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!
Showing posts with label Washington State University. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Washington State University. Show all posts
Friday, February 24, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Washington State University Game Review
Final Score: UW-75 WSU-65
This was a tale of two halves and one fueled by emotion and excitement that has been long absent this season, both on the road and at home. After an extremely sluggish first half, the Huskies rallied following a technical foul assessed to Lorenzo Romar who was livid after a very questionable charge call against Terrence Ross. The crowd was upset and the emotion showed. The House started rocking and the Huskies ate it up like a Thanksgiving dinner. The Huskies went on a 28-5 run after the technical and never looked back, turning a 10 point deficit into a 10 point lead. Darnell Gant and Terrence Ross went ballistic and were the driving force on the court in this huge turnaround.
Ross played a career night and woke up on fire after another icy start. Shooting just 1 of 9 in the first half, it looked as though Terrence Ross was bound for another mediocre, disappointing night. The second half showed that thought to be foolishness as Ross went on to tally an absurd 26 points in the second half to set a career high with 30 points as well as a career high 14 rebounds. Talk about second half productivity, Ross would not be denied and after back-to-back 3-pointers it was clear that Ross was on a mission and no one was going to get in his way. Ross was 8-12 in the second half and 5-7 from deep, one of his 3-pointers came in the last 5 seconds of the shot clock after driving out from the low post and turning around for a fade-away that exemplified what sort of player Ross can be.
Darnell Gant finally showed a little leadership and pizazz, rallying the team after Romar's technical and finally taking (and making) shots. Gant scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half, which included a pair of monster jams to take the lead and add on to the total in back-to-back possessions. Gant followed with a set of 3-pointers putting him at 5-7 on the night, 3-5 outside. The outside shooting from Ross and Gant was of the utmost importance as C.J. Wilcox was absent from tonight's game and will likely miss all of next week against Stanford and California as he is currently suffering from a stress fracture high on his femur that needs rest and relaxation or risk further damage. Gant showed the rebounding skills we have been begging him to put in play all season, picking up 8 on the night, 5 of which were offensive. During a time when the Huskies are forced to rely on what is essentially a 6 man rotation, not one player can afford to be lazy or slow. Could this be a bit of a turn around game for Gant? Possibly. I am not sold on it yet, but solid performances against Stanford and Cal would certainly convince me that Gant is heading in the right direction once more.
With everything Ross and Gant were doing on the court it was easy to miss out on the excellent performance Aziz N'Diaye had against the Cougars and their zone defense. N'Diaye was 4-5 from the field, with a couple of nice put backs. He was a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line, including a pair with 20 seconds to go, which allowed the Huskies to maintain their 10 point lead and really lock-up the win without fear of a major meltdown. N'Diaye put on some nice post moves and provided a solid core in the paint that helped slow down Brock Motum in the second half.
Desmond Simmons certainly gave his all last night. Assigned to the best Cougar on the court, Motum, Simmons had his work cut out for him. Shooting only 1-6 from the field, Simmons struggled to find himself offensively. His 7 rebounds, 4 offensive, were critical on a night where the Dawgs outscored the Cougars 16-9 on second chance points. Fouls and Gant's reemergence seemed to limit Simmons' minutes, who only played 19 tonight despite starting.
Abdul Gaddy looked rigid on the court tonight, but found success play making for others including a pair of alley-oop lobs to Gant and Ross. Gassy went 2-10 from the field, 1-6 from deep, but picked up 6 assists and committing 3 turnovers. Gaddy played 35 minutes on the night. What confounded me the most was how the one time Gaddy drove the lane, he made his shot and made it look easy. Why does he do that more often? It is obvious that it works for him and it is not as if he is continually rejected. Gaddy will need to be aggressive this next week as the loss of Wilcox for the next two games will certainly affect our offensive production.
Tony Wroten also struggled with his shot tonight. Wroten was a miserable 3-14 from the field, but did manage to get to the line for 13 shots. He only made 7, but drilled 4 in a row during a critical stretch of game play. Wroten had 4 assists, but also committed 4 turnovers that proved costly in the first half. Wroten only collected 3 rebounds, but they were all offensive and helped the Dawgs maintain some semblance of an offense during the first half. What Wroten did best was keep pushing the tempo in the Dawgs favor and disrupting the Cougar offense.
What Needed Improvement:
Free Throws:
The Dawgs were a terrible 17 of 28 from the strip tonight, 4-10 in the first half. The Huskies could have controlled this game a lot sooner with respectable free throw shooting, but as per tradition, the Dawgs stunk up the line until crunch time.
Shooting:
I don't understand why Dawgs struggle so much against the zone defense, but without Wilcox on the court the Huskies found it difficult to score until the second half. The Huskies need to utilize a high post option against the zone to collapse the defense and open lanes for our shooters to drive and score or drive and dish. Romar finally started posting Ross and Wroten up high, allowing the play-makers to get off decent opportunities that ended being game changers.
What Was Good:
The Second Half:
The Huskies finally showed some life and played like the energized and exciting team they should have been all year. It should not take the home crowd going crazy to feel that kind of drive, but this is definitely a team that thrives on the emotion of the crowd. Blame on the coaching, blame it on the youth. Whatever it is, it is both a blessing and a curse. At home, this team can relish in the emotion of the game and perform as such. On the road, they often look demoralized and collapse without a fight.
Rebounding:
The Huskies out rebounded the Cougars 46-24. That is ridiculous. In fact it is so ridiculous that the Huskies had 22 offensive boards, nearly totaling that of the entire Cougar production. Rebounds most certainly won the game for the Dawgs and kept the score manageable despite the atrocious shooting of the first half.
Romar:
He may not get a gold star for play making still, but Romar still made two great coaching decisions during the game that allowed the Huskies to pull out a much needed won over rival WSU. The first was picking up the technical foul defending his team and his court. The second was leaving the same 5 on the court the final 13 minutes as their chemistry and fire were not to be trifled with. Often times, Romar is seen pulling players out after going on a run to rest their legs and whatnot only to have the game get out of hand once more. By leaving the same 5 on the court, the players were able to build bonds, predict movements, and operate as an offense truly should. Their confidence rose and as such so did the team's offensive output.
Final Thoughts:
This was a huge win for the Dawgs who looked sleepy in the first half. With what is arguably the toughest week coming up against conference favorites Cal and Stanford, the Dawgs lie half a game back from each and can take the lead with a pair of wins. The emotion and momentum garnered from this game will certainly aid the Dawgs in the efforts next week and hopefully the team has learned how to score without one of their best sharpshooters on the court. Ross and Wroten need to maintain their aggressiveness and Gant will need to keep that fire going himself.
Go Dawgs!
This was a tale of two halves and one fueled by emotion and excitement that has been long absent this season, both on the road and at home. After an extremely sluggish first half, the Huskies rallied following a technical foul assessed to Lorenzo Romar who was livid after a very questionable charge call against Terrence Ross. The crowd was upset and the emotion showed. The House started rocking and the Huskies ate it up like a Thanksgiving dinner. The Huskies went on a 28-5 run after the technical and never looked back, turning a 10 point deficit into a 10 point lead. Darnell Gant and Terrence Ross went ballistic and were the driving force on the court in this huge turnaround.
Ross played a career night and woke up on fire after another icy start. Shooting just 1 of 9 in the first half, it looked as though Terrence Ross was bound for another mediocre, disappointing night. The second half showed that thought to be foolishness as Ross went on to tally an absurd 26 points in the second half to set a career high with 30 points as well as a career high 14 rebounds. Talk about second half productivity, Ross would not be denied and after back-to-back 3-pointers it was clear that Ross was on a mission and no one was going to get in his way. Ross was 8-12 in the second half and 5-7 from deep, one of his 3-pointers came in the last 5 seconds of the shot clock after driving out from the low post and turning around for a fade-away that exemplified what sort of player Ross can be.
Darnell Gant finally showed a little leadership and pizazz, rallying the team after Romar's technical and finally taking (and making) shots. Gant scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half, which included a pair of monster jams to take the lead and add on to the total in back-to-back possessions. Gant followed with a set of 3-pointers putting him at 5-7 on the night, 3-5 outside. The outside shooting from Ross and Gant was of the utmost importance as C.J. Wilcox was absent from tonight's game and will likely miss all of next week against Stanford and California as he is currently suffering from a stress fracture high on his femur that needs rest and relaxation or risk further damage. Gant showed the rebounding skills we have been begging him to put in play all season, picking up 8 on the night, 5 of which were offensive. During a time when the Huskies are forced to rely on what is essentially a 6 man rotation, not one player can afford to be lazy or slow. Could this be a bit of a turn around game for Gant? Possibly. I am not sold on it yet, but solid performances against Stanford and Cal would certainly convince me that Gant is heading in the right direction once more.
With everything Ross and Gant were doing on the court it was easy to miss out on the excellent performance Aziz N'Diaye had against the Cougars and their zone defense. N'Diaye was 4-5 from the field, with a couple of nice put backs. He was a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line, including a pair with 20 seconds to go, which allowed the Huskies to maintain their 10 point lead and really lock-up the win without fear of a major meltdown. N'Diaye put on some nice post moves and provided a solid core in the paint that helped slow down Brock Motum in the second half.
Desmond Simmons certainly gave his all last night. Assigned to the best Cougar on the court, Motum, Simmons had his work cut out for him. Shooting only 1-6 from the field, Simmons struggled to find himself offensively. His 7 rebounds, 4 offensive, were critical on a night where the Dawgs outscored the Cougars 16-9 on second chance points. Fouls and Gant's reemergence seemed to limit Simmons' minutes, who only played 19 tonight despite starting.
Abdul Gaddy looked rigid on the court tonight, but found success play making for others including a pair of alley-oop lobs to Gant and Ross. Gassy went 2-10 from the field, 1-6 from deep, but picked up 6 assists and committing 3 turnovers. Gaddy played 35 minutes on the night. What confounded me the most was how the one time Gaddy drove the lane, he made his shot and made it look easy. Why does he do that more often? It is obvious that it works for him and it is not as if he is continually rejected. Gaddy will need to be aggressive this next week as the loss of Wilcox for the next two games will certainly affect our offensive production.
