There are 344 Division 1 Men's Basketball teams in this nation. Keep this in mind when I read off the following stats. 341st in points per game (53.3). 343rd in rebounding (27.1). 337th in assists (9.5). 331st in field goal percentage (39.1%). That is where USC stands in the national picture.USC is a miserable 6-23 on the season and has barely avoided a shutout in conference play (1-15) by narrowly beating a nearly as terrible Utah team at home. The only good thing USC has been able to do this season is play defense. Not the traditional in-your-face type of defense, but the mind-numbing slow down style of offense that makes me want to rip what little is left of Kevin O'Neil's hair right out of his head. To give you an idea on how slow this team plays I'll read off another stat. The Trojans are 333rd in possessions per 40 minutes. The Huskies are 23rd. The Trojans will often give up rebounds on the offensive glass and free throws to run back into a prevent defense. This team does not play to win, heck they aren't even playing not to lose, they are simply playing not to get decimated or injured anymore than has already happen.
I understand it. The team is down to just 6 scholarship players after 5 have suffered season-ending injuries. No one else wants to join that list and with over 20 losses on the record already, the motivation to try hard just isn't there.
One might think that perhaps the Trojans would be able to draw fouls and get to the line. Perhaps there they could offset their terrible field goal percentage and make up some points through free throws. Nope. The Trojans are 343rd in free throw attempts and dead last (344) in free throws made.
There are only two categories in which the Trojans do not rank in the triple digits. Total Losses on the season where they are ranked at #19 and Field Goal Point Percentage (how many points their field goals account for out of their total points per game) at #9. Those are not stats one should be proud of. A good team likes to see a high percentage of points come from the field, but they also need point production behind the arc and at the charity stripe.
If you want to see more of how the Trojans have performed this season, click on this link. The Trojans make a strong case for being the worst team in D1 basketball. I feel sorry for the fall this team has taken. It is not their fault that injury has plagued them so badly.
The Trojans enter Thursday's game on a 7 game losing streak, a streak that could have easily turned into 17 if not for the win versus Utah. 62 points is the high score for the Trojans in conference play. One resulting in a loss, the other was the win against Utah. Do not expect the Trojans to score. Do not expect the Trojans to play uptempo.
The Trojans have only allowed 5 opponents to score 70 or more in conference play (UW scored 69, so I included them). This is fairly impressive, but when you consider the Trojans average 10 less possessions per game than the Huskies, it is not difficult to see how they manage this task. UW is currently averaging a little under 1.2 points per possession. Multiply this by 10 and you have 12 additional points per game being missed out on. This is why teams like UW and California are not putting up 90 points on USC. It's not that the Trojans are playing better defense, it's that the Trojans burn clock like no tomorrow because they know they cannot win a high scoring game.
Maurice Jones has continued to be the backbone of this team. At 5-7, 155lb this is a burden too large for his shoulders. Jones has shown an ability to make shots on the perimeter, deeper than most guards, but his size and strength cause far too many issues for him to be effective inside the paint. The opposing guards are simply too big and strong for Jones to go one-on-one with, both offensively and defensively. In his last game, Jones was 4-13 from the field and 4-9 from outside the arc. A very nice shooting percentage from deep, but his inside game was a whopping 0-4. Jones leads the team in scoring, steals, assists, and turnovers per game (13.6, 1.7, 3.4, and 2.4 respectively).
Byron Wesley has been forced to really mature his game quickly with all of the injuries suffered this season. Against ASU, Wesley dropped in 22 points on 8-14 shooting, all of which came inside the paint (0-1 from the arc). He also shot a decent 6-10 from the foul line and was the only Trojan to attempt a free throw outside of reserve guard Greg Allen who attempted just a pair. Wesley is second in scoring among active players with 9.2 per game as well as leading in active rebounders with 5 per night. Wesley is second in assists and turnovers behind Jones. Wesley is a much tougher match-up than Jones as his stands at 6-5 210lb and is a much more typical shooting guard.
The only remaining big man on the Trojan roster is 7-1 260lb James Blascyzk. Sizewise, Blascyzk has the tools to be a great player and the only person capable of stopping Aziz N'Diaye inside. Overall, Blascyzk leaves much to be desired. He is averaging a miserable 3 points and 3 rebounds per game. For being 7-1 you would think he could at least attack the glass with some tenacity. Last game against UW, Blascyzk was held to 0-5 shooting and made just 1 point on a free throw. N'Diaye was able to consistantly body up Blascyzk and keep him from taking confortable shots.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups:
USC:
Maurice Jones 5-7 155lb
Alexis Moore 6-2 180lb
Byron Wesley 6-5 210lb
Garrett Jackson 6-6 225lb
James Blascyzk 7-1 260lb
Washington:
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
Tony Wroten 6-5 205lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Darnell Gant 6-8 230lb
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb
Keys to the Game:
Rebouding:
We are one of the best in the nation. USC is among the worst. USC will miss a lot of shots and the limited possessions mean that every UW miss is critical. Recover the miss, put it back in for the easy bucket. Wroten excels in this category and Ross was able to capitalize in the last match-up dragging in 14 rebounds. UW has much superior sizer and talent. In the last match-up UW raked in 49 rebounds (14 offensive) to USC's 16 (3 offensive). We had nearly as many offensive boards as USC managed in total. Domination at its finest. The Huskies need to continue this trend to prevent any thoughts USC has of pulling a supreme upset.
Free Throws:
This goes back to the limited possessions I talked about earlier. Less possessions means less points. The Dawgs will likely struggle to get a reasonable amount of attempts at the line so each and everyone will count. The Cougars showed how valuable free throws are by missing 6 of 20 in the second half, surrendering a 13 point lead to the Dawgs. Make your free throws. They win games. They are free. Collect yourself, run through your motion, and shoot. Simple. Each and everytime.
Find the Hot Hand:
C.J. Wilcox was lights out against WSU. If not for the foul trouble encountered by Ross, I believe Wilcox would have continued his feiry streak. The Dawgs have several players who should be able to man-handle the Trojan defense: Wroten, Ross, Wilcox, and N'Diaye immediately jump to mind. All four are bigger and stronger than the guys they will be going up against. The Trojan zone screams for a 3-point showing we haven't seen since the Maui Invitational last year. If USC goes man-to-man, I'll be thrilled. Our guards should be able to take their man off the dribble every possession.
Final Thought:
In many ways this is a trap game. The Trojans are horrendous and a much tougher match-up against UCLA is on the horizon. This should not be a problem as motivation will be high for this game. The Dawgs are still looking to claim an at-large bid and losing to USC will demolish that possibility. The Dawgs are in sole possession of first place, a half-game up from Cal (thanks, Colorado)and control their own fate. If the Dawgs win against USC, they will claim at least a share of the regular season title. A sweep of the LA school will mean sole possession of the title and 15-3 record in conference, something that hasn't been done at UW since 1984. Motivation is high, the gears are finally starting to roll all at once, and the team is finally playing as one cohesive unit versus a group of 5 guys sharing the court. The Dawgs cannot let this one slip away from them. It is absolutely critical if they wish to establish themselves as a tournament worthy team. If I am Romar, I want a 30 point win again. Do not let another ASU fiasco happen where we take a near 30 point lead and let it slip to 8 by the end of the game. By all means rest our guys, but if the lead starts slipping we need to put our stars in to bump it back up.
Final Score Prediction: UW-70 USC-44
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Washington State University Game Preview
WSU is coming off a 22 point drubbing of Arizona State (a game in which ASU had only 8 points in the first half, but picked up 42 in the second), but will be without a key player in Faisal Aden. Aden has been the second leading scorer for the Cougars. The Cougars are 6-9 in Pac-12 play and are looking to scrap their way to a .500 conference record in their final three games. It will be senior night tomorrow and you can bet the Cougars will be looking for vengence after the comeback the Dawgs had in their last meeting.
You never know what type of game will happen in a rivalry match-up. The Cougar audience has been lax this season with the stadium rarely getting about half capacity. The season high has been 5,500 out of a possible 11,500. I imagine that the Dawgs coming to town will roll in a big crowd, though I would also wager that a large majority of the "new" attendees will be Husky fans. Myself and nearly 40 of my friends will be making the trek out east tomorrow to cheer on the Huskies.
The Cougars are driven by a new and improved Brock Motum who is proving to be one of the most dangerous players in the league. Motum is leading all scorers in conference games and is averaging just under 18 points a game. He does it all: 3-pointers, on the block, and even mid range. On top of the scoring, Motum leads the Cougars in rebounding with 6.5 a night. Where Motum suffers is his turnovers. Motum is averaging a little over 3 turnovers per night, which is not terribly surprising given how often the ball is in his hands. Motum is one of two players on the team averaging over 30 minutes per game, the other being Reggie Moore. Containing Motum will be tough, if not impossible. The Dawgs should look to limit his touches by playing tight, man-to-man backcourt defense or possibly a zone. Motum can have 25 points as long as we shut down the rest of the Cougar offense.
Reggie Moore is the leading play-maker for the Cougs. Averaging nearly 6 assists and only 2.5 turnovers per game, Moore is showing the type of team play that made I.T. so successful in his days at Washington. Moore is also averaging just under 10 points and 3 rebounds a night. Moore finds most of his opportunities inside the paint on slash-and-drive attacks. His outside shot is solid with a 37% average usually making one 3-pointer a night on three attempts. Containing Moore will limit how often Motum gets a hold of the ball so forcing Moore into turnover situations will be a critical aspect of the game.
DaVonte Lacy is the other main scoring option for the Cougars. Lacy is an outside scoring threat that will need to be addressed. Lacy leads the Cougs in 3-point makes and attempts hitting 49 of his 132 shots. Lacy is a versatile player who does a little bit of everything for the team. He is averaging 2 rebounds, assists, and turnover per game. At 6-3 202lb, Lacy may be a perfect match-up for Tony Wroten. Lacy may be the only thing that holds the Huskies back from dropping into a zone.
Marcus Capers has been a pivotal role player for the Cougars. I hesitate to say role player because Capers is a starter, but his impact on the game is much lower than his fellow starters. Capers is averaging only 5 points a game, but does his best work on the glass where he picks up 5 boards a night. Outside of that, Capers is more of a defensive threat than an offensive weapon.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups:
Washington State:
Reggie Moore 6-1 180lb
DaVonte Lacy 6-3 202lb
Marcus Capers 6-4 185lb
Abe Lodwick 6-7 208lb
Brock Motum 6-10 240lb
Washington:
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
Tony Wroten 6-5 205lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Desmond Simmons 6-7 225lb
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb
Keys to the Game:
Get Hot Early:
Terrence Ross is finally showing up in the first half of games and boy is it paying off. Our team needs to get their shots dropping early to avoid the slow start that nearly doomed them in the last game against the Cougs. Terrence Ross was critical in the comeback and he will play a pivotal role in this game as well. The Cougars simply don't have an answer for both Ross and Wroten. If one is getting hot and the Cougs attempt to contain him, the other will be getting open looks. Add on Aziz N'Diaye in the paint, who should not have too many struggles in getting attempts at the hoop, as well as a healthier C.J. Wilcox and we could finally find ourselves scoring early and often once more. It will not be easy. The atmosphere will be hostile and the road is hardly ever kind to the visiting team. The Dawgs have their work cut out.
Rebounding:
This is our teams greatest strength and it has been the key to several victories this year. Our outside shot has been quite poor the past few weeks, which means a lot more rebounds have been up for grabs. Guys like Ross, Wroten, and N'Diaye have been monumental this season at clearing house and getting the easy put backs. The Dawgs need to continue their dominance on the glass to battle their way to victory.
Free Throws:
Without Aden, the Cougars are nearly as poor of a free throw shooting team as the Dawgs. I've said it game in and game out, free throws win ball games. We are in the final stretch of the season and these freebies are just as, if not more, critical than ever. Now that Wilcox and Ross are finally driving into the paint, they are getting to the line and capitalizing in way the rest of our teams struggles to achieve.
Final Thoughts:
This will be a tough game, I have no doubts. I also believe this is a very winnable game. The Huskies have things going their way and have been firing on all cylinders, well minus the outside shooting cylinder. Our bigs are developing into scoring threats, our wings are getting their act together, and our guards are playing some of their best basketball to date. The Cougars will miss Aden a lot and the fact that the team gave up 42 points in the second half to ASU is startling, especially given the "depth" of the Cougar bench. The Huskies have been a second half team this entire season so the fact that the Cougars gave up so many points to such a terrible team is a good sign for us. The Dawgs need to dig deep and gut out another tough road win, well three road wins to be exact, placing us in prime position to seize not only the regular season, but tournament title as well.
Final Score Prediction: UW-74 WSU-68
Go Dawgs!
You never know what type of game will happen in a rivalry match-up. The Cougar audience has been lax this season with the stadium rarely getting about half capacity. The season high has been 5,500 out of a possible 11,500. I imagine that the Dawgs coming to town will roll in a big crowd, though I would also wager that a large majority of the "new" attendees will be Husky fans. Myself and nearly 40 of my friends will be making the trek out east tomorrow to cheer on the Huskies.
The Cougars are driven by a new and improved Brock Motum who is proving to be one of the most dangerous players in the league. Motum is leading all scorers in conference games and is averaging just under 18 points a game. He does it all: 3-pointers, on the block, and even mid range. On top of the scoring, Motum leads the Cougars in rebounding with 6.5 a night. Where Motum suffers is his turnovers. Motum is averaging a little over 3 turnovers per night, which is not terribly surprising given how often the ball is in his hands. Motum is one of two players on the team averaging over 30 minutes per game, the other being Reggie Moore. Containing Motum will be tough, if not impossible. The Dawgs should look to limit his touches by playing tight, man-to-man backcourt defense or possibly a zone. Motum can have 25 points as long as we shut down the rest of the Cougar offense.
Reggie Moore is the leading play-maker for the Cougs. Averaging nearly 6 assists and only 2.5 turnovers per game, Moore is showing the type of team play that made I.T. so successful in his days at Washington. Moore is also averaging just under 10 points and 3 rebounds a night. Moore finds most of his opportunities inside the paint on slash-and-drive attacks. His outside shot is solid with a 37% average usually making one 3-pointer a night on three attempts. Containing Moore will limit how often Motum gets a hold of the ball so forcing Moore into turnover situations will be a critical aspect of the game.
DaVonte Lacy is the other main scoring option for the Cougars. Lacy is an outside scoring threat that will need to be addressed. Lacy leads the Cougs in 3-point makes and attempts hitting 49 of his 132 shots. Lacy is a versatile player who does a little bit of everything for the team. He is averaging 2 rebounds, assists, and turnover per game. At 6-3 202lb, Lacy may be a perfect match-up for Tony Wroten. Lacy may be the only thing that holds the Huskies back from dropping into a zone.
Marcus Capers has been a pivotal role player for the Cougars. I hesitate to say role player because Capers is a starter, but his impact on the game is much lower than his fellow starters. Capers is averaging only 5 points a game, but does his best work on the glass where he picks up 5 boards a night. Outside of that, Capers is more of a defensive threat than an offensive weapon.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups:
Washington State:
Reggie Moore 6-1 180lb
DaVonte Lacy 6-3 202lb
Marcus Capers 6-4 185lb
Abe Lodwick 6-7 208lb
Brock Motum 6-10 240lb
Washington:
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
Tony Wroten 6-5 205lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Desmond Simmons 6-7 225lb
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb
Keys to the Game:
Get Hot Early:
Terrence Ross is finally showing up in the first half of games and boy is it paying off. Our team needs to get their shots dropping early to avoid the slow start that nearly doomed them in the last game against the Cougs. Terrence Ross was critical in the comeback and he will play a pivotal role in this game as well. The Cougars simply don't have an answer for both Ross and Wroten. If one is getting hot and the Cougs attempt to contain him, the other will be getting open looks. Add on Aziz N'Diaye in the paint, who should not have too many struggles in getting attempts at the hoop, as well as a healthier C.J. Wilcox and we could finally find ourselves scoring early and often once more. It will not be easy. The atmosphere will be hostile and the road is hardly ever kind to the visiting team. The Dawgs have their work cut out.
