McNeese State Review

Final Score: UW-118 McNeese State-64

                                 Just the Facts


Another great scoring effort tonight, with a much better defensive and rebounding effort to go along with it. The outcome of the game was never in question, with McNeese's only lead coming off their opening 3 point shot. UW had 38 rebounds at half to McNeese's 15 and UW finished with 69 rebounds on the night, a damn good job on the glass tonight. That alone is cause for celebration. Three players had double doubles tonight. Justin Holiday put up 11 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Aziz N'Diaye grabbed a team high 15 rebounds and scored 13 points. Matthew Bryan-Amaning gets MVP of the game, putting up 28 points and 13 rebounds. Abdul Gaddy, C.J. Wilcox, Scott Suggs, and Isaiah Thomas all put up double digit scoring. The only negative for the game was the terrible free throw shooting by our big men. MBA went 6-12 and Aziz went 3-15. Give Aziz credit though, almost every free throw he missed was nearly spot on. Isaiah Thomas showed his scoring potential taking his turn at going 4-4 from the 3 line, while Justin Holiday only went 1-4 from range and 4-12 overall. UW shot a ridiculous 51 shots in the first half alone and 41 in the second shooting 46% from the field, 40% from the arc and a saddening 47.6% from the charity stripe. UW held McNeese to under 10 points until there was only 4:44 remaining in the first half.
Also, Darnell Gant got the start today and appears to be quite healthy and active. Overton also played today and is looking pretty good. An interesting stat here. After McNeese scored that first three pointer, they went 12 and a half minutes without a field goal. That's just ridiculous.

                                   The Spin


Well, let's talk about what we can improve.


Free Throws


Big men always have trouble with free throws. Big hands means the ball is much smaller and harder to put up from outside the box, but in close game scenarios those free throws are going to help us win games and in not so close games they will keep the win out of the opponents reach. If Aziz even sinks half his free throw shots he would have had a 20 point game today. MBA could also use some more work in the free throw arena as well. While 6-12 is not completely terrible, a 75% average would be much better for the Dawgs.

Fouling


Terrence Ross fouled out with about 3 or 4 minutes to go. He was given some nonsensical fouls as the refs were absolutely terrible today. A third of McNeese's points came off free throws today. C.J. Wilcox and Darnell Gant both had four fouls. While it's not a huge deal to rack up four fouls in a game, its something we should avoid. That many fouls puts a lot of pressure on the other position players to play a little more reserved to avoid their own foul troubles. On the other side of that Aziz picked up two quicks ones, but didn't foul again the rest of the game. He played a total of 15 minutes on the evening. MBA only had one foul. Both big men did a great job of avoiding the kinds of silly fouls that got them removed last week.

Those two items were the only real concern for me the entire game. There was some sloppy play to start the second half, Diego Kapelan dropped a pair of threes in during the first 48 seconds of the half. Romar quickly called a time out to yell at the Huskies for their lack of effort.

Now on to the good news

Rebounding

The Huskies obviously learned something from the St. Martin's big man and worked hard in practice this week at their rebounding skills. 69 rebounds is a great stat to have. Aziz was simply superb down low using his length and strength to power his way into position. He grabbed 9 offensive rebounds. 9. That's awesome. He was not to be trifled with on the defensive board either. He brought the ball down hard with elbows out to make room and a barbaric roar that was terrifying even 40 feet away in the stands. I'm fairly sure I saw the McNeese 5 man shiver at that point. MBA also had a great rebounding effort tonight snagging 8 defensive boards and 5 offensive. Justin Holiday split his 12 rebounds with 6 offensive and 6 defensive. C.J. Wilcox nabbed 7 boards and Ross had a respectable 5 rebounds. If the Husky big men can continue this kind of rebounding production along side the support of the wings and guards we will be hard to stop. 30 offensive boards is a lot of second chance shots that can make or break games. Isaiah and Aziz both tried for a rebound at one point, knocking the ball out of bounds. Romar asked Isaiah what he was doing and you could see him say something along the lines of "Coach, you said you wanted more rebounds, I was rebounding." Give the coaching staff a pat on the back for getting the rebounding mentality into the Husky heads.