Tony Wroten also struggled with his shot tonight. Wroten was a miserable 3-14 from the field, but did manage to get to the line for 13 shots. He only made 7, but drilled 4 in a row during a critical stretch of game play. Wroten had 4 assists, but also committed 4 turnovers that proved costly in the first half. Wroten only collected 3 rebounds, but they were all offensive and helped the Dawgs maintain some semblance of an offense during the first half. What Wroten did best was keep pushing the tempo in the Dawgs favor and disrupting the Cougar offense.
What Needed Improvement:
Free Throws:
The Dawgs were a terrible 17 of 28 from the strip tonight, 4-10 in the first half. The Huskies could have controlled this game a lot sooner with respectable free throw shooting, but as per tradition, the Dawgs stunk up the line until crunch time.
Shooting:
I don't understand why Dawgs struggle so much against the zone defense, but without Wilcox on the court the Huskies found it difficult to score until the second half. The Huskies need to utilize a high post option against the zone to collapse the defense and open lanes for our shooters to drive and score or drive and dish. Romar finally started posting Ross and Wroten up high, allowing the play-makers to get off decent opportunities that ended being game changers.
What Was Good:
The Second Half:
The Huskies finally showed some life and played like the energized and exciting team they should have been all year. It should not take the home crowd going crazy to feel that kind of drive, but this is definitely a team that thrives on the emotion of the crowd. Blame on the coaching, blame it on the youth. Whatever it is, it is both a blessing and a curse. At home, this team can relish in the emotion of the game and perform as such. On the road, they often look demoralized and collapse without a fight.
Rebounding:
The Huskies out rebounded the Cougars 46-24. That is ridiculous. In fact it is so ridiculous that the Huskies had 22 offensive boards, nearly totaling that of the entire Cougar production. Rebounds most certainly won the game for the Dawgs and kept the score manageable despite the atrocious shooting of the first half.
Romar:
He may not get a gold star for play making still, but Romar still made two great coaching decisions during the game that allowed the Huskies to pull out a much needed won over rival WSU. The first was picking up the technical foul defending his team and his court. The second was leaving the same 5 on the court the final 13 minutes as their chemistry and fire were not to be trifled with. Often times, Romar is seen pulling players out after going on a run to rest their legs and whatnot only to have the game get out of hand once more. By leaving the same 5 on the court, the players were able to build bonds, predict movements, and operate as an offense truly should. Their confidence rose and as such so did the team's offensive output.
Final Thoughts:
This was a huge win for the Dawgs who looked sleepy in the first half. With what is arguably the toughest week coming up against conference favorites Cal and Stanford, the Dawgs lie half a game back from each and can take the lead with a pair of wins. The emotion and momentum garnered from this game will certainly aid the Dawgs in the efforts next week and hopefully the team has learned how to score without one of their best sharpshooters on the court. Ross and Wroten need to maintain their aggressiveness and Gant will need to keep that fire going himself.
Go Dawgs!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Washington State Univeristy 2011-2012 Preview
WSU comes into the season with many more seasoned players than last year. The 2010-2011 WSU roster had zero seniors, but they did have three RS juniors and six regular juniors. This year WSU has four seniors and three juniors, but are without two key components of last years team. WSU finished 22-13 overall and 9-9 in conference. WSU also broke the streak of four straight wins by UW by winning two straight themselves before losing to UW in the Pac-10 tournament. WSU took part in the NIT where they won three games before losing to Wichita State 75-44. That's a whomping right there.
Key Losses:
DeAngelo Casto 6-8 255lb
WSU's best and only real legitimate post option. Casto was third in scoring at 12 points and first in rebound at 7 boards per game. Casto chose to take his talents overseas after his junior year due to financial reasons (he had a kid, good for him for stepping up and taking care of it). A much better choice than Venoy Overton...Casto provided depth and security down low that opened up the perimeter for Klay Thompson to do his thing. He was only of the few Cougars who could bang in the post with guys like Aziz N'Diaye and Josh Smith. While a tad undersized for a true 5, he gave his all and certainly had success. I have a feeling the Cougars will miss him more than Thompson soon enough.
Klay Thompson 6-6 202lb
After struggling 2 straight years against UW, Thompson found his own and opened up in all three games, scoring 43 in the tournament. Thompson could shoot lights out from nearly anywhere on the court. He was selected with the 11th pick in the NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors. Thompson was a decent defender, though what he did was mostly overshadowed by his extreme offensive capabilities. Faisal Aden and Reggie Moore will need to step their scoring up to help replace him.
Incoming Freshmen:
Greg Sequele 6-7 210lb
Sequele is an athletic 4 with great endurance, hustle, and tenacity. He needs to put in work developing his offensive game, but the Cougars should be happy with what he can bring on the defensive side of the ball. He attacks the glass well and is solid in transition plays. He is a good backup for Brock Motum and the other more senior players.
Davonte Lacy 6-3 190lb
Lacy is a combo guard with a great shot. He can penetrate the lane as well as drop back to the arc and hit. Lacy has the passing skills necessary to not only make the right decisions, but execute them as well. Lacy is known for occasionally forcing too fast of an offense and taking shots early, but that is something that good coaching can quickly amend.
Returning Players:
Reggie Moore 6-1 180lb
Marcus Capers 6-4 185lb
Faisal Aden 6-4 185lb
Will DiIorio 6-5 188lb
Mike Ladd 6-5 190lb
Abe Lodwick 6-7 208lb
Patrick Simon 6-8 214lb
Dave Wink 6-8 245lb
Brock Motum 6-10 230lb
Charlie Enquist 6-10 235lb
Moore, Capers, and Aden will likely be the backbone of the team's scoring ability. Lodwick and Motum will shore up the center with Enquist providing relief.
Predicted Starting Line-Up:
Reggie Moore 6-1 180lb
Faisal Aden 6-4 185lb
Marcus Capers 6-4 185lb
Abe Lodwick 6-7 208lb
Brock Motum 6-10 230lb
This seems like a decently sized line-up though it does make the 3 a tad smaller than some teams might like. Overall, these five players should have enough talent to keep the game close for the first two minutes until their thin depth begins to hurt them.
What to Expect:
WSU is going to be missing Thompson and Casto a bunch this year. They were the biggest reasons the Cougars were able to be so competitive last year. Just look at the Wichita State game or and of the WSU losses versus UW. In 90% of those games, Thompson and/or Casto struggled to get going offensively. WSU has a roster of secondary players outside of Aden and Moore. By that I mean, they would be coming off the bench for teams like UCLA, UA, and UW. Cal could use some of these guys to fill out their own bench, which is lacking in my mind. WSU will finish in the bottom half of the conference, likely somewhere between 7th and 10th. Maybe 6th if they can develop a solid post. Their perimeter will be their best threat.
Key Losses:
DeAngelo Casto 6-8 255lb
WSU's best and only real legitimate post option. Casto was third in scoring at 12 points and first in rebound at 7 boards per game. Casto chose to take his talents overseas after his junior year due to financial reasons (he had a kid, good for him for stepping up and taking care of it). A much better choice than Venoy Overton...Casto provided depth and security down low that opened up the perimeter for Klay Thompson to do his thing. He was only of the few Cougars who could bang in the post with guys like Aziz N'Diaye and Josh Smith. While a tad undersized for a true 5, he gave his all and certainly had success. I have a feeling the Cougars will miss him more than Thompson soon enough.
Klay Thompson 6-6 202lb
After struggling 2 straight years against UW, Thompson found his own and opened up in all three games, scoring 43 in the tournament. Thompson could shoot lights out from nearly anywhere on the court. He was selected with the 11th pick in the NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors. Thompson was a decent defender, though what he did was mostly overshadowed by his extreme offensive capabilities. Faisal Aden and Reggie Moore will need to step their scoring up to help replace him.
Incoming Freshmen:
Greg Sequele 6-7 210lb
Sequele is an athletic 4 with great endurance, hustle, and tenacity. He needs to put in work developing his offensive game, but the Cougars should be happy with what he can bring on the defensive side of the ball. He attacks the glass well and is solid in transition plays. He is a good backup for Brock Motum and the other more senior players.
Davonte Lacy 6-3 190lb
Lacy is a combo guard with a great shot. He can penetrate the lane as well as drop back to the arc and hit. Lacy has the passing skills necessary to not only make the right decisions, but execute them as well. Lacy is known for occasionally forcing too fast of an offense and taking shots early, but that is something that good coaching can quickly amend.
Returning Players:
Reggie Moore 6-1 180lb
Marcus Capers 6-4 185lb
Faisal Aden 6-4 185lb
Will DiIorio 6-5 188lb
Mike Ladd 6-5 190lb
Abe Lodwick 6-7 208lb
Patrick Simon 6-8 214lb
Dave Wink 6-8 245lb
Brock Motum 6-10 230lb
Charlie Enquist 6-10 235lb
Moore, Capers, and Aden will likely be the backbone of the team's scoring ability. Lodwick and Motum will shore up the center with Enquist providing relief.
Predicted Starting Line-Up:
Reggie Moore 6-1 180lb
Faisal Aden 6-4 185lb
Marcus Capers 6-4 185lb
Abe Lodwick 6-7 208lb
Brock Motum 6-10 230lb
This seems like a decently sized line-up though it does make the 3 a tad smaller than some teams might like. Overall, these five players should have enough talent to keep the game close for the first two minutes until their thin depth begins to hurt them.
What to Expect:
WSU is going to be missing Thompson and Casto a bunch this year. They were the biggest reasons the Cougars were able to be so competitive last year. Just look at the Wichita State game or and of the WSU losses versus UW. In 90% of those games, Thompson and/or Casto struggled to get going offensively. WSU has a roster of secondary players outside of Aden and Moore. By that I mean, they would be coming off the bench for teams like UCLA, UA, and UW. Cal could use some of these guys to fill out their own bench, which is lacking in my mind. WSU will finish in the bottom half of the conference, likely somewhere between 7th and 10th. Maybe 6th if they can develop a solid post. Their perimeter will be their best threat.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Washington State University Review 3
Final Score: UW-89 WSU-87
Fantastic Rivalry game and a great way to get our momentum and shooting back. It looked scary early on as MBA picked up his second foul with 16 minutes to go in the first half and WSU rushed out to a 12 point lead. UW went into half down 8 and came out storming only to be answered by Klay Thompson and friends. Klay Thompson set the Pac-10 record for points in a tournament game with 43 and also set the 3 point record going 8 for 14 from range, 15-29 on the night. The dude was unstoppable, hitting NBA range shots all night. The game ended on a fairly dramatic note. With the Huskies up 1, UW inbounded to Matthew Bryan-Amaning near the half court line. He caught the pass mid air, landed on one foot and passed to Scott Suggs who drove towards the hoop with DeAngelo Casto trailing only to cut back out to the wing. Suggs then made a sweet pass to Isaiah Thomas who laid it in to put the Dawgs up 3 with 9 seconds to go. Klay Thompson ended up laying the ball in after a foul on Reggie Moore with 2.4 to go led to an initial miss and an intentional second miss. With .4 on the clock Ken Bones called a timeout and had 0 left and was hit with a technical. C.J. missed the first and hit the second free throw. Holiday passed the ball down the court where it was tapped and time expired.