Rebounding:
This is our teams greatest strength and it has been the key to several victories this year. Our outside shot has been quite poor the past few weeks, which means a lot more rebounds have been up for grabs. Guys like Ross, Wroten, and N'Diaye have been monumental this season at clearing house and getting the easy put backs. The Dawgs need to continue their dominance on the glass to battle their way to victory.
Free Throws:
Without Aden, the Cougars are nearly as poor of a free throw shooting team as the Dawgs. I've said it game in and game out, free throws win ball games. We are in the final stretch of the season and these freebies are just as, if not more, critical than ever. Now that Wilcox and Ross are finally driving into the paint, they are getting to the line and capitalizing in way the rest of our teams struggles to achieve.
Final Thoughts:
This will be a tough game, I have no doubts. I also believe this is a very winnable game. The Huskies have things going their way and have been firing on all cylinders, well minus the outside shooting cylinder. Our bigs are developing into scoring threats, our wings are getting their act together, and our guards are playing some of their best basketball to date. The Cougars will miss Aden a lot and the fact that the team gave up 42 points in the second half to ASU is startling, especially given the "depth" of the Cougar bench. The Huskies have been a second half team this entire season so the fact that the Cougars gave up so many points to such a terrible team is a good sign for us. The Dawgs need to dig deep and gut out another tough road win, well three road wins to be exact, placing us in prime position to seize not only the regular season, but tournament title as well.
Final Score Prediction: UW-74 WSU-68
Go Dawgs!
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Arizona State Game 2 Review
Final Score: UW-77 ASU-69
This game was not nearly as close as it looks. UW had a 22 point lead in the final 3 minutes before letting ASU chip away as Romar an team let up on the gas. I have a bone to pick about this. First off, I love it when our walk-ons and reserves get playtime, it is a fun and rewarding experience for them. That being said, we are in a critical stretch of play right now and the bubble is not on our side. We need to make statement games, not win by 8 at home to an atrocious ASU team. We need to finish. We should have dropped 30+ on them and said "Hey! We are here! We want to win! We want to compete!" Nope, didn't happen. To be fair, the Dawgs were really hot the first half, despite committing 10 first half turnovers. In the second half, the Dawgs committed an additional 5 turnovers, but only managed 33 points on sub par shooting. The Dawgs were a blistering 61% in the first half, but the second half zone of ASU caused problems leading to another sub 35% outing.
What we saw today was a true team effort on the court. For the first time in god knows how long, the Dawgs had 18 assists! Its amazing how passing and sharing the ball can lead to good things. Abdul Gaddy led the way with 8 assists to 3 turnovers, while Tony Wroten had 4 and 4.
The passes led to our team getting early production from everyone. Terrence Ross, C.J. Wilcox, and Darnell Gant were all hovering around 8 points at halftime. Ross finished with a team high 18, Wilcox added 14, Wroten had 13, Aziz N'Diaye put up a respectable 12, and Gant finished with 9. Those are the types of numbers we should be seeing every night from our guys. Four and five guys with double digit scoring on top of their rebounding, steals, etc. Getting production is easy if you pass the ball and that is exactly what we did tonight.
Overall, I loved the energy of the first half. The team played like it was taking on Arizona versus ASU. That is what I wanted to see. They treated the first half like a real game and went into halftime up 18. Then the second half rolled around and the Dawgs got lazy. UW had held ASU to 2 of 9 outside shooting in the first half by playing pressure d, extending to the sidelines, and preventing open looks. ASU went 6-11 in the second half, allowing them to chew their way back into the game to save face. This happened because our guys got lazy, stayed in the paint, and generally just did not try to put a hand in their face. I put that on Romar for not hyping them up at half, demanding more of the same.
Desmond Simmons and Shawn Kemp had decent nights, combining for 8 points and 7 boards. Simmons got most of the boards will Kemp got most of the points. They played a total of 26 minutes, allowing Gant and N'Diaye to rest after battling ASU's 7-footers in the paint. Respectable numbers for the time they played. They did their jobs tonight.
Abdul Gaddy was not aggressive in the normal fashion, but he attacked none the less. Gaddy took only two shots on the night and drilled a 3-pointer, his only points of the night. What he did do is attack the hoop and dish out to our open shooters and wouldn't you know it, they were open. Man, I feel like I iterated this exact thing multiple times throughout the season. Drive and dish, kick it out, get in the lanes. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. 8 assists is amazing and the 3 turnovers are reasonable, though many were unforced errors that could well have been avoided. Gaddy also pulled in a rebound and picked off a steal. Productive night over all. We don't need him to score, we need him to create scores.
Darnell Gant looked a lot better tonight than he has in a while. His second half shooting definitely cooled off, but his first half put-back jam was sensational. He reared back hard and jammed it home. Loved it. On the night, Gant was 3-6, missing only outside the arc. Gant made both his foul shots, nabbed 5 boards, and dished out 2 assists with 0 turnovers.
Aziz N'Diaye wanted the ball in the first half. He wanted it bad. He got the ball and he scored. Didn't matter who was on him. The second half he battled some cramps or a dead-leg. Not sure what happened, but he went down twice before getting pulled out and N'Diaye required some treatment from the PT staff. A few minutes later he came back in and looked good as new. N'Diaye was 5-9 from the field, 2-3 from the line, and had 4 rebounds.
Tony Wroten was a defensive machine tonight. At times he played too fast and turned the ball over, but the fact that he also handed out 4 assists and a ridiculous 6 steals is impressive and says a lot about his effort on the court. Wroten finished the night 4-8 from the field and a 5-8 performance at the line. He missed both free throws on one set, the first time that has happened in a while. Wroten also managed 4 boards during his 29 minutes of play.
C.J. Wilcox is evolving his game and it's a good thing. With his stress injury limiting his practice participation, Wilcox's shot has been suffering lately as anyone would suspect. Instead of focusing all of his efforts outside the arc, Wilcox has been utilizing a pump shot to draw defenders in the air then dribbling a bit closer and draining the jumper. He is also attacking the lanes and getting nice looks inside. He was 6-11 from the field, 2-6 outside the arc, but I liked his approach to tonight. Wilcox did a little bit of everything tonight with 2 rebounds, 3 assists, a turnover, block, and steal.
Terrence Ross. My man. Where has this game been all year. Finally, production in both halves and a great looking shot throughout. Ross was on fire outside, hitting 4 of 8 from deep and converting 7 of 13 overall. Several times, Ross would step outside the arc on purpose, seemingly insisting he was too close before. His 5 rebounds were lower than normal, but spending so much time outside the paint tends to cause that. The only mar on his performance were the 3 turnovers that were quite out of character. He needs to bring this early fire again Saturday when the Wildcats roll into town.
What Needed Improvement:
Rebounds:
UW and ASU went back and forth on the glass with a final tally of 32-32. 11 offensive for UW, 10 for ASU. That is about as close as it gets. While I understand that ASU possess two 7-footers, the Dawgs were getting beat on the glass by the guards and often times losing out on rebounds they didn't secure properly. Normally this is not an issue so I won't worry too much about it, but we cannot afford to give up so many second chance opportunities against a team like Arizona who will capitalize on them in a big way.
Turnovers:
15 is way too high. 10 in a half is absurd and unacceptable. The Dawgs were playing at too high of a tempo and needed to get things under control a tad more. Wroten was bouncing balls off the opposition's head, Wilcox was forgetting to bring the ball with him, and so on. You get the picture. Not sure why the ASU defense caused so many problems, but it needs to get fixed in less than 36 hours.
What Was Good:
First Half:
Have I been able to write that yet this year? For the first time in ages, the Dawgs put up more than 40 points in the first half and scored less in the second than the first. The Dawgs came out with the kind of intensity that has been lacking throughout the season and I am hopeful it will carry on. This team needs to remember how it felt to get it going early, instead of having to battle back before halftime.
Passing:
The Huskies really played well in the set offense today. They moved the ball quickly around the perimeter, attacked the lanes and kicked out, found open guys, and passed up mediocre shots for better shots. Got to give it to Gaddy for really running the show tonight and making things happen in a good way. Gold Star.
Final Thoughts:
Big time match-up is on its way to Hec-Ed. Arizona is chomping at the bit to get vengence for I.T.'s cold-blooded shot and Wroten's last second upset during their white-out, sell-out crowd at home. Arizona took down WSU in a close game and their moral is high. The Dawgs closed tonight on a bit of a sour note, but I hope it does not damper or affect their mood. A win is a win, even if it ends ugly. Let's finish strong boys.
Go Dawgs!
This game was not nearly as close as it looks. UW had a 22 point lead in the final 3 minutes before letting ASU chip away as Romar an team let up on the gas. I have a bone to pick about this. First off, I love it when our walk-ons and reserves get playtime, it is a fun and rewarding experience for them. That being said, we are in a critical stretch of play right now and the bubble is not on our side. We need to make statement games, not win by 8 at home to an atrocious ASU team. We need to finish. We should have dropped 30+ on them and said "Hey! We are here! We want to win! We want to compete!" Nope, didn't happen. To be fair, the Dawgs were really hot the first half, despite committing 10 first half turnovers. In the second half, the Dawgs committed an additional 5 turnovers, but only managed 33 points on sub par shooting. The Dawgs were a blistering 61% in the first half, but the second half zone of ASU caused problems leading to another sub 35% outing.
What we saw today was a true team effort on the court. For the first time in god knows how long, the Dawgs had 18 assists! Its amazing how passing and sharing the ball can lead to good things. Abdul Gaddy led the way with 8 assists to 3 turnovers, while Tony Wroten had 4 and 4.
The passes led to our team getting early production from everyone. Terrence Ross, C.J. Wilcox, and Darnell Gant were all hovering around 8 points at halftime. Ross finished with a team high 18, Wilcox added 14, Wroten had 13, Aziz N'Diaye put up a respectable 12, and Gant finished with 9. Those are the types of numbers we should be seeing every night from our guys. Four and five guys with double digit scoring on top of their rebounding, steals, etc. Getting production is easy if you pass the ball and that is exactly what we did tonight.
Overall, I loved the energy of the first half. The team played like it was taking on Arizona versus ASU. That is what I wanted to see. They treated the first half like a real game and went into halftime up 18. Then the second half rolled around and the Dawgs got lazy. UW had held ASU to 2 of 9 outside shooting in the first half by playing pressure d, extending to the sidelines, and preventing open looks. ASU went 6-11 in the second half, allowing them to chew their way back into the game to save face. This happened because our guys got lazy, stayed in the paint, and generally just did not try to put a hand in their face. I put that on Romar for not hyping them up at half, demanding more of the same.
Desmond Simmons and Shawn Kemp had decent nights, combining for 8 points and 7 boards. Simmons got most of the boards will Kemp got most of the points. They played a total of 26 minutes, allowing Gant and N'Diaye to rest after battling ASU's 7-footers in the paint. Respectable numbers for the time they played. They did their jobs tonight.
Abdul Gaddy was not aggressive in the normal fashion, but he attacked none the less. Gaddy took only two shots on the night and drilled a 3-pointer, his only points of the night. What he did do is attack the hoop and dish out to our open shooters and wouldn't you know it, they were open. Man, I feel like I iterated this exact thing multiple times throughout the season. Drive and dish, kick it out, get in the lanes. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. 8 assists is amazing and the 3 turnovers are reasonable, though many were unforced errors that could well have been avoided. Gaddy also pulled in a rebound and picked off a steal. Productive night over all. We don't need him to score, we need him to create scores.
Darnell Gant looked a lot better tonight than he has in a while. His second half shooting definitely cooled off, but his first half put-back jam was sensational. He reared back hard and jammed it home. Loved it. On the night, Gant was 3-6, missing only outside the arc. Gant made both his foul shots, nabbed 5 boards, and dished out 2 assists with 0 turnovers.
Aziz N'Diaye wanted the ball in the first half. He wanted it bad. He got the ball and he scored. Didn't matter who was on him. The second half he battled some cramps or a dead-leg. Not sure what happened, but he went down twice before getting pulled out and N'Diaye required some treatment from the PT staff. A few minutes later he came back in and looked good as new. N'Diaye was 5-9 from the field, 2-3 from the line, and had 4 rebounds.
Tony Wroten was a defensive machine tonight. At times he played too fast and turned the ball over, but the fact that he also handed out 4 assists and a ridiculous 6 steals is impressive and says a lot about his effort on the court. Wroten finished the night 4-8 from the field and a 5-8 performance at the line. He missed both free throws on one set, the first time that has happened in a while. Wroten also managed 4 boards during his 29 minutes of play.
C.J. Wilcox is evolving his game and it's a good thing. With his stress injury limiting his practice participation, Wilcox's shot has been suffering lately as anyone would suspect. Instead of focusing all of his efforts outside the arc, Wilcox has been utilizing a pump shot to draw defenders in the air then dribbling a bit closer and draining the jumper. He is also attacking the lanes and getting nice looks inside. He was 6-11 from the field, 2-6 outside the arc, but I liked his approach to tonight. Wilcox did a little bit of everything tonight with 2 rebounds, 3 assists, a turnover, block, and steal.
Terrence Ross. My man. Where has this game been all year. Finally, production in both halves and a great looking shot throughout. Ross was on fire outside, hitting 4 of 8 from deep and converting 7 of 13 overall. Several times, Ross would step outside the arc on purpose, seemingly insisting he was too close before. His 5 rebounds were lower than normal, but spending so much time outside the paint tends to cause that. The only mar on his performance were the 3 turnovers that were quite out of character. He needs to bring this early fire again Saturday when the Wildcats roll into town.
What Needed Improvement:
Rebounds:
UW and ASU went back and forth on the glass with a final tally of 32-32. 11 offensive for UW, 10 for ASU. That is about as close as it gets. While I understand that ASU possess two 7-footers, the Dawgs were getting beat on the glass by the guards and often times losing out on rebounds they didn't secure properly. Normally this is not an issue so I won't worry too much about it, but we cannot afford to give up so many second chance opportunities against a team like Arizona who will capitalize on them in a big way.
Turnovers:
15 is way too high. 10 in a half is absurd and unacceptable. The Dawgs were playing at too high of a tempo and needed to get things under control a tad more. Wroten was bouncing balls off the opposition's head, Wilcox was forgetting to bring the ball with him, and so on. You get the picture. Not sure why the ASU defense caused so many problems, but it needs to get fixed in less than 36 hours.
What Was Good:
First Half:
Have I been able to write that yet this year? For the first time in ages, the Dawgs put up more than 40 points in the first half and scored less in the second than the first. The Dawgs came out with the kind of intensity that has been lacking throughout the season and I am hopeful it will carry on. This team needs to remember how it felt to get it going early, instead of having to battle back before halftime.
Passing:
The Huskies really played well in the set offense today. They moved the ball quickly around the perimeter, attacked the lanes and kicked out, found open guys, and passed up mediocre shots for better shots. Got to give it to Gaddy for really running the show tonight and making things happen in a good way. Gold Star.
