Essengue and Saraf Watch: Ulm with no chance in Oldenburg after return from USA
ratiopharm ulm put on a brave face but could clearly not deal with the return trip from the USA as they were blasted by EWE Baskets Oldenburg. Ben Saraf struggled while Noa Essengue played well.
ratiopharm ulm were back in Germany after a long trip to the western coast of the United States to play against Portland in an NBA exhibition. Ty Harrelson’s men certainly were out of sorts in getting blown out 93-66 for their first loss in the easyCredit BBL this season.
Taking The Charge has been looking at Ulm’s teenage duo of Ben Saraf and Noa Essengue all season with the Essengue and Saraf Watch. Here is what they did against Oldenburg - the fifth and penultimate game of a brutal six-game road trip which took Ulm to Vilnius, Bamberg, Istanbul, Portland and Oldenburg and still must play in Gran Canaria.
Ulm played against Portland late Wednesday on the west coast and flew from there Thursday evening before arriving in northern Germany in the early afternoon Friday. They then faced Oldenburg at 6:30 pm on Saturday.
Before the game, DYN Sports interviewed Ben Saraf about the NBA game and experience - a 111-100 loss against the Trail Blazers.
“It was great. It was a great experience for all of us. All of the players were excited about the game.
As a team we fought. I am very proud of the guys. The NBA is tough. The ball is different, the three-point line is further. But we made the adjustments and we looked good.
It’s tough - the time difference and all. but we are not looking for excuses. We are here to win.”
Stats:
Ben Saraf: 16 points (6/14 fg - 3/5 3s - 1/1 fts), 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 steal, 2 turnovers - 33:10 minutes
Noa Essengue: 20 points (6/14 fg - 3/6 3s - 5/6 ft), 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers - 34:01 minutes
Ben Saraf game rundown:
Saraf started the game and the first time he was noticed was after 100 seconds when he failed to bring the ball over midcourt within 8 seconds for the turnover. And he missed his first attempt the next time down a jumper at the free throw line.
Still inside the first 3 minutes, Justin Jaworski ran Saraf into a pick on an inbounds play and he was slow to get through it and Jaworski drained the baseline catch and shoot jumper. At the other end, he missed a triple from the left wing.
Saraf was taken out with 5:33 minutes left in the first quarter and Ulm trailing 12-5 and struggling offensively. Coach Ty Harrelson inserted him back in at the 3:52 minute mark.
On the first offense, Saraf found Marcio Santos inside with a jump pass in the paint but the Brazilian couldn’t finish. Later he tried to inbounds to Essengue but the ball was stolen.
Saraf’s subpar showing continued as did not try to slow down Len Schoormann on a break and then at the other end, did have nice spin dribble to get around Crandall but turned it over immediately thereafter, leading to an Oldenburg fast break.
Harrelson removed his playmaker seconds after that with 1:32 minutes left in the first quarter. Saraf finally came back on with 5:46 minutes to go in the first half and Ulm down 33-16.
After Alfonso Plummer made some plays, Saraf brought up the ball and delivered a nice jump pass into the low post to Philipp Herkenhoff for the foul. The Israeli scored his first points the next time down with a jumper at the free throw line.
Saraf started to be a bit more aggressive, driving past Crandall and then going up for a layup but could not finish over Norris Agbakoko - making both free throws. At the other end, Saraf got caught behind a backpick and Jaworski cut open to the basket with Essengue there to save him with the steal.
Saraf committed a traveling turnover seconds later on offense. Later on defense, he could not stop Len Schoormann from driving from the left corner and scoring inside.
Saraf did not start the second half and entered the game with 5:00 minutes to go in the third quarter. He shined right away on defense, racing back to challenge Eli Brooks at the rim on a layup.
A short time later he missed a wide open triple from the right corner. The next time down he managed to drive into the lane and tried to pass to Nico Bretzel but turned it over.
With under 3 minutes to go in the third quarter, Saraf forced Crandall into a turnover. Saraf gave it up about a minute later with a lazy pass to Weidemann. He was immediately taken out with 1:45 minutes to go.
Saraf started the fourth quarter and fed Weidemann for a wing three and an assist. He knocked down an open mid-range jumper shortly thereafter - though the game had long been decided at 75-46. He came out of the game with 7:05 minutes to go.
Harrelson sent Saraf back onto the court with 102 seconds to play and completed the first offense with a stepback three-pointer from the top of the key.
Conclusions:
Saraf had one of his poorer games so far this season as he struggled at both ends of the floor, not really pressuring or stopping the ball much on defense and committing a season high 6 turnovers. That was the combined number of turnovers he had in Ulm’s three league wins. There were some minor flashes of his passing - the jump pass to Herkenhoff being one. It was certainly a game to be forgotten - or at least learned from. More importantly, was the poor performance more a product of the long travels the team has gone through in the past week.
