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Drexel/West Chester Exhibition Thoughts

10/28/2017, 10:05pm EDT
By Josh Verlin

Zach Spiker (above) watched his Drexel Dragons pull out a 92-89 victory over D-II West Chester in an exhibition game on Saturday. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Drexel hosted the first “official” game of the 2017-18 season on Saturday afternoon, as D-II West Chester visited the Daskalakis Athletic Center for an exhibition in front of several hundred fans.

Here are some thoughts from the game, which Drexel won, 92-89:

1. Drexel rotation starting to shape up
With two transfer guards now eligible amongst six new faces on the Dragons’ roster, and a few key players gone from last season, the Drexel rotation was already bound to have a few new wrinkles in it. Saturday was the first time to see just what Drexel coach Zach Spiker was thinking in terms of his rotation, and though the second-year head coach was certainly more liberal with his substitutions than he will be during the regular season, there were still a few takeaways from the way he used his bench.

Starting the game as expected were sophomore Kurk Lee Jr. at point guard, seniors Sammy Mojica and Miles Overton on the wings and senior Austin Williams in the middle. The fifth starting spot, which had previously been occupied by Kari Jonsson before the sophomore left school to return home to Iceland two weeks back, was filled by one of the transfers, former Mizzou guard Tramaine Isabell.

Coming off the bench as the sixth man was Troy Harper Jr., a Neumann-Goretti grad and Campbell transfer making his first appearance in a DU uniform. That first group all played 20-plus minutes, but after that it was a different story. Sophomore wing Sam Green came off the bench and scored five quick points, finishing with six in 11 minutes of action; he only saw spare time in 14 games last year. Senior forward Tyshawn Myles, sophomore JUCO transfer Alihan Demi, and freshmen Jarvis Doles and Tadas Kararinas all saw brief action in the first half; freshman Timmy Perry Jr. got a minute in the second half.

With Jonsson having left the team and gone home to Iceland following a freshman year in which he averaged 10.1 ppg and shot 43.6 percent from 3-point range, it appears the Drexel bench will be quite short -- at least to begin the year.

“Certainly it’s an exhibition so you want to experiment with some different things, I thought we did that more in the first half than the second half,” Spiker said. “But the guys who played the bulk of the minutes, I would hope they’ll see the bulk of the minutes as well. As the season goes, guys can evolve in games and approve, and we’ve got some weaponry that’s adjusting to the college game still, and they’ll get more minutes as the season goes on.”

2. On-ball defense still problematic for DU
The Drexel defense left a lot to be desired last year. The Dragons were in the bottom third of Division I programs in allowing about 1.10 points per possession, according to KenPom, which put them 283rd nationally. That was a far cry from where they had been in their peak years under Bruiser Flint -- in the top 55 every year from 2006-2012 except for one -- and still a significant drop from where they had been in 2015-16, Flint’s last season (1.06 ppp, 206th nationally).

By the looks of it Saturday, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Despite playing against a Division II backcourt (albeit an experienced, talented one), Drexel couldn’t stop its opponents from getting dribble penetration and dishing off for easy buckets. West Chester shot 47 percent overall (31-of-66) but was 26-of-44 (59 percent) on 2-point attempts, scoring 89 points on 82 possessions (1.09 ppp).

Quite a bit of that came on second-chance points. West Chester had 18 offensive rebounds and won the battle on the boards 40-35, allowing the Rams to come away with 21 second-chance points.

Post-game, Spiker focused on the positives.

“I thought we defended the 3 pretty well and we came up with some stops late in the game,” he said. “We got better in the second half. They had 12 offensive rebounds at halftime and ended with 18. We did a better job with that.”

3. Dragons have more attacking options
Last year, Drexel’s offense was reliant on Lee’s ability to create off ball screens, and though the freshman handled it as well as possible, he certainly could have benefitted from some help on the ball and in attacking the rim. It looks like he’s got that this year in Isabell, as the Missouri guard showed a willingness to take his man off the dribble and get into the defense to get the ball moving, forming a potentially potent backcourt combination, especially as Harper works into the mix.

Lee (22 points) and Isabell (18) combined for 40 points on 9-of-24 shooting, which certainly isn’t incredibly efficient. But they were a steady 11-for-11 from the foul line, part of a 38-of-50 (76 percent) outing by the Dragons in a foul-heavy game. As bad as Drexel’s defense was, it’s offense was good enough to make up for it, and that’s not something the Dragons could have relied on in the past. The presence of another dribble-drive guard could also open up lanes for Mojica and Harper as well.


Jackson Hyland (above) scored 21 points for West Chester, well above his 13.5 ppg average last year. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

4. West Chester’s Hyland in for a big season
With last year’s leading scorer Malik Jackson currently ineligible (academics) and another double-digit scorer from a year ago (Zach Bare) no longer on the team, the Rams are going to need their veterans to step up and produce. And if Saturday was any indication, Jackson Hyland is ready to become a go-to scorer for his team.

A 6-5 wing out of Kennett (Pa.) High, Hyland averaged 13.5 ppg last year, good enough for third on the team, while also grabbing 7.1 rebounds. He poured in 21 on Saturday, shooting 10-of-18 from the floor and 1-for-3 from 3-point range. Hyland didn’t hesitate to slash to the rim or crash the glass on his teammates’ misses for a few follow-up buckets, scooping up nine boards in the process.

Also scoring the ball at a terrific clip was senior wing Tyrell Long, but that’s less of a surprise; Long averaged 17.8 ppg as the second-highest scorer on the team. Long led all scorers with 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting, with nine rebounds, hitting 8-of-10 from the foul line.

5. Rokins looks like a terrific pickup for WCU
Frank Rokins didn’t start for West Chester, but once he entered the game several minutes into the first half, the 6-4 guard made his case to be in the lineup once the season really gets underway for the Rams.

Playing 32 minutes of action, Rokins was 4-for-8 from the floor and 9-of-14 from the foul line for 18 points, while also grabbing 13 rebounds against a Division I frontcourt. One of the physically strongest players on the entire Golden Rams roster, Rokins used that to his advantage, bothering whatever Drexel guard he was matched up with on the defensive end.

A 2015 graduate of St. Mary’s (N.J.), Rokins has spent the last two years at Essex County (N.J.) College, a Division II junior college. As a sophomore, he averaged 10.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg and 2.3 apg while starting all 34 games for Essex. Based on Saturday, he could put up even better numbers in his first year at West Chester.


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