Final Thoughts:
Big time match-up is on its way to Hec-Ed. Arizona is chomping at the bit to get vengence for I.T.'s cold-blooded shot and Wroten's last second upset during their white-out, sell-out crowd at home. Arizona took down WSU in a close game and their moral is high. The Dawgs closed tonight on a bit of a sour note, but I hope it does not damper or affect their mood. A win is a win, even if it ends ugly. Let's finish strong boys.
Go Dawgs!
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Arizona State University Game 2 Preview
Here it is. The last home-stand of the season and the Huskies find themselves in a very precarious situation. The Dawgs are in a first place tie with California and are followed by a 3-way tie for second place, only a game back. The Huskies have a very small window in which they may claim an at large bid and the only way they will hold onto it is by winning at least 4 of the next 5 games and having moderate success in the Pac-12 Tournament. This all starts by taking care of business at home and thankfully, the Dawgs first face off against ASU.
The Sun Devils have had a rough season with an overall record of 8-17, 4-9 in conference. ASU has managed only 2 road wins, 1 in conference. The biggest reason ASU has struggled to win has been their lack of scoring. The Sun Devils had many close non-conference games where they were able to hold their opponents under 70 points, but ASU themselves could only muster up 60 or 65.
The Sun Devils have been demolished by just about every team in the top Half of the conference. The 6 point loss to UW was the only loss to a team in the top 6 that wasn't a double digit loss. Cal and Stanford each beat ASU by at least 21 points. ASU's 62 points in a win over USC has been their highest scoring output on the road in conference. Their road high was a 67 point night when ASU beat the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. Their road woes include 4 games where ASU was held to 51 points and under.
The Sun Devils are led by 6-4 185lb guard, Trent Lockett, who is averaging 13.6 points per game (Keala King was the leading scorer with 13.7 points per game before his departure). Lockett has had to do it all for ASU and is not only their leading scorer, but also their leading rebounder with 6.3 per night. Lockett is also second in assists with 2.2, first in steals with 1.5, and second in turnovers with 3.2 per night. Lockett has been battling a nagging ankle injury that has forced him to miss several games this season as well as limiting him in others. If the Huskies can get their defense rolling right and are able to shut down Lockett, the Sun Devils will be lucky to put up 50 points.
ASU's big men have been terrible this season. Despite standing 7-0 and 7-2, Ruslan Pateev and Jordan Bachynski are averaging only 5 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 block each. Their size is a good thing for Aziz N'Diaye who traditionally performs better against taller centers. Not too much else to say about them as their impact on the game tends to be minimal. The two centers will likely be dropped into a zone to guard the middle. If this is the case the Dawgs should not be afraid to drive the lanes as neither are athletic enough to be real threats to a lay-in or short floater.
The other scoring options for ASU come in the form of two forwards, 6-6 196lb Carrick Felix and 6-7 210lb Kyle Cain. The pair score 10 and 8 points respectively on top of 5 and 6 rebounds each. Felix has been of the better 3-point options for the Sun Devils, while Cain missed his lone attempt of the season. Both are capable free throw shooters who are making 75% on the season.
The main point guard option for ASU is 6-2 200lb Chris Colvin who is averaging a team best 3.5 assists per game. Colvin manages 6 points and 2 rebounds per game, while also leading the team in turnovers with 3.5 per night. He is a decent 3-point threat with a 33% average on the season, but is averaging less than 1 make per game, so our defense shouldn't worry too much about playing super tight against him.
Predicted Starting Line-Up:
Arizona State:
Trent Lockett 6-4210lb
Carrick Felix 6-6 196lb
Jonathan Gillings 6-7 200lb
Kyle Cain 6-7 210lb
Jordan Bachynski 7-2 243lb
Washington:
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
Tony Wroten 6-5 205lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Desmond Simmons 6-7 225lb
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb
Keys to Success:
Rebounding:
UW's shot has been off. OK, that may be an understatement following two straight games of 36% and 34% shooting. The Huskies tend to be better at home, but regardless, a low scoring game is in complete favor of ASU. The Dawgs can still capitalize on poor shooting by rebounding and getting the second chance points and putbacks. The Dawgs are one of the top in the nation in not only rebounding, but rebounding percentage as well. If the Dawgs finds themselves struggling to hit their shots again, it is imperative they recover the ball.
Free Throws:
I suspect ASU will try to slow this game down a lot. This means that our free throws represent a larger portion of our offense's production. Our team needs to develop their foul shots and have the type of production they showed against OSU in the final minutes. The Dawgs achieved this by getting their best shooters to the hoop, namely Terrence Ross and C.J. Wilcox. The easiest way to put a low scoring team away is by making the freebies. N'Diaye needs to get on the Tony Wroten plan to improve on his miserable 35% FT shooting.
Pressure Defense:
The Sun Devils average 17 turnovers a game. 17. That is a big and brutal number. The Dawgs can exploit this to play the type of transition basketball they love and thrive off of. The ASU guards are very poor ball handlers and they big men bobble the ball around just as much. Look forward to some highlight reel plays if the Huskies can get into the open court.
Final Thoughts:
The road to a 4th straight NCAA tournament starts on Thursday. Any loss is crushing to our at-large bid hopes and a loss to a team as miserable as ASU is an even more brutal knock to our record and resume. Percy Allen did a nice article on how many wins people believe it will take to earn an at-large bid for the Dawgs. Many people believe 5 more wins is necessary and normally I would not argue with that type of logic as it puts us at 22 wins. This season is very different. I think we not only need to win, or at least share, the regular season title, but we will also need to win one or two games in the tournament to feel confident in a bid. Another factor that is tough to account for and impossible to change is smaller conferences having different regular season and tournament champions. Take for example Murray State. They are clearly top of their league and will earn a bid no matter what, but if a different team takes the league title then the conference will send 2 teams to the NCAA instead of 1, which leaves one less spot on the roster for UW. ASU should be a nice warm up for a big time game against Arizona, but the Dawgs cannot afford to treat the game as such. This team has played down to far too many teams this season due to inexperience and it must change now. Get the Sun Devils down early and don't let up. Make a statement, win by 40, do something that says we are ready, we are willing, and we want this.
Final Score Prediction: UW-80 ASU-60
Go Dawgs!
The Sun Devils have had a rough season with an overall record of 8-17, 4-9 in conference. ASU has managed only 2 road wins, 1 in conference. The biggest reason ASU has struggled to win has been their lack of scoring. The Sun Devils had many close non-conference games where they were able to hold their opponents under 70 points, but ASU themselves could only muster up 60 or 65.
The Sun Devils have been demolished by just about every team in the top Half of the conference. The 6 point loss to UW was the only loss to a team in the top 6 that wasn't a double digit loss. Cal and Stanford each beat ASU by at least 21 points. ASU's 62 points in a win over USC has been their highest scoring output on the road in conference. Their road high was a 67 point night when ASU beat the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. Their road woes include 4 games where ASU was held to 51 points and under.
The Sun Devils are led by 6-4 185lb guard, Trent Lockett, who is averaging 13.6 points per game (Keala King was the leading scorer with 13.7 points per game before his departure). Lockett has had to do it all for ASU and is not only their leading scorer, but also their leading rebounder with 6.3 per night. Lockett is also second in assists with 2.2, first in steals with 1.5, and second in turnovers with 3.2 per night. Lockett has been battling a nagging ankle injury that has forced him to miss several games this season as well as limiting him in others. If the Huskies can get their defense rolling right and are able to shut down Lockett, the Sun Devils will be lucky to put up 50 points.
ASU's big men have been terrible this season. Despite standing 7-0 and 7-2, Ruslan Pateev and Jordan Bachynski are averaging only 5 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 block each. Their size is a good thing for Aziz N'Diaye who traditionally performs better against taller centers. Not too much else to say about them as their impact on the game tends to be minimal. The two centers will likely be dropped into a zone to guard the middle. If this is the case the Dawgs should not be afraid to drive the lanes as neither are athletic enough to be real threats to a lay-in or short floater.
The other scoring options for ASU come in the form of two forwards, 6-6 196lb Carrick Felix and 6-7 210lb Kyle Cain. The pair score 10 and 8 points respectively on top of 5 and 6 rebounds each. Felix has been of the better 3-point options for the Sun Devils, while Cain missed his lone attempt of the season. Both are capable free throw shooters who are making 75% on the season.
The main point guard option for ASU is 6-2 200lb Chris Colvin who is averaging a team best 3.5 assists per game. Colvin manages 6 points and 2 rebounds per game, while also leading the team in turnovers with 3.5 per night. He is a decent 3-point threat with a 33% average on the season, but is averaging less than 1 make per game, so our defense shouldn't worry too much about playing super tight against him.
Predicted Starting Line-Up:
Arizona State:
Trent Lockett 6-4210lb
Carrick Felix 6-6 196lb
Jonathan Gillings 6-7 200lb
Kyle Cain 6-7 210lb
Jordan Bachynski 7-2 243lb
Washington:
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
Tony Wroten 6-5 205lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Desmond Simmons 6-7 225lb
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb
Keys to Success:
Rebounding:
UW's shot has been off. OK, that may be an understatement following two straight games of 36% and 34% shooting. The Huskies tend to be better at home, but regardless, a low scoring game is in complete favor of ASU. The Dawgs can still capitalize on poor shooting by rebounding and getting the second chance points and putbacks. The Dawgs are one of the top in the nation in not only rebounding, but rebounding percentage as well. If the Dawgs finds themselves struggling to hit their shots again, it is imperative they recover the ball.
Free Throws:
I suspect ASU will try to slow this game down a lot. This means that our free throws represent a larger portion of our offense's production. Our team needs to develop their foul shots and have the type of production they showed against OSU in the final minutes. The Dawgs achieved this by getting their best shooters to the hoop, namely Terrence Ross and C.J. Wilcox. The easiest way to put a low scoring team away is by making the freebies. N'Diaye needs to get on the Tony Wroten plan to improve on his miserable 35% FT shooting.
Pressure Defense:
The Sun Devils average 17 turnovers a game. 17. That is a big and brutal number. The Dawgs can exploit this to play the type of transition basketball they love and thrive off of. The ASU guards are very poor ball handlers and they big men bobble the ball around just as much. Look forward to some highlight reel plays if the Huskies can get into the open court.
Final Thoughts:
The road to a 4th straight NCAA tournament starts on Thursday. Any loss is crushing to our at-large bid hopes and a loss to a team as miserable as ASU is an even more brutal knock to our record and resume. Percy Allen did a nice article on how many wins people believe it will take to earn an at-large bid for the Dawgs. Many people believe 5 more wins is necessary and normally I would not argue with that type of logic as it puts us at 22 wins. This season is very different. I think we not only need to win, or at least share, the regular season title, but we will also need to win one or two games in the tournament to feel confident in a bid. Another factor that is tough to account for and impossible to change is smaller conferences having different regular season and tournament champions. Take for example Murray State. They are clearly top of their league and will earn a bid no matter what, but if a different team takes the league title then the conference will send 2 teams to the NCAA instead of 1, which leaves one less spot on the roster for UW. ASU should be a nice warm up for a big time game against Arizona, but the Dawgs cannot afford to treat the game as such. This team has played down to far too many teams this season due to inexperience and it must change now. Get the Sun Devils down early and don't let up. Make a statement, win by 40, do something that says we are ready, we are willing, and we want this.
Final Score Prediction: UW-80 ASU-60
Go Dawgs!
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Oregon State University Game 2 Review
Final Score: UW-75 OSU-72
The Huskies struggled through another poor shooting night both from the field and at the line, but the Dawgs got it done down the stretch making shots, converting free throws, and playing tough defense. Foul calls put both teams at the line a lot and, thankfully, OSU was just as terrible at the line as the Huskies were. The Huskies did miss 11 free throws, which really would have allowed them to separate themselves from the Beavers,, the big difference from past games was how often C.J. Wilcox and Terrence Ross got to the line. Ross went 6 for 7 and Wilcox was 7 of 9. Desmond Simmons stepped back up and converted all 4 of his shots, including a clutch pair with a minute on the clock. The majority of the misses came from the usual suspects, Tony Wroten and Aziz N'Diaye who were a combined 6 of 13 at the stripe.
Abdul Gaddy made his presence felt down the stretch with a pair of 3-pointers. Outside of those shots, Gaddy was unable to really score as seen by his 3 of 10 field goal stat. Gaddy had 4 assists tonight and only 1 turnover, a performance much more characteristic of him. Gaddy also picked up a pair of steals, which helped the Dawgs pick up their 9 fast break points. I think Gaddy played with a much better attitude tonight and it showed.
Aziz N'Diaye found himself in an interesting position tonight. After picking up his 4th foul (CBS Sports says 3, which is what I had thought) with 13 minutes remaining, Romar left him in the game for several more minutes and remained in even when Darnell Gant picked up his 4th and immediately came out. Not sure Romar's reasoning behind it as Shawn Kemp had been playing pretty good basketball tonight. N'Diaye was doing a pretty good job closing down the middle, but had a few lapses throughout the night. N'Diaye had a decent night in terms of production with 6 points, but his 3 rebounds were far below his 8 per game average. Thankfully the team was able to find rebounds elsewhere. N'Diaye had a monstrous dunk that nearly pull the whole hoop down. That type of throw down is what he needs to do all the time. Lay-ins are nice, but huge dunks send a message.
Desmond Simmons returned to his early season form. Simmons was 0 of 1 from the field, but made all of his foul shots and raked in an impressive 9 rebounds, second only to Ross. Simmons had a rough night in terms of ball control, committing 4 turnovers with only 1 assist. Not sure how they all racked up, I didn't recall him throwing the ball away that many times.
Darnell Gant played a very quiet, but foul filled 10 minutes. Gant fouled out with only 2 points on 1 of 4 shooting. He pulled in 3 rebounds and committed one very ugly and silly turnover. Gant was stuck in the corner and rather than calling a timeout or throwing the ball off the defenders, he opted to throw a wild pass across the court to a teammate, which then sailed high and out of bounds. Not a smart play, made worse when one remembers he is a fifth year senior who should know better.
C.J. Wilcox had another poor shooting night with a 4-11 finish, but picked up 17 on the night by being aggressive and attacking the hoop. He finally started getting foul calls and hitting the freebies. I liked his attitude and game play despite his outside shot not falling (2 of 7). Wilcox grabbed one rebound and one steal. His work at the stripe helped the Dawgs secure a much needed win tonight.
Tony Wroten was a solid contributor in all aspects of the game tonight. He made only 12 points on 4 of 12 shooting. His 4 of 7 free throw shooting was more of the early season, but I firmly belief he has made huge strides in his foul shooting and will continue to improve his percentage. Wroten was big under the basket with 5 of his 7 rebounds coming on the offensive end. As a team, the Dawgs picked up 16 offensive boards leading to 14 second chance points. Wroten had 3 assists and turnovers on top of 2 steals.
Shawn Kemp played a semi efficient 9 minutes, going 2 for 2 from the court with his own big jam after an OSU turnover. He also split a pair of free throws. Austin Sefarian-Jenkins played 6 scoreless minutes, but had some nice looks and also nabbed 2 boards.
Terrence Ross was pretty good tonight. His 7 of 21 shooting left much to be desired, but his work at the line is what I really liked. Ross also pulled in a game high 13 rebounds, 5 offensive, which did more for the Dawgs than his scoring, in my opinion. Ross filled the stat line with an assist, 2 turnovers, a steal, and 2 authoritative blocks. Finally, Ross played a game where he contributed in both halves and it paid off in a big way.
What Needed Improvement:
Free Throws:
Wroten needs to get back to shooting 75% and N'Diaye needs to salvage this season and pick up his miserable 35% average at the line.
