...a listless game, for lack of a better term. Just when it looked like we would click and pull away we would do something bad to keep them in it. In particular our Bigs just looked tentative inside. Now granted, Syracuse played us a bit differently than they normally do. Anytime we got the ball to a middle entry, they backed off to the blocks instead of challenging (to prevent the hi-lo passes we killed them with last time). That seemed to flummox our guys --- instead of taking the ball hard to the rack or shooting with confidence we were hesitating and short-arming inside.
Anyway, I'll start with the good, because there's not as much as there needs to be.
- We held them to 41% FGs and forced 15 TOs. Although there were a couple of breakdowns, there were many times when we played really good defense and there was better help from the Bigs on drives. No better example of that than a key sequence when we were only up 3 late and on a Gbinije drive, Berry attacks his ball hand and forces a spin to the paint and Hicks steps in and goes straight up to smother the drive and we get the rebound. There were several instances of solid team D tonight.
- Brice got himself in foul trouble (only played 24 minutes) and too often was not showing himself to the ball well enough, but the big fella stepped up late on the offensive glass and put-backs, and his great long outlet triggered a key run-out by JJ. Brice led us with 10 boards (5 offensive).
- We shot the 3-ball well in the first half
- Marcus, despite a rough shooting night, had a terrific passing night in transition and wing entries.with 8 Assists
- When Roy finally got us working the short corners, Justin did some nice work on floaters and baseline entries.
- We finally got to the line in the second half because we attacked the rim more.
- After some puzzling early moments, Kennedy did make a succession of key mid-range shots in the second half and was 4-4 from the line.
- Nice board work by Luke in the first half (3 rebounds in 6 minutes) --- we needed it.
- Another dogged defensive effort by JB. Had 2 Steals, drew 2 charges (coulda been 3), and caused 2 more TOs and kicked in 5 Defensive Boards (on a night when they were much needed).
The bad:
- We left SO many points on the floor. Good grief. I counted 18 Blown Assists that didn't result in FTs. And our Bigs were too often volley-balling on the offensive glass instead of grabbing and dunking.
- We made zero 3-pointers in the second half. Ouch.
- We missed too many FTs (again)... not horrible (13-19) but not what we've been used to.
- Good thing we played some D, because we only shot 41% from the field. That came from two things: Our awful second-half perimeter shooting and not finishing at the rim with any consistency.
- We've GOT to stop leaving our feet against Bigs on the perimeter. Hicks and Theo got caught on that a couple of times each.
- We got too careless with the ball --- JB overshot an alley-oop and a pitch-ahead lob pass, Nate got himself caught in no-man's land a couple of times and turned it over and we forced some interior passes. Also, sometimes we just didn't catch the ball well. 13 TOs ain't what this team is supposed to do.
- Here's the number that drives me friggin crazy --- I realize we went small at times but there is no excuse for us allowing 12 Offensive Rebounds. That just can't happen. Accordingly, only two of our guys had more than 2 Defensive Rebounds, and one of them was our dadgummed PG.
- Finally, I counted 14 (true) Fast Break points (most on Steals) and only 9 Secondary Break points. We just couldn't get our transition game going consistently. Why? We didn't control the defensive glass. That's gotta get better.
Anyway, it's a win on Senior Night... Let's play better Saturday.
.
Anyway, I'll start with the good, because there's not as much as there needs to be.
- We held them to 41% FGs and forced 15 TOs. Although there were a couple of breakdowns, there were many times when we played really good defense and there was better help from the Bigs on drives. No better example of that than a key sequence when we were only up 3 late and on a Gbinije drive, Berry attacks his ball hand and forces a spin to the paint and Hicks steps in and goes straight up to smother the drive and we get the rebound. There were several instances of solid team D tonight.
- Brice got himself in foul trouble (only played 24 minutes) and too often was not showing himself to the ball well enough, but the big fella stepped up late on the offensive glass and put-backs, and his great long outlet triggered a key run-out by JJ. Brice led us with 10 boards (5 offensive).
- We shot the 3-ball well in the first half
- Marcus, despite a rough shooting night, had a terrific passing night in transition and wing entries.with 8 Assists
- When Roy finally got us working the short corners, Justin did some nice work on floaters and baseline entries.
- We finally got to the line in the second half because we attacked the rim more.
- After some puzzling early moments, Kennedy did make a succession of key mid-range shots in the second half and was 4-4 from the line.
- Nice board work by Luke in the first half (3 rebounds in 6 minutes) --- we needed it.
- Another dogged defensive effort by JB. Had 2 Steals, drew 2 charges (coulda been 3), and caused 2 more TOs and kicked in 5 Defensive Boards (on a night when they were much needed).
The bad:
- We left SO many points on the floor. Good grief. I counted 18 Blown Assists that didn't result in FTs. And our Bigs were too often volley-balling on the offensive glass instead of grabbing and dunking.
- We made zero 3-pointers in the second half. Ouch.
- We missed too many FTs (again)... not horrible (13-19) but not what we've been used to.
- Good thing we played some D, because we only shot 41% from the field. That came from two things: Our awful second-half perimeter shooting and not finishing at the rim with any consistency.
- We've GOT to stop leaving our feet against Bigs on the perimeter. Hicks and Theo got caught on that a couple of times each.
- We got too careless with the ball --- JB overshot an alley-oop and a pitch-ahead lob pass, Nate got himself caught in no-man's land a couple of times and turned it over and we forced some interior passes. Also, sometimes we just didn't catch the ball well. 13 TOs ain't what this team is supposed to do.
- Here's the number that drives me friggin crazy --- I realize we went small at times but there is no excuse for us allowing 12 Offensive Rebounds. That just can't happen. Accordingly, only two of our guys had more than 2 Defensive Rebounds, and one of them was our dadgummed PG.
- Finally, I counted 14 (true) Fast Break points (most on Steals) and only 9 Secondary Break points. We just couldn't get our transition game going consistently. Why? We didn't control the defensive glass. That's gotta get better.
Anyway, it's a win on Senior Night... Let's play better Saturday.
.
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