University of California-Berkeley Review

Final Score UW-92 Cal-71

What a bounce back after one of the worst performances of the season on Thursday. The extra day on the road didn't seem to affect the Huskies at all, if anything they got that much better. The Huskies shot really well going 52.3% from the field and 44.8% from range (34-65 and 13-29). They rebounded well, winning that battle 43-27. They defended well, finishing with 6 steals and 3 blocks as well as forcing 12 turnovers. They passed well, by they I mean Isaiah who finished with 13 of the 20 assists.

The team was lead by three players. Isaiah Thomas, Matthew Bryan-Amaning, and Justin Holiday. Just take a look at these stat lines. Justin Holiday: 23 points, 1 steals, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 0 turnovers. Matthew Bryan-Amaning: 22 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal, 0 turnovers. Isaiah Thomas: 27 points, 13 assists (!), 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 5 turnovers. I, for one, am completely OK with 5 turnovers when you dish out 13 assists and score 27 points (and of course win).

Cal offered little resistance as UW went into half leading by 15 (48-33). Harper Kamp had 20 points and 7 boards, while Allen Crabbe had 16 points and 6 boards. Richard Solomon came off the bench and added 14 for the Bears.

Scott Suggs got the start today instead of Venoy Overton. Personally, I think it is a smart move as it gives us a solid point guard off the bench. Though neither Overton nor Suggs contributed much in terms of stats, their presence allowed I.T. to play some shooting guard and opened him up for a few more scoring opportunities.

Aziz N'Diaye struggled again, finishing with 1 point on split free throws and 3 boards. He did do a great job of taking space on defense and drawing pressure on offense. He fouled out with 8:24 left to play.

What Was Good

Shooting

For the first time in a while the Huskies found their rhythm from range. Holiday lead the way going 5 for 8 from downtown. I.T. added 3 on 9 attempts. Darnell Gant, Terrence Ross, C.J. Wilcox, Overton, and Suggs each added 1. MBA was 10-15. I.T. was 8-16. Holiday was 9-14. C.J. missed his first pair of shots, but drained the third, hopefully signaling the end of his slump. Holiday opened the half receiving 2 passes from I.T. and draining both 3 pointers back to back.

Passing

While I.T. obviously led the way with his 13 assists, the rest of the team did a good job of opening themselves up and moving the ball around. They were able to get it inside with easy, which allowed MBA to take over. Highlight pass has to be I.T. going behind the back to Holiday, who drained the 3.

Rebounding

MBA continued to dominate the boards in conference play, finishing with 11. Gant came off the bench and grabbed 6, a great performance by him. Suggs, Ross, and I.T. all added 4. A +16 margin on a Pac-10 team is fantastic.

I would have liked to have seen us get more offensive boards, finishing only with 9. Usually, Aziz grabs offensive boards at a high rate, but he was fairly ineffective today. We did hold Cal to 6 offensive boards, so that is one positive.

Free Throws

I am mainly talking about I.T. who went 8-8 from the line tonight. He continues to show off the new free throw motion and it continues to be working great for him. I'll have to look at which game he changed and his stats since then. MBA went 2-3, Aziz split his pair, and Ross missed both of his shots.

What Needed Improvement

Fouling

Our bigs found themselves in some foul trouble again, especially Aziz who tends to foul out almost every game. He has not been able to get the position he needs to avoid fouling. Gant also fouled out late in the game. MBA had 3 and I.T. picked up a somewhat surprising 4 fouls, including a charge. Cal got to the line twice as much as us, taking 30 attempts to our 15. With Derrick Williams coming into town Thursday our bigs need to avoid fouling. It seems as though anytime Williams is touched he gets to shoot free throws. I believe he had back to back games where he attempted 22 free throws and finished the nights with 30 and 31 points. While Sherrer may be able to play with some of the Pac-10 frontcourt, Williams would have his way down low if Sherrer was forced to come in.

Player by Player Reviews

Venoy Overton

After starting the few games since Abdul Gaddy's injury, Overton was put back on the bench in favor of Suggs. I agree with the decision. Overton is a solid point guard and coming off the bench allows us to sub out I.T. or Suggs if necessary and not drop off in terms of execution ability. He only scored 3 points on the night and had 2 rebounds on top of an assist and a steal. It was an average night, but with Isaiah stealing the show, its no wonder Overton has not had the best of stats. He did only play 14 minutes. Overall I didn't see anything bad about his game, it just wasn't an outstanding night.
Grade: B

