Know Your Foe: Radford Highlanders
By: Dallas Bowlin
Senior Staff Writer/Editor/Host
All Vol Call In Show
Tennessee Basketball got its first look at real action on Tuesday night when it defeated Wofford 90-59. Next up are the Radford Highlanders on Monday, November 9th.
The Vols lead the all-time series against the Highlanders, 3-0, with the last matchup coming on December 17, 2001, in a game that saw the Volunteers trailing 38-30 at the half. Tennessee outscored Radford 42-28 in the second half, pulling out a 72-66 victory. Vincent Yarbrough led the Vols with 20 points.
Tennessee hopes for a less stressful matchup on Monday night.
RETURNEES:
G Zion Walker: 5.9 PPG, 1.1 REBS, 47.8% FG, 39.1% 3PT FG
F Frederik Erichsen: 5.6 PPG, 2.4 REBS, 48.3% FG, 30.0% 3PT FG
C Gabriel Ferreira: 2.6 PPG, 2.8 REBS, 52% FG
G Warren Keel Jr: 0.9 PPG, 37.5% FG, 20% 3PT FG
Diogo Alves: Did not play last season
LOSSES:
Jaylon Johnson (Transferred to UNC Asheville): 11.9 PPG, 2.8 REBS, 3.4 AST, 40% FG, 35.5% 3PT FG
Brennan Rigsby Jr. (Graduated): 4.6 PPG, 2.3 REBS, 39.3% FG, 27.9% 3PT FG
Mari Jordan (Transferred to Bethune-Cookman): 5.3 PPG, 2.7 REBS, 49.6% FG, 31.8% 3PT FG
Louie Jordan (Graduated): 4.1 PPG, 1.4 REBS, 38.4% FG, 36.0% 3PT FG
Del Jones (Transferred to Seton Hall): 17.2 PPG, 3.5 REBS, 3.5 AST, 41.6% FG, 30.9% 3PT FG
Dennis Parker Jr. (Transferred to Kansas): 18.3 PPG, 5.9 REBS, 48.4% FG, 37.7% 3PT FG
Bradley Land (Transferred to Harding University): 0.9 PPG, 0.7 REBS, 44.4% FG
Tyson Brown (Graduated): 6.5 PPG, 7.3 REBS, 59.4% FG
Lukas Walls (Transferred to Texas A&M): 7.9 PPG, 2.5 REBS, 1.1 STLS, 52.0% FG, 45.4% 3PT FG
NEWCOMERS:
Kye Davis (Freshman)
Caden Cantrell (Freshman)
Jordyn Kee (Miami FL transfer): Played eight games at Miami before redshirting.
Mathieu Grujicic (Ohio St transfer): Appeared in six games
Tristan Gross (Mercer transfer): 4.2 PPG, 2.0 REBS, 47.8% FG, 43.5% 3PT FG
Alex Nokes (JUCO transfer)
Parby Kabamba (Marist transfer): 5.4 PPG, 3.1 REBS, 41.5% FG, 34.2% 3PT FG
Ja’Corey Robinson (Austin Peay transfer): 6.6 PPG, 2.9 REBS, 2.0 AST, 1.0 STLS, 52.1% FG, 40.0% 3PT FG
Kolier Pruett (UVA-Wise transfer): 5.8 PPG, 3.6 REBS, 1.4 AST, 44.1% FG
Cameron Jackson (UT-Arlington): 4.0 PPG, 3.9 REBS
TEAM SUMMARY:
Head Coach Zach Chu is coming into his second season with the Highlanders. Despite having a talented roster last season, Radford had a pretty tough year, finishing 16-16 overall and 9-7 in the Big South.
The Highlanders finished 257th on KenPom, with a Net Rating of -7.54, an offensive rating of 106.4 (223rd), and a defensive rating of 114.0 (273rd). They finished 26th in adjusted tempo.
So far this season, they are ranked 264th on KenPom with an adjusted offensive rating of 100.3 (260th) and an adjusted defensive rating of 109.3 (275th).