Team Play:
The Dawgs only managed 9 assists on 23 shots. Last season we were averaging an assist every other shot and I'd like to see this team get closer to that type of production. Our team excels when the ball is moving and players aren't having to create their own shots. Give OSU credit for throwing a variety of defenses at the Dawgs, which included a 2-3 and 1-3-1 zone as well as man-to-man on occasion.
What Was Good:
Rebounding:
The Dawgs won the battle on the glass 47-41 while grabbing 16 offensive boards to OSU's 10. The second chance points were just as important as our bench points (24). The Huskies used their guards well to clean house. Ross and Simmons were all over the place getting the loose balls and their efforts payed off.
Finishing Power:
The Dawgs went on a few runs down the stretch and held off a resilient Beaver team. They made big shots in the final minutes and made the majority of their free throws. The score should have been 75-70, but Cunningham hit a last second shot to make the game look closer than it actually was. The Dawgs showed their guts and didn't let the crowd or the Beaver's own runs get to their heads. They didn't panic when Ahmad Starks got hot from deep and tried to shoot his team back in the game. Credit this to Romar who was finally coaching the team throughout the game and not just in timeouts.
Final Thoughts:
UW did what they needed to and got the win. They remain in a tie for first with California, though 3 other teams are close behind, only 1 game back. The Dawgs come home for their last two home games of the season taking on the Arizona schools, while Cal has their last home stand against the Oregon schools. Oregon looks prime to upset the Bears and OSU has the potential to pull off a win with their prolific offense. The Dawgs cannot overlook ASU on Thursday with a huge, exciting game coming on Saturday against rival Arizona.
Go Dawgs!
The Huskies struggled through another poor shooting night both from the field and at the line, but the Dawgs got it done down the stretch making shots, converting free throws, and playing tough defense. Foul calls put both teams at the line a lot and, thankfully, OSU was just as terrible at the line as the Huskies were. The Huskies did miss 11 free throws, which really would have allowed them to separate themselves from the Beavers,, the big difference from past games was how often C.J. Wilcox and Terrence Ross got to the line. Ross went 6 for 7 and Wilcox was 7 of 9. Desmond Simmons stepped back up and converted all 4 of his shots, including a clutch pair with a minute on the clock. The majority of the misses came from the usual suspects, Tony Wroten and Aziz N'Diaye who were a combined 6 of 13 at the stripe.
Abdul Gaddy made his presence felt down the stretch with a pair of 3-pointers. Outside of those shots, Gaddy was unable to really score as seen by his 3 of 10 field goal stat. Gaddy had 4 assists tonight and only 1 turnover, a performance much more characteristic of him. Gaddy also picked up a pair of steals, which helped the Dawgs pick up their 9 fast break points. I think Gaddy played with a much better attitude tonight and it showed.
Aziz N'Diaye found himself in an interesting position tonight. After picking up his 4th foul (CBS Sports says 3, which is what I had thought) with 13 minutes remaining, Romar left him in the game for several more minutes and remained in even when Darnell Gant picked up his 4th and immediately came out. Not sure Romar's reasoning behind it as Shawn Kemp had been playing pretty good basketball tonight. N'Diaye was doing a pretty good job closing down the middle, but had a few lapses throughout the night. N'Diaye had a decent night in terms of production with 6 points, but his 3 rebounds were far below his 8 per game average. Thankfully the team was able to find rebounds elsewhere. N'Diaye had a monstrous dunk that nearly pull the whole hoop down. That type of throw down is what he needs to do all the time. Lay-ins are nice, but huge dunks send a message.
Desmond Simmons returned to his early season form. Simmons was 0 of 1 from the field, but made all of his foul shots and raked in an impressive 9 rebounds, second only to Ross. Simmons had a rough night in terms of ball control, committing 4 turnovers with only 1 assist. Not sure how they all racked up, I didn't recall him throwing the ball away that many times.
Darnell Gant played a very quiet, but foul filled 10 minutes. Gant fouled out with only 2 points on 1 of 4 shooting. He pulled in 3 rebounds and committed one very ugly and silly turnover. Gant was stuck in the corner and rather than calling a timeout or throwing the ball off the defenders, he opted to throw a wild pass across the court to a teammate, which then sailed high and out of bounds. Not a smart play, made worse when one remembers he is a fifth year senior who should know better.
C.J. Wilcox had another poor shooting night with a 4-11 finish, but picked up 17 on the night by being aggressive and attacking the hoop. He finally started getting foul calls and hitting the freebies. I liked his attitude and game play despite his outside shot not falling (2 of 7). Wilcox grabbed one rebound and one steal. His work at the stripe helped the Dawgs secure a much needed win tonight.
Tony Wroten was a solid contributor in all aspects of the game tonight. He made only 12 points on 4 of 12 shooting. His 4 of 7 free throw shooting was more of the early season, but I firmly belief he has made huge strides in his foul shooting and will continue to improve his percentage. Wroten was big under the basket with 5 of his 7 rebounds coming on the offensive end. As a team, the Dawgs picked up 16 offensive boards leading to 14 second chance points. Wroten had 3 assists and turnovers on top of 2 steals.
Shawn Kemp played a semi efficient 9 minutes, going 2 for 2 from the court with his own big jam after an OSU turnover. He also split a pair of free throws. Austin Sefarian-Jenkins played 6 scoreless minutes, but had some nice looks and also nabbed 2 boards.
Terrence Ross was pretty good tonight. His 7 of 21 shooting left much to be desired, but his work at the line is what I really liked. Ross also pulled in a game high 13 rebounds, 5 offensive, which did more for the Dawgs than his scoring, in my opinion. Ross filled the stat line with an assist, 2 turnovers, a steal, and 2 authoritative blocks. Finally, Ross played a game where he contributed in both halves and it paid off in a big way.
What Needed Improvement:
Free Throws:
Wroten needs to get back to shooting 75% and N'Diaye needs to salvage this season and pick up his miserable 35% average at the line.
Team Play:
The Dawgs only managed 9 assists on 23 shots. Last season we were averaging an assist every other shot and I'd like to see this team get closer to that type of production. Our team excels when the ball is moving and players aren't having to create their own shots. Give OSU credit for throwing a variety of defenses at the Dawgs, which included a 2-3 and 1-3-1 zone as well as man-to-man on occasion.
What Was Good:
Rebounding:
The Dawgs won the battle on the glass 47-41 while grabbing 16 offensive boards to OSU's 10. The second chance points were just as important as our bench points (24). The Huskies used their guards well to clean house. Ross and Simmons were all over the place getting the loose balls and their efforts payed off.
Finishing Power:
The Dawgs went on a few runs down the stretch and held off a resilient Beaver team. They made big shots in the final minutes and made the majority of their free throws. The score should have been 75-70, but Cunningham hit a last second shot to make the game look closer than it actually was. The Dawgs showed their guts and didn't let the crowd or the Beaver's own runs get to their heads. They didn't panic when Ahmad Starks got hot from deep and tried to shoot his team back in the game. Credit this to Romar who was finally coaching the team throughout the game and not just in timeouts.
Final Thoughts:
UW did what they needed to and got the win. They remain in a tie for first with California, though 3 other teams are close behind, only 1 game back. The Dawgs come home for their last two home games of the season taking on the Arizona schools, while Cal has their last home stand against the Oregon schools. Oregon looks prime to upset the Bears and OSU has the potential to pull off a win with their prolific offense. The Dawgs cannot overlook ASU on Thursday with a huge, exciting game coming on Saturday against rival Arizona.
Go Dawgs!
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Oregon State University Game 2 Preview
Well Thursday was ugly. That's all I have to say about that. I'm doing my best to forget that game and hope the team is doing the same.
Up next is Oregon State who is coming off a 10 point defeat to WSU. That is rather impressive when one considers the Beavers are ranked in the top 10 in scoring with 81 points per game, a feat they accomplish this by dishing out almost 17 assists per game (12th in the nation). Its hard to imagine the Beavers will shoot as lights out as the Ducks managed on Thursday, but anything can happen as we recently saw.
The team needs to regroup and find that energy and chemistry that won them the past 5 games. Whatever they had during that stretch, they left it on the bus when they arrived late and in a hurry. Everything needs to improve, especially the defensive efforts and the free throws. Its easy to get blown out when you leave 10 to 15 points a night off the board from missed foul shots.
The Beavers possess a ton of scoring potential, but like the Ducks their strength comes mostly from their guards and not their post players. The Beavers are not lacking size, they have 4 players that stand 6-10 to 6-11, but their big men are simply not skilled enough to really do the type of damage they will be capable of in another year or two when they have improved their game.
Jared Cunningham is a very dangerous player who is leading the conference in scoring with over 18 points a night. Cunningham does more than score. Cunningham averages almost 3 assists per game, second only to Joe Burton, grabs 4 rebounds, and averages almost 3 steals a game. Cunningham is making a strong case for Player of the Year, but OSU's poor conference record may hold him back from earning that title. Cunningham is also, in my mind, a defensive player of the year candidate. Cunningham is an explosive player who has scored 27 points or more four times this season, including a 37 point effort in a 100-95 win over Texas.
Ahmad Starks is tiny, but efficient player with a deadly 3-point shot. Starks has been known to drill 25 and 30 footers with as much ease as a 20 footer. He leads the team in 3-point makes with 55 on the year and is shooting around 35% outside the arc. Inside the paint, Starks struggled to score due to his size and is often pushed around by bigger guards. Starks managed 14 points last time against the Dawgs, but shot only 5 of 15 from the field.
Angus Brandy and Joe Burton are key inside where they combine for nearly 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. Burton can be a load to handle at 280lbs, but is fairly nimble and leads the team in assists. They are dangerous players who can score in bunches and the Huskies will need to get good positioning to keep them off the block. Aziz N'Diaye will have his hands full and both Desmond Simmons and Darnell Gant will have to bring their defensive A-games.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups:
Oregon State:
Ahmad Starks 5-9 165lb
Jared Cunningham 6-4 194lb
Devon Collier 6-7 206lb
Joe Burton 6-7 280lb
Angus Brandt 6-10 237lb
Washington
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
Tony Wroten 6-5 205lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Desmond Simmons 6-7 225lb
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb
Keys to the Game:
Free Throws:
UW left 15 points off the board against the Ducks with missed free throws. Enough said. It has to change and it has to change now.
Rebounding:
I can't imagine the Huskies shooting that poorly again, but should we continue to miss in droves we need to rebound in droves as well and score on the put back.
Play Team Basketball:
The one similarity in every single loss has been an inability and unwillingness to play as a team, instead opting for one-on-one basketball. It is easy to defend a guy one-on-one with the rest of your team at your back. It's easy to score when you move the ball, set screens, and execute some semblance of an offense.
Final Thoughts:
This game, like every game, is critical in securing an NCAA bid. Honestly, at this point, our best and likely only chance of getting a bid is by winning the conference tournament for the third straight year. If we continue to rack up blow out losses, it won't matter if we win the conference title. Mid-majors win their conference all the time and don't make it in. This year, the Pac-12 is ranked as the 8th or 9th best conference in the nation. That is mid major status. The Dawgs cannot afford to drop any more games and certainly can't afford anymore egg-on-face type games. A 14-4 record should get us a bid, but if there are 2 or 3 teams in the Pac-12 at 14-4, I guarantee only one will get a bid and right now that bid would go to California who has a game on us and played pretty consistently throughout the year. I think the Huskies can pull this win out if they find a hot hand. WSU showed Oregon State is beatable at home and even Cunningham racking up 33 points wasn't enough to bring home the win. One player cannot win a game, but they can be the game changer. Same principle applies to the Huskies. Someone has to get hot and someone has to take charge.
Final Score Prediction: UW-74 OSU-70
Up next is Oregon State who is coming off a 10 point defeat to WSU. That is rather impressive when one considers the Beavers are ranked in the top 10 in scoring with 81 points per game, a feat they accomplish this by dishing out almost 17 assists per game (12th in the nation). Its hard to imagine the Beavers will shoot as lights out as the Ducks managed on Thursday, but anything can happen as we recently saw.
The team needs to regroup and find that energy and chemistry that won them the past 5 games. Whatever they had during that stretch, they left it on the bus when they arrived late and in a hurry. Everything needs to improve, especially the defensive efforts and the free throws. Its easy to get blown out when you leave 10 to 15 points a night off the board from missed foul shots.
The Beavers possess a ton of scoring potential, but like the Ducks their strength comes mostly from their guards and not their post players. The Beavers are not lacking size, they have 4 players that stand 6-10 to 6-11, but their big men are simply not skilled enough to really do the type of damage they will be capable of in another year or two when they have improved their game.
Jared Cunningham is a very dangerous player who is leading the conference in scoring with over 18 points a night. Cunningham does more than score. Cunningham averages almost 3 assists per game, second only to Joe Burton, grabs 4 rebounds, and averages almost 3 steals a game. Cunningham is making a strong case for Player of the Year, but OSU's poor conference record may hold him back from earning that title. Cunningham is also, in my mind, a defensive player of the year candidate. Cunningham is an explosive player who has scored 27 points or more four times this season, including a 37 point effort in a 100-95 win over Texas.
Ahmad Starks is tiny, but efficient player with a deadly 3-point shot. Starks has been known to drill 25 and 30 footers with as much ease as a 20 footer. He leads the team in 3-point makes with 55 on the year and is shooting around 35% outside the arc. Inside the paint, Starks struggled to score due to his size and is often pushed around by bigger guards. Starks managed 14 points last time against the Dawgs, but shot only 5 of 15 from the field.
Angus Brandy and Joe Burton are key inside where they combine for nearly 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. Burton can be a load to handle at 280lbs, but is fairly nimble and leads the team in assists. They are dangerous players who can score in bunches and the Huskies will need to get good positioning to keep them off the block. Aziz N'Diaye will have his hands full and both Desmond Simmons and Darnell Gant will have to bring their defensive A-games.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups:
Oregon State:
Ahmad Starks 5-9 165lb
Jared Cunningham 6-4 194lb
Devon Collier 6-7 206lb
Joe Burton 6-7 280lb
Angus Brandt 6-10 237lb
Washington
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
Tony Wroten 6-5 205lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Desmond Simmons 6-7 225lb
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb
Keys to the Game:
Free Throws:
UW left 15 points off the board against the Ducks with missed free throws. Enough said. It has to change and it has to change now.
Rebounding:
I can't imagine the Huskies shooting that poorly again, but should we continue to miss in droves we need to rebound in droves as well and score on the put back.
Play Team Basketball:
The one similarity in every single loss has been an inability and unwillingness to play as a team, instead opting for one-on-one basketball. It is easy to defend a guy one-on-one with the rest of your team at your back. It's easy to score when you move the ball, set screens, and execute some semblance of an offense.
Final Thoughts:
This game, like every game, is critical in securing an NCAA bid. Honestly, at this point, our best and likely only chance of getting a bid is by winning the conference tournament for the third straight year. If we continue to rack up blow out losses, it won't matter if we win the conference title. Mid-majors win their conference all the time and don't make it in. This year, the Pac-12 is ranked as the 8th or 9th best conference in the nation. That is mid major status. The Dawgs cannot afford to drop any more games and certainly can't afford anymore egg-on-face type games. A 14-4 record should get us a bid, but if there are 2 or 3 teams in the Pac-12 at 14-4, I guarantee only one will get a bid and right now that bid would go to California who has a game on us and played pretty consistently throughout the year. I think the Huskies can pull this win out if they find a hot hand. WSU showed Oregon State is beatable at home and even Cunningham racking up 33 points wasn't enough to bring home the win. One player cannot win a game, but they can be the game changer. Same principle applies to the Huskies. Someone has to get hot and someone has to take charge.
