#6113 See Grinnell Play Basketball

When the hubby found out that Grinnell College Men’s Basketball Team didn’t play defense and racks up 100+ a game, he wanted to see a game. We are lucky that Grinnell is in the same conference as Lawrence, Ripon, and St. Norbert. All three schools are within an hour or so away with Lawrence being about 10 minutes from home. Last fall, I checked Grinnell’s schedule and saw that they were at Lawrence on 1/2/16 and Ripon a week or so later. The hubby didn’t have a game and put it on the calendar so he won’t take any games.

The game started at 1 and I was getting a little nervous that we still weren’t ready to leave at 12:30. I figured there would be a crowd and I really didn’t want to stand for 2 hours. What I didn’t think of was the lack of parking at Lawrence especially near the sports facilities. We parked about 2 blocks away on the street and headed towards Alexander Gymnasium (yes, a college with a Gymnasium and not field house). As we were walking in, we heard someone call the hubby’s name. It turns out his basketball partner’s son had the women’s game after and he wanted to see the circus too.

As we got inside, I was expecting to pay. Apparently there is no admission for sporting events at Lawrence except for football and hockey. Hmmm…maybe I will go watch a fencing match sometime. I was shocked at the inside of this place. Alexander Gymnasium is your typical old school gym with bleachers on one baseline and one end line. There is only 1 court. I’ve seen high school facilities bigger and better than Alexander Gym. Heck, Carroll’s Van Male Field House is way better and Ganfield at least has a balcony. I wasn’t impressed by it to saw the least. I suppose athletic isn’t big at Lawrence so no need for a new Field House. Maybe just get better bleachers…

Honestly I was disappointed by the game. Grinnell did play defense and did not leave 4 guys at their end of the court the entire game. Yes, there were a lot of points scored 109-89 was the final. Grinnell did put 5 fresh guys in almost every time the clock stopped which was another one of their trademarks. Lawrence played well for most of the game. They just didn’t have the depth on their bench to keep up with Grinnell.
The hubby enjoyed the game and was glad he saw them play. He found it interesting that Grinnell forced Lawrence to play their game. Grinnell has a fast pace offense and tries to force turn overs on defense. If he was the opposing team’s coach, he would slow the game down and force Grinnell to play his game. I think Grinnell would still play tough ball and try to steal the ball every chance they get. That would eliminate the opportunity to slow the game down. I get the feeling the hubby didn’t care for Grinnell’s style of play.

Seeing Grinnell play was interesting. It was my kind of basketball game – fast paced, lots of scoring. I have seen better high school games. If given the opportunity, we probably would see them again. The afternoon wasn’t wasted and it actually was a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon with the hubby.