In their two games so far this season, they are averaging 66 points per game, shooting 43% from the field, and 28.5% from three on 50 total attempts.
Frederik Erichsen has bumped his scoring average up by 8.4 points per game to 14.0 points per game to lead Radford in scoring, followed by Mathieu Grujicic, who is scoring 10 points per game.
OFFENSE:
In an interview with Basketball Immersion, Chu described his offense as “Fluid, with concepts of Princeton,” which is influenced by his time spent playing for Chris Mooney at Richmond. The Princeton offense, for those who may be unfamiliar, was created by coach Pete Carril at, you guessed it, Princeton. All five players must be able to pass, shoot, and dribble. Your big men normally act as your playmaker at the high post or elbow area. There’s a lot of backdoor cutting, chin cutting, and a huge emphasis on spacing.
You often think of a slow pace as well when the Princeton offense is mentioned, but that’s not always the case; as I mentioned earlier, Radford finished 26th in adjusted tempo last season.
Along with Princeton, the offense also includes some flow principles.
In transition, you get one of the main starting points of flow, which is a transition drag screen to the single side of the court, where you have one off-ball player usually in the corner.
Then you see a side ball screen, where you move over to the “Double side,” where your four is typically positioned on the wing with your three in the corner.
The key in the offense is for continuous movement, attacking the gaps, and forcing help defenders to create open perimeter shots.
We get a good look at the offense in this video, courtesy of the NBA and Radius Athletics, on YouTube.
DEFENSE:
Also discussed in his interview with Basketball Immersion, Chu emphasizes defending the post on defense because, according to him, “the post up in college is more efficient than it is in the NBA”. He is not afraid to send a double into the post.
He also states how flexibility and the willingness to adapt your defense to situations are critical. In their matchup against California, I personally saw them run a 1-3-1 zone, man-to-man defense, and the traditional 2-3 zone.
That can make game planning against this defense a difficult task, as they can be unpredictable. So far, however, both San Francisco and California have fared pretty well against their defense, with both scoring 75 or more points.
HOW TENNESSEE CAN WIN:
Keep the defense honest. Against Wofford, the Vols shot 30% from three on 23 attempts. Terrence Hill Jr. shot 0-6 himself. If DeWayne Brown starts to hurt them, Radford will send a double team his way. He will have to make quick decisions and get the ball to shooters. Shooters will then have to knock down those shots. You have to make them pay for doubling.
Move the rock. Against Wofford, Tennessee had 17 assists on its 34 made field goals. I personally think you have to and would like to see that number get up in the mid-twenties. A part of that also relies on your scorers and shooters to make shots. Moving the ball doesn’t matter if it ends in a clank or a missed layup.
Get out and run. Tennessee scored 27 fast-break points against Wofford, and that seemed to be where they felt the most comfortable on offense this early into the season. Test Radford’s conditioning early and often. You will wear them out.
HOW RADFORD CAN WIN:
Disrupt Tennessee’s offense. We saw Wofford go into the half only down three. A big part of the reason why was that Tennessee struggled to really get into their offense and had to rely on end-of-clock shots and just hope they could knock a few down. It wasn’t until the second half that the ball started popping and Wofford couldn’t do much to stop it.
Get to the line. Tennessee sent Wofford to the line 23 times. Radford has gotten to the line 33 times so far this season. Tennessee’s defense was much better in the second half, so Radford can’t let them get comfortable on defense.
Keep the crowd out of it. Tennessee Basketball has historically thrived off its crowd, especially under Rick Barnes, and they did in the second half against the Terriers as well. The less Radford gives fans to cheer about, the better for them.
PREDICTION:
I’m afraid I have some bad news, Highlanders. Juke Harris seemed to flip a switch in the second half in the first contest. If he brings that energy to this one, and DeWayne Brown continues to gobble up rebounds, while Tyler Lundblade continues to look like someone teams will have to scout for as a real sniper from deep, I just don’t see any way Radford wins or even keeps this one close. That all hinges on the second-half version of Tennessee showing up for both halves, but I have faith they will.
TENNESSEE - 97 | RADFORD - 66
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