Thompson played a solid 39 minute game. His missed free throw in the final minute was killer and the missed 3 with 30 seconds to go sunk the ship. I give him props for remaining aggressive even with 4 fouls in the final minutes.
As good as Thompson was, the Huskies were better as a whole. Terrence Ross had a hot first half, scoring 13 on 5-7 shooting and helped the Huskies fight back to single digits at the end of the half. Ross finished with 17 on the night. C.J. Wilcox was the man of the second half as he hit back to back three to give UW a 6 point lead and also hit another 3 immediately after Klay Thompson had tied the game with his own 3 pointer. C.J. finished with 16 points. Every starter had 12 or more points and the bench combined for a measly 7 points. I.T. led UW in scoring with 21 and had a double double by dishing out 11 assists. Justin Holiday also put up a double double with 12 points and 10 boards. MBA was close to a double double with 16 and 7 boards.
Interesting, but smart, lineup from the Dawgs today. C.J. Wilcox remained in the starting 5, but Terrence Ross replaced Aziz N'Diaye, a move that proved to be critical in keeping our bigs involved as Aziz finished with 4 fouls in 12 minutes and MBA picked up 4 of his own during his 28 minutes. I.T. played all 40 tonight and didn't look tired at all out there. He was diving on the court, raising the roof, pumping his team up, pounding the court on defense like an animal. It was the I.T. we saw earlier this year, the one we love and admire, the one we needed.
The biggest key to UW's success tonight was getting inside to the paint where MBA and others were having their way. At one point UW had 38 paint points to WSU's 20. Terrence Ross had an INSANE lay-in off an I.T. dish and nearly had another ridiculous lay-in after a behind the back dribble, but sadly he was fouled and missed.
The Dawgs showed something they have missed the past few games. Emotion. They were raw, loud, tough, they played with grit and intensity. They dove on the court, they played tough hustle defense all night. They extended their pressure full court on free throws and made shots here and there. They even dropped into a zone once in a while to throw a wrench at WSU's offense.
Our shooting returned to us after some miscues in the first. UW finished 11-28 from outside (39%, very respectable) and overall UW hit 34 of 57 to finish just over 50%. MBA got his shot back in order and went 7-11. He also had a ridiculous tip in after a missed 3 by C.J. Wilcox. He one handed it back into the rim as he fell away.
The rebounding was so-so. UW 33 boards WSU had 36 and WSU had 13 offensive boards to UW's 11. Casto led the Cougs with 9 and Holiday led the Dawgs with his 10.
The free throw shooting was decent enough. Every one of the starters missed one of their attempts and Suggs was the only person perfect at the line, though it was only 1-1.
UW handled the ball extremely well, committing only 10 turnovers while dishing out 20 assists. UW also defended pretty well, forcing WSU into 13 turnovers as well as nabbing 8 steals and a block.
What Needed Work
Rebounding
Justin Holiday did his job tonight and some. MBA put up some decent numbers himself and kept Casto from being a dominate force in the paint for the most part. It wasn't a terrible rebounding night, there were a lot of long balls from misses behind the arc, it just wasn't the dominate performance on the glass UW had the past two games.
Free Throw Shooting
I almost put this in the good category, but MBA missing the front end of a 1 and 1 when we were only up 3 in the draining seconds killed it for me. Overall 71% isn't bad, but we can do better. This team should be hitting around 75 to 80%. In close game situations that kind of mistake has hurt us before and could hurt us again. Our team needs to find some clutch shooting from someone as it is March and there are no do overs.
What was Good
Outside Shooting
39% is good enough for me. I didn't expect us to return to our 45% from earlier in the year, but 40% is about right. C.J. Wilcox led the Dawgs going 5-9 form outside. I.T. was 3-5 and Ross was 3-7. Holiday missed all 5 of his outside shots. Hopefully he can get his stroke back tomorrow against Oregon. UW did a great job of taking good, open, outside shots and not forcing with hands in the face. I.T. drained one from the Pac Life logo a solid 30 feet out.
Passing/Ball Handling
I.T. was excellent once more with an 11 to 3 A/T ratio tonight. Holiday added 3 assists of his own. Overall the Dawgs were back to their old selves despite the tough pressure thrown at them by the Cougars. The passed and moved the ball well. After the initial sloppy 5 minutes there weren't a lot of turnovers to speak of. On the other hand, UW's pressure D forced WSU into 5 straight turnovers out of halftime.
Inside Game
UW had so many open shots outside because their inside game was so strong. MBA didn't have to put up 20 points because Isaiah was able to drive so well and get to the hoop. Ross and Suggs also flashed to rim a time or two and this cause the defense to collapse, opening our wings for great shots.
Toughness/Emotion/Grit
They dove. They screamed. They flexed. They worked hard tonight. The hustle they lacked against USC came out tonight and payed off in dividends. This was the first game of the season that UW has won by less than 5 points. Finally we pulled out a close one.
Player by Player Reviews
Venoy Overton
Did not play. Suspended through the Pac-10 tournament.
Grade: N/A
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
A much better and satisfying night from the senior big man. He only played 28 minutes due to early foul trouble, but every minute he played was strong and effective. Casto didn't have an answer for him and both Abe Lodwick and Brock Motum could do nothing to assist in the matter. His one handed put back was extremely athletic and impressive. If only he used the glass like that more often it wouldn't have to be such a pleasant surprise. His 7 boards were a little lower than I was expecting, but I won't complain about it too much, especially when Holiday picks up 10.
Grade: A-, hit your free throws, dammit.
Justin Holiday
12 points, 10 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 1 turnover. Beautiful stat line. Too bad his outside shot couldn't fall in. 5-13 on the night, 0-5 outside. He hustle and defended as best he could, but Thompson could not miss. Thompson would step back and drain a 28 footer like he was chilling in the post. Holiday couldn't extend anymore without giving up the lane or fouling and in the end he made the right move. Holiday had a very solid 2 hand, baseline jam that seemed to energize the team a bit.
Grade: B+
Brendan Sherrer
Did not play.
Grade: N/A
Darnell Gant
Gant surprisingly played a team low 10 minutes on a night when our big men were getting fouls everywhere. UW used the zone and substitutions well to protect MBA and Aziz from getting hit with their 5th and final. Gant was 1-3 shooting with 3 rebounds and 1 turnover. For 10 minutes those aren't bad stats. The starters were simply doing a fantastic job in the game, no need to disrupt the chemistry that was working.
Grade: B
Scott Suggs
Much like the rest of the bench, Suggs did not have a shot tonight. His lone make was a brilliant slash and drive that featured some fancy spin moves, a great pump fake, and an AND1 basket at the rim. Suggs had 3 rebounds and picked up 4 fouls playing 20 minutes. Suggs also had 2 assists and a turnover. I said we would need 2 of the 3 headed beast to win this one and sadly Suggs had to be left out of the range game. I'd love to see all 3 get hot at once.
Grade: B-
Isaiah Thomas
MVP of the game for the Dawgs. He nearly tied the tournament record of 12 assists tonight. He gave the team energy by diving on the ball, fighting into the lane, pounding his chest, hitting the ground, and just all around playing like a Boss. He was 8-13 from the field and hit 2-3 free throws. Great shooting, great passing, great defense on Moore. He did it all and played one of the toughest 40 minutes of his career, no doubt. He didn't look tired after the game. What an athlete. I.T.'s last minute was just ridiculous. He drove to the rim for back to back scores through multiple defenders and somehow banked um both in.
Grade: A+
Aziz N'Diaye
The refs had a vendetta against the big man tonight. Aziz got hit with two bad foul calls, including one which was a clearly blocked shot and if there was a foul it should have been on C.J. Wilcox. This limited his minutes and ability to affect the game. He had 3 boards, 2 assists, and 1 turnover during his limited stint on the court. He made a great hook shot over a defender that flashed the offensive prowess we hope to see from him next year.
Grade: B+
Antoine Hosley
Did not play
Grade: N/A
Terrence Ross
Ross had a great first half and Wilcox complemented him nicely with a great second half. Ross got his first collegiate start tonight and did not disappoint in the slightest. His 5-7 shooting in the first kept the game reasonable. Sadly, he finished 6-11 from the field and did not have much success in the second. Ross added 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, and 1 turnover on top of his 17 points. His defense is still improving, but its a problem that can be fixed easier in the off season than a tweaked shot. He made a strong argument for remaining in the starting 5 tomorrow against the undersized Oregon Ducks.
Grade: A-
C.J. Wilcox
If Ross was the first half star, Wilcox owned the second. Wilcox and Thompson had a shoot off in the second half and while Thompson may have left with the higher score, Wilcox left with the W. C.J. was huge in getting the Dawgs over the hump and getting momentum on our side for once. He scored 13 of his 16 in the second half. He put the team on his back with the help of I.T. Great shooting once more. We need him to continue to shoot this well. If we can extend Oregon's pressure tomorrow, MBA will have a field day.
Grade: A
Final Thoughts
This was a fantastic game for the Huskies. This was the kind of performance they needed to get their confidence back in not only their ability to win, but their ability to win close ones and score once more. Next up their face Oregon who played a fantastic game against UCLA to pull off the upset. By the way, Isaiah Thomas facing the camera, sticking out his tongue, while yelling and flexing was hilarious and awesome to see. Let's defend that title boys! Go Dawgs!