Final Score Prediction: UW-74 OSU-70
Thursday, February 9, 2012
University of Oregon Game 2 Preview
UW takes on its first rematch of the season as well as beginning what will be a long, arduous road to the Pac-12 title. With 5 of 7 games on the road, the Dawgs need to be peaking and it appears as if they might be doing just that. The Huskies have won the past 5 games, including road wins over Arizona, ASU, and Utah. While ASU and Utah may not be the most stellar teams this conference has to offer, the mentality and attitude needed to win on the road should certainly pay off. The team chemistry is better, the toughness has shot up since the addition of Austin Seferian-Jenkins, and our big men are finally getting production down low on top of our guards becoming more aggressive inside the paint. All this is coming at the right time due to the injury of C.J. Wilcox, which holds back our ability to be effective on the perimeter. While I understand Wilcox has been extremely limited in practice the past few weeks, he needs to find his stroke and get confident again as he has hit only one 3-pointer in the past four games. Something has to change or the opposition will start crowding the paint. Darnell Gant has been playing some of his best basketball these past few games and is a big reason why the Huskies have turned their game around.
Up next are the Oregon Ducks who sit at 7-4 in conference. This game will play a huge part in the hunt for a Pac-12 title as a win for Oregon puts the Ducks one game back and allows Cal to possible tie the lead, while a loss for Oregon will almost certainly be a death blow as they will be sitting 3 games out of first with only 6 games remaining. A win by UW also allows the Dawgs to maintain their hold on first place with a possibility of extending their lead should the Golden Bears stumble on the road against the LA schools. The Ducks have lost 2 of their last 3 games including a last second loss to Colorado on a pair of free throws as well as an embarrassing loss to rival OSU at home when the Ducks gave up a 6 point lead with 13 minutes to go.
The most telling score for me was the 68 points allowed by the Ducks against Utah on the road. While I understand most teams play better at home than on the road, Utah is not so good that they should score 12 points higher than their season average against one of the better teams in the Pac-12. The Ducks did win 76-68, but allowing 68 points to a team that ranks 336th out of 342 in scoring is somewhat disturbing. Either Utah really played out of their minds or Oregon played poor defense. Likely, a combination of both occurred. What it tells me is that the Ducks are susceptible to defensive droughts, something the Huskies need to capitalize on.
Last time in Hec-Ed, the Dawgs put on a show and crushed Oregon 76-60 and held leading scorer Devoe Joseph to 4 points on 1-13 shooting. E.J. Singler and Garrett Sims stepped up for the Ducks, combining for 33 points. The biggest difference between that game and the one tonight is the absence of Wilcox who scored a game high 24 points on 6-8 shooting from deep. The Huskies as a whole were impressive behind the arc as Abdul Gaddy went 3-3 and Terrence Ross was 3-5. As good as the Dawgs were outside, their inside game lacked its usual punch. The Huskies were out-rebounded 35-27, including a 14-4 offensive rebound advantage for the Ducks. Not good.
Since his 4 point game against the Dawgs, Joseph has gone on a screaming run of impressive scoring. Joseph tallied 30 against Stanford, 26 against OSU, and 20 against Utah. The game against Washington is the only time this season that Joseph has been held under 10 points. It will be critical that the Dawgs contain Joseph once more as he is the deadly player the Ducks have on their roster. Joseph is an impressive 45% from both the field and from outside the arc and an equally important 80% from the foul line. Tony Wroten and Abdul Gaddy were able to muscle Joseph around, preventing him from entering any sort of shooting rhythm.
E.J. Singler continues to be a driving force for the Ducks. In the past 9 games, Singler has been in double digits for 8 games including 26 against UCLA following a disappointing 4 points against lowly USC. Singler leads the team in rebounds at 5.4 per game and had 9 last time against UW. Not sure why Singler was able to be so effective against us, but our wings need to do a much better job defensively to prevent Singler from rolling all over us once more. The Dawgs cannot let Singler get to the line as he is an 88% shooter, second in the conference only to Wilcox.
Garrett Sims is somewhat of an X-factor for the Ducks. He is third in scoring with 12 points per game, but his 3-point shooting is second only to Joseph by a small margin. Sims has 3 more makes than Joseph, but has attempted 7 more shots. As with Joseph and Singler, Sims is an excellent foul shooter with an 86% average on the year. His rebounding is not terrible impressive with only 3 per game, but Sims also averages 3 assists per game and commits less than 2 turnovers per night. I consider Sims the X-factor because his scoring could dramatically increase if the Dawgs pay too much attention to Joseph and Singler.
Olu Ashaolu was a force in the middle for the Ducks last time around. Ashaolu gathered in 12 rebounds, 6 offensive. His scoring was low at only 6 points, but Ashaolu's tenacity on the glass allowed the Ducks many, many, extra opportunities. Not sure how the Dawgs found themselves so boxed out by Ashaolu who stands at 6-7 220lb, but they need to get it together. Perhaps Darnell Gant will reenter the starting 5 after his increased production and can provide a shut down hand and some inside presence to keep Ashaolu off the block.
Jeremy Jacob has been a new addition to the starting 5 and is performing reasonably well. His numbers are far from impressive, but for the 15 minutes or so per game that he plays, Jacob is an effective defender and provides some side and mobility in the middle. Jacob has managed 10 points only twice this season and those came in back to back games against SE Missouri State and Nebraska. After scoring 8 against UW, Jacob has not scored more than 6 points in a game and had a giant goose egg during 15 minutes against USC. Jacob has pulled in 4 or more rebounds in five of the past nine games.
Tony Woods is a much more threatening big man who stands at 6-11 250lb. Woods is averaging 7 points and 4 boards per game. Woods only managed 1 shot against the Huskies, which he made, and in the 9 games since then, has only scored more than 7 points twice. In those same nine games, Woods has picked up 4 or more boards 6 times.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups:
Oregon:
Garrett Sims 6-2 185lb
Devoe Joseph 6-4 180lb
E.J. Singler 6-6 215lb
Olu Ashaolu 6-6 220lb
Jeremy Jacob 6-8 230lb
Washington:
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
Tony Wroten Jr. 6-5 205lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Desmond Simmons 6-7 220lb (I think he keeps the spot just to maintain chemistry)
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb
Keys to the Game:
Rebounding:
Without our outside shooting, the missed shots will be falling shorter than usual, which means our guys need to box out and get on the glass. The Ducks were able to out-rebound the Huskies despite playing a shorter line up. As Jon Brockman always said, rebounding is an attitude. You have to want every ball and fight for it. Simmons, Gant, N'Diaye, Ross, and Wroten all need to use their size and skills to get up and clean the glass, especially defensively where the Ducks were able to pull in so many extra attempts.
Ball Control:
This team has been a bit sloppy in the past week, giving the ball up far too many times to be acceptable. Oregon is better than both UCLA and USC and as such, the turnover and mistakes will be much more costly to the Dawgs. Our guards need to play smart and our team needs to work the ball around with speed and purpose as opposed to the slow and steal-prone style of offense that has been far to persistent this season. The Dawgs play their best game when they are playing with a high tempo. the Dawgs can play high tempo in the half court by passing the ball around a lot, screening for their shooters, and working to get an open attempt versus standing in place, waiting for Gaddy or Wroten to bring the ball to them.
Start Fast:
No better way to get a team feeling good on the road than to hit some early buckets. This not only silences the crowd, something very important in Eugene, but it also gets our players confident and brings the over all mood up. Against Arizona the Dawgs were able to land some early punches and I fully expect them to do the same tonight. Get the ball inside to N'Diaye where he holds a minimum 4 inch and 30lb advantage. N'Diaye has looked really solid these past 2 weeks and can be a great contributor if the team gets him the ball.
Final Thoughts:
This is a very winnable game for the Dawgs. Playing in Eugene should not make a difference, but the youth of this team has shown itself prone to road game woes. The Ducks have a lot to gain from a win tonight and you can bet they will have their A-game on show. The Dawgs have to play every bit as tough because they have just as much to lose. However, the Dawgs should not be playing not to lose, they should be playing to win and secure first place for another night. If the Dawgs play timid, the Ducks will abuse them. With the Ducks lacking skilled big men, I think the key match-up comes inside. If no one can stop N'Diaye in the middle, our outside shooting will open up and hopefully our team can get some nice looks. Aggression in the middle is going to be a decisive factor in tonight's outcome.
Final Score Prediction: UW-76 UO-70
Up next are the Oregon Ducks who sit at 7-4 in conference. This game will play a huge part in the hunt for a Pac-12 title as a win for Oregon puts the Ducks one game back and allows Cal to possible tie the lead, while a loss for Oregon will almost certainly be a death blow as they will be sitting 3 games out of first with only 6 games remaining. A win by UW also allows the Dawgs to maintain their hold on first place with a possibility of extending their lead should the Golden Bears stumble on the road against the LA schools. The Ducks have lost 2 of their last 3 games including a last second loss to Colorado on a pair of free throws as well as an embarrassing loss to rival OSU at home when the Ducks gave up a 6 point lead with 13 minutes to go.
The most telling score for me was the 68 points allowed by the Ducks against Utah on the road. While I understand most teams play better at home than on the road, Utah is not so good that they should score 12 points higher than their season average against one of the better teams in the Pac-12. The Ducks did win 76-68, but allowing 68 points to a team that ranks 336th out of 342 in scoring is somewhat disturbing. Either Utah really played out of their minds or Oregon played poor defense. Likely, a combination of both occurred. What it tells me is that the Ducks are susceptible to defensive droughts, something the Huskies need to capitalize on.
Last time in Hec-Ed, the Dawgs put on a show and crushed Oregon 76-60 and held leading scorer Devoe Joseph to 4 points on 1-13 shooting. E.J. Singler and Garrett Sims stepped up for the Ducks, combining for 33 points. The biggest difference between that game and the one tonight is the absence of Wilcox who scored a game high 24 points on 6-8 shooting from deep. The Huskies as a whole were impressive behind the arc as Abdul Gaddy went 3-3 and Terrence Ross was 3-5. As good as the Dawgs were outside, their inside game lacked its usual punch. The Huskies were out-rebounded 35-27, including a 14-4 offensive rebound advantage for the Ducks. Not good.
Since his 4 point game against the Dawgs, Joseph has gone on a screaming run of impressive scoring. Joseph tallied 30 against Stanford, 26 against OSU, and 20 against Utah. The game against Washington is the only time this season that Joseph has been held under 10 points. It will be critical that the Dawgs contain Joseph once more as he is the deadly player the Ducks have on their roster. Joseph is an impressive 45% from both the field and from outside the arc and an equally important 80% from the foul line. Tony Wroten and Abdul Gaddy were able to muscle Joseph around, preventing him from entering any sort of shooting rhythm.
E.J. Singler continues to be a driving force for the Ducks. In the past 9 games, Singler has been in double digits for 8 games including 26 against UCLA following a disappointing 4 points against lowly USC. Singler leads the team in rebounds at 5.4 per game and had 9 last time against UW. Not sure why Singler was able to be so effective against us, but our wings need to do a much better job defensively to prevent Singler from rolling all over us once more. The Dawgs cannot let Singler get to the line as he is an 88% shooter, second in the conference only to Wilcox.
Garrett Sims is somewhat of an X-factor for the Ducks. He is third in scoring with 12 points per game, but his 3-point shooting is second only to Joseph by a small margin. Sims has 3 more makes than Joseph, but has attempted 7 more shots. As with Joseph and Singler, Sims is an excellent foul shooter with an 86% average on the year. His rebounding is not terrible impressive with only 3 per game, but Sims also averages 3 assists per game and commits less than 2 turnovers per night. I consider Sims the X-factor because his scoring could dramatically increase if the Dawgs pay too much attention to Joseph and Singler.
Olu Ashaolu was a force in the middle for the Ducks last time around. Ashaolu gathered in 12 rebounds, 6 offensive. His scoring was low at only 6 points, but Ashaolu's tenacity on the glass allowed the Ducks many, many, extra opportunities. Not sure how the Dawgs found themselves so boxed out by Ashaolu who stands at 6-7 220lb, but they need to get it together. Perhaps Darnell Gant will reenter the starting 5 after his increased production and can provide a shut down hand and some inside presence to keep Ashaolu off the block.
Jeremy Jacob has been a new addition to the starting 5 and is performing reasonably well. His numbers are far from impressive, but for the 15 minutes or so per game that he plays, Jacob is an effective defender and provides some side and mobility in the middle. Jacob has managed 10 points only twice this season and those came in back to back games against SE Missouri State and Nebraska. After scoring 8 against UW, Jacob has not scored more than 6 points in a game and had a giant goose egg during 15 minutes against USC. Jacob has pulled in 4 or more rebounds in five of the past nine games.
Tony Woods is a much more threatening big man who stands at 6-11 250lb. Woods is averaging 7 points and 4 boards per game. Woods only managed 1 shot against the Huskies, which he made, and in the 9 games since then, has only scored more than 7 points twice. In those same nine games, Woods has picked up 4 or more boards 6 times.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups:
Oregon:
Garrett Sims 6-2 185lb
Devoe Joseph 6-4 180lb
E.J. Singler 6-6 215lb
Olu Ashaolu 6-6 220lb
Jeremy Jacob 6-8 230lb
Washington:
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
Tony Wroten Jr. 6-5 205lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Desmond Simmons 6-7 220lb (I think he keeps the spot just to maintain chemistry)
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb
Keys to the Game:
Rebounding:
Without our outside shooting, the missed shots will be falling shorter than usual, which means our guys need to box out and get on the glass. The Ducks were able to out-rebound the Huskies despite playing a shorter line up. As Jon Brockman always said, rebounding is an attitude. You have to want every ball and fight for it. Simmons, Gant, N'Diaye, Ross, and Wroten all need to use their size and skills to get up and clean the glass, especially defensively where the Ducks were able to pull in so many extra attempts.
Ball Control:
This team has been a bit sloppy in the past week, giving the ball up far too many times to be acceptable. Oregon is better than both UCLA and USC and as such, the turnover and mistakes will be much more costly to the Dawgs. Our guards need to play smart and our team needs to work the ball around with speed and purpose as opposed to the slow and steal-prone style of offense that has been far to persistent this season. The Dawgs play their best game when they are playing with a high tempo. the Dawgs can play high tempo in the half court by passing the ball around a lot, screening for their shooters, and working to get an open attempt versus standing in place, waiting for Gaddy or Wroten to bring the ball to them.
Start Fast:
No better way to get a team feeling good on the road than to hit some early buckets. This not only silences the crowd, something very important in Eugene, but it also gets our players confident and brings the over all mood up. Against Arizona the Dawgs were able to land some early punches and I fully expect them to do the same tonight. Get the ball inside to N'Diaye where he holds a minimum 4 inch and 30lb advantage. N'Diaye has looked really solid these past 2 weeks and can be a great contributor if the team gets him the ball.
Final Thoughts:
This is a very winnable game for the Dawgs. Playing in Eugene should not make a difference, but the youth of this team has shown itself prone to road game woes. The Ducks have a lot to gain from a win tonight and you can bet they will have their A-game on show. The Dawgs have to play every bit as tough because they have just as much to lose. However, the Dawgs should not be playing not to lose, they should be playing to win and secure first place for another night. If the Dawgs play timid, the Ducks will abuse them. With the Ducks lacking skilled big men, I think the key match-up comes inside. If no one can stop N'Diaye in the middle, our outside shooting will open up and hopefully our team can get some nice looks. Aggression in the middle is going to be a decisive factor in tonight's outcome.
