...and this one was about making corrections and moving forward to a brutal home-stretch.
- I'm gonna start with defense, since that's been the topic of interest. To evaluate our adjustments for this game, I tracked Pitt's 3-balls (before those in garbage-time) vs how we defended, as follows:
make - trap
make - quick-trigger off loose ball
miss - deep
make - deep
make - over-help (Brooks)
make - over-help (Pinson)_
miss - deep guarded
miss - deep guarded
make - deep guarded
miss - over-help (Platek)
miss - trap
make - deep desperation
make - trap
miss - kick-out
*1st half - 8/14 (2/3 over-help, 2/3 trap, 1/1 quick-trigger, 3/6 deep, 0/1 kick-out)
miss - deep guarded
miss - kick-out
miss - misplayed ball-screen (Johnson)
miss - deep
miss - over-help (Robinson)
miss - guarded
make - guarded
miss - guarded
miss - deep guarded
make - kick-out guarded
miss - kick-out guarded
*2nd half (pre-garbage-time) - 2/11 (0/1 over-help, 0/1 screen, 1/3 kick-outs, 1/3 guarded, 0/3 deep)
Bottom line is after a sketchy start in guarding, we definitely cleaned up our 3-pt defense. There were only 4 attempts from over-help and 1 from a misplayed ball-screen. Their 1st-half success could be attributed to a combination of giving them opportunities and just hot shooting. The better news is our 3-ball defense was very solid in the second half. All in all, it was way better than recent games. 10/30 (and even 10/25 before mass subs) is a decent number overall. As for 2-pt defense, we continue to be strong holding them to 13/30.
other stuff
- Speaking of defense, the configuration with Theo running PG did NOT go well at all. After holding them to 10 total points for the first 10:25 of the second half, as soon as JB went out of the game Pitt reeled off 15 points in the next 4:15. They went thru us like sh** thru a goose, attacking almost exclusively from the point. Let's not do that anymore.
- Also, Roy was determined to get the freshman Bigs some time together, and we had a hard time guarding the mismatches, which is understandable. Most importantly though, Luke has GOT to work on high ball-screens. Scouts have found his weakness and we're gonna see more of them.
- Speaking of Luke though, he was visibly angry with himself this week over his Clemson no-show, and he came out smokin' on offense (27 pts and scored from everywhere) for this one. He was also embarrassed about his FT shooting woes, and his focus was apparent, going 5/5 and leaving no doubt on any attempt. #goodsign
- Theo was clearly not 100%. The "cupping" marks on his shoulders were still visible and pain was obviously affecting his finishes. Still, he fought thru, giving a yeoman's effort on the glass (13) and firing some nifty passes for 8 Assists. And I dunno if they counted this one as a dime, but his rebound tip-pass to Luke for a put-back was subtle beauty.
- Good to see Brooks finish some plays, but damn son --- catch the ball cleanly! And Manley's offensive potential showed, as well as his nice FT stroke finally cashing in again, going 4/4.
- Cam was clearly jacked up about facing his former team --- maybe too much so, as he black-holed a few times early. Still, his aggression and energy is positive and he got 14 pts despite being 1/7 from 3, plus he did start moving the ball, contributing 4 Assists.
- Offensive movement in general has been a concern recently, but we definitely moved the ball, finishing with 29 Assists on 36 made FGs! Given that we had no less than 12 Blown Assists in the first half alone, that is even more impressive. We cut that bad number down to 8 in the second half, and the output reflected that, scoring 51 pts before calling off the dogs late.
- It was good to see Kenny firing again. 15 pts is more like what we need from him, and kudos to Roy for calling the first play of the second half for him to get his 3-ball rolling (3/5).
- We hadn't gotten to use it much recently, but when we're moving, our Zone-O is really good. We consistently get open looks, just hafta convert.
- Angry Dog: It astounds me there are some who don't get just how good JB is on both ends of the floor, and he was again. 12 pts, 6 boards and 6 Assists (w/ 6 Blown) with 2 Steals (not 1) 0 TOs, despite inexplicably not getting to the FT line , but it's also fun to watch when the nastiness gets triggered. In the first half after a bogus foul call at mid-court (that also had Roy fuming), Joel absolutely smothered a ball triggering the sequence that led to Garrison's highlight hustle play on the other end. And following Theo's highlight cuff-dunk in the second half, Dog showed he'd had about enough of the elbows and push-offs, skying for a rebound with one of the culprits (trying) to hang on his arm, giving #0 a GTF-off glare as he cleared.
- Finally, dang it was good to hear Wes Durham's Woody-esque voice and inflections as I was charting the replay. Brings back a lotta good memories.
Anyway, the opponent notwithstanding, it was good to be able to make some corrections before the dookies come in Thursday. Need to attack, attack, attack and make em have to defend...