Fantastic Rivalry game and a great way to get our momentum and shooting back. It looked scary early on as MBA picked up his second foul with 16 minutes to go in the first half and WSU rushed out to a 12 point lead. UW went into half down 8 and came out storming only to be answered by Klay Thompson and friends. Klay Thompson set the Pac-10 record for points in a tournament game with 43 and also set the 3 point record going 8 for 14 from range, 15-29 on the night. The dude was unstoppable, hitting NBA range shots all night. The game ended on a fairly dramatic note. With the Huskies up 1, UW inbounded to Matthew Bryan-Amaning near the half court line. He caught the pass mid air, landed on one foot and passed to Scott Suggs who drove towards the hoop with DeAngelo Casto trailing only to cut back out to the wing. Suggs then made a sweet pass to Isaiah Thomas who laid it in to put the Dawgs up 3 with 9 seconds to go. Klay Thompson ended up laying the ball in after a foul on Reggie Moore with 2.4 to go led to an initial miss and an intentional second miss. With .4 on the clock Ken Bones called a timeout and had 0 left and was hit with a technical. C.J. missed the first and hit the second free throw. Holiday passed the ball down the court where it was tapped and time expired.
Thompson played a solid 39 minute game. His missed free throw in the final minute was killer and the missed 3 with 30 seconds to go sunk the ship. I give him props for remaining aggressive even with 4 fouls in the final minutes.
As good as Thompson was, the Huskies were better as a whole. Terrence Ross had a hot first half, scoring 13 on 5-7 shooting and helped the Huskies fight back to single digits at the end of the half. Ross finished with 17 on the night. C.J. Wilcox was the man of the second half as he hit back to back three to give UW a 6 point lead and also hit another 3 immediately after Klay Thompson had tied the game with his own 3 pointer. C.J. finished with 16 points. Every starter had 12 or more points and the bench combined for a measly 7 points. I.T. led UW in scoring with 21 and had a double double by dishing out 11 assists. Justin Holiday also put up a double double with 12 points and 10 boards. MBA was close to a double double with 16 and 7 boards.
Interesting, but smart, lineup from the Dawgs today. C.J. Wilcox remained in the starting 5, but Terrence Ross replaced Aziz N'Diaye, a move that proved to be critical in keeping our bigs involved as Aziz finished with 4 fouls in 12 minutes and MBA picked up 4 of his own during his 28 minutes. I.T. played all 40 tonight and didn't look tired at all out there. He was diving on the court, raising the roof, pumping his team up, pounding the court on defense like an animal. It was the I.T. we saw earlier this year, the one we love and admire, the one we needed.
The biggest key to UW's success tonight was getting inside to the paint where MBA and others were having their way. At one point UW had 38 paint points to WSU's 20. Terrence Ross had an INSANE lay-in off an I.T. dish and nearly had another ridiculous lay-in after a behind the back dribble, but sadly he was fouled and missed.
The Dawgs showed something they have missed the past few games. Emotion. They were raw, loud, tough, they played with grit and intensity. They dove on the court, they played tough hustle defense all night. They extended their pressure full court on free throws and made shots here and there. They even dropped into a zone once in a while to throw a wrench at WSU's offense.
Our shooting returned to us after some miscues in the first. UW finished 11-28 from outside (39%, very respectable) and overall UW hit 34 of 57 to finish just over 50%. MBA got his shot back in order and went 7-11. He also had a ridiculous tip in after a missed 3 by C.J. Wilcox. He one handed it back into the rim as he fell away.
The rebounding was so-so. UW 33 boards WSU had 36 and WSU had 13 offensive boards to UW's 11. Casto led the Cougs with 9 and Holiday led the Dawgs with his 10.
The free throw shooting was decent enough. Every one of the starters missed one of their attempts and Suggs was the only person perfect at the line, though it was only 1-1.
UW handled the ball extremely well, committing only 10 turnovers while dishing out 20 assists. UW also defended pretty well, forcing WSU into 13 turnovers as well as nabbing 8 steals and a block.
What Needed Work
Rebounding
Justin Holiday did his job tonight and some. MBA put up some decent numbers himself and kept Casto from being a dominate force in the paint for the most part. It wasn't a terrible rebounding night, there were a lot of long balls from misses behind the arc, it just wasn't the dominate performance on the glass UW had the past two games.
Free Throw Shooting
I almost put this in the good category, but MBA missing the front end of a 1 and 1 when we were only up 3 in the draining seconds killed it for me. Overall 71% isn't bad, but we can do better. This team should be hitting around 75 to 80%. In close game situations that kind of mistake has hurt us before and could hurt us again. Our team needs to find some clutch shooting from someone as it is March and there are no do overs.
What was Good
Outside Shooting
39% is good enough for me. I didn't expect us to return to our 45% from earlier in the year, but 40% is about right. C.J. Wilcox led the Dawgs going 5-9 form outside. I.T. was 3-5 and Ross was 3-7. Holiday missed all 5 of his outside shots. Hopefully he can get his stroke back tomorrow against Oregon. UW did a great job of taking good, open, outside shots and not forcing with hands in the face. I.T. drained one from the Pac Life logo a solid 30 feet out.
Passing/Ball Handling
I.T. was excellent once more with an 11 to 3 A/T ratio tonight. Holiday added 3 assists of his own. Overall the Dawgs were back to their old selves despite the tough pressure thrown at them by the Cougars. The passed and moved the ball well. After the initial sloppy 5 minutes there weren't a lot of turnovers to speak of. On the other hand, UW's pressure D forced WSU into 5 straight turnovers out of halftime.
Inside Game
UW had so many open shots outside because their inside game was so strong. MBA didn't have to put up 20 points because Isaiah was able to drive so well and get to the hoop. Ross and Suggs also flashed to rim a time or two and this cause the defense to collapse, opening our wings for great shots.
Toughness/Emotion/Grit
They dove. They screamed. They flexed. They worked hard tonight. The hustle they lacked against USC came out tonight and payed off in dividends. This was the first game of the season that UW has won by less than 5 points. Finally we pulled out a close one.
Player by Player Reviews
Venoy Overton
Did not play. Suspended through the Pac-10 tournament.
Grade: N/A
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
A much better and satisfying night from the senior big man. He only played 28 minutes due to early foul trouble, but every minute he played was strong and effective. Casto didn't have an answer for him and both Abe Lodwick and Brock Motum could do nothing to assist in the matter. His one handed put back was extremely athletic and impressive. If only he used the glass like that more often it wouldn't have to be such a pleasant surprise. His 7 boards were a little lower than I was expecting, but I won't complain about it too much, especially when Holiday picks up 10.
Grade: A-, hit your free throws, dammit.
Justin Holiday
12 points, 10 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 1 turnover. Beautiful stat line. Too bad his outside shot couldn't fall in. 5-13 on the night, 0-5 outside. He hustle and defended as best he could, but Thompson could not miss. Thompson would step back and drain a 28 footer like he was chilling in the post. Holiday couldn't extend anymore without giving up the lane or fouling and in the end he made the right move. Holiday had a very solid 2 hand, baseline jam that seemed to energize the team a bit.
Grade: B+
Brendan Sherrer
Did not play.
Grade: N/A
Darnell Gant
Gant surprisingly played a team low 10 minutes on a night when our big men were getting fouls everywhere. UW used the zone and substitutions well to protect MBA and Aziz from getting hit with their 5th and final. Gant was 1-3 shooting with 3 rebounds and 1 turnover. For 10 minutes those aren't bad stats. The starters were simply doing a fantastic job in the game, no need to disrupt the chemistry that was working.
Grade: B
Scott Suggs
Much like the rest of the bench, Suggs did not have a shot tonight. His lone make was a brilliant slash and drive that featured some fancy spin moves, a great pump fake, and an AND1 basket at the rim. Suggs had 3 rebounds and picked up 4 fouls playing 20 minutes. Suggs also had 2 assists and a turnover. I said we would need 2 of the 3 headed beast to win this one and sadly Suggs had to be left out of the range game. I'd love to see all 3 get hot at once.
Grade: B-
Isaiah Thomas
MVP of the game for the Dawgs. He nearly tied the tournament record of 12 assists tonight. He gave the team energy by diving on the ball, fighting into the lane, pounding his chest, hitting the ground, and just all around playing like a Boss. He was 8-13 from the field and hit 2-3 free throws. Great shooting, great passing, great defense on Moore. He did it all and played one of the toughest 40 minutes of his career, no doubt. He didn't look tired after the game. What an athlete. I.T.'s last minute was just ridiculous. He drove to the rim for back to back scores through multiple defenders and somehow banked um both in.
Grade: A+
Aziz N'Diaye
The refs had a vendetta against the big man tonight. Aziz got hit with two bad foul calls, including one which was a clearly blocked shot and if there was a foul it should have been on C.J. Wilcox. This limited his minutes and ability to affect the game. He had 3 boards, 2 assists, and 1 turnover during his limited stint on the court. He made a great hook shot over a defender that flashed the offensive prowess we hope to see from him next year.
Grade: B+
Antoine Hosley
Did not play
Grade: N/A
Terrence Ross
Ross had a great first half and Wilcox complemented him nicely with a great second half. Ross got his first collegiate start tonight and did not disappoint in the slightest. His 5-7 shooting in the first kept the game reasonable. Sadly, he finished 6-11 from the field and did not have much success in the second. Ross added 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, and 1 turnover on top of his 17 points. His defense is still improving, but its a problem that can be fixed easier in the off season than a tweaked shot. He made a strong argument for remaining in the starting 5 tomorrow against the undersized Oregon Ducks.
Grade: A-
C.J. Wilcox
If Ross was the first half star, Wilcox owned the second. Wilcox and Thompson had a shoot off in the second half and while Thompson may have left with the higher score, Wilcox left with the W. C.J. was huge in getting the Dawgs over the hump and getting momentum on our side for once. He scored 13 of his 16 in the second half. He put the team on his back with the help of I.T. Great shooting once more. We need him to continue to shoot this well. If we can extend Oregon's pressure tomorrow, MBA will have a field day.
Grade: A
Final Thoughts
This was a fantastic game for the Huskies. This was the kind of performance they needed to get their confidence back in not only their ability to win, but their ability to win close ones and score once more. Next up their face Oregon who played a fantastic game against UCLA to pull off the upset. By the way, Isaiah Thomas facing the camera, sticking out his tongue, while yelling and flexing was hilarious and awesome to see. Let's defend that title boys! Go Dawgs!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Washington State University Preview 3
Sorry for the late post, its the last week of the quarter and I've been busy with cramming all the homework in before Spring Break gets here. Anyways, on to the preview.