Justin Holiday

Man, what a game for Holiday. He continued the hot streak he found in the second half against Stanford and scored a career high 23 points. He shot extremely well and was the beneficiary of several I.T. dimes. His long range shots meant he was further from the basket and as such he didn't have the chance to grab rebounds like he normally does. Thankfully Gant has toughened up considerably and took over where Holiday left off. Holiday did some nice passing of his own and helped take some of the load off I.T. It was great to see his shot falling again after having had a few sub par shooting nights the last week or two.
Grade: A

Matthew Bryan-Amaning

22 points and 11 rebounds. Another double double for the big Brit. He got his 19th and 20th points along with his 10th rebound in a great put back. He shot 66% from the field and made some nice post moves to get his points. He played one of his better games of the season thanks to I.T. giving him shots left and right. If not for I.T. he would have MVP of the game honors. It is also no surprise that went MBA is shooting and scoring, we are scoring more and winning. Inside-out basketball is the way to play. MBA showed up strong allowing our perimeter play to open up. The big question now is: How will MBA fair Thursday against arguably the best post player in the Pac-10, Derrick Williams? If MBA can be an impacting force on either offense and match Williams' output or on defense by shutting Williams down it should be considered a successful night. If he can do both, it'll be fantastic. If he does neither, I won't be terribly surprised, though I would be a bit disappointed.
Grade: A+

Brendan Sherrer

Saw only a few minutes at the end of the game, despite the foul trouble in the frontcourt. No stats today.
Grade: A for effort

Scott Suggs

Suggs started his first official collegiate game. He did start the exhibition game against St. Martin's, but sadly that game does not count in the record books. Suggs finished on 1 of 3 shooting with 3 points, adding 4 boards, an assist, a steal, and a turnover. He did play 24 minutes and ran the plays a bit at point guard. It's good to see he can run the point when necessary, though his ball handling is a little lower quality than I would like to see. Give him more time and I am sure it will improve.
Grade: B

Darnell Gant

A pretty solid night for the 6-8 junior. Though he only added 5 points and fouled out, he grabbed 6 rebounds. That is a solid stat coming off the bench. If he can continue to perform like that throughout the season he will put up a strong argument for replacing MBA in the starting 5 next season after MBA has graduated. Gant hit a sweet 3 from the top of the key. Good to see his shot is still solid from outside the arc.
Grade: B+

Isaiah Thomas

MVP of the night. Sure, he had 5 turnovers, but he finished with an assist/turnover ratio of 2.6 That is damn impressive. I.T. scored 18 of his 27 points in the first half. 13 assists. Man, I am still amazed. He drove the line, he shot from range, he passed behind his back. He was a BEAST on the court. He played fairly well against Stanford, but this was absurd. I.T. had a great floater over 6-10 Richard Soloman. He "pushed it down" after sinking a nice 3 pointer. He was 3 points shy of his career high set last season against Wright State.
Grade: A+

Aziz N'Diaye

A lack luster night for the 7 footer. He continues to take up space well on defense and prevents the drive that way, but other than that he didn't do terribly much. After showing so much promise in the fouling category, he has fallen back a bit and has fouled out in almost every conference game thus far. If he wants to get more time and put more stats in the book he will need to learn to position himself better and avoid silly fouls.
Grade: C

Antoine Hosley

No stats for the other walk-on either. *EDIT* Hosley did grab a long rebound in the last minute.
Grade: A for effort

C.J. Wilcox

Only 6 minutes, but he did manage 5 points on 2-6 shooting. C.J. still seems to be in a little bit of a slump. His shot does look better though, minus the first airball. Hopefully he is close to being fully healed after his Staph infection. Still not where he was earlier in the season, but that happens with freshmen.
Grade: C+

Terrence Ross

Ross saw the most minutes off the bench, with 17. He finished with 3 points on 1-3 shooting (1-2 from range, 0-2 from the FT line). He rebounded well and handled the ball pretty well. He did have a pair of sloppy turnovers, including one on a drive where he went to dish and lost control of the ball. Ross also added 2 assists. Not a great shooting night, but the one he did hit was an in your face shot that was pretty filthy.
Grade: B-

Final Thoughts

A great way to bounce back after a bad game. They showed great concentration and appeared to be having much more fun with their game. MBA, IT, and Holiday took over and as such no other player scored in double digits and the next closest had 5 (Wilcox and Ross). In games like this, you don't always need bench production in terms of points. The bench did do a good job of rebounding and avoiding turnovers. Sitting at 5-1 with Arizona coming in Thursday at 4-1 gives the game huge implications for the conference title. If UW beats UA, they will be 6-1 with a 1.5 game lead on Arizona while losing gives Arizona a .5 game lead. UW has played extremely well at home this year and hopefully the Dawgs can carry this momentum home with them and build on it with the support of the home crowd.

Video Highlights: http://www.athletixnation.com/video/753288543001