Final Score Prediction: UW-76 UO-70
Saturday, February 4, 2012
University of Southern California: Game Preview
USC enters this game with a miserable 6-17 record highlighted by a 1-8 conference record. if not for the miraculous blowout of Utah, USC would be 0-9 in conference and on an 11 game losing streak. Instead the Trojans enter Saturday's game on a 1 loss streak, losing by 7 to WSU on the road. Not bad for a team with only 6 scholarship players available. 5 different USC players have suffered season ending injuries, leaving USC heavily undermanned and severely untalented. If not for Maurice Jones, I doubt the Trojans would have won a single game. Jones is so important to this team that USC Coach Kevin O'Neil stated before the season that "if Maurice Jones gets hurt, don't come to our games." Rough talk, but an honest statement. Maybe not one I would make publicly as a coach, but perhaps it needed to be said to fire up the team. Last week O'Neil was also quoted saying something about a van falling on his head would not be unexpected.
The Trojan line-up is overall, very short, but they do have 7-1 260lb James Blascyzk who is impressively size, but completely underwhelming in terms of skill and production. Out of the 8 players who took the court against WSU (remember, they have only 6 scholarship player), the tallest player outside of Blascyzk is 6-6 Garrett Jackson. Their guards vary in height from 5-7 Jones to 6-5 Byron Wesley. Jackson and Blascyzk are the only active players not listed as guards on the USC roster.
Maurice Jones is essentially the entirety of this team. He leads the in points (14.2), assists (3.4), steals (1.7), free throw percentage (technically he is second, but had 3 times the makes the the highest), and 3-pointer percentage (same as with free throws, technically not first, but has made many more than the highest percentage player). If not for Aaron Fuller and the fact he is only 5-7, Jones would probably fight his way into first on the team in rebounding as well. Currently he averages 2.4 boards per game. Not surprisingly, Jones averages he most turnovers per game at 2.6 a night. Jones is not a dangerous player in the traditional sense. He gets his 14 points per game, simply because there is no one else who can score on his team.
Aaron Fuller was the only other Trojan averaging double digit scoring, but suffered a shoulder injury resulting in season ending surgery. Fuller is joined by 7-footer Dwayne Dedmon, the most recent victim of a season ending injury, Jio Fontan (who was coming off a very successful junior season), Evan Smith, and Curtis Washington on the sidelines.
These injuries leave Byron Wesley as the next highest scorer and the highest active rebounder on the team with 7.6 points and 4.8 boards a game. Wesley is also second in assists (1.9), steals (.8), and turnovers (2.1). Wesley is only 1 of 7 from range and 21 of 43 from the foul line. Much like the rest of the USC squad, he is not an offensive threat despite his decent scoring average.
This image says all you really need to know about this year's Trojan squad. In not one major offensive statistical category is USC ranked above 300. That is rough. Thank god the Trojan fans have football to look forward to.
The Trojans do one thing well. Slow the ball down and play defense. The opposition has only scored more than 70 points in only 2 games this season. On the other side, the Trojans have only scored more than 70 one time in an 83 point explosion against TCU. The Trojans have been held to 50 or less points 9 times, including a season low of 36 against Cal Poly.
With all the injuries, USC loses nearly 20 points of their already disgustingly low 54 point average as well as 11 rebounds from their 28 board average. That is absolutely devastating no matter which way one looks at it.
It's hard to know what this battle-worn USC team will bring to the table. Greg Allen has the potential to do a ton of damage as he showed against WSU when he dropped 17 on them, including a 5-11 performance from deep. On the other hand, Allen could be completely shut down. Allen did not play in 6 games this season and tallied 0 points on 8 separate occasions. He has only reached double digits three times this season. Out of everyone on the team, Allen's 3-pointer has the best chance of catching fire. Allen is only 6-3 180lb and is thus a favorable match-up for guys like Terrence Ross or Tony Wroten.
Maurice Jones has had a very consistent year, only scoring in single digits 5 times this season. Before his 7 point game against WSU, Jones had a 7 game streak of 13 points or more with a high of 22 against Oregon. To be fair, Jones took 23 shots in the game against Oregon and only made 9. Jones has only attempted less than 10 shots in 2 games this year. The 23 shots against Oregon are a season high for Jones, narrowly edging out the Nebraska game in which he attempted 22 shots. Jones' best game came against South Carolina when he scored 28 points, going an amazing 7-7 from deep and 9-15 from the field. Jones has a very inconsistent shot as shown by the season opener when he went 0-7 from outside and the Colorado game where he was only 2-10 from 3-point land. Against Stanford, Jones was 1-12 from the field.
Byron Wesley has been decent enough for the Trojans. He is by no means spectacular, but he takes some of the load off of Jones. Wesley has reached double digit scoring 6 times this year, a high of 16, and has a season high of 9 rebounds on top of two 8 rebound performances. Wesley is a big, strong player at 6-5 210lb and will likely be Wroten's assignment as the two are very similar physically. Of course, this hinges on whether or not Wroten is healthy enough to play. My guess is Wroten will not allow a thigh bruise to hold him back, much like he did not let a tail bone injury keep him from playing 36 minutes a game the next week.
Starting Line-Up Predictions:
USC:
Maurice Jones 5-7 155lb
Alexis Moore 6-2 180lb
Byron Wesley 6-5 210lb
Garrett Jackson 6-6 225lb
James Blascyzk 7-1 260lb
Washington:
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
Tony Wroten 6-5 205lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Darnell Gant 6-8 230lb (I think he replaces Simmons who has been slow as of late)
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb
Keys to the Game:
Control the Pace:
The Trojans will look to slow the game down to the point their malignant offense can stand a chance. They will do this by using up the clock, pulling guys back on free throws as opposed to attempting the rebounds, and clogging the middle with a zone defense. I'm sure many Husky fans recall this last season and, personally, this is the worst type of basketball in the world. The shot clock was introduced because guys like Kevin O'Neil play sloooooowwwwww basketball. I love the fast paced game style that the Huskies thrive on. It is exciting and produces highlight reel plays every night.
Free Throws:
In slow paced games, every point counts. The Huskies continue to struggle as a whole to convert shots at the line. We need to get guys like Ross, Wilcox, and dare I say it, Wroten to the line. They have converted the highest percentage of freebies as of late. N'Diaye needs to do some work on his shot to get to the level of free throw shooting that makes fouling him a poor choice versus a decent choice.
Get Hot From the Start:
If the Huskies can get a lead early in this game, the lack of bench for USC will prove to be the death of them. The problem is that the Huskies have been a second half team this season and have not been successful in getting their scoring going until they have started shooting on the opposite side they started from. Maybe the view is nicer on one side than the other. Whatever it is, it has to change and the Dawgs need to figure out how to put together a full 40 minutes of play. The Trojans are not a team that will be dropping 70-80 points, nor do they normally allow more than 70. Even Kansas, ranked 11 the time, was only able to put up 63 on the Trojans.
Final Thoughts:
This is a game the Dawgs should not struggle with, but this is almost certainly the definition of a trap game. Coming off back-to-back emotional wins against Arizona and UCLA has the Dawgs feeling high and mighty and they cannot let this go to their heads and fall apart by playing down to USC's level. This win in monumental in continuing our charge towards the league title and an at-large bid, should the Dawgs fall in the post season tournament. We have a chance to go 16-2, but it all hinges on playing this type of basketball the rest of the season. By this I mean the final 4 minutes where the Bruins only scored 4 more point. Tough defense, hardcore offense, and a strong, collective team effort.
Final Score Prediction: UW-64 USC-48
Go Dawgs!
The Trojan line-up is overall, very short, but they do have 7-1 260lb James Blascyzk who is impressively size, but completely underwhelming in terms of skill and production. Out of the 8 players who took the court against WSU (remember, they have only 6 scholarship player), the tallest player outside of Blascyzk is 6-6 Garrett Jackson. Their guards vary in height from 5-7 Jones to 6-5 Byron Wesley. Jackson and Blascyzk are the only active players not listed as guards on the USC roster.
Maurice Jones is essentially the entirety of this team. He leads the in points (14.2), assists (3.4), steals (1.7), free throw percentage (technically he is second, but had 3 times the makes the the highest), and 3-pointer percentage (same as with free throws, technically not first, but has made many more than the highest percentage player). If not for Aaron Fuller and the fact he is only 5-7, Jones would probably fight his way into first on the team in rebounding as well. Currently he averages 2.4 boards per game. Not surprisingly, Jones averages he most turnovers per game at 2.6 a night. Jones is not a dangerous player in the traditional sense. He gets his 14 points per game, simply because there is no one else who can score on his team.
Aaron Fuller was the only other Trojan averaging double digit scoring, but suffered a shoulder injury resulting in season ending surgery. Fuller is joined by 7-footer Dwayne Dedmon, the most recent victim of a season ending injury, Jio Fontan (who was coming off a very successful junior season), Evan Smith, and Curtis Washington on the sidelines.
These injuries leave Byron Wesley as the next highest scorer and the highest active rebounder on the team with 7.6 points and 4.8 boards a game. Wesley is also second in assists (1.9), steals (.8), and turnovers (2.1). Wesley is only 1 of 7 from range and 21 of 43 from the foul line. Much like the rest of the USC squad, he is not an offensive threat despite his decent scoring average.
The Trojans do one thing well. Slow the ball down and play defense. The opposition has only scored more than 70 points in only 2 games this season. On the other side, the Trojans have only scored more than 70 one time in an 83 point explosion against TCU. The Trojans have been held to 50 or less points 9 times, including a season low of 36 against Cal Poly.
With all the injuries, USC loses nearly 20 points of their already disgustingly low 54 point average as well as 11 rebounds from their 28 board average. That is absolutely devastating no matter which way one looks at it.
It's hard to know what this battle-worn USC team will bring to the table. Greg Allen has the potential to do a ton of damage as he showed against WSU when he dropped 17 on them, including a 5-11 performance from deep. On the other hand, Allen could be completely shut down. Allen did not play in 6 games this season and tallied 0 points on 8 separate occasions. He has only reached double digits three times this season. Out of everyone on the team, Allen's 3-pointer has the best chance of catching fire. Allen is only 6-3 180lb and is thus a favorable match-up for guys like Terrence Ross or Tony Wroten.
Maurice Jones has had a very consistent year, only scoring in single digits 5 times this season. Before his 7 point game against WSU, Jones had a 7 game streak of 13 points or more with a high of 22 against Oregon. To be fair, Jones took 23 shots in the game against Oregon and only made 9. Jones has only attempted less than 10 shots in 2 games this year. The 23 shots against Oregon are a season high for Jones, narrowly edging out the Nebraska game in which he attempted 22 shots. Jones' best game came against South Carolina when he scored 28 points, going an amazing 7-7 from deep and 9-15 from the field. Jones has a very inconsistent shot as shown by the season opener when he went 0-7 from outside and the Colorado game where he was only 2-10 from 3-point land. Against Stanford, Jones was 1-12 from the field.
Byron Wesley has been decent enough for the Trojans. He is by no means spectacular, but he takes some of the load off of Jones. Wesley has reached double digit scoring 6 times this year, a high of 16, and has a season high of 9 rebounds on top of two 8 rebound performances. Wesley is a big, strong player at 6-5 210lb and will likely be Wroten's assignment as the two are very similar physically. Of course, this hinges on whether or not Wroten is healthy enough to play. My guess is Wroten will not allow a thigh bruise to hold him back, much like he did not let a tail bone injury keep him from playing 36 minutes a game the next week.
Starting Line-Up Predictions:
USC:
Maurice Jones 5-7 155lb
Alexis Moore 6-2 180lb
Byron Wesley 6-5 210lb
Garrett Jackson 6-6 225lb
James Blascyzk 7-1 260lb
Washington:
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
Tony Wroten 6-5 205lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Darnell Gant 6-8 230lb (I think he replaces Simmons who has been slow as of late)
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb
Keys to the Game:
Control the Pace:
The Trojans will look to slow the game down to the point their malignant offense can stand a chance. They will do this by using up the clock, pulling guys back on free throws as opposed to attempting the rebounds, and clogging the middle with a zone defense. I'm sure many Husky fans recall this last season and, personally, this is the worst type of basketball in the world. The shot clock was introduced because guys like Kevin O'Neil play sloooooowwwwww basketball. I love the fast paced game style that the Huskies thrive on. It is exciting and produces highlight reel plays every night.
Free Throws:
In slow paced games, every point counts. The Huskies continue to struggle as a whole to convert shots at the line. We need to get guys like Ross, Wilcox, and dare I say it, Wroten to the line. They have converted the highest percentage of freebies as of late. N'Diaye needs to do some work on his shot to get to the level of free throw shooting that makes fouling him a poor choice versus a decent choice.
Get Hot From the Start:
If the Huskies can get a lead early in this game, the lack of bench for USC will prove to be the death of them. The problem is that the Huskies have been a second half team this season and have not been successful in getting their scoring going until they have started shooting on the opposite side they started from. Maybe the view is nicer on one side than the other. Whatever it is, it has to change and the Dawgs need to figure out how to put together a full 40 minutes of play. The Trojans are not a team that will be dropping 70-80 points, nor do they normally allow more than 70. Even Kansas, ranked 11 the time, was only able to put up 63 on the Trojans.
Final Thoughts:
This is a game the Dawgs should not struggle with, but this is almost certainly the definition of a trap game. Coming off back-to-back emotional wins against Arizona and UCLA has the Dawgs feeling high and mighty and they cannot let this go to their heads and fall apart by playing down to USC's level. This win in monumental in continuing our charge towards the league title and an at-large bid, should the Dawgs fall in the post season tournament. We have a chance to go 16-2, but it all hinges on playing this type of basketball the rest of the season. By this I mean the final 4 minutes where the Bruins only scored 4 more point. Tough defense, hardcore offense, and a strong, collective team effort.
Final Score Prediction: UW-64 USC-48
Go Dawgs!
Friday, February 3, 2012
University of California: Los Angeles Game Review
Final Score: UW-71 UCLA-69
Just like that, the Huskies control first place in the Pac-12 and their destiny lies in their hands and not the success (or failures) of others. This game represented some impressive milestones. UW has now won 4 straight against UCLA, something that hasn't ever happened in Husky History, and the Dawgs have now won 8 straight at home against UCLA. Two hours after UW escaped with an emotional win, Arizona knocked off Cal with an early 33-10 run that put Arizona ahead for good.
The Huskies played a a sloppy game that didn't polish up until the final 10 minutes. This was highlighted early with UW up 6-4. UCLA picked up two offensive boards and finally got the put-back to fall in, despite several Huskies near the hoop. Often times, the Dawgs were getting beat on easy boards and gave up far too many turnovers (16 total, 10 in the first half). The first half turnovers were just plain ugly. It wasn't so much that the Bruins were playing tough defense, the Husky guards were just throwing the ball away to players who weren't looking for passes. Regardless, the Dawgs somehow went into halftime with a 1-point game.
Things got worse after half when the Dawg defense shut down and allowed three straight 3-pointers, all by Lazeric Jones who had been silent all game. Suddenly, the Huskies found themselves down 10 with time running off the clock. Something awakened in the team and the crowd, which translated into Terrence Ross taking things to the next level.
The Huskies struggled to contain Josh Smith who scored a career high 24 points. Smith did damage the whole game with 14 points during the first half. While Aziz N'Diaye tried his best to contain Smith, the two early fouls limited his minutes resulting in Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Shawn Kemp rotating through to try and prevent Smith from scoring. The Huskies experienced their best success by playing a zone defense to prevent entry passes to the post and allowed the Dawgs to double team Smith, forcing turnovers. Smith did not score in the final minute of the game (well, technically he scored with 56 seconds on the clock, but I'll excuse it), which was integral in deciding the outcome of the game. N'Diaye was also able to secure the final rebound over Smith as the clock ran out.