UW will face Washington State in the opening round and is trying to avoid a complete sweep on the year as well as securing an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament. The Cougars should have their full roster available to them while the Huskies will be down their lone backup point guard to Isaiah Thomas. As Lorenzo Romar said in his media conference, "The backup point guard to Isaiah Thomas is Isaiah Thomas." Expect I.T. to play a full 40 minute game or close to it and expect Ken Bone to apply pressure on I.T. throughout the game to amplify the fatigue. No word yet on Justin Holiday's condition, but one would expect after nearly a week of recovery his concussion is healed up and he is able to play. I assume he underwent some sort of test yesterday, but I have not yet heard the results.
The Cougars and Huskies have everything to fight for. With 2 wins in the tournament, the Cougars have a decent chance of getting an at large bid, though winning the Pac-10 tournament is really the only way for them to guarantee a bid.
The Cougars enter this game with a 19-11 record, 9-9 in conference, with 2 straight wins over the Dawgs, including a near blowout at Hec Ed. The Huskies are still a 6 to 7 point favorite despite all of the controversy that has happened leading up to this game. Its tough to be a team 3 times in one season, but UW pulled it off last year against OSU and Stanford and there is no reason why the Cougars couldn't do it to us. They would love to be the thorn that pops our bubbles and sends us with our tails between our legs back to the NIT.
Klay Thompson will return after a 1 game suspension due to a marijuana possession charge leveled against him after the USC game last week. He is averaging 21.4 points to top off 5.4 boards and 4.0 assists per game. He also commits a team high 3.6 turnovers. When you control the ball as much as he does, chances are you are going to give it up now again and the stat sheet shows it. He uses just over 32% of the teams possessions. He lit UW up for 25 and 26 points this year after being held under 30 points the previous 4 games combined. Holiday and Darnell Gant will likely draw this assignment for the game. Holiday's defense against Tyler Honeycutt was superb, let us hope he can bring that level of intensity and success to this game as shutting down and limiting Thompson will be a big key to picking up the win.
Reggie Moore will also return to play against UW after suffering a sprained ankle that kept him out of the UCLA game. Chances are he could have played in the UCLA game, but Bone was more willing to lose the last regular season and have his team healed up for the Pac-10 tournament as that remains their lone way to secure an at-large or automatic bid should they win it all. Moore is averaging 9.5 points and 3.5 assists per game while only committing 2.0 turnovers. If UW can shut down Moore and DeAngelo Casto while limiting Thompson to 15 or so points, the Huskies can feel fairly confident that the W will land on their half of the head to head this time around.
DeAngelo Casto is 3rd in scoring for the Cougs with 12.0 points per game and leads the tam with 6.8 rebounds per outing. He dominated MBA last time around and could very well do the same thing in this game should MBA not show up to play. Casto is one of those players who could go out and score 20 and grab 10 boards or he could get completely shut down and go for 6 and 6. Its all a matter of what level of defense MBA brings with him and what kind of backside help MBA can get from Aziz and the rest of the Huskies. Normally a zone would be a great option to shut down the low post, but Thompson, Aden, and Moore are all too dangerous from range to be left out and open.
Starting Lineup Prediction
Washington State
Reggie Moore 6-1 180lb G
Marcus Capers 6-4 185lb G
Klay Thompson 6-6 202lb G
Abe Lodwick 6-7 208lb G/F
DeAngelo Casto 6-8 255lb F
Washington
Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185lb G
C.J. Wilcox 6-5 190lb G
Justin Holiday 6-6 185lb F
Matthew Bryan-Amaning 6-9 240lb F
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb C
Keys to the Game
Rebounding
UW has beaten the Cougars both times on the glass as should be expected when we have such a great size advantage. The key will be limiting Casto's effectiveness on the boards as he is truly the only Cougar who succeeds regularly in that stat column. UW had 23 offensive board to WSU's 12, that is the kind of domination the Huskies need to build off of.
Limiting Turnovers
UW committed 24 turnovers the first time. The committed 16 the next. The Dawgs need to get this number under 13 if they want to win. Isaiah Thomas will be under pressure the whole game so it will be important that the 4 on the court are aware of what defense the Cougars are throwing at them. They need to move to the ball to avoid lazy passes being picked off. Scott Suggs may run the point for a minute here and there, but overall do not expect anyone other than I.T. to bring the ball up. Romar should prepare a press breaker as I expect WSU to come out in a Three Quarters or Full Court Press. They are simple enough to break as long as the personnel are aware of their roles and duties. Cherry Pick Aziz in the paint if the Cougars pressure too hard.
Passing
Along with limiting turnovers the Huskies need to pass well to get open shots. The past 3 games or so have been really poor offensive showings as a team. Individual players have had great games, see Wilcox against UCLA, but overall our shooting has really stunk it up, especially from range and MBA's bunny shots that cause Husky fans everywhere to tear out their hair. We can get better shots and hit more shots if we pass around with patience to find the open man whether he is in the paint or outside the arc.
Shooting
We either need to start hitting our 3 pointers or start taking less of them. The Dawgs are generally good about taking uncontested 3's, but they have not been hitting the open ones like they did at the onset of the year. MBA, if you read this post, for the love of God USE THE BACKBOARD! He misses more shots short than any big man I have ever seen. I love what this guy has done for our program, but at 240lb of cut muscle he should not be short changing the basket. Shoot hard, aim long, hit the glass and bank it in. Its there for a reason, use it. The ball has a much higher chance of going in if you hit the back of the rim than the front, its simple physics and geometry.
Shut Down Thompson
One player should not be able to beat a team, but Klay draws enough attention that guys like Casto, Moore, and Aden are opened up and start going lights out themselves. Holiday needs to bring every defensive technique in his book out to shut Thompson down. I'm not saying he needs to be held under 10, that would be amazing, but 15 or so points should be considered a shut down night.
Grit and Toughness
UW showed this in L.A. at the start of the season and ground out two tough roads wins only to go on and shut down on the road once more. The Dawgs need to find that toughness again and bring both their defense and offense to the game. Its do or die time and if the Huskies lose a third straight to WSU, not only will they have to live with that for the rest of the year, but they will likely be sitting in the NIT rather than the NCAA. Several people have called UW a lock, but I don't buy it. Not yet.
Final Thoughts
Its going to take every tool in the basket, but UW has the talent, even without Venoy Overton, to beat the Cougars. I have this sick knot in my stomach that is yelling at me that the Cougars are going to make us look the part of the fool again, but Romar is known for getting his team into a state where if its do or die time they step up and pull out all the stops, something they should do all year anyways...The game really lies in Isaiah's hands. Without a backup he will have to play one of the toughest and most impressive games of his career. He has taken a step back from his initial games after Abdul Gaddy's injury and the Huskies need him to get those A-Game performances back. Ross, Wilcox, and Suggs are going to be a huge part of this game. If 2 of those 3 can shoot decently then the Dawgs will be in OK shape. MBA and Holiday need to play like seniors, hit their shots, and play great defense. Aziz needs to take up space, get boards, and avoid foul trouble. Darnell Gant just needs to keep on doing what he has been. 6 points and 4 to 5 boards a game is the kind of production we need out of him. Alex Akita of Seattle Sportsnet made a great comment today "The Huskies have not lost a game in which Brendan Sherrer and Antoine Hosley have played. Start them both." Hilarious, lets hope they are playing by games end.
Final Score Prediction
UW-81 WSU-77
UW will face Washington State in the opening round and is trying to avoid a complete sweep on the year as well as securing an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament. The Cougars should have their full roster available to them while the Huskies will be down their lone backup point guard to Isaiah Thomas. As Lorenzo Romar said in his media conference, "The backup point guard to Isaiah Thomas is Isaiah Thomas." Expect I.T. to play a full 40 minute game or close to it and expect Ken Bone to apply pressure on I.T. throughout the game to amplify the fatigue. No word yet on Justin Holiday's condition, but one would expect after nearly a week of recovery his concussion is healed up and he is able to play. I assume he underwent some sort of test yesterday, but I have not yet heard the results.
The Cougars and Huskies have everything to fight for. With 2 wins in the tournament, the Cougars have a decent chance of getting an at large bid, though winning the Pac-10 tournament is really the only way for them to guarantee a bid.
The Cougars enter this game with a 19-11 record, 9-9 in conference, with 2 straight wins over the Dawgs, including a near blowout at Hec Ed. The Huskies are still a 6 to 7 point favorite despite all of the controversy that has happened leading up to this game. Its tough to be a team 3 times in one season, but UW pulled it off last year against OSU and Stanford and there is no reason why the Cougars couldn't do it to us. They would love to be the thorn that pops our bubbles and sends us with our tails between our legs back to the NIT.
Klay Thompson will return after a 1 game suspension due to a marijuana possession charge leveled against him after the USC game last week. He is averaging 21.4 points to top off 5.4 boards and 4.0 assists per game. He also commits a team high 3.6 turnovers. When you control the ball as much as he does, chances are you are going to give it up now again and the stat sheet shows it. He uses just over 32% of the teams possessions. He lit UW up for 25 and 26 points this year after being held under 30 points the previous 4 games combined. Holiday and Darnell Gant will likely draw this assignment for the game. Holiday's defense against Tyler Honeycutt was superb, let us hope he can bring that level of intensity and success to this game as shutting down and limiting Thompson will be a big key to picking up the win.
Reggie Moore will also return to play against UW after suffering a sprained ankle that kept him out of the UCLA game. Chances are he could have played in the UCLA game, but Bone was more willing to lose the last regular season and have his team healed up for the Pac-10 tournament as that remains their lone way to secure an at-large or automatic bid should they win it all. Moore is averaging 9.5 points and 3.5 assists per game while only committing 2.0 turnovers. If UW can shut down Moore and DeAngelo Casto while limiting Thompson to 15 or so points, the Huskies can feel fairly confident that the W will land on their half of the head to head this time around.
DeAngelo Casto is 3rd in scoring for the Cougs with 12.0 points per game and leads the tam with 6.8 rebounds per outing. He dominated MBA last time around and could very well do the same thing in this game should MBA not show up to play. Casto is one of those players who could go out and score 20 and grab 10 boards or he could get completely shut down and go for 6 and 6. Its all a matter of what level of defense MBA brings with him and what kind of backside help MBA can get from Aziz and the rest of the Huskies. Normally a zone would be a great option to shut down the low post, but Thompson, Aden, and Moore are all too dangerous from range to be left out and open.
