...and that was TCB and "ball don't lie".
After a crappy start we indeed took care of business, but I'd be remiss if I didn't go ahead and get outta the way: Is there a competent friggin officiating crew left in college basketball? Geez, these guys stunk it up and thankfully this game wasn't gonna be close enough for the zebras to make a difference, because trust me, that would NOT have gone well for us.
OK, let's get to the more pleasant stuff:
- Louisville has a lotta size but only one skilled perimeter guy. and once we actually started seeing man-and-ball and cutting off his drives, they were gonna be challenged to mount much offense outside the paint. We took advantage of that by anticipating their passing lanes and handoff action, which generated TOs and transition.
- Speaking of size, when we went "Big" in the second half with Washington at the 4, that completely negated them inside. And how about Washington in general? Man, he has sure picked a good time to get his legs under him. And what more can say about Mando, back with a double-double in the first 10 minutes on a leg-and-a-half?
- and speaking of TRANSITION --- we committed to pushing the ball and it accounted for getting out of the early hole and closing the first half with a decent lead --- 20 out of our 37 came in transition. We took the foot off the gas again some in the second half, but some of that was understandable, what with (often anticipation/phantom) fouls mounting up.
- speaking further of transition, nothing sparks sound breaks like passing ahead --- and Dunn in particular made at least 3 sweet pitch-aheads that resulted in baskets. The bad news is that once our starting Guards put their heads down, this concept too often disappears. We indeed got away with some ill-advised takes and/or quick-triggers
- After a clunky first half in his start, Puff came back with a strong second.
- As for Dunn, I would hope that today's play removed any doubt as to who should be the first 2/3 off the bench. He has made a big Sophomore leap in every facet of the game (which was apparent going back to camp, TBH), and if you give him the minutes he's more than likely to deliver. Also, good to see Styles give us some solid minutes amidst the aforementioned foul issues.
- However, as for bench minutes, I'd still like to see Hubert be more consistent and less seat-of-the-pants with substitutions. Trimble had a couple of loose moments in the first half, but that's no reason to get totally buried on the bench until garbage time. And again, Nickel has gone from an early-rotation guy to MIA. I mean, "depth" is just something on paper unless ya utilize it.
- As for defense, we probably could've blown it open sooner with more aggression against these guys, The few times we scrambled, we got TOs or stops, including a backcourt steal off 44. and what's this??? ZONE made an appearance! Good time with all the foul trouble.
- One last thing: I'd really like to see us return to "pointing to the passer" as an expectation, as it was under Dean. It's a Carolina staple and way more than symbolic. I only saw it a couple of times today.
Anyway, a soild TCB win on the road vs a team that had to get a dispropotionate amount of their points at the line. Again, good thing this wasn't a closer one --- that, and their ball-don't-lie bad FT shooting . The dichotomy of when we play Carolina basketball as opposed to when we don't, was once again on display. I vote for even more of the former, and moving a step past TCB on Tuesday...
After a crappy start we indeed took care of business, but I'd be remiss if I didn't go ahead and get outta the way: Is there a competent friggin officiating crew left in college basketball? Geez, these guys stunk it up and thankfully this game wasn't gonna be close enough for the zebras to make a difference, because trust me, that would NOT have gone well for us.
OK, let's get to the more pleasant stuff:
- Louisville has a lotta size but only one skilled perimeter guy. and once we actually started seeing man-and-ball and cutting off his drives, they were gonna be challenged to mount much offense outside the paint. We took advantage of that by anticipating their passing lanes and handoff action, which generated TOs and transition.
- Speaking of size, when we went "Big" in the second half with Washington at the 4, that completely negated them inside. And how about Washington in general? Man, he has sure picked a good time to get his legs under him. And what more can say about Mando, back with a double-double in the first 10 minutes on a leg-and-a-half?
- and speaking of TRANSITION --- we committed to pushing the ball and it accounted for getting out of the early hole and closing the first half with a decent lead --- 20 out of our 37 came in transition. We took the foot off the gas again some in the second half, but some of that was understandable, what with (often anticipation/phantom) fouls mounting up.
- speaking further of transition, nothing sparks sound breaks like passing ahead --- and Dunn in particular made at least 3 sweet pitch-aheads that resulted in baskets. The bad news is that once our starting Guards put their heads down, this concept too often disappears. We indeed got away with some ill-advised takes and/or quick-triggers
- After a clunky first half in his start, Puff came back with a strong second.
- As for Dunn, I would hope that today's play removed any doubt as to who should be the first 2/3 off the bench. He has made a big Sophomore leap in every facet of the game (which was apparent going back to camp, TBH), and if you give him the minutes he's more than likely to deliver. Also, good to see Styles give us some solid minutes amidst the aforementioned foul issues.
- However, as for bench minutes, I'd still like to see Hubert be more consistent and less seat-of-the-pants with substitutions. Trimble had a couple of loose moments in the first half, but that's no reason to get totally buried on the bench until garbage time. And again, Nickel has gone from an early-rotation guy to MIA. I mean, "depth" is just something on paper unless ya utilize it.
- As for defense, we probably could've blown it open sooner with more aggression against these guys, The few times we scrambled, we got TOs or stops, including a backcourt steal off 44. and what's this??? ZONE made an appearance! Good time with all the foul trouble.
- One last thing: I'd really like to see us return to "pointing to the passer" as an expectation, as it was under Dean. It's a Carolina staple and way more than symbolic. I only saw it a couple of times today.
Anyway, a soild TCB win on the road vs a team that had to get a dispropotionate amount of their points at the line. Again, good thing this wasn't a closer one --- that, and their ball-don't-lie bad FT shooting . The dichotomy of when we play Carolina basketball as opposed to when we don't, was once again on display. I vote for even more of the former, and moving a step past TCB on Tuesday...
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