Noa Essengue game rundown:
After Ulm coach Ty Harrelson gave Essengue his first start of the season in the NBA exhibition, the French talent started for the first time in Germany.
Right off the bat, Essengue was beaten in the pick-and-roll with Oldenburg’s veteran guard Geno Crandall delivering a fine pass by the youngster. At the other end, Essengue delivered an excellent pass from beyond the three-point line to a cutting Justinian Jessup, who missed the layup.
Essengue’s lack of mass was an issue on Oldenburg’s next possession as the hosts’ big man Norris Agbakoko twice grabbed offensive rebounds over him.
Essengue showed his quickness and desire as he went after an inbounds pass after an Ulm basket that resulted in a steal after he dove to the floor. A couple of possessions later, he did a good job running off a screen and had a layup from the left side but could not finish the contested attempt. And the next time down, a driving Nelson Weidemann kicked out to Essengue on the wing but he didn’t launch the catch and shoot triple over the out-charging Crandall but decided to instead back down the guard and ended up passing the ball out for an empty possession.
Essengue came out at that point - with 6:18 minutes left in the first quarter. He was back on the court 3 minutes later. He was found by Tommy Klepeisz with a nice pass but couldn’t finish at the rim.
Essengue was beaten again on Ulm’s defensive glass as Seth Hinrichs grabbed the offensive rebound. Essengue continued his good effort on his own offensive glass as he tried to tip in an Alfonso Plummer miss but couldn’t get it to fall. He attempted his first three-pointer just before the end of the first quarter from the right wing but it was well off target.
And Essengue stayed on the court for the start of the second quarter. On Ulm’s first offense, he was fed into the post with the smaller Crandall on him, but upon a double-team Essengue passed out for a missed triple from Weidemann.
Essengue tried to post up Crandall the next time down again but Nico Bretzel could not feed him the ball cleanly for another turnover. Essengue tried to drive from the wing for the first time on the next possession but was fouled by Artur Konontsuk and Harrelson subbed him out with 8:27 minutes left in the first half.
Essengue was back on with 4:51 minutes to go in the half. He made a nice defensive play a minute later, stealing a pass into the lane after Oldenburg had successfully worked Justin Jaworski free.
But Hinrichs got the better of him shortly thereafter, drawing the offensive foul on a charge as Essengue tried to drive to the basket. And Harrelson took Essengue out of the game with 2:56 minutes remaining in the first half. He was back out there 50 seconds later.
With about a minute left, Essengue had the ball in the paint against Crandall but his fall away jumper was just short. It was the same matchup the next time down and Essengue again could not score against Crandall.
Essengue did not start the second half and came into the game at the 5:10 minute mark in the third quarter. About 2 minutes into the shift, he cheated on a driving Eli Brooks, who kicked out to Justin Jaworski and he was given too much space and buried the triple before Essengue could recover and challenge the shot.
Essengue went to the line with 2:43 minutes to go and made two free throws. He couldn’t follow them up though a short time later with a missed three from the right side. Essengue made two more free throws after a foul on the left wing.
Essengue once again was not able to withstand the physical advantage of Agbakoko on the offensive glass, with the Oldenburg big getting the offensive rebound and being fouled by the Frenchman.
Inside the final minute of the third quarter, Essengue helped Weidemann on a cutting Brooks and left Hinrichs wide open for a corner three which happened to go off target.
Esssengue started the fourth quarter and got out on the break but couldn’t finish after a physical foul by Hinrichs - converting one of two free throws. He came off after that with 8:56 minutes left in the game.
He returned to the contest with 3:39 minutes to play. He was fouled around mid-court and went to the line and made just one of two foul shots. At the other end, Essengue forced Hinrichs into a turnover. The youngster was back on the line the next time down and made both free throws after a foul in the lane.
On defense though he went for a Brooks shot fake and watched as he drove by him for a layup. The next time down on offense Essengue was back on the line after a foul in the corner by Max DiLeo, hitting both foul shots.
Conclusions:
Some of Essengue’s numbers did not look pretty - especially the 0/6 shooting but also the unofficial count of offensive rebounds allowed; but others were quite nice - drawing 8 fouls and making 10 of 12 free throws to go with 4 rebounds. The 17-year-old fought hard under the basket, losing a number of the battles. Still, he fought through some fatigue from the travel and was diving for balls and giving great effort. He picked up his aggressiveness on offense in the fourth quarter which was nice to see after showing so much in the game againt Portland.
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