Starting Lineup Prediction
Washington State
Reggie Moore 6-1 180lb G
Marcus Capers 6-4 185lb G
Klay Thompson 6-6 202lb G
Abe Lodwick 6-7 208lb G/F
DeAngelo Casto 6-8 255lb F
Washington
Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185lb G
C.J. Wilcox 6-5 190lb G
Justin Holiday 6-6 185lb F
Matthew Bryan-Amaning 6-9 240lb F
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb C
Keys to the Game
Rebounding
UW has beaten the Cougars both times on the glass as should be expected when we have such a great size advantage. The key will be limiting Casto's effectiveness on the boards as he is truly the only Cougar who succeeds regularly in that stat column. UW had 23 offensive board to WSU's 12, that is the kind of domination the Huskies need to build off of.
Limiting Turnovers
UW committed 24 turnovers the first time. The committed 16 the next. The Dawgs need to get this number under 13 if they want to win. Isaiah Thomas will be under pressure the whole game so it will be important that the 4 on the court are aware of what defense the Cougars are throwing at them. They need to move to the ball to avoid lazy passes being picked off. Scott Suggs may run the point for a minute here and there, but overall do not expect anyone other than I.T. to bring the ball up. Romar should prepare a press breaker as I expect WSU to come out in a Three Quarters or Full Court Press. They are simple enough to break as long as the personnel are aware of their roles and duties. Cherry Pick Aziz in the paint if the Cougars pressure too hard.
Passing
Along with limiting turnovers the Huskies need to pass well to get open shots. The past 3 games or so have been really poor offensive showings as a team. Individual players have had great games, see Wilcox against UCLA, but overall our shooting has really stunk it up, especially from range and MBA's bunny shots that cause Husky fans everywhere to tear out their hair. We can get better shots and hit more shots if we pass around with patience to find the open man whether he is in the paint or outside the arc.
Shooting
We either need to start hitting our 3 pointers or start taking less of them. The Dawgs are generally good about taking uncontested 3's, but they have not been hitting the open ones like they did at the onset of the year. MBA, if you read this post, for the love of God USE THE BACKBOARD! He misses more shots short than any big man I have ever seen. I love what this guy has done for our program, but at 240lb of cut muscle he should not be short changing the basket. Shoot hard, aim long, hit the glass and bank it in. Its there for a reason, use it. The ball has a much higher chance of going in if you hit the back of the rim than the front, its simple physics and geometry.
Shut Down Thompson
One player should not be able to beat a team, but Klay draws enough attention that guys like Casto, Moore, and Aden are opened up and start going lights out themselves. Holiday needs to bring every defensive technique in his book out to shut Thompson down. I'm not saying he needs to be held under 10, that would be amazing, but 15 or so points should be considered a shut down night.
Grit and Toughness
UW showed this in L.A. at the start of the season and ground out two tough roads wins only to go on and shut down on the road once more. The Dawgs need to find that toughness again and bring both their defense and offense to the game. Its do or die time and if the Huskies lose a third straight to WSU, not only will they have to live with that for the rest of the year, but they will likely be sitting in the NIT rather than the NCAA. Several people have called UW a lock, but I don't buy it. Not yet.
Final Thoughts
Its going to take every tool in the basket, but UW has the talent, even without Venoy Overton, to beat the Cougars. I have this sick knot in my stomach that is yelling at me that the Cougars are going to make us look the part of the fool again, but Romar is known for getting his team into a state where if its do or die time they step up and pull out all the stops, something they should do all year anyways...The game really lies in Isaiah's hands. Without a backup he will have to play one of the toughest and most impressive games of his career. He has taken a step back from his initial games after Abdul Gaddy's injury and the Huskies need him to get those A-Game performances back. Ross, Wilcox, and Suggs are going to be a huge part of this game. If 2 of those 3 can shoot decently then the Dawgs will be in OK shape. MBA and Holiday need to play like seniors, hit their shots, and play great defense. Aziz needs to take up space, get boards, and avoid foul trouble. Darnell Gant just needs to keep on doing what he has been. 6 points and 4 to 5 boards a game is the kind of production we need out of him. Alex Akita of Seattle Sportsnet made a great comment today "The Huskies have not lost a game in which Brendan Sherrer and Antoine Hosley have played. Start them both." Hilarious, lets hope they are playing by games end.
Final Score Prediction
UW-81 WSU-77
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
A Look Back at Sunday and the Season
After sitting on the game for a few days I finally feel calm and collected enough to write a fair report of the game and our players. That being said, I do not expect to be all too kind to this team. They have all the talent, skills, and players in the world to have had a fantastic season and so far the Huskies have been far too underwhelming, almost to the point of absurdity.
Montlake Madness posted a great article on the stages of depression and their relation to this team and season. It sums it up pretty well and I feel as though I am at Stage 4, maybe moving into 5 as I am growing a bit numb to this team for my own self preservation. Check the article out here: http://www.montlakemadness.com/thesevenstages/
The Huskies were flat as all hell on Sunday. Nothing they did seemed energetic. Nothing showed that hustle that gave us a wonderful 17 point win over Arizona or the very near win on the road in AZ last week. Having the once deep roster of 12 players slowly whittled down to 8 is killer not only on our depth, but the remaining players bodies and I for one think it is beginning to show. First we lose Tyreese Breshers to an undisclosed medical issue. Then Desmond Simmons redshirts (not a huge deal). Next we lose Abdul Gaddy for the season with an ACL tear right as the Pac-10 started and he was really coming into his own. Finally, Scott Suggs suffers his second MCL strain of the season at a crucial part of out schedule and may not be available until the start of the Pac-10 tournament. To lose that much talent in one season is devastating and we are starting to becoming a very thin and fragile team.
The Cougars out hustled the Dawgs all night and they rightfully came out victorious. They dove for loose balls, they pounded the glass, they made their damn free throws. The Huskies missed 9 of their 24 attempts, while the Cougars made 32 of 36. Klay Thompson was terrific, hitting 13 of 14. MBA had a great showing at the line for once, making 8 of 9. Meanwhile, Isaiah Thomas continued his streak of stinking up the free throw line, going 2-6. Unacceptable. Maybe he needs to read my article on how his 4 pump shot was 15% better than this one dribble pump and shoot motion he has reverted to.
I have another question for this team. What in God's name happened to our 3 point shooting? We were the number 1 team in the nation with a near 45% 3 point FG percentage. Now we are hitting 30% on a good day. Losing Suggs hurts our percentage and while Gaddy was a decent 3 point shooter, losing him is by no means the reason for this slump. I.T., Justin Holiday, Terrence Ross, and C.J. Wilcox have all been pretty miserable from deep as of late. To be fair, both I.T. and Holiday were fairly solid behind the arc against WSU. Holiday was 3-7 (42.9%) and Thomas was 3-8 (37.5%). We have begun to rely on the 3 ball far too often and have shied away from what made us such a strong and winning team, hard drives to the hoop, solid interior play, and the toughness and patience to get shots and make them. Now it appears as if we try the drive once and if it doesn't work, we bring the ball back out of the post/lane and work the perimeter until someone has to throw up a 3. I don't remember how many times on Sunday I counted our guys with an opportunity to drive the baseline, but instead of pushing hard and going in strong, the player would fake in and then pass the ball around some more. What happened to being aggressive? What happened to setting up the baseline cuts, alley oops, and screens?
Speaking of things we haven't been using and need to get operational, how about a damn High Post option? Throw Darnell Gant in at the 4 and post him up at the free throw line. Hell, give me Holiday or Ross for that matter, all three have pretty solid mid range games and are good enough passers to get the ball down low to MBA/Aziz or back out to the wings. The High Post is extremely efficient and useful against 2-3 zone defenses where the post can create a defensive collapse that opens up the baseline for easy scoring opportunities if you know how to see it and use it.
While I understand Romar's hesitation in using the press all game long, I'll be damned if he doesn't use it 4 minutes too late Every. Single. Time. I yelled for it at the 12 minute media time out in the second half and it looks as if they heard me because one of the assistants looked up my way and the Huskies came out in a full court press. What happened next? We cut a 21 point lead down to 4. Surprise, surprise...Get a clue, we are fast, agile, and tenacious defenders and excel in pressure situations. This team thrives on the transition game and sitting back in a zone or slack man defense is not going to give you a whole lot of transition plays. We need to speed our game back up. Pronto.
Ken Pom has a very interesting stat line that shows how brutally the refs kill us. We are 294th in the nation with free throw attempts per field goal attempts, shooting free throws 32.7% of the time compared to field goals. We also are 300th in the nation in defending against that with our opponents attempting 45.7%. That is just absurd. We foul too much and get too few in return. I may be a bit biased and a definite homer, but the Seattle Screw is alive and well in Pac-10 play. I don't know how many times Isaiah has driven the lane and been hacked to shreds only to miss the basket and get no foul call in return. On the other side Derrik Williams could be alone on the court and still shoot 8 or 9 free throws per game. USC's coach was right to call Derrik a protected player. He is getting name calls like Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.
So what is causing this collapse? Player's mindsets? Player's physical health? Coaching Staff? Fans? What is it? Why is this team falling to shambles at a time when we can ill afford mistakes? With Arizona getting swept in L.A. this team was in prize position to snatch the title right back from Arizona's hands. Instead we resigned to battle for second or even third place once more. UCLA still has a shot at gold and could do so by sweeping the Washington schools and Arizona dropping one more. If we, the Huskies, can sweep the L.A. schools at home we could secure a second place tie. The only shot we have at first is if Arizona loses to both OSU and UO and UCLA is swept here as well. That would give us a 3 way tie at 12-6 in league play. Ugh...From a season that should have been an 18-0 effort we sure haven't played to our potential.
On the player reviews, this is far too depressing...
Player by Player Reviews
Venoy Overton
8 points, 2 assists, 1 turnover, 1 steal, 4 boards, and 5 fouls, including a technical. At least V.O. was showing some fire out there and got into the Cougars faces. He was 1-4 from range and 3-7 overall. He split a pair of free throws. His defense was pretty solid as he helped hold Reggie Moore and Faisal Aden to a combined 16 points. Klay Thompson proved to be too much of a mismatch for either Venoy or Isaiah as he simply shot over them time and time again. Not really his fault. The Cougars screened well and the Huskies did not defend it all that well. Venoy continues to be a pretty solid option off the bench as he supplies support and relief for Isaiah. The 5 fouls was something that hasn't happened in a while, not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but what happened happened and there is no changing that.