Scoring


Not a whole lot to say that isn't immediately clear after our first two games. We can score and we can do it in a variety of ways. Inside, outside, doesn't matter. If one player is having an off game, as Holiday did, we can guarantee there is another player lighting it up, aka Isaiah Thomas today. MBA had his way down low, using a variety of superb moves to score. Backed his man down, jump hook, left handed lay-ins, jumpers, all impressive, all extremely effective. Even with McNeese offering a taller lineup, their big men could do nothing against the dynamic duo of MBA and Aziz. Even Gant caused problems for them. Isaiah Thomas came out with fire in his veins and shot lights out going 4 for 4 behind the line and 6 for 8 overall. At one point he shot three 3's on three consecutive possessions. It was an impressive feat. Another big highlight of the night has to be the manner in which the Huskies hit 100 points. Justin Holiday and MBA fought for a loose ball, Holiday tossed a great pass to MBA who was wide open and threw down a monster reverse dunk. MBA threw down a couple of big ones today including one from about halfway up the paint. Aziz also ripped a couple dunks that lit the crowd up. He had a massive dunk taken away by a foul that, I am almost positive, would have torn the back board off its hinges.

Defense


Minus some sloppy play to start the second half the defense did a great job tonight forcing 18 turnovers in the first half and another 9 in the second. Overton was a non factor offensively, scoring two points and dishing out 6 assists (a nice number by the way), but his defense was as good as it usually is. He had three credited steals, but he also forced many turnovers including a 5 second call on one McNeese guard. The Huskies posted 12 steals for the night, MBA snatched two as did Aziz and Holiday. Ross, despite his 5 fouls, played great D getting low and containing his man.


                   Player Reviews


Venoy Overton


Didn't get to start today, but no surprises there. Gaddy is in good form and Overton always does well off the bench. He made an immediate impact defensively and had great court vision, dishing out assists left and right. Scoring wise he left a lot to be desired. 1 for 8 is pretty bad, he had a few fast breaks he should have passed off for a better shot that he took instead and missed. His cocky attitude is still as apparent as ever. Tongue waggling, he shut down the McNeese guards quite effectively. He seemed a tad rusty at times, having some trouble on a few screens, but all in all he did a great job of getting around them and forcing bad plays. Three or four terrible passes were thrown due to his great defense. A good night for Overton, fresh off a hamstring injury. Once his shots start dropping the Huskies will really be rolling.
Grade: B

Justin Holiday


Not a bad night for the senior forward. His 12 rebounds really helped the Huskies maintain their offensive assault and his defense was quite good as well. He had a decent night offensively scoring 11 points. His shot was missing the pizzazz that brought down the roof last week. His shots were on target, but tended to clatter out. He had 3 assists today, which helps offset his somewhat subpar shooting night. He will regain his shooting composure in no time I'm sure and could very well have a 20 point night next Tuesday against Eastern Washington. It was just one of those nights when the ball couldn't find its way through the net. Holiday made both of his free throws Without the rebounding and defensive effort it would have been a disappointing night, in my mind, for Holiday.
Grade: B

Matthew Bryan-Amaning


MVP of the game, 28 points (a career high), 12 rebounds, 2 steals, and only 1 foul. An awesome night for the London big man. He put on a show that was fun to watch. Reverse, two hand slams. Distance dunks. Spin moves. Cross overs. Hook shots. Tear drops. He did everything short of taking a 3 point shot. You could make a highlight reel for him from his performance tonight alone. He did a great job down low preventing their post players from scoring or rebounding. His free throw shooting was somewhat improved over last weeks game, though still not as good as I would like. Let's hope he can keep his performance up and man handles the big boys from a more competitive school, aka Kentucky, Michigan St., UCLA, etc. Like I said in last week's write up, his moves seem like they will be effective against anybody and he should be a force to be reckoned with in the post. Stellar performance, stellar player. Look out Isaiah, if MBA keeps on like this he may grab Pac-10 player of the year honors.
Grade: A+

