. Went to the huddle like a regular TO and got up and stormed over to his for more screaming in his face. While sitting down and addressing the team, I am pretty sure he went back to the topic in front of the whole team. The only screaming I could make out was "Every $&!*ing Game!" repeatedly. Hadaway stood there and took it, and I believe tried to say some sort of apology to the team at the end of the timeout. He did not re-enter. It will be interesting to see if he brings his same troll-like fire with BG or comes with a more humble approach bring on thin ice. I really like Hadaway and want him to keep that fire but you can't be an outright idiot.

Unless he understands he is in with the departure of Breath and Hadaway. I hope he sticks around, have not seen much but my gut tells me he can be a solid starter in the MAC.

My naked eye says Evans is a little bit improved from last year but still behind the absolute right move to bring in Breath and Simmons. He is staring a golden opportunity to start next year with two front court departures. Every time I watch him play I think this guy would be so much more effective playing the game he wants to play if he could get to 225 pounds.

In a game like this I'm surprised Fisher doesn't get mixed in with the first team for three minutes here and there. Nothing about him suggests he's a liability and he's obviously not being redshirted.

Watch the replay of the game when Hadaway missed his windmill. Boals wanted to toss his dry erase board but it would have hit coach Barlow in the head, so he opted to throw it a little more gently.

There were those that had their gut tell them Nate Springs would end up the next Kevin Durant. While that didn't exactly happen, he did average 5 ppg at d-2 Winston-Salem State.

My gut tells me Evans would average at least a solid 10 points and 5 rebounds a game on the D-2 level which means he is better than Springs. So there is a silver lining in that cloud.

Kuany with 17 points in 15 minutes even against weak competition is promising.

Haven't seen one thing that tells us he can actually contribute on the court moving forward....this season...next season and beyond. I believe a schollie will be opening up here. He's just not aggressive, timid and doesn't have great hands. He had the little spurt at Buffalo last year in January that maybe gave a little hope, but it's been nothing since. And barely playing in a scrimmage against Ohio W is just another mark against.