5 Takeaways from Lawrence North vs. Zionsville Scrimmage
High school basketball is finally getting underway with scrimmages this week and we could not be more excited. I went up to Lawrence North to take in the scrimmage between LN and Zionsville. The hosts handled the Zionsville 83-56 and easily won in the four quarters of 12 minute running clock.
Lawrence North easily handled Zionsville in every quarter besides the third. In that third quarter, LN struggled from the floor and just couldn’t get any shots to go. They played with pace and locked up Zionsville on defense. It was a good look at these two teams and I learned a lot. Zionsville vs. Lawrence North
Lawrence North came out and played defense with a vengeance
Lawrence North didn’t play much defense last year when I saw them and relied on big man Ra Kpedi to stop guys at the rim. This year they are much more active and they were looking to poke the ball out of the Zionsville player’s hand at all times. They forced 19 turnovers, much of those were caused by harassing the guy with the ball and being tight on the perimeter players. They also held them to 43% shooting and closed out on shooters really well. If they play this type of defense all year long they’ll be a really tough team.
Kevin Easley looks a lot better this year
I never really liked Easley as I thought he was a bit overrated but tonight he showed me what I was hoping to see. After his first shot attempt, his shot started to look a ton better and started to fall for him.. He nailed threes and made a few floaters plus a dunk. He shot 4-of-8 from deep and ended with 22 points all while only having one turnover. Just six of those points came in the paint which shows me that he is able to score without pounding at the rim. It’s going to be a good year for Easley and I can see him going to a school that needs some wing help.
Jared Hankins is going to have an unbelievable year
Hankins came out and shot the ball really well. He was 7-of-12 from deep and just kept taking them. He has an odd looking shot but it works for him. He was making them everywhere. Corner, wing, top of the key? It didn’t matter he was going to knock it down. As long as he gets his shot he’s going to score a lot. Now this may be because Zionsville was in a zone but even early on he hit a few. Scored 23 points and looked solid doing it.
Isaiah Thompson is still really small but man can he score
Thompson led the team with 19 points but had to take 18 shots to get there. He struggled a bit with the length of LN and had to settle shooting threes to help get those points as he made five long balls. He will struggle a bit with the taller guards but will be able to use his quickness to take them off the bounce. He’s going to score a lot if Zionsville wants to win this year and he can provide a lot of points, but I think he’ll struggle against the bigger guards.
Zionsville is going to have to shoot the ball and protect it better to win games
Tonight, Zionsville really struggled. The only one scoring much was Thompson and it took him quite a few shots to do so. They have a few other guards than can shoot the ball but they just didn’t do it consistently. Will Alcock will have to step up and score 12-14 points a game because Thompson can’t do it all. They will have to work on passing the ball against pressure too because if teams pressure Zionsville they will turn it over a bunch. They saw the things they need to work on, now it’s up to them to do so.