Brendan Sherrer


Played three minutes today, even managed to grab a rebound and foul someone. The Victory Cigar is still without a loss in game play. Let us hope he is smoking often. Not much else notable from the walk on today.
Grade: A for effort

Scott Suggs


A better, more rounded, offensive game this week. He scored 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots. He showed off his driving ability and had a few nice lay-ins and base line cuts. His range game was off tonight, going 2 for 7 beyond the arc. Highlight of the night for him has to be a nice reverse lay-in off of a great baseline drive. His defense was also improved today. He really got after it and got in the opponents faces, resulting in the above said two blocks. He still had some troubles getting stuck on screens, but seemed to have an easier time of breaking free than last week. He isn't big enough to be much of a rebounder so pulling in three is a good night for him. Overall a pretty good performance. Only thing to be improved were his shots. If he wants to play more minutes, his shots need to drop with more consistency. As I said before, when one player struggles another is shooting well, C.J. Wilcox in this case (more on him later).

Darnell Gant


Good to see the Birdman back in action. He looked healthy and didn't seem to be nursing his hamstring at all. Defensively he was a shut down player. P.J. Alawoya fouled out with only 2 points both of which came from free throws. Offensively he was pretty good. He didn't make either 3 point attempt, but went 3 for 3 from the free throw line. He also grabbed 5 rebounds, had 3 assists, and a block. He played the role he was meant to, a defense first player. His offensive game seems to be shaping up nicely. I saw flashes tonight of a dangerous player who should not be left open, who could drive and score with a little more practice. The four fouls is a little high, but give him another few games to avoid the sloppy fouls and things will really come together for him.
Grade: B+

Isaiah Thomas


The man was a beast today. He came out cocky, excited, and amped in every way possible. He saluted the Dawg Pack pregame and you could see the intensity in his eyes. He was feeling his shot tonight, raining threes down from the Heavens. He was excellent on defense as well. He did a great job of getting low and moving his feet. He took a couple nasty hits running into screens, including a moving screen that ended with the screener getting called for a foul that fired him and the Dawg Pack up. He showed the Pack the love and they loved him right back. A close second for game MVP. He had 3 assists and a steal to go along with his 1 rebound and 17 points. The only smudge on the night was his 1 for 3 from the line. For such a prolific shooter, you would think he could make free throws with a blind fold on. Definitely a part of his game he needs to work on. If he can be dangerous from the free throw line, it puts a lot of pressure on the defense to avoid fouling. Between last weeks game and this one, you can see the makings of a star player in him. With Venoy back and healthy, expect Isaiah to do more scoring as Overton and Gaddy allow I.T. to play his more fitting shooting guard position.

Abdul Gaddy


Yet another great performance for the McDonald's All American. He worked hard over the summer and it shows. His confidence is high, his shots are looking good, his moves break ankles, and his passes even confuse our team. Gaddy finished the night with 10 points coming off of a 3, a few nice drives, and an AND 1 free throw. He also dished out 5 assists and had a steal. He had one nice spin move into what should have been a lay-in that he opted to try to pass to Aziz who wasn't ready for it, leading to a turnover. He also had a sloppy pass when McNeese switched to a zone defense that caught him slightly off guard. Gaddy managed to pull in 2 rebounds of his own on both sides of the court. He is a fun player to watch and as the season progresses, look for him to impress even more.
Grade: A-