The two biggest possessions of the game came in the final minutes when the Bruins committed offensive fouls and allowed UW to extend their small lead to a two possession difference. The Bruins kept fighting back and the missed free throws by UW allowed the Bruins to get back within 2 points during the final 20 seconds. UW played solid defense and forced a young, in experienced Bruin to take a contested shot, which ended up rattling out and tipped around until N'Diaye could finally corral the ball.
The crowd played a big part of UW's success in the final 10 minutes of the game. Once the Dawg Pack started going and Ross starting being a superstar, the rest of the stadium really perked up, stood up, and got into UCLA's collective head. The offense wasn't able to execute properly as no one could hear what was going on. After the game, Coach Chillious raised the roof at the Dawg Pack, Darnell Gant beat his chest, pointed, and yelled, and Romar came over, pointed at the score board, pointed at us, and said that was your win, you helped us do that. I invest a lot of my time, energy, and emotion into this team and into leading the Dawg Pack and it felt really good to see everyone finally getting involved in the game and having the type of effect on the game that we had between '04 and '09. It felt even better to see our efforts get recognized and appreciated by the coach and team.
N'Diaye played a pretty good game, despite the defensive struggles against Smith. No one could defend Smith, who pushed people around with his gut, so it is hard to discredit N'Diaye for failing the same as everyone else who tried to match-up with Smith. N'Diaye was a solid 3-4 from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds. N'Diaye could have had a double-double, but finished with 7 after hitting only 1 of his 4 free throw attempts. N'Diaye needs to get some better coaching about his foul shot because he is shooting under 40% on the year, which is not only miserable, it hurts our team. N'Diaye gets to the line 2 to 4 times a night and generally misses at least half those shots. That is a lot of points and opportunities being squandered away. "Hack the Shaq" is a very viable option for teams in close games and that scares me more than anything. N'Diaye delivered a nice pass and assist to tony Wroten who was cutting across the baseline. It was almost a perfect reverse of the usual Wroten to N'Diaye plays. The only big negative for me, outside of the usual free throw issues, was the accidental tip-in by N'Diaye on our own hoop. Rather than getting up and putting two hands on the ball, N'Diaye tried to tip the ball out to a teammate, but it went rogue and N'Diaye scored against us.
Speaking of Wroten, Tony had himself a wild game. Wroten took a knee to the thigh that caused him pain throughout the game and may cause Wroten to play limited, if any, minutes during the USC game tomorrow. Wroten was only 4 of 11 from the field. Wroten grabbed up 5 rebounds, 2 offensive, and dished out 2 assists. His 5 turnovers were very reminiscent of his earlier games, but the 5-5 free throw shooting shows the type of improvement Wroten has made to his game. The other "improvement" I saw from Wroten was an attempt at a right-handed lay-in, something I don't think he had done yet. Sadly, the ball rolled out of the rim, but it was good to see Wroten finally use that second hand of his to take a shot.
Darnell Gant became a true senior tonight. He scored 10 points in the first half, including a very much needed 3-pointer early in the game, deep into the shot clock. Gant finished with only 14 points, but his defense on the Wear twins and other perimeter players was just as valuable as his emotional play and the leadership he displayed. Tonight I saw Gant beating his chest, coaching his teammates, yelling at the crowd to get up and get loud. The passion was evident and Gant was quoted after the game saying he nearly cried following the win. He wanted this game badly and it showed. Let's hope he can continue to be the type of leader this team has been sorely missing.
Abdul Gaddy played another silent game, but did a much better job of attacking the hoop than in previous weeks. Gaddy was 2-5 from the field, 3-4 from the line, and delivered 5 assists. His 4 turnovers marred an otherwise solid outing. I don't know what it is going to take to get Gaddy to go back to the level of play he displayed in the first half of conference lasts season. Maybe he'll never quite get back to that after his ACL tear. Either way, he needs to adjust his game by either getting back in the lane or starting to develop a reliable outside shot that will force defenders to step out, opening the lanes for his teammates.
Desmond Simmons seems to have hit the freshman wall as of late. He played only 11 minutes despite starting, grabbed only 2 rebounds, and missed both shot attempts including an ugly airball. Not much to say about his game due to his limited play time.
C.J. Wilcox looked rusty tonight. Maybe the lack of practices are finally catching up a bit. Wilcox was only 1 of 4 from the field, but drilled all 4 of his free throws, which were immensely important to the Husky win. While I understand and appreciate the need for Wilcox to rest during the week for the games, the fact Wilcox is limited to only 50 jump shots per practice seems a bit absurd to me. Let him take 75 or 100, I highly doubt that will have a huge effect on his injury. Hopefully the Huskies can get things done in a big way against USC (who lost to WSU by only 3, mildly concerning) and both him and Wroten can get their rest and let others gain some valuable play time.
Shawn Kemp played some very strong minutes and had one of his better games. All 4 points came off of dunks, including a very impressive trail play leading to a powerful jam, a small reminder of his father who is one of the best dunkers in the history of the game. ASJ played only 5 minutes and picked up 2 fouls.
Terrence Ross. My man. Please play all 40 minutes like you do the final 10. If you do, you will score 30 points a game, each and every night. Heck, I'll settle for Ross playing two solid halves of basketball versus one half of pure athleticism and skill. Ross played another amazing second half to rally the Dawgs. He caught alley-oops for sweet jams, he drained shots from 25 feet, checking his heat and finding himself on fire, he even pulled off a Top 10 worthy (though he was snubbed somehow) lay-in that shouldn't even be physically possible. After spinning off his defender, Ross was fouled and knocked to the ground, but still managed to get a shot off and it banked home for the AND-1, which put the Dawgs on top. Speaking of banks, Ross drained a ridiculous bank shot at the end of the first half to give the Huskies the 1 point lead. Ross also pulled off a crazy double cross over move that was worthy of some recognition. Ross had 4 rebounds on top of 22 points, 1 steal, two nice blocks, and 3 turnovers. If Ross can put together another impressive game against USC, he will likely win Player of the Week.
What Needed Improvement:
Terrence Ross-First Half:
I would like to see a game where Ross scores 8-10 in the first half. I'm not sure how many games this season Ross has had 4 or less points going into the break, but it is far too many. It needs to change. Not sure what the difference is for Ross, but I guarantee the heart of it is mental.
Ball Control:
The Huskies committed 10 turnovers in the first half and finished the game with 16. Not good by any stretch of the imagination. Too many times the Dawgs would throw the ball out of bounds. UCLA was credited with 10 steals, but I don't recall that many occurring. The Husky guards have been really sloppy as of late and that won't win us any games. The Dawgs also managed only 10 assists, far below the goals and abilities of this team. Got to get this righted for the final half of the year.
What was Good:
Terrence Ross-Second Half:
He is a true closer and is everything in the second half that LeBron James isn't. The kid has a will to win and once the shots start dropping, he can't be stopped. Ross went 9-12 from the field and a perfect 2-2 from deep and dominated the second half. Ross didn't miss in the second half until there were only 25 seconds on the clock.
Gant's Leadership:
His words helped organize the team, his fire pumped up the crowd, and his first half helped the Dawgs take an early lead despite their short comings. Loved the game Gant played today. If Wroten is hurt on Saturday and does not start, I would like to see the Dawgs bust out a 3 forward line-up with Gant back in the starting 5 along side N'Diaye and Simmons.
The Crowd:
The crowd is finally getting into this team again and it is showing up on the home court. The turning point was the WSU come back game. It got loud and people had fun. Now that they have tasted what a truly great college atmosphere is like, they want more and are getting it by creating it themselves. This team is young, and young players thrive on the emotion of the crowd.
Final Thoughts:
This game could have been a blow out if the Dawgs didn't try to throw it away in the first half. The Huskies pulled off another impressive come back and fought off an improving UCLA team. Terrence Ross was a catalyst once more and Gant continued to improve his game and attitude. Thank you, Arizona, for knocking off Cal on their home court and giving us sole possession of first place. With an injured USC team on the horizon, the Huskies can maintain their lead and should ASU pull off a surprising come back, the Dawgs can increase their lead. The Dawgs have one last home-stand after this weekend against the Arizona schools as well as road trips to Oregon, WSU, and the LA schools. The toughest games will likely come against UCLA, WSU, and Oregon as all 3 tend to be superb on their home courts. The Huskies can ill afford more than 2 losses the remainder of the regular season, but with the way this team has been performing, I am confident they can pull out some more grinding, dirty wins away from Hec-Ed. Let's get it done boys and bring home that banner.
Go Dawgs!
Just like that, the Huskies control first place in the Pac-12 and their destiny lies in their hands and not the success (or failures) of others. This game represented some impressive milestones. UW has now won 4 straight against UCLA, something that hasn't ever happened in Husky History, and the Dawgs have now won 8 straight at home against UCLA. Two hours after UW escaped with an emotional win, Arizona knocked off Cal with an early 33-10 run that put Arizona ahead for good.
The Huskies played a a sloppy game that didn't polish up until the final 10 minutes. This was highlighted early with UW up 6-4. UCLA picked up two offensive boards and finally got the put-back to fall in, despite several Huskies near the hoop. Often times, the Dawgs were getting beat on easy boards and gave up far too many turnovers (16 total, 10 in the first half). The first half turnovers were just plain ugly. It wasn't so much that the Bruins were playing tough defense, the Husky guards were just throwing the ball away to players who weren't looking for passes. Regardless, the Dawgs somehow went into halftime with a 1-point game.
Things got worse after half when the Dawg defense shut down and allowed three straight 3-pointers, all by Lazeric Jones who had been silent all game. Suddenly, the Huskies found themselves down 10 with time running off the clock. Something awakened in the team and the crowd, which translated into Terrence Ross taking things to the next level.
The Huskies struggled to contain Josh Smith who scored a career high 24 points. Smith did damage the whole game with 14 points during the first half. While Aziz N'Diaye tried his best to contain Smith, the two early fouls limited his minutes resulting in Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Shawn Kemp rotating through to try and prevent Smith from scoring. The Huskies experienced their best success by playing a zone defense to prevent entry passes to the post and allowed the Dawgs to double team Smith, forcing turnovers. Smith did not score in the final minute of the game (well, technically he scored with 56 seconds on the clock, but I'll excuse it), which was integral in deciding the outcome of the game. N'Diaye was also able to secure the final rebound over Smith as the clock ran out.
The two biggest possessions of the game came in the final minutes when the Bruins committed offensive fouls and allowed UW to extend their small lead to a two possession difference. The Bruins kept fighting back and the missed free throws by UW allowed the Bruins to get back within 2 points during the final 20 seconds. UW played solid defense and forced a young, in experienced Bruin to take a contested shot, which ended up rattling out and tipped around until N'Diaye could finally corral the ball.
The crowd played a big part of UW's success in the final 10 minutes of the game. Once the Dawg Pack started going and Ross starting being a superstar, the rest of the stadium really perked up, stood up, and got into UCLA's collective head. The offense wasn't able to execute properly as no one could hear what was going on. After the game, Coach Chillious raised the roof at the Dawg Pack, Darnell Gant beat his chest, pointed, and yelled, and Romar came over, pointed at the score board, pointed at us, and said that was your win, you helped us do that. I invest a lot of my time, energy, and emotion into this team and into leading the Dawg Pack and it felt really good to see everyone finally getting involved in the game and having the type of effect on the game that we had between '04 and '09. It felt even better to see our efforts get recognized and appreciated by the coach and team.
N'Diaye played a pretty good game, despite the defensive struggles against Smith. No one could defend Smith, who pushed people around with his gut, so it is hard to discredit N'Diaye for failing the same as everyone else who tried to match-up with Smith. N'Diaye was a solid 3-4 from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds. N'Diaye could have had a double-double, but finished with 7 after hitting only 1 of his 4 free throw attempts. N'Diaye needs to get some better coaching about his foul shot because he is shooting under 40% on the year, which is not only miserable, it hurts our team. N'Diaye gets to the line 2 to 4 times a night and generally misses at least half those shots. That is a lot of points and opportunities being squandered away. "Hack the Shaq" is a very viable option for teams in close games and that scares me more than anything. N'Diaye delivered a nice pass and assist to tony Wroten who was cutting across the baseline. It was almost a perfect reverse of the usual Wroten to N'Diaye plays. The only big negative for me, outside of the usual free throw issues, was the accidental tip-in by N'Diaye on our own hoop. Rather than getting up and putting two hands on the ball, N'Diaye tried to tip the ball out to a teammate, but it went rogue and N'Diaye scored against us.
Speaking of Wroten, Tony had himself a wild game. Wroten took a knee to the thigh that caused him pain throughout the game and may cause Wroten to play limited, if any, minutes during the USC game tomorrow. Wroten was only 4 of 11 from the field. Wroten grabbed up 5 rebounds, 2 offensive, and dished out 2 assists. His 5 turnovers were very reminiscent of his earlier games, but the 5-5 free throw shooting shows the type of improvement Wroten has made to his game. The other "improvement" I saw from Wroten was an attempt at a right-handed lay-in, something I don't think he had done yet. Sadly, the ball rolled out of the rim, but it was good to see Wroten finally use that second hand of his to take a shot.
Darnell Gant became a true senior tonight. He scored 10 points in the first half, including a very much needed 3-pointer early in the game, deep into the shot clock. Gant finished with only 14 points, but his defense on the Wear twins and other perimeter players was just as valuable as his emotional play and the leadership he displayed. Tonight I saw Gant beating his chest, coaching his teammates, yelling at the crowd to get up and get loud. The passion was evident and Gant was quoted after the game saying he nearly cried following the win. He wanted this game badly and it showed. Let's hope he can continue to be the type of leader this team has been sorely missing.
Abdul Gaddy played another silent game, but did a much better job of attacking the hoop than in previous weeks. Gaddy was 2-5 from the field, 3-4 from the line, and delivered 5 assists. His 4 turnovers marred an otherwise solid outing. I don't know what it is going to take to get Gaddy to go back to the level of play he displayed in the first half of conference lasts season. Maybe he'll never quite get back to that after his ACL tear. Either way, he needs to adjust his game by either getting back in the lane or starting to develop a reliable outside shot that will force defenders to step out, opening the lanes for his teammates.
Desmond Simmons seems to have hit the freshman wall as of late. He played only 11 minutes despite starting, grabbed only 2 rebounds, and missed both shot attempts including an ugly airball. Not much to say about his game due to his limited play time.
C.J. Wilcox looked rusty tonight. Maybe the lack of practices are finally catching up a bit. Wilcox was only 1 of 4 from the field, but drilled all 4 of his free throws, which were immensely important to the Husky win. While I understand and appreciate the need for Wilcox to rest during the week for the games, the fact Wilcox is limited to only 50 jump shots per practice seems a bit absurd to me. Let him take 75 or 100, I highly doubt that will have a huge effect on his injury. Hopefully the Huskies can get things done in a big way against USC (who lost to WSU by only 3, mildly concerning) and both him and Wroten can get their rest and let others gain some valuable play time.
Shawn Kemp played some very strong minutes and had one of his better games. All 4 points came off of dunks, including a very impressive trail play leading to a powerful jam, a small reminder of his father who is one of the best dunkers in the history of the game. ASJ played only 5 minutes and picked up 2 fouls.
