...and this was not a fun way to start ACC play.
- Wow, what a display of offensive ugliness the first half was. Missing wide-open 3s, not finishing inside. Yikes. Although in the first half we scored 19 of our (ugh) 35 points in the Secondary Break (47 for the game), we blew 8 transition opportunities, and more tellingly, had 17 Blown Assists in the first half alone. Certain know-nothings like to make fun of that metric but it is a vital measure of efficiency. It means we're passing the ball and getting open looks but not finishing.
- Also concerning is that we didn't get our Fast Break cranked up with only 5 points. Wake was very concerned with getting back on defense. The good news is that concern affected their Offensive Rebounding (see below).
- This was one of those games where an opponent stayed in it by heaving up shots --- many of which looked like they came from the fat guy in Rec League --- and they started going in in the second half. Those things happen sometimes despite good defense. The point is that we should be able to make enough shots to stave that sort of thing off. We didn't.
- Credit Wake with playing intensely on defense, and yeah, Tim Nestor rose to his normal level of incompetence (how Berry didn't get to the line once is beyond me), but ultimately this game being close is on us. We had ample opportunities we didn't convert --- both inside and out --- in that we got ample open looks from deep and in some cases just short-armed some chippies in the paint. The bottom line in hoops is to put the ball in the basket and we generally sucked at that today. When you're under 40% from the field, under 32% from 3 and only make 2/3 of the FTs ya get, that is normally a formula for a bad loss.
- One positive was that rebounding wasn't an issue, despite the size they put on the floor. We handled the glass 49-34 and best, only allowed them 4 Offensive Rebounds. That was accomplished not only by Luke's yeoman work (15), but 7 each from Theo and Brooks and 6 from JB.
- This is a different team than in previous years, in that Roy can't fall back on pounding the ball into Brice Johnson or Kennedy Meeks, so like it or not, the fate of this version will be greatly tied to making jump shots. Obviously we want to attack the rim (which ultimately pulled this one out for us), but it is unlikely we'll survive many outside shooting performances like this one. So, on that note, I'll just say "whew!"
...
- We had plenty of energy coming off the layoff, but execution was rusty, to put it kindly. Even though the TO number wasn't ultimately awful, there were multiple fumbled catches, helping with the aforementioned Blown Assists, and passes to nobody. That needs to tighten up in a hurry going forward.
- One positive was watching the game point-blank on a big-screen in a bar and thus not having to listen to Dakich. All I can say is that ESPN must've had a lotta people on vacation to assign that insufferable buffoon to a game in North Carolina.
- As big a fan as I am of Roy, this game was a head-scratcher in a couple of ways. First: Although I think he'll turn out to be a valuable player in the future, it's apparent we just can't afford to have Huffman on the floor in meaningful situations. He can't catch simple passes in any kind of traffic. It's a case of Joel-James-hands (without Big Joel's offensive game). Second, this was a situation made for inserting the Bomb Squad lineup with Luke at the 5, but for whatever reason Roy didn't do that until 3:06 to go. Curious.
- Speaking of attacking the rim, that's one thing that saved us. We outscored Wake 32-18 in the paint, much of that off drives from the perimeter... and ultimately that won us the game when Captain Dog took it into and over the trees for the game-winner (despite the silly narrative that we can't create shots).
Welp, not the post-break start we hoped for, but a win is a win, and 1-0 in the ACC beats the hell outta 0-1. Let's hope that's a lesson learned and we got that mess out of our system before Wednesday in Tallahassee...
- Wow, what a display of offensive ugliness the first half was. Missing wide-open 3s, not finishing inside. Yikes. Although in the first half we scored 19 of our (ugh) 35 points in the Secondary Break (47 for the game), we blew 8 transition opportunities, and more tellingly, had 17 Blown Assists in the first half alone. Certain know-nothings like to make fun of that metric but it is a vital measure of efficiency. It means we're passing the ball and getting open looks but not finishing.
- Also concerning is that we didn't get our Fast Break cranked up with only 5 points. Wake was very concerned with getting back on defense. The good news is that concern affected their Offensive Rebounding (see below).
- This was one of those games where an opponent stayed in it by heaving up shots --- many of which looked like they came from the fat guy in Rec League --- and they started going in in the second half. Those things happen sometimes despite good defense. The point is that we should be able to make enough shots to stave that sort of thing off. We didn't.
- Credit Wake with playing intensely on defense, and yeah, Tim Nestor rose to his normal level of incompetence (how Berry didn't get to the line once is beyond me), but ultimately this game being close is on us. We had ample opportunities we didn't convert --- both inside and out --- in that we got ample open looks from deep and in some cases just short-armed some chippies in the paint. The bottom line in hoops is to put the ball in the basket and we generally sucked at that today. When you're under 40% from the field, under 32% from 3 and only make 2/3 of the FTs ya get, that is normally a formula for a bad loss.
- One positive was that rebounding wasn't an issue, despite the size they put on the floor. We handled the glass 49-34 and best, only allowed them 4 Offensive Rebounds. That was accomplished not only by Luke's yeoman work (15), but 7 each from Theo and Brooks and 6 from JB.
- This is a different team than in previous years, in that Roy can't fall back on pounding the ball into Brice Johnson or Kennedy Meeks, so like it or not, the fate of this version will be greatly tied to making jump shots. Obviously we want to attack the rim (which ultimately pulled this one out for us), but it is unlikely we'll survive many outside shooting performances like this one. So, on that note, I'll just say "whew!"
...- We had plenty of energy coming off the layoff, but execution was rusty, to put it kindly. Even though the TO number wasn't ultimately awful, there were multiple fumbled catches, helping with the aforementioned Blown Assists, and passes to nobody. That needs to tighten up in a hurry going forward.
- One positive was watching the game point-blank on a big-screen in a bar and thus not having to listen to Dakich. All I can say is that ESPN must've had a lotta people on vacation to assign that insufferable buffoon to a game in North Carolina.
- As big a fan as I am of Roy, this game was a head-scratcher in a couple of ways. First: Although I think he'll turn out to be a valuable player in the future, it's apparent we just can't afford to have Huffman on the floor in meaningful situations. He can't catch simple passes in any kind of traffic. It's a case of Joel-James-hands (without Big Joel's offensive game). Second, this was a situation made for inserting the Bomb Squad lineup with Luke at the 5, but for whatever reason Roy didn't do that until 3:06 to go. Curious.
- Speaking of attacking the rim, that's one thing that saved us. We outscored Wake 32-18 in the paint, much of that off drives from the perimeter... and ultimately that won us the game when Captain Dog took it into and over the trees for the game-winner (despite the silly narrative that we can't create shots).
Welp, not the post-break start we hoped for, but a win is a win, and 1-0 in the ACC beats the hell outta 0-1. Let's hope that's a lesson learned and we got that mess out of our system before Wednesday in Tallahassee...
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