University of Portland Review

Final Score UW-94 UP-72


Well, it wasn't quite the blow out I was expecting and the Pilots can thank Nemanja Mitrovic for that, 15 points all from 3's, kept them in the game and helped them make a run at the Huskies. Again, UW was slow coming out of the gates in the second half, which turned their 16 point lead into 6 after a run by the Pilots. The Dawgs started their own 11-0 run after that and never looked back. Scott Suggs played a huge part in that effort and was rewarded for his consistent play. It looks like Romar has decided to start Suggs over Ross. Scott seems to have better decision making abilities and his inside game is looking much better. I like what I am seeing out of him and it looks like all his work is really starting to pay off. This means Ross will likely play limited minutes and will be used to create opportunities with his athletic ability. C.J. was fairly limited in his minutes as well, while Holiday and IT both played 30 minutes.

Holiday and Isaiah led UW with 20 points a piece followed by MBA with 15 and Suggs with 13. IT was the leading rebounder with 7 boards while MBA and Holiday came in with 6 and Aziz grabbed 5 in his 12 minutes. Gaddy had 6 assists and 1 turnover, Isaiah and Venoy both had 4 assists. The Huskies had 20 assists on 31 makes, an insane number. Holiday shot a BEAUTIFUL 7 for 8 from the free throw line. IT went 5 for 9, MBA went 5 for 8 and Suggs was a perfect 2 for 2. UW barely won the rebounding battle 36-32 and shot 13 for 23 from range, led by Holiday making 3 of 4. Sikma had 14 points and 16 rebounds for Portland, what an athlete.

What Needs Improvement


Rebounding


I may just leave this as a permanent fixture in both the preview and review. We just aren't doing the rebounding we should be, simple as that. I don't have much to add that I haven't said in the previous reviews. IT and Holiday continue to put up bigger numbers than one might expect, Aziz does well with his limited times getting 7 last game and 5 this game playing only 12 minutes. MBA still struggles to get position and boards. The good thing for our team is that our team as a whole gets after the boards, which limits touches by the opposition.

Perimeter Defense


Holiday and others got caught a few times on screens that led to Portland 3 pointers. Mitrovic, for Portland, was shooting well and was the only Pilot getting hot from outside. UW did a good job of neutralizing Stohl, but at the cost of leaving Mitrovic wide open all too often. It's still a work in progress, but things are looking better and better. As a whole we are coming off screens better.

What Was Good


Perimeter Shooting


Holiday went 3 for 4, Suggs went 3 for 6, Gaddy went 2 for 3, CJ went 2 for 4, IT went 1 for 2, and both Gant and Ross went 1 for 1. We did a good job of spreading out the shots and not limiting it to one person. This marks the second night in a row Holiday has had a hot start and led the team in scoring. He is beginning a UW style senior campaign highlighted by high scoring and stat sheet stuffing efforts.

Passing

An assist rate of near 70% is excellent and will lead to many great things for our team. We continue to be excellent passers with a keen eye for finding the open man. Not much to add to this as I have stated this almost every game review.

Driving Ability


IT was able to penetrate at will and really took advantage of our hot outside shooting. I love the way he has played the last two games. We will need him to show up big against A&M. With how he and Holiday have been playing along with MBA coming off the bench (something that looks to be a permanent change until further notice), I am feeling great about our success.

Not going to be able to do a Player by Player Review tonight, but I'll highlight a few good things that I saw and some weak points players need to improve.

Aziz is looking great defensively. Guards don't dare come at him. His rebounding and hands looked much better tonight, pulling down balls with more authority and strength so he doesn't get stripped. He had one bad moment after which Romar immediately pulled him. He had a wide open shot off a tipped ball. He tried laying it in and bounced it off the front of the rim. He easily could have jumped a tad higher and jammed the ball in. He is 7 feet tall for goodness sakes, dunk it. No need to be soft about it, use MBA as your role model, Aziz. Dunk it every chance you get, the crowd will love it, you will love it, your stats will love it, and its a much higher percentage shot.

Holiday knows how to get open and get the ball to him. He has been so hot especially at the start of games. For whatever reason, the opposition doesn't seem to take him seriously until he has already racked up 10 or so points. His defense continues to be excellent and a key part of our success. He did well covering the much heavier Sikma along side Gant.

Isaiah seems to know the outside shot is not his. He will be hot some nights and should take the shots, but with perimeter shooters like Holiday and CJ on the team he doesn't need to take the deep shots. He did great penetrating and dishing when he needed to. Wasn't as good at the line as he was last game. Still needs to work on that shot. He looked much calmer and collected than he has been when shooting FT's.

Suggs is playing like a very experienced player. He dribbled well, he made smart passes, he took good shots, he made his open shots. He is earning his minutes for sure.

Final Thoughts


A solid win. Our team show much better composure as Portland made a run at them. They collected themselves, went on a big run of their own and never looked back. Our 3 shots continue to fall at home, I'm interested to see how we fair on the road against Texas A&M. We continue to force lots of turnovers while limiting our own. Our rebounding game is still developing, but our transition game allows us to play it closer than I would like. Got to keep this momentum going into the weekend and throughout the rest of non-conference. I'll have a preview for A&M up on Friday sometime.

Links


http://www.montlakemadness.com/huskies-shoot-down-pilots-94-72/
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=303400264
http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/120710aab.html

Edit: Looks like Ross was limited by a nervous stress reaction in his leg. Not sure what that means, but he is not expected to miss practices or games because of it.