Grade: B, he was by no means the reason we lost
Justin Holiday
A very sloppy night, but promising post game showing. Rather than head home and sulk about his poor play, Holiday took a page out of Quincy Pondexter's book and hit the gym after the game for a solo workout to improve his play. I wish every single Husky would have stepped in the gym with him, silent, concentrated, and focused on their mission. If the Husky team spent have the time they do tweeting and used it to work on their play, they would be that much better. I.T. had the right idea by getting off the website until Pac-10 play is done and over, I hope he goes the rest of the season without twitter. Holiday had 11 points, 4 boards, 5 assists, and 4 turnovers. His shots were all over as he finished 4-11 from the field.
Grade: B-
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
Atrocious, simply mind boggling bad shooting. Let us keep in mind that MBA is not a wing or guard, he is not taking 15, 20, 25+ foot shots. He is inside the key and at most shooting the ball 10 feet. He went 3-11 from the field and could not put the damn ball through the net. After a pair of solid games against SU and UA as well as a good game against ASU, it comes as a great surprise to see him regress so much. MBA you are a big man. Dunk the damn ball, don't pussy foot around and try to pop it over. Go strong to the hoop, draw contact. He did rebound pretty well, finishing with 10 (4 offensive), but he allowed DeAngelo Casto to get 20 points and 13 boards. Not a good defensive night. I do appreciate the solid free throw shooting night. It was much needed.
Grade: C-
Brendan Sherrer
Did not play, but looked healthy once more.
Grade: N/A
Scott Suggs
Did not play. May return this week. Starting practice today and is listed as possible for Thursday. C.J. Wilcox will start in his place regardless of whether Suggs is able to play.
Grade: N/A
Darnell Gant
4 points and 5 boards. He also had 3 turnovers and 1 block. Gant was 1-4 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line. Gant only saw 14 minutes of play time, which makes me simultaneous happy and concerned. Happy because he picked up 5 boards in 14 minutes, sad because he committed 3 turnovers in 14 minutes. Gant is starting to come into his own and is gaining the confidence to take shots and make some moves to get open. We will need this from him next year after the departure of MBA.
Grade: B
Isaiah Thomas
As painful as his 3 point shooting was at times, it wasn't all that bad. We just needed them to sink. I.t. hit half his shots, finishing 8-16 from the field. He had a team high 21 points. His 2-6 free throw shooting pained me deep in my core. He needs to go back to the 4 pump shot, it works so much better. He had 5 assists and 2 turnovers to go along with a block and a steal. Thomas also managed to grab 3 rebounds. As with Overton, I.T.'s defense against Moore and Aden was solid and prevented either of them from having a huge impact on the game. Thompson on the other hand proved to be too much of a mismatch and whenever I.T. was forced to defend Klay, Klay would simply shoot over him. Not much Isaiah can do about that, Klay is about 10 inches taller. We need I.T. to take control of this team and lead them to victories once more. We have lacked a true clutch player all year and I.T. is the man to do it.
Grade: B+, would have been an A day if not for his free throws
Aziz N'Diaye
Once Aziz gets those stone hands of his soft he will be a monster in the paint. I.T. dropped a dime to hit that would have led to a monster jam, but Aziz bobbled it out of bounds. That being said, Aziz grabbed 9 boards and took 8 shots, making 3. I like to see his shot numbers up, we need him to start getting aggressive. His 3 turnovers really hindered his overall performance, but the rebounding and shot numbers make me confident in his ability to perform not only in the tournament this year but next season as well.
Grade: B
Antoine Hosley
Did not play
Grade: N/A
Terrence Ross
His low level of success continues. He missed all 5 of his shots, including 3 from outside. He had 3 rebounds and 3 fouls while playing a team low 13 minutes. With C.J. missing his shots as well and Suggs still out with an injury, Ross will have more opportunities to get his A game back and get into a hot streak just in time for the NCAA.
Grade: C
C.J. Wilcox
C.J. will get his third start tomorrow against UCLA. Wilcox was 1-6 from the field against WSU, 1-4 from outside. He sank a pair of free throws, grabbed 4 rebounds, had 1 assist, 1 steal, and 0 turnovers. We need his hand to light up and soon. Not a bad night, but his shot has been streaky as of late and its something that this team needs badly.
Grade: A-
Final Thoughts
A good friend of mine, Anthony Ghazel, posted this to my FB wall and I thought I would share it here.
"Dude...I just did a little basic math, and this is what I came up with: (by the way, I'm just bored and really pissed off thinking about Husky Basketball haha).
Montlake Madness posted a great article on the stages of depression and their relation to this team and season. It sums it up pretty well and I feel as though I am at Stage 4, maybe moving into 5 as I am growing a bit numb to this team for my own self preservation. Check the article out here: http://www.montlakemadness.com/thesevenstages/
The Huskies were flat as all hell on Sunday. Nothing they did seemed energetic. Nothing showed that hustle that gave us a wonderful 17 point win over Arizona or the very near win on the road in AZ last week. Having the once deep roster of 12 players slowly whittled down to 8 is killer not only on our depth, but the remaining players bodies and I for one think it is beginning to show. First we lose Tyreese Breshers to an undisclosed medical issue. Then Desmond Simmons redshirts (not a huge deal). Next we lose Abdul Gaddy for the season with an ACL tear right as the Pac-10 started and he was really coming into his own. Finally, Scott Suggs suffers his second MCL strain of the season at a crucial part of out schedule and may not be available until the start of the Pac-10 tournament. To lose that much talent in one season is devastating and we are starting to becoming a very thin and fragile team.
The Cougars out hustled the Dawgs all night and they rightfully came out victorious. They dove for loose balls, they pounded the glass, they made their damn free throws. The Huskies missed 9 of their 24 attempts, while the Cougars made 32 of 36. Klay Thompson was terrific, hitting 13 of 14. MBA had a great showing at the line for once, making 8 of 9. Meanwhile, Isaiah Thomas continued his streak of stinking up the free throw line, going 2-6. Unacceptable. Maybe he needs to read my article on how his 4 pump shot was 15% better than this one dribble pump and shoot motion he has reverted to.
I have another question for this team. What in God's name happened to our 3 point shooting? We were the number 1 team in the nation with a near 45% 3 point FG percentage. Now we are hitting 30% on a good day. Losing Suggs hurts our percentage and while Gaddy was a decent 3 point shooter, losing him is by no means the reason for this slump. I.T., Justin Holiday, Terrence Ross, and C.J. Wilcox have all been pretty miserable from deep as of late. To be fair, both I.T. and Holiday were fairly solid behind the arc against WSU. Holiday was 3-7 (42.9%) and Thomas was 3-8 (37.5%). We have begun to rely on the 3 ball far too often and have shied away from what made us such a strong and winning team, hard drives to the hoop, solid interior play, and the toughness and patience to get shots and make them. Now it appears as if we try the drive once and if it doesn't work, we bring the ball back out of the post/lane and work the perimeter until someone has to throw up a 3. I don't remember how many times on Sunday I counted our guys with an opportunity to drive the baseline, but instead of pushing hard and going in strong, the player would fake in and then pass the ball around some more. What happened to being aggressive? What happened to setting up the baseline cuts, alley oops, and screens?
Speaking of things we haven't been using and need to get operational, how about a damn High Post option? Throw Darnell Gant in at the 4 and post him up at the free throw line. Hell, give me Holiday or Ross for that matter, all three have pretty solid mid range games and are good enough passers to get the ball down low to MBA/Aziz or back out to the wings. The High Post is extremely efficient and useful against 2-3 zone defenses where the post can create a defensive collapse that opens up the baseline for easy scoring opportunities if you know how to see it and use it.
While I understand Romar's hesitation in using the press all game long, I'll be damned if he doesn't use it 4 minutes too late Every. Single. Time. I yelled for it at the 12 minute media time out in the second half and it looks as if they heard me because one of the assistants looked up my way and the Huskies came out in a full court press. What happened next? We cut a 21 point lead down to 4. Surprise, surprise...Get a clue, we are fast, agile, and tenacious defenders and excel in pressure situations. This team thrives on the transition game and sitting back in a zone or slack man defense is not going to give you a whole lot of transition plays. We need to speed our game back up. Pronto.
Ken Pom has a very interesting stat line that shows how brutally the refs kill us. We are 294th in the nation with free throw attempts per field goal attempts, shooting free throws 32.7% of the time compared to field goals. We also are 300th in the nation in defending against that with our opponents attempting 45.7%. That is just absurd. We foul too much and get too few in return. I may be a bit biased and a definite homer, but the Seattle Screw is alive and well in Pac-10 play. I don't know how many times Isaiah has driven the lane and been hacked to shreds only to miss the basket and get no foul call in return. On the other side Derrik Williams could be alone on the court and still shoot 8 or 9 free throws per game. USC's coach was right to call Derrik a protected player. He is getting name calls like Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.
So what is causing this collapse? Player's mindsets? Player's physical health? Coaching Staff? Fans? What is it? Why is this team falling to shambles at a time when we can ill afford mistakes? With Arizona getting swept in L.A. this team was in prize position to snatch the title right back from Arizona's hands. Instead we resigned to battle for second or even third place once more. UCLA still has a shot at gold and could do so by sweeping the Washington schools and Arizona dropping one more. If we, the Huskies, can sweep the L.A. schools at home we could secure a second place tie. The only shot we have at first is if Arizona loses to both OSU and UO and UCLA is swept here as well. That would give us a 3 way tie at 12-6 in league play. Ugh...From a season that should have been an 18-0 effort we sure haven't played to our potential.
On the player reviews, this is far too depressing...
Player by Player Reviews
Venoy Overton
8 points, 2 assists, 1 turnover, 1 steal, 4 boards, and 5 fouls, including a technical. At least V.O. was showing some fire out there and got into the Cougars faces. He was 1-4 from range and 3-7 overall. He split a pair of free throws. His defense was pretty solid as he helped hold Reggie Moore and Faisal Aden to a combined 16 points. Klay Thompson proved to be too much of a mismatch for either Venoy or Isaiah as he simply shot over them time and time again. Not really his fault. The Cougars screened well and the Huskies did not defend it all that well. Venoy continues to be a pretty solid option off the bench as he supplies support and relief for Isaiah. The 5 fouls was something that hasn't happened in a while, not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but what happened happened and there is no changing that.
