Final Score: UW-73 NEV-76
Yet another pitiful road performance highlighted by the first 10 minutes of the game. UW opened the game looking comfortable, scoring easily on the first two possessions due to a sweet stroke from Darnell Gant. Then it got ugly. UW gave up 11 turnovers in the first 11 minutes and only managed 11 points in that same time. Somehow the Huskies fought back and went into half up 29-27. Don't ask me how they did it. I have no idea.
UW came out strong in the second half and jumped up to a 10 point lead with 12 or 13 minutes to go. Deonte Burton of Nevada came out with fire in his hands and dropped 31 on the night. More on him later. The Wolf Pack scrapped and fought, running a beautiful press throughout the game (Romar, see how well it works? Amazing...). The press caused countless problems, even for the ever steady Abdul Gaddy and it took two or three turnovers for Romar and team to figure out a simple press break. The night seemed saved when Darnell Gant went to the line with UW up 2 points and only seconds on the clock. Romar pulled everyone back to avoid an over the back foul, which would send Nevada to the line themselves. Gant sunk the first shot. Missed the second (FREE THROWS WIN BALL GAMES!). Tony Wroten played defense on Burton who brought the ball up. Then, with only 4 or 5 seconds to go, Wroten inexplicably stood up and stopped playing defense. Literally stopped in place. Looked over to Romar and then back to Burton who drilled the game tying 3 pointer. I don't know what the hell he was thinking, but he needs to be running sprints the entire next practice as punishment for such a junior high mistake.
UW goes into overtime and scores the first 4 points. Things look OK. Olek Czyz had fouled out at the end of regulation and Burton had 4 fouls. Instead of driving the lane on Burton and drawing the foul, the Huskies continued to play well outside the paint where they had to force last second shots in heavy traffic. Speaking of last second shots, UW was called for 2 shot-clock violations this game. The first you could blame on the freshmen. The second one you put on the coach. The offense Romar ran today was stiffer than a board. Almost zero off the ball movement led to a stagnant offense that was picked apart by the Nevada defense. Shooters could get open looks, the post was jammed up, and the lanes weren't even close to being accessible due to our screens forcing our players along the sidelines, while stuffing the middle with defenders.
Burton demolished our defense. No one could stop him and for whatever reason, Romar continued to play Wroten on Burton rather than putting Terrence Ross or C.J. Wilcox against him. They are much better defenders, with more length and athleticism along with shot blocking ability. The old school way of handling a hot shooter was knocking him to the court with either a tough screen or just a plain hard foul. No one did that and no one would drive on him.
To show how malignant our offense was to start the game, let's look at C.J. Wilcox' statline. He had zero first half points and only took three shots. A team's leading scorer should have more than 3 opportunities in a half. Wilcox finished with 14 points on 6-13 shooting. That means he went 6-10 in the second. Get a shooter the ball and they make things happen. Wilcox and Ross were a big reason UW went up by 10. When Wilcox was shut down again by the stale offense, Nevada caught right back up.
Another highlight of how little UW was able to work the post is the fact that Aziz N'Diaye only took 3 shots. I do not expect 10-12 shot nights from N'Diaye, but I do expect him to get around 6 or 7 shots a game. Unlike Wilcox who at least had opportunities in the second to score, N'Diaye barely touched the ball outside of rebounds (he had 12 by the way, fantastic number).
Terrence Ross was amazing tonight, though his 3 point shot was very suspect throughout the evening. It's unfortunate because his contributions and athletic plays will be lost in the defeat. Ross had three extremely athletic plays that immediately come to mind. The first was a transition play where Ross received a pass near the top of the arc towards the sideline. He dribbled into the lane went up and under a player and tried to windmill it home. He came up short and hit the rim with the ball. He should have gone for the lay-up, but I'm not sure he had a clear shot at the glass due to the defender. The second was a reverse lay-in after a pass to him on the baseline. He showed excellent control, stopping in place, waiting for the defender to jump and the reversing the lay-in and spinning the ball off the glass. The last came off a pass from Gaddy who hit Ross near the high post (See what I'm getting at?). Ross caught the ball mid air and spun 360 degrees to lay the ball off the glass into the hoop. Ross got his 18 points somewhat quietly. He grabbed 5 boards, dished out 5 assists, had a steal, and two turnovers. He was a perfect 4-4 from the line. He needed to be the one receiving the ball on the inbound plays at the end of regulation. Either Ross or Wilcox and unfortunately, Romar also seems to struggle with inbound plays as shown by the turnover near the end of regulation with UW up 4. As with our offense, our inbound plays generally show little movement leading to easy pick-ups by Nevada.
Darnell Gant started the night hot, making the first two UW baskets from fairly long range. He didn't hit a shot the rest of the night and finished 2-6 from the field and a critical 3-4 from the charity stripe. He disappeared most of the night to due the fact he picked up his fourth foul with 17 minutes to go in the 2nd half. Not sure how a senior misses such a critical free throw. I can't imagine Scott Suggs missing that shot. Hell, I can't imagine Wilcox or Ross missing that shot. You know who I missed after that play? Venoy Overton. The dude was a beast at the end of games in clutch situations, hence his nickname "Captain Clutch."
