Takeaways from University of Evansville men's basketball's exhibition against Oakland City

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — A new regine is officially underway for the University of Evansville men’s basketball program.

First-year coach and hometown native David Ragland led the Purple Aces onto the Ford Center court for the first time Saturday evening in front of an announced crowd of 3,461 people as UE hosted NAIA outfit Oakland City. It was Ragland's introductory contest as a Division I head coach.

“It was fun. I think the whole process, really, has been fun,” Ragland said. “It sounds weird, but a semi-normal day.”

UE won 81-56, as expected. It showed some moments of cohesion and quality basketball. At other times, the Aces looked as freshly put together as they were this offseason. Nevertheless, they remain undefeated, as Ragland has joked throughout the offseason.

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“We’re playing for pride, which is pride on the front of the jersey which is the university we play for, then pride for your last name on the back of your jersey,” he said. “It’s good to come out of it able to learn, playing a different opponent.”

Here are a few thoughts from Saturday's debut of the Ragland era:

Starting five and the rotation

The Aces started with this lineup:

• Marvin Coleman II

• Gage Bobe

• Kenny Strawbridge Jr.

• Yacine Toumi

• Sekou Kalle

Ragland was quick to say the starting five is still to be determined. He wants to watch the film and “see how it develops.” Of the five starters, Coleman scored the most with 12 points. Strawbridge added 10 while Bobe, Toumi and Kalle combined for 14.

Antoine Smith Jr. scored game-high 17 points off the bench.

“It was just nice to play against somebody else,” Strawbridge said. “(There were some) first-game jitters, just go in, feel how it is.”

UE got 45 of its 81 points from its bench with Smith and Blaise Beauchamp being the largest contributors. Beauchamp was a surprise exclusion from the initial starting lineup, and his 10-point performance could see him get a chance to start against Huntington University on Wednesday in the second dress rehearsal.

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“(We) want to see how it looked after watching film and having the opportunity to digest it,” Ragland said.

Zaveion Chism-Okoh was the only UE player who didn't receive any time. He was dealing with an injury two weeks ago for Meeks Madness, and Ragland continues to express confidence in the freshman.

"I think moving forward we're just going to work through our lineup and see what makes the most sense," Ragland said. "When it's time for (Chism-Okoh) to have his opportunity, have his number called, I know he'll be ready."

Logan McIntire was one of the surprises. He played seven minutes and finished with seven points on 3-for-4 shooting. Gabe Spinelli also showed flashes, with arguably the game's best highlight as he cut around his defender to the rim for a dunk.

Spinelli finished with four points, two steals and an assist.

Attacking the glass

The Aces won the rebounding battle 44-35 and grabbed 12 offensive rebounds, an early improvement from last year's struggles. That helped UE score 17 second-chance points.

“That’s a really, really big emphasis, just attack the boards,” Smith said. “You leave points on the board by not attacking, so that’s been a pretty big emphasis for us and will be continuing.”

Ragland was pleased with the offensive rebounding numbers but felt they could have grabbed more. The Aces only had four in the first half, largely because of a slow start and then finish before the break.

“(Late in the first half) we had limited ball reversals, we had quick shots without ball reversals and our guys that go to the offensive glass couldn’t even do it because they were mainly shocked at some of the shots that we were taking,” Ragland said. “That’s definitely a focal point that we want to do offensively.”

Defense: "That's something we want to be"

Ragland wants UE to establish a defensive identity. Aspects of that were on display with the Aces repeatedly shouting at each other to talk while communicating positions to cover.

UE forced Oakland City into 19 turnovers, 13 of which came in the first half.

“That’s something we want to be,” Ragland said. “(We want to) use defense to create offense. The way to do it is by getting tips, deflections and steals that lead to fastbreak points.”

The Aces forced the Oaks to play outside the perimeter for much of the night. Oakland City shot 12.5% from the arc due to that setup and 34.6% in general. Yet, the Oaks finished with 30 free-throw attempts compared to UE's 17.

"Overall, it was good. We have to clean up defending without fouling," Ragland said. "We have to clean that up and just trust it. Trust that when they get to a spot, especially around the rim, just show your hands and wall up."

Offensive struggles and successes

As they should be, the Aces looked like the better team for the bulk of the game and shot 47.8% from the field — they were 39.1% on 3-pointers. They played well in transition, too, scoring 20 fast-break points.

That's the style Ragland seeks along with preventing shot-clock violations and prioritizing ball movement.

"I feel like what we got away was we just found out our strengths, we found out our weaknesses," he said. We got a deep team. Through our own runs, we definitely were connected. During their runs, we didn't get upset and go out own way. Just staying together, and I thought we played with good pace throughout the 40 minutes."

It wasn't a perfect night, though.

After the Aces went on an early 21-1 run, the Aces went scoreless for nearly four minutes. Against a team like Oakland City, that didn't hurt much. But those stretches still need to be cleaned up before the season officially begins on Nov. 7.

"When we were stuck on 23, we didn't do those things," he said. "We didn't stick to our principles, didn't share the ball like we did through that stretch. ... I didn't think we finished possessions defensively."

At the first media timeout, the game was tied 2-2. Some of that was because of nerves, Ragland said.

"I think both teams have been playing hard, practicing hard against one another," he said. "To have an opportunity to do it against somebody else, and in front of people, I thought it was nerves for both teams."

UE also finished with 15 turnovers, something Ragland wasn't pleased with. Some of them were as simple as players being in a game situation together for the first time. Ragland said others were careless mistakes.

"We didn't have quality possessions through that (scoreless) stretch. I wouldn't be shocked if it was during that stretch where we went from three to nine or 10 (turnovers)," Ragland said. 'If we can limit turnovers then create offense from defense, we'll be a tough out every night."

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville men's basketball: Takeaways from Oakland City exhibition