TERRE HAUTE — As the Rose-Hulman men’s basketball team tries to keep its hopes alive for a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament berth next month, it will be relying heavily on a pair of freshmen.
Daniel Lowers, a 6-foot-3 guard from Edgewood High School, and Michael Kelly, a 6-6 center from Fort Myers, Fla., will be in the starting lineup tonight when the Engineers (8-10 overall, 4-5 HCAC) take on preseason conference favorite Franklin in Hulbert Arena. Meanwhile, the Rose women (also 8-10 and 4-5) will play tonight at Franklin. Both contests are slated to start at 7:30.
Lowers is tallying 10.6 points per outing after starting 15 of 18 games. Kelly came off the bench in the first 11 games, but he’s started five of the last seven games and boosted his average to 7.4 ppg.
Rose-Hulman men’s coach Jim Shaw said Tuesday that Kelly needed time to adjust to college basketball.
“He quite simply wasn’t ready [at the beginning of the season],” Shaw noted. “He was just a babe in the woods. He doesn’t come from a great basketball area … and we’re really working with him on some fundamentals and basic things about playing down low.
“But he’s extremely skilled, very active, athletic and long. Over time, his knowledge caught up with his skills. He’s really been making a lot of progress since just before Christmas.”
As for Lowers, Shaw described him as “probably the best defensive player I’ve ever seen at the high school level, with the exception of the Greg Odens and big-time shot blockers like that.”
“So we knew from Day One that he could be on the floor for us right away because of the way he can guard,” Shaw explained.
“What was a pleasant surprise is he provided a little scoring by getting the ball to the basket, making some shots … and that hasn’t tapered off. As we’ve continued, he’s learned a little bit more about how to play defensively with his head as well as his feet and his hands. He continues to get better.”
Lowers and Kelly admit that getting stronger and continuing their adjustment to the 35-second shot clock are among the many improvements they need to make in the coming weeks and years.
“College basketball is a lot more physical,” Lowers pointed out. “I like it, because [officials] don’t call as many of the fouls. You have to be stronger when you get the ball down low.”
“The major adjustment between playing high school and college basketball is definitely the physicality,” Kelly said. “Being a post player and being down low, the guys are a lot stronger. I’m coming in as a freshman, 19 years old, playing against guys who are 21, 22. Then you get the sixth-year seniors every now and then. Getting stronger, taking in a lot more protein, hitting the weights harder in the offseason, those are the things I need to do.”
Both agree that Rose’s four seniors have helped accelerate their adjustment to college basketball.
“The seniors have been great,” Lowers said. “I thought there might be a bigger difference because of the age groups. They’ve got quite a few years on us. Now they’re like our best friends. They hang out and joke with us. It’s fun stuff. I feel like they’ve really opened up to us younger guys and taken us in.”
“They’re awesome,” Kelly emphasized. “Show them respect and they’ll guide you and they’ll give you pointers and tips. They’ve always been there for basketball and off-the-court stuff like academic advice.”
Lowers, Kelly and Shaw all agreed that finishing in the top six of the HCAC standings, therefore qualifying for the conference tournament, is the top priority for their team. So winning tonight would help that cause.
“We’ve got to keep playing tough,” Lowers stressed. “We’ve got to keep playing hard… We’ve got to fight through every possession. We’ve got to give it everything we have for two halves, 40 minutes. We can’t get satisfied. We can’t play the game to not lose. We’ve got to play the game to win. We’ve got to play the game with a fire in our belly.”
“We need to stay focused, definitely,” Kelly added. “We’ve noticed that in some practices we’ll slack off and kinda lose our concentration and that can carry through to the next game. We need to make sure we stay on our A-game and execute our offense. Plays will work if we run them right. We’ve got to have 40 minutes of going as hard as we can and playing like it’s our last game.”
“This is an important game,” Shaw acknowledged. “If you look at the standings — which I don’t, but I am aware … I don’t have my head in the sand — there’s a big logjam in the middle of the league. In the course of one or two games, you could go from seventh to third very easily or vice versa. It’s a really big game.”
The Engineers already won at Franklin 59-58 on Dec. 5, but Shaw insists that will have no bearing on tonight’s clash with the Grizzlies.