Aziz N'Diaye


Wow. A complete turn around from the subpar performance last week against St. Martin's. This big man picked up two fouls rather quickly, but found himself in control the rest of the game, not picking up a single foul after those first two. It only took him 7 minutes to grab 10 rebounds and he finished with a very impressive 15 on the night. Could we have a new Jon Brockman in the Sengal native? I don't know yet. Once he shows some consistency in his play, we will know for sure just what the 7 footer has to offer. His size and strength is going to be hard to match, even in Pac-10 play and the Maui invitational. He took up a lot of space on the inside and was somewhat under used due to our guards tight defense. Should his play continue at this high level, expect him to see 20 minutes a game, versus the 15 he played tonight. He shot was also looking great. He had a few nice lay-ins and a jump hook on top of his powerful dunks. He had a scary moment trying to dunk over a man. He came down hard and seemed to be in some pain before being helped to his feet. He didn't limp afterwards, but a big body like that coming down from that high up is bound to hurt. If he hadn't had his feet taken out from under him that dunk would have been on par if not better than MBA's facial of Andrew Zimmerman from Stanford. His emotion and dedication to rebounding was evident in how strong he would come down with the defensive boards, often yelling like a warrior. While his free throw shooting was atrocious tonight, he was a foul sponge on the block. Two of McNeese's big men fouled out mainly due to Aziz getting position. If he had made half his shots he would have had close to 20 points. Free throws need to be his concentration for the next few weeks. Without being able to shoot free throws well, the fouls will continue to come since a foul will be better than an open shot. However, I am all for him soaking up the fouls and taking hits if it means the opponent big men end up warming the seats. If we can get his percentage up to 50% I'll be quite happy. I'll be even happier if he gets above 50%. Would have been an A+ game if he shot the freebies with a little more consistency.
Grade: A

Antoine Hosley


Played two minutes and missed the only shot he took, a long range 3 ball that clanged around the rim. Nothing else to report on him, another day as The Victory Cigar's apprentice.
Grade: A for effort

Desmond Simmons


Did not play today and Romar confirmed after the game that Simmons would indeed be redshirting this season. I won't be posting on him any more unless there is notable news concerning injuries or what not.

Terrence Ross


A decent game tonight after what was a superb performance last week. He fouled out with 3 minutes left in the game on a nonsense foul called by the refs. He shots were off today, going 1 for 4 behind the arc and 2 for 7 overall. He scored 6 points, grabbed 5 boards, and had 1 assist. He didn't look as dangerous today, but his shots were close so once they start falling expect some double digit scoring nights to come on a regular basis. Defensively the kid was good. He gets real low and almost looks like Overton with his open mouthed, in your face defense. Still finding his role on the team and learning the fast paced nature of the Husky offense. Look for him to improve offensively and learn some more control to avoid fouls. 2 to 3 of his fouls were from lazy defense where he just grabbed at the ball as the guard ran by versus getting his body in front and playing the kind of defense he is capable of. I'm happy to see he maintained his rebounding efforts as it takes a lot of pressure off our big men, knowing there are others on the court that can snatch the long ones.
Grade: B

C.J. Wilcox


A much better shooting night for the redshirt freshman. He seems to have found his shot as he went 3 for 4 behind the arc and 4 for 6 over all. He shot 2 for 2 from the line giving him 13 points on the night. He also grabbed a very respectful 7 rebounds, with 6 coming on the defensive side. He even had 2 assists and a steal. A very good performance. Defensively he wasn't a stand out player, but he was no slouch as well. His 4 fouls could be a problem if they continue to accumulate as it takes him out of the game. Thankfully we have other shooters in Suggs, Ross, IT, Holiday, and even Overton when he finds his stroke. A pleasant look at what kind of skills he possesses. Hopefully Ross and Holiday can show him how to use his longer frame a little more effectively on the defensive end and mold him into a defensive threat as well. A very good night over all.
Grade: A


It was also Lorenzo Romar's birthday today and the Dawg Pack sang him a wonderful rendition of Happy Birthday. He turned 52 today.


Here are some links to other reviews as well

http://www.mynorthwest.com/category/college_hoops_blog/20101113/Huskies-Roll-Over-McNeese-St.-118-~-64/
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskymensbasketballblog/2013428482_where_is_the_fi.html
http://www.montlakemadness.com/uw-routs-mcneese-st-game-wrap/