Speaking of clutch players, UW still lacks a go-to guy in tight situations. This showed in full force at the end of OT when UW was forced to kick out to the corner to Darnell Gant for a 3 point attempt rather than Ross or Wilcox who had had the hot hands. Gant missed, UW rebounded out to Gaddy who seemed to forget there were only 8 second left before taking his own three point shot that dropped short as the game ended.
Desmond Simmons played pretty well once more tonight, leaving me wondering why he doesn't see more playing time. He went 3-4 from the field and showed strong defense through most of his play. He had 5 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, and 1 turnover. All in 9 minutes. Sure he had 3 fouls, but Gant had 4 and played 26 minutes. Give Simmons some of those minutes and let him be the hustling force we needed to scrap some points.
Tony Wroten. I don't know what to say. Yet another game with more turnovers (5) than assists (4). He also gave up the (indirectly) game winning shot in regulation. He improved his free throw shooting for a game going 6-8 from the line. He shot 4-8 from the field. Every time he did something good he would follow it with a sloppy play on one end of the court or the other.
What Needed Improvement:
Ball Control:
One of my three keys to the game in the preview and UW did the complete opposite. 11 turnovers in a game is sloppy enough for my tastes, let along 11 in 11 minutes. UW committed 18 turnovers on the night with Gaddy and Wroten combining for half those. The lack of movement forced the UW guards to throw ill advised passes, resulting in the abhorrent amount of turnovers the Huskies ended with.
Shot Selection:
This comes back to the ball control and court movement. It's surprisingly easy to guard a team who just stands around waiting for someone to make a move (not really). The poor shot selection is a direct consequence of players standing in place, waving their hands for the ball instead of moving around the key and perimeter to open up.
Coaching:
Yup, coaching. Here's why. Lorenzo Romar is 9-20 now in true non-conference road games during his time at UW. 9-20. That is a hair better than 31%. His total record at UW? 199-104, equating to 66%. Sure, home games are great and the fans can definitely play a part in certain settings and situations, but a team should not turn into a melted mess of panic and slop just because the fans are wearing a different color. Two shot-clock violations, at least 1 terrible inbound play with less than a minute in the game, zero offensive movement the whole night, a fairly ineffective press breaker that consisted mostly of a tea party between Wroten and Gaddy coming up the court, a lack of change in defenders on the hottest hand on the court, and at one point UW was T'ed up for having 6 players on the court out of a timeout. That right there cost us the game. Take away the made free throw in that situation and we win 66-65. There is no reason to have too many players on the court out of a timeout. A coach needs to have his plays on the same page and informed at all times and especially when play has ceased for an extended period of time. I love Romar, but the issues that are starting to arise and the trends that are developing are not good. You don't see the Duke's and UNC's of the world choking over 2/3rds of their road games. Yes, they are highly talented teams, but the last few Romar squads have been far from the shabby, sloppy teams that seem to step out on the court every time they play at a place that doesn't end in Hec Ed. He needs to change his pregame methods and rituals and start developing a winning tradition on the road. I don't know what the problem is, but it is becoming more and more glaring every day.
What Was Good:
Rebounding:
UW out-rebounded Nevada 38-27. That was about the only highlight, though this did suffer towards the end of the game when Nevada grabbed several key offensive boards leading to successful second chance points. Some box outs were missed and long rebounds went to waiting Wolf Pack players as their man was no where to be seen.
Final Thoughts:
UW has a long ways to go this season and at this point I don't know if they can pull an NCAA tournament bid out of a hat let along earn it. After Duke and Marquette, UW plays UC Santa Barbara, South Dakota State, and Cal State Northridge and I can guarantee not a single one of those three home games will count as a quality or signature win come March. If UW can get worked so easily by St. Louis and Nevada, Marquette and Duke will likely tear us apart. We are in their neck of the woods and I'll be expecting a strong showing from their fans, giving it an near home game atmosphere. Once conference play begins it'll be hard for UW to justify even a 14-4 to 12-6 record as being tournament worthy due to how terrible the Pac-12 has been thus far in the non-con season. UW looked poised to pull off a nice win on the road, but instead collapsed on themselves when they had a 10 point lead (UNC in the third round, anyone?). Great teams put their foot down when they have the lead, UW isn't there yet. Especially not this squad, they are too young and without Suggs they lack senior leadership. Without I.T., UW lacks a strong, vocal leader who can take a game over in an instant. UW needs to find this/these player(s) quickly if they want to win tough, tight games. This is a frustrating loss, but it also is relieving as I now won't feel so hyped and confident for the Big Apple trip, allowing me to study more for my finals and less time thinking about how awesome we will play and what huge upsets they will be. Another plus, we are evidently rush the court worthy. Not sure how, but this is our second loss and the second time the opposition has rushed the court.
Go Dawgs
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