The Opening Tip
Tiffin will play its first away conference game in more than a month Thursday (Jan. 13) when it travels to Ashland, Ohio to take on the Eagles of Ashland University (6-6, 1-5). Tiffin hosts Lake Erie (4-8, 1-5) on Saturday, Jan. 15 before TU hits the road for a pair of away games next weekend.
Noting the Dragons
- - With a weekend sweep, Tiffin will put themselves squarely into contention for its first ever Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference basketball tournament berth. TU will be at a minimum ninth in the conference standings.
- - After two months of playing one team from Ohio, Ashland will be Tiffin's second game in Ohio and the first on the road. During the month of February, five of the six games for the Dragons are against teams from Ohio.
- - With a 10-point lead in the second half, the Dragons have led both nationally-ranked teams at home in the second stanza. Tiffin led Findlay by six late in the second half Dec. 16.
- The Dragons recently finished a swing against eight-ranked opponents in the last 13 ballgames. The Dragons only play two ranked opponents in the final 12 games of the season.
Scouting Ashland
Ashland enters Thursday's game in the same position as Tiffin, needing a win to keep hopes of a GLIAC Tournament berth alive. Kale Richardson is leading the team with 15.8 points per ballgame while Evan Yates and Ronnie Steward are close behind with a 10.8 and 10.1 mark, respectively. David Harris comes off the bench and is fourth with 7.8 points. Richardson also leads the team in three-point field goals (16), free throws (47) and rebounds per game (7.4).
It will be the battle of the three-point shot vs. three-point defense as TU is sixth in the league with 98 shots made from behind the arc this season. Ashland is allowing teams to only hit 30.9% of their shots behind the arc, good enough for second in the conference.
Scouting Lake Erie
The Storm enters the weekend looking for their first ever Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win. Ethan Bradshaw is the only Lake Erie player to be averaging double digits in scoring, but he is fourth in the conference with 17.9 points per game. Garrick Sims contributes 9.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.
Tiffin will look to use its advantage on the glass as it leads the conference with 40.8 boards per game. Lake Erie is 11th with 34.9 rebounds.
Scorer turned Passer?
While junior Karl Finley is closing fast at 13.4 points per game, freshman Joe Graessle has led Tiffin from the beginning of the season in scoring (14.0 points per game through 14 games) and is among conference freshmen leaders. He also leads the conference with an average of 3.0 three-pointers.
In the new year, Graessle has seen a bit of a role reversal. While his scoring (10.7) is down thus far in 2011, he is up to a 5.0 assist to turnover ratio (20 assists, four turnovers, including his first career double-double with 14 points and 10 assists against Salem International on Jan. 4). Against sixth-ranked Hillsdale, Graessle had five assists and no turnovers.
Next Up
After the home game against Lake Erie, Tiffin makes its first away trip for the weekend in conference play since early December when it makes the trip to Michigan to take on Wayne State (Jan. 20) and Northwood (Jan. 22). Game times are 6 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.