Terrence Ross. My man. Please play all 40 minutes like you do the final 10. If you do, you will score 30 points a game, each and every night. Heck, I'll settle for Ross playing two solid halves of basketball versus one half of pure athleticism and skill. Ross played another amazing second half to rally the Dawgs. He caught alley-oops for sweet jams, he drained shots from 25 feet, checking his heat and finding himself on fire, he even pulled off a Top 10 worthy (though he was snubbed somehow) lay-in that shouldn't even be physically possible. After spinning off his defender, Ross was fouled and knocked to the ground, but still managed to get a shot off and it banked home for the AND-1, which put the Dawgs on top. Speaking of banks, Ross drained a ridiculous bank shot at the end of the first half to give the Huskies the 1 point lead. Ross also pulled off a crazy double cross over move that was worthy of some recognition. Ross had 4 rebounds on top of 22 points, 1 steal, two nice blocks, and 3 turnovers. If Ross can put together another impressive game against USC, he will likely win Player of the Week.
What Needed Improvement:
Terrence Ross-First Half:
I would like to see a game where Ross scores 8-10 in the first half. I'm not sure how many games this season Ross has had 4 or less points going into the break, but it is far too many. It needs to change. Not sure what the difference is for Ross, but I guarantee the heart of it is mental.
Ball Control:
The Huskies committed 10 turnovers in the first half and finished the game with 16. Not good by any stretch of the imagination. Too many times the Dawgs would throw the ball out of bounds. UCLA was credited with 10 steals, but I don't recall that many occurring. The Husky guards have been really sloppy as of late and that won't win us any games. The Dawgs also managed only 10 assists, far below the goals and abilities of this team. Got to get this righted for the final half of the year.
What was Good:
Terrence Ross-Second Half:
He is a true closer and is everything in the second half that LeBron James isn't. The kid has a will to win and once the shots start dropping, he can't be stopped. Ross went 9-12 from the field and a perfect 2-2 from deep and dominated the second half. Ross didn't miss in the second half until there were only 25 seconds on the clock.
Gant's Leadership:
His words helped organize the team, his fire pumped up the crowd, and his first half helped the Dawgs take an early lead despite their short comings. Loved the game Gant played today. If Wroten is hurt on Saturday and does not start, I would like to see the Dawgs bust out a 3 forward line-up with Gant back in the starting 5 along side N'Diaye and Simmons.
The Crowd:
The crowd is finally getting into this team again and it is showing up on the home court. The turning point was the WSU come back game. It got loud and people had fun. Now that they have tasted what a truly great college atmosphere is like, they want more and are getting it by creating it themselves. This team is young, and young players thrive on the emotion of the crowd.
Final Thoughts:
This game could have been a blow out if the Dawgs didn't try to throw it away in the first half. The Huskies pulled off another impressive come back and fought off an improving UCLA team. Terrence Ross was a catalyst once more and Gant continued to improve his game and attitude. Thank you, Arizona, for knocking off Cal on their home court and giving us sole possession of first place. With an injured USC team on the horizon, the Huskies can maintain their lead and should ASU pull off a surprising come back, the Dawgs can increase their lead. The Dawgs have one last home-stand after this weekend against the Arizona schools as well as road trips to Oregon, WSU, and the LA schools. The toughest games will likely come against UCLA, WSU, and Oregon as all 3 tend to be superb on their home courts. The Huskies can ill afford more than 2 losses the remainder of the regular season, but with the way this team has been performing, I am confident they can pull out some more grinding, dirty wins away from Hec-Ed. Let's get it done boys and bring home that banner.
Go Dawgs!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
University of California: Los Angeles Game Preview
Just a quick note about tomorrow's game before I get into the preview. If you are attending the game, the athletic department is planning a 70's night theme. So bring your best 70's gear and rock out. It was originally planned as a Lorenzo Romar throwback night, okay-ed by the coach himself, but then someone (who's name I was not informed of) got their panties in a bunch about some dumb issue, which resulting in changing the theme to 70's night to preserve the core of their game day plans. On to the preview!
This is how UCLA's year has gone.
After looking like the powerhouse of the Pac-12, UCLA suffered some humiliating losses in the early non-con and have had to drag their way out of the basement, back into some semblance of a competitive team. The Bruins have stumbled to a 12-9 (5-4 in conference) record, leaving them tied for 5th place alongside Stanford and Arizona. Their record includes two very ugly home losses to Loyola Marymount 69-58 and a humongous 20 point loss 86-66 to Middle Tennessee.
ESPN penned a nice article a while back, which I sadly cannot find again, about the Wear twins and how they are holding UCLA back. Essentially, the article argues that the Wear twins are the same player, so playing both on the court at the same time is wasteful and severely reduces game planning ability. If someone happens upon the link, please add it in the comment section.
UCLA has yet to tally a quality win, much like the rest of the Pac-12, the big difference has been bad losses to non-tournament teams. Their team has played better as of late, especially with Reeves Nelson no longer part of the team. The Bruins come into this game with two straight wins over newcomers Colorado and Utah after getting swept on the road by the Oregon schools. This has been the Bruins' story throughout conference play, solid games at home, weak performances on the road. This should be huge and with the Bruins historically playing bad basketball at Hec-Ed, the Dawgs should definitely be considered the favorites coming into the match.
The Bruins are a forward heavy team, lacking in solid guard play, which has certainly been the core of their problems. Lazeric Jones has had to really step up his play for UCLA to find any type of success and has been doing a very reasonable job of playing above his past levels. Jones is currently first on the team in both scoring and assists with 13.4 and 4.6 per game respectively. He is also first in turnovers per game with 2.5, something the Dawgs should be looking to heavily exploit. Personally, I would like to see Tony Wroten guard Jones as Wroten is a much better defender than Gaddy (2 steals per game versus .7 indicates more stringent defense, though Wroten has been known to miss assignments on occasion). Jones is just one of several respectable shooters on the team, hitting 37% of his shots behind the arc and 44% from the field. Jones is a respectable free throw shooter with a 75% average on the season. Keeping Jones in check will be critical for the Husky defense as the UCLA offense runs primarily through Jones.
The Wear twins each average at least 10 points per game (Travis is averaging 12 per game) and 5 rebounds (David is picking up 6 per game). Both are solid post players with a great inside shot and show decent mobility on the wings, though David is the better shooter of the pair with 9 makes on 15 attempts to Travis' 3 makes on 6 attempts. Travis is the better foul shooter. At 6-10 225lb, the twins are tall enough to do shoot over their defenders, but thin enough to move past them as well. Aziz N'Diaye should have the muscle to take either of them to the rack without too much difficulty and should be able to keep the twins out of the paint as well. Austin Serferian-Jenkins may be undersized compared to the twins, but is much stronger and likely much faster than either, which will be important if they begin to rove around the perimeter.
Josh Smith. The kid could be an athlete, a dominate one at that, but his weight issues continue to hold him back. Smith averages only 17 minutes per game, but is solidly over 300lbs. Smith often uses his girth to push others out of his way, but as I said with the Wear twins, our post players have distinct strength advantages. Smith scores an average of 9.7 points and 5 boards per game. Smith is not a great shooter outside the paint and is almost as bad of a free throw shooter as N'Diaye, hitting only 53 of 93 attempts from the foul line. Smith also averages 2 turnovers per game. If the Dawgs can play tight defense, they can cause real havoc due to the poor ball handling UCLA often displays.
Tyler Lamb and Jermine Anderson may be the most dynamic and potentially explosive players for the Bruins. They each average around 9 points, 3 rebounds, as well as 3-4 assists per game. Both commit nearly 2 turnovers per game. Their shooting percentages are nearly identical and have made 25 and 23 3-pointers respectively. Lamb scored a season high 26 against California, while Anderson had 20 against Chaminade, a DII school, in the Maui Invitational.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups:
UCLA:
Lazeric Jones 6-0 187lb
Jermaine Anderson 6-2 183lb
Tyler Lamb 6-5 200lb
Travis Wear 6-10 220lb
David Wear 6-10 225lb
Washington:
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
Tony Wroten 6-5 205lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Desmond Simmons 6-7 225lb
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb
Keys to the Game:
Rebounding:
Offensive boards were the number 1 reason the Huskies won their game against the Wildcats last Saturday. Rebounds will continue to be the biggest key to success. The Husky offense has been slumping lately from deep, due mainly to the absence of C.J. Wilcox from the line-up. Speaking of Wilcox, he will not practice the remainder of the season and will be day-to-day for games, much like B-Roy his junior season. Our players have superior strength and size, despite UCLA's depth in the frontcourt, and must utilize this to box their men out and clear house on the glass.
Backcourt Defense:
The Husky backcourt defense is definitely the strong point of our team and where UCLA's offense is weakest in terms of ball handling. If the Dawgs can abuse this and get into transition, they stand a very good chance of blowing UCLA out of the water. The UCLA big men are not good in transition, especially Smith, and getting numbers in our favor will be much easier this way.
Free Throws:
I really don't know what to say that I haven't already said a thousand times. Free throws win ball games and with some home cooking hopefully heading our way, the Dawgs need to capitalize or risk keeping UCLA in the game. The best way for our team to get and score free throws is by having Wilcox and Ross attack the lanes. They are great foul shooters and are extremely capable in the paint.
Final Thoughts:
This is a very winnable game for the Dawgs and one has to think that with the Arizona win still in the back of their minds, the Huskies are feeling strong and capable. Hopefully this means a big time win and an impressive home showing, something that hasn't truly happened since the opening tournament. I would really like to see this squad control the game from the opening tip, keeping their foot on the Bruins' necks until the final minute. Too often, the Huskies slow their game down in the waning minutes and allows the opposition to close the gap. I'm all for getting our bench players in, but at this point in the season and our current weak standing, in terms of a tournament resume, we need all the big time wins we can get. This means going hard the full 40 minutes versus killing the clock.
Final Score Prediction: UW-88 UCLA-74
This is how UCLA's year has gone.
After looking like the powerhouse of the Pac-12, UCLA suffered some humiliating losses in the early non-con and have had to drag their way out of the basement, back into some semblance of a competitive team. The Bruins have stumbled to a 12-9 (5-4 in conference) record, leaving them tied for 5th place alongside Stanford and Arizona. Their record includes two very ugly home losses to Loyola Marymount 69-58 and a humongous 20 point loss 86-66 to Middle Tennessee.
ESPN penned a nice article a while back, which I sadly cannot find again, about the Wear twins and how they are holding UCLA back. Essentially, the article argues that the Wear twins are the same player, so playing both on the court at the same time is wasteful and severely reduces game planning ability. If someone happens upon the link, please add it in the comment section.
UCLA has yet to tally a quality win, much like the rest of the Pac-12, the big difference has been bad losses to non-tournament teams. Their team has played better as of late, especially with Reeves Nelson no longer part of the team. The Bruins come into this game with two straight wins over newcomers Colorado and Utah after getting swept on the road by the Oregon schools. This has been the Bruins' story throughout conference play, solid games at home, weak performances on the road. This should be huge and with the Bruins historically playing bad basketball at Hec-Ed, the Dawgs should definitely be considered the favorites coming into the match.
The Bruins are a forward heavy team, lacking in solid guard play, which has certainly been the core of their problems. Lazeric Jones has had to really step up his play for UCLA to find any type of success and has been doing a very reasonable job of playing above his past levels. Jones is currently first on the team in both scoring and assists with 13.4 and 4.6 per game respectively. He is also first in turnovers per game with 2.5, something the Dawgs should be looking to heavily exploit. Personally, I would like to see Tony Wroten guard Jones as Wroten is a much better defender than Gaddy (2 steals per game versus .7 indicates more stringent defense, though Wroten has been known to miss assignments on occasion). Jones is just one of several respectable shooters on the team, hitting 37% of his shots behind the arc and 44% from the field. Jones is a respectable free throw shooter with a 75% average on the season. Keeping Jones in check will be critical for the Husky defense as the UCLA offense runs primarily through Jones.
The Wear twins each average at least 10 points per game (Travis is averaging 12 per game) and 5 rebounds (David is picking up 6 per game). Both are solid post players with a great inside shot and show decent mobility on the wings, though David is the better shooter of the pair with 9 makes on 15 attempts to Travis' 3 makes on 6 attempts. Travis is the better foul shooter. At 6-10 225lb, the twins are tall enough to do shoot over their defenders, but thin enough to move past them as well. Aziz N'Diaye should have the muscle to take either of them to the rack without too much difficulty and should be able to keep the twins out of the paint as well. Austin Serferian-Jenkins may be undersized compared to the twins, but is much stronger and likely much faster than either, which will be important if they begin to rove around the perimeter.
Josh Smith. The kid could be an athlete, a dominate one at that, but his weight issues continue to hold him back. Smith averages only 17 minutes per game, but is solidly over 300lbs. Smith often uses his girth to push others out of his way, but as I said with the Wear twins, our post players have distinct strength advantages. Smith scores an average of 9.7 points and 5 boards per game. Smith is not a great shooter outside the paint and is almost as bad of a free throw shooter as N'Diaye, hitting only 53 of 93 attempts from the foul line. Smith also averages 2 turnovers per game. If the Dawgs can play tight defense, they can cause real havoc due to the poor ball handling UCLA often displays.
Tyler Lamb and Jermine Anderson may be the most dynamic and potentially explosive players for the Bruins. They each average around 9 points, 3 rebounds, as well as 3-4 assists per game. Both commit nearly 2 turnovers per game. Their shooting percentages are nearly identical and have made 25 and 23 3-pointers respectively. Lamb scored a season high 26 against California, while Anderson had 20 against Chaminade, a DII school, in the Maui Invitational.
Predicted Starting Line-Ups:
UCLA:
Lazeric Jones 6-0 187lb
Jermaine Anderson 6-2 183lb
Tyler Lamb 6-5 200lb
Travis Wear 6-10 220lb
David Wear 6-10 225lb
Washington:
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
Tony Wroten 6-5 205lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Desmond Simmons 6-7 225lb
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb
Keys to the Game:
Rebounding:
Offensive boards were the number 1 reason the Huskies won their game against the Wildcats last Saturday. Rebounds will continue to be the biggest key to success. The Husky offense has been slumping lately from deep, due mainly to the absence of C.J. Wilcox from the line-up. Speaking of Wilcox, he will not practice the remainder of the season and will be day-to-day for games, much like B-Roy his junior season. Our players have superior strength and size, despite UCLA's depth in the frontcourt, and must utilize this to box their men out and clear house on the glass.
Backcourt Defense:
The Husky backcourt defense is definitely the strong point of our team and where UCLA's offense is weakest in terms of ball handling. If the Dawgs can abuse this and get into transition, they stand a very good chance of blowing UCLA out of the water. The UCLA big men are not good in transition, especially Smith, and getting numbers in our favor will be much easier this way.
Free Throws:
I really don't know what to say that I haven't already said a thousand times. Free throws win ball games and with some home cooking hopefully heading our way, the Dawgs need to capitalize or risk keeping UCLA in the game. The best way for our team to get and score free throws is by having Wilcox and Ross attack the lanes. They are great foul shooters and are extremely capable in the paint.
Final Thoughts:
This is a very winnable game for the Dawgs and one has to think that with the Arizona win still in the back of their minds, the Huskies are feeling strong and capable. Hopefully this means a big time win and an impressive home showing, something that hasn't truly happened since the opening tournament. I would really like to see this squad control the game from the opening tip, keeping their foot on the Bruins' necks until the final minute. Too often, the Huskies slow their game down in the waning minutes and allows the opposition to close the gap. I'm all for getting our bench players in, but at this point in the season and our current weak standing, in terms of a tournament resume, we need all the big time wins we can get. This means going hard the full 40 minutes versus killing the clock.
Final Score Prediction: UW-88 UCLA-74
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