“I think they’re really going to be ready to play a good game and we’ll have to be at our best,” Shaw said. “They were picked to win the league [in the coaches’ preseason poll]. They’ve had their struggles, but I think they’ve pretty much got it on track now. [Senior center] Marty Young is a beast in there. He’s as good of a 6-3 post player as you’ll ever see. He’s active and strong and they have a lot of kids who can shoot the ball.”
As for his own team, Shaw likes how it has been playing lately in winning four of its last five games.
“With the exception of the Anderson game [a 60-46 loss last Wednesday], where we laid a big egg, we’ve just been able to grind it out,” he said. “That’s how we have to win games, just in a grind-it-out type fashion.
“I don’t know that we’re ever going to win games that are particularly artistic looking, but that’s OK.”
Rose-Hulman vs. Franklin women
Today’s probable lineups
Rose-Hulman
Engineers (8-10, 4-5 HCAC)
P Player Ht Yr RPG PPG
F Katie Tharp 5-11 Sr. 4.2 6.0
C Donna Marsh 6-0 Fr. 8.3 10.4
G Jill Floyd 5-6 Sr. 2.4 8.7
G Candace Procter 5-6 Sr. 2.2 4.1
G Brittany Moline 5-6 Sr. 4.2 2.3
Coach — Jon Prevo (29-15 in his second year at Rose-Hulman)
Franklin Grizzlies (7-9, 4-4 HCAC)
P Player Ht Yr RPG PPG
F Jennifer Redicker 5-9 Sr. 7.6 7.1
F Heather Harper 5-11 So. 6.3 15.9
G Courtney Swain 5-7 Sr. 2.8 8.3
G Monica Planalp 5-5 Fr. 2.2 7.7
G Leslie Kingseed 5-9 So. 2.8 4.5
Coach — Kim Eiler (67-31 in her fourth year at Franklin)
Game at a glance
Matchup — The Engineers and Grizzlies will square off in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference clash.
Tipoff — 7:30 p.m., Spurlock Center, Franklin.
Broadcasts — Radio: WMHD-FM 90.7 will air the game live. Internet: rose-hulman.edu/sports/radiopage.html
Last games — On Saturday, Rose won at Bluffton 61-58 in overtime. Last Wednesday, Franklin won at Hanover 77-69.
Hot hands — For Rose, Marsh and junior center Liz Ridgway led the way against Bluffton with 17 and 16 points respectively. For Franklin, Harper posted 23 points and sophomore guard Traci Lippold came off the bench to tally 19 points against Hanover.
Series — Franklin leads 10-4, but the Engineers defeated Franklin in their last meeting 38-30 Dec. 5 in Hulbert Arena.
— David Hughes
Franklin vs.
Rose-Hulman men
Today’s probable lineups
Franklin Grizzlies (10-7, 4-4 HCAC)
P Player Ht Yr RPG PPG
F Jon Neill 6-5 Sr. 1.9 5.8
F Jared Catron 6-3 Jr. 3.9 5.0
C Marty Young 6-3 Sr. 8.0 15.9
G Jace Redman 5-9 Jr. 2.1 13.5
G Dustin Marshall 6-0 Jr. 3.4 12.7
Coach — Kerry Prather (400-265 in his 25th year at Franklin)
Rose-Hulman
Engineers (8-10, 4-5 HCAC)
P Player Ht Yr RPG PPG
F Jared Moore 6-3 Sr. 3.7 12.2
C Michael Kelly 6-6 Fr. 4.2 7.4
G Phil Sundling 6-0 Sr. 4.3 5.4
G Ron George 6-3 Sr. 1.9 13.2
G Daniel Lowers 6-3 Fr. 5.0 10.6
Coach — Jim Shaw (201-154 in his 14th year at Rose-Hulman)
Game at a glance
Matchup — The Grizzlies and Engineers will square off in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference clash.
Tipoff — 7:30 p.m., Hulbert Arena, Terre Haute.
Broadcasts — None planned in the Wabash Valley.
Last games — On Saturday, Rose won at Bluffton 63-60. Last Wednesday, Franklin lost at home to Hanover 66-52.
Hot hands — For Rose, Moore popped in 16 points against Bluffton. For Franklin, Young had 15 points against Hanover.
Series — Franklin leads 35-20, but the Engineers won their last meeting 59-58 Dec. 5 at Franklin.
— David Hughes
College
Freshmen lead way for Rose men's basketball
Rose men’s team keeps HCAC tournament hopes alive, thanks to quality production from young players
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