- I'm gonna start with defense, since that's been the topic of interest. To evaluate our adjustments for this game, I tracked Pitt's 3-balls (before those in garbage-time) vs how we defended, as follows:
make - trap
make - quick-trigger off loose ball
miss - deep
make - deep
make - over-help (Brooks)
make - over-help (Pinson)_
miss - deep guarded
miss - deep guarded
make - deep guarded
miss - over-help (Platek)
miss - trap
make - deep desperation
make - trap
miss - kick-out
*1st half - 8/14 (2/3 over-help, 2/3 trap, 1/1 quick-trigger, 3/6 deep, 0/1 kick-out)
miss - deep guarded
miss - kick-out
miss - misplayed ball-screen (Johnson)
miss - deep
miss - over-help (Robinson)
miss - guarded
make - guarded
miss - guarded
miss - deep guarded
make - kick-out guarded
miss - kick-out guarded
*2nd half (pre-garbage-time) - 2/11 (0/1 over-help, 0/1 screen, 1/3 kick-outs, 1/3 guarded, 0/3 deep)
Bottom line is after a sketchy start in guarding, we definitely cleaned up our 3-pt defense. There were only 4 attempts from over-help and 1 from a misplayed ball-screen. Their 1st-half success could be attributed to a combination of giving them opportunities and just hot shooting. The better news is our 3-ball defense was very solid in the second half. All in all, it was way better than recent games. 10/30 (and even 10/25 before mass subs) is a decent number overall. As for 2-pt defense, we continue to be strong holding them to 13/30.
other stuff
- Speaking of defense, the configuration with Theo running PG did NOT go well at all. After holding them to 10 total points for the first 10:25 of the second half, as soon as JB went out of the game Pitt reeled off 15 points in the next 4:15. They went thru us like sh** thru a goose, attacking almost exclusively from the point. Let's not do that anymore.
- Also, Roy was determined to get the freshman Bigs some time together, and we had a hard time guarding the mismatches, which is understandable. Most importantly though, Luke has GOT to work on high ball-screens. Scouts have found his weakness and we're gonna see more of them.
- Speaking of Luke though, he was visibly angry with himself this week over his Clemson no-show, and he came out smokin' on offense (27 pts and scored from everywhere) for this one. He was also embarrassed about his FT shooting woes, and his focus was apparent, going 5/5 and leaving no doubt on any attempt. #goodsign
- Theo was clearly not 100%. The "cupping" marks on his shoulders were still visible and pain was obviously affecting his finishes. Still, he fought thru, giving a yeoman's effort on the glass (13) and firing some nifty passes for 8 Assists. And I dunno if they counted this one as a dime, but his rebound tip-pass to Luke for a put-back was subtle beauty.
- Good to see Brooks finish some plays, but damn son --- catch the ball cleanly! And Manley's offensive potential showed, as well as his nice FT stroke finally cashing in again, going 4/4.
- Cam was clearly jacked up about facing his former team --- maybe too much so, as he black-holed a few times early. Still, his aggression and energy is positive and he got 14 pts despite being 1/7 from 3, plus he did start moving the ball, contributing 4 Assists.
- Offensive movement in general has been a concern recently, but we definitely moved the ball, finishing with 29 Assists on 36 made FGs! Given that we had no less than 12 Blown Assists in the first half alone, that is even more impressive. We cut that bad number down to 8 in the second half, and the output reflected that, scoring 51 pts before calling off the dogs late.
- It was good to see Kenny firing again. 15 pts is more like what we need from him, and kudos to Roy for calling the first play of the second half for him to get his 3-ball rolling (3/5).
- We hadn't gotten to use it much recently, but when we're moving, our Zone-O is really good. We consistently get open looks, just hafta convert.
- Angry Dog: It astounds me there are some who don't get just how good JB is on both ends of the floor, and he was again. 12 pts, 6 boards and 6 Assists (w/ 6 Blown) with 2 Steals (not 1) 0 TOs, despite inexplicably not getting to the FT line , but it's also fun to watch when the nastiness gets triggered. In the first half after a bogus foul call at mid-court (that also had Roy fuming), Joel absolutely smothered a ball triggering the sequence that led to Garrison's highlight hustle play on the other end. And following Theo's highlight cuff-dunk in the second half, Dog showed he'd had about enough of the elbows and push-offs, skying for a rebound with one of the culprits (trying) to hang on his arm, giving #0 a GTF-off glare as he cleared.
- Finally, dang it was good to hear Wes Durham's Woody-esque voice and inflections as I was charting the replay. Brings back a lotta good memories.
Anyway, the opponent notwithstanding, it was good to be able to make some corrections before the dookies come in Thursday. Need to attack, attack, attack and make em have to defend...
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