Grade: B, he was by no means the reason we lost
Justin Holiday
A very sloppy night, but promising post game showing. Rather than head home and sulk about his poor play, Holiday took a page out of Quincy Pondexter's book and hit the gym after the game for a solo workout to improve his play. I wish every single Husky would have stepped in the gym with him, silent, concentrated, and focused on their mission. If the Husky team spent have the time they do tweeting and used it to work on their play, they would be that much better. I.T. had the right idea by getting off the website until Pac-10 play is done and over, I hope he goes the rest of the season without twitter. Holiday had 11 points, 4 boards, 5 assists, and 4 turnovers. His shots were all over as he finished 4-11 from the field.
Grade: B-
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
Atrocious, simply mind boggling bad shooting. Let us keep in mind that MBA is not a wing or guard, he is not taking 15, 20, 25+ foot shots. He is inside the key and at most shooting the ball 10 feet. He went 3-11 from the field and could not put the damn ball through the net. After a pair of solid games against SU and UA as well as a good game against ASU, it comes as a great surprise to see him regress so much. MBA you are a big man. Dunk the damn ball, don't pussy foot around and try to pop it over. Go strong to the hoop, draw contact. He did rebound pretty well, finishing with 10 (4 offensive), but he allowed DeAngelo Casto to get 20 points and 13 boards. Not a good defensive night. I do appreciate the solid free throw shooting night. It was much needed.
Grade: C-
Brendan Sherrer
Did not play, but looked healthy once more.
Grade: N/A
Scott Suggs
Did not play. May return this week. Starting practice today and is listed as possible for Thursday. C.J. Wilcox will start in his place regardless of whether Suggs is able to play.
Grade: N/A
Darnell Gant
4 points and 5 boards. He also had 3 turnovers and 1 block. Gant was 1-4 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line. Gant only saw 14 minutes of play time, which makes me simultaneous happy and concerned. Happy because he picked up 5 boards in 14 minutes, sad because he committed 3 turnovers in 14 minutes. Gant is starting to come into his own and is gaining the confidence to take shots and make some moves to get open. We will need this from him next year after the departure of MBA.
Grade: B
Isaiah Thomas
As painful as his 3 point shooting was at times, it wasn't all that bad. We just needed them to sink. I.t. hit half his shots, finishing 8-16 from the field. He had a team high 21 points. His 2-6 free throw shooting pained me deep in my core. He needs to go back to the 4 pump shot, it works so much better. He had 5 assists and 2 turnovers to go along with a block and a steal. Thomas also managed to grab 3 rebounds. As with Overton, I.T.'s defense against Moore and Aden was solid and prevented either of them from having a huge impact on the game. Thompson on the other hand proved to be too much of a mismatch and whenever I.T. was forced to defend Klay, Klay would simply shoot over him. Not much Isaiah can do about that, Klay is about 10 inches taller. We need I.T. to take control of this team and lead them to victories once more. We have lacked a true clutch player all year and I.T. is the man to do it.
Grade: B+, would have been an A day if not for his free throws
Aziz N'Diaye
Once Aziz gets those stone hands of his soft he will be a monster in the paint. I.T. dropped a dime to hit that would have led to a monster jam, but Aziz bobbled it out of bounds. That being said, Aziz grabbed 9 boards and took 8 shots, making 3. I like to see his shot numbers up, we need him to start getting aggressive. His 3 turnovers really hindered his overall performance, but the rebounding and shot numbers make me confident in his ability to perform not only in the tournament this year but next season as well.
Grade: B
Antoine Hosley
Did not play
Grade: N/A
Terrence Ross
His low level of success continues. He missed all 5 of his shots, including 3 from outside. He had 3 rebounds and 3 fouls while playing a team low 13 minutes. With C.J. missing his shots as well and Suggs still out with an injury, Ross will have more opportunities to get his A game back and get into a hot streak just in time for the NCAA.
Grade: C
C.J. Wilcox
C.J. will get his third start tomorrow against UCLA. Wilcox was 1-6 from the field against WSU, 1-4 from outside. He sank a pair of free throws, grabbed 4 rebounds, had 1 assist, 1 steal, and 0 turnovers. We need his hand to light up and soon. Not a bad night, but his shot has been streaky as of late and its something that this team needs badly.
Grade: A-
Final Thoughts
A good friend of mine, Anthony Ghazel, posted this to my FB wall and I thought I would share it here.
"Dude...I just did a little basic math, and this is what I came up with: (by the way, I'm just bored and really pissed off thinking about Husky Basketball haha).
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Washington State University Preview 2
Washington State is 17-10 on the year and 7-8 in conference. WSU most recently lost to ASU and UA on the road. In the last match up between UW and WSU, WSU forced UW into a season high 24 turnovers and UW lost by 7 on the road. Strong rebounding kept UW in the game until late despite the turnovers and poor shooting.
In order to keep their at-large bid secured, UW must win out these final 3 conference games and it all starts with WSU.
UW has a definitive edge at home, with an average margin of victory around 27 points and no victory at home this season was less than a 10 point margin of victory.
WSU's lone tournament hope is to win the Pac-10 tournament, but you can bet the Cougars would love to spoil our at-large hopes and drop us into the bubble. This is not a game to be taken lightly as the Cougars can be a very strong team when they get hot. It is important for UW to keep the crowd in the game and get hot early to extinguish any hopes of an upset once more.
DeAngelo Casto recently shaved off his dreads, but it hasn't helped his game yet.
Klay Thompson continues to be the lone star for the Cougars, but his support crew is slowly coming into their own. They are a very young team who could compete for the title in another year or two when they have a bit more experience under their belts. Thompson is currently leading the Pac-10 in scoring with 21.2 points per game as well as being second on the team in rebounding with 5.2 boards per game. Thompson is also leading the Cougars in assists with 4.0 per game and steals with 1.8 per game. Thompson has the team high in turnovers with 3.6 per game. He is a one man show, doing everything good, and bad, for the Cougars.
The Cougars run a 9 man rotation with 5 players picking up 25+ minutes per game, led by Thompson at 34.3 minutes per outing and followed closely by Reggie Moore at 34.1 minutes per game.
4 players contribute significant points per game for the Cougars (~8+ ppg). Thompson, as said above, leads the team with 21.2. There is a significant drop to the second player, Faisal Aden who scores about 12.9 per game. Casto is the last double digit scorer at 11.4 points on average and Moore rounds out the group with 9.8 ppg.
Casto leads the Cougs in rebounding with 6.5 per game. Moore is second on the team in assists with 3.6 per outing.
The Cougars are averaging 73 points, 34 boards, 14 assists, and 13 turnovers per game. They are shooting a pretty nice 35.8% from behind the arc and 69% at the free throw line. Thompson leads the Cougars in both categories with 81.3% from the charity stripe and 41.5% from range.
Starting Line Up Predictions
Washington State
Reggie Moore 6-1 180lb G
Marcus Capers 6-4 185lb G
Klay Thompson 6-6 202lb G
Brock Motum 6-10 230lb F
DeAngelo Casto 6-8 255lb F
Washington
Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185lb G
C.J. Wilcox 6-5 190lb G
Justin Holiday 6-6 185lb F
Matthew Bryan-Amaning 6-9 240lb F
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb C
Keys to the Game
Rebounding
This stat is one of the most important for the Huskies. It has kept us close in several games as well as separated us quickly in others. UW was dominated on the glass by Arizona and in the end it was one of the factors that cost them the game. UW must continue their success in rebounding, which begins with more strong showings from Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Aziz N'Diaye. Our perimeter players need to do their job and box their men out to prevent a sea of red inside the paint.
Ball Handling/Turnovers
Turnovers demolished the Huskies in Pullman. 24 turnovers is twice as many as this team should have on any given day. We cannot afford to commit similar mistakes on Sunday and risk a repeat of the Pullman game. Isaiah Thomas needs to bring back his A game in terms of passing and handling. He dishes out the assists well enough game in and game out, but his turnover numbers have gone up the last week or so. He is trying to do too much or is playing half assed. Neither is acceptable. I.T. needs to return to the roots of what he was doing well in those first few games without Abdul Gaddy. He also needs to get his confidence at the free throw line back.
Outside Shooting
The Cougars have done a fantastic job this season defending the perimeter shots. UW shoots much better at home and needs to find a rhythm early in the game. Their 1-9 shooting in the first half against SU was ugly and will be the death of us against a more skilled team such as WSU. When we are not hitting outside we need to become more patient and work the ball inside for an easier, higher percentage shot.
Push the Middle
The best way to open up our shooters is by getting MBA the ball inside. Even Aziz is becoming a stronger option as he has been much more aggressive in the paint and is developing a nice hook shot.I.T. should look to drive, but if he isn't getting good shots, is turning it over, and not getting foul calls then he needs to back the ball out and work the perimeter more before penetrating. It would be nice to see Overton use his speed and agility to get inside and at least drive and dish.
Free Throw Shooting
Free throws win close ball games. We missed 5 against UA in a one point loss. Any one of those misses would have tied the game and any two could have won it. We don't get much home cooking at Hec Ed so make the easy ones for Pete's sake.
Bench Production
With UW down to an 8 man rotation while Scott Suggs recovers it is important that our bench can produce and allow our starters some rest. Presumably Wilcox will start again and allow I.T. and Overton to rotate with a little more ease when one or the other needs a break. Terrence Ross and Darnell Gant need to continue to help and contribute where they can, especially on the glass.
Final Thoughts
This will be a tough game, but even Arizona fell by 17 here. UW has been playing some of its best basketball as of late, evident by the one point loss to Arizona on the road due to a debatable block/goaltend call, as well as some mistake made earlier by the team. WSU will be hard pressed to win this game, especially after the WSU student section rushed the court for some odd reason. The Husky players took this to heart and you can bet they are looking to settle the score. After a humiliating loss to last place ASU and their bubble popped, the Cougars are a team with nothing to lose and that is often one of the most dangerous types of teams to play. Think USC last season when they were banned from post season play.
Final Score Prediction
UW-88 WSU-75
The Cougs could play this one close for a majority of the game or this could be blown open from the start, it really depends on the mental attitude and level of play the Huskies bring from the start. We cannot afford to start slow as we do all too often. While I would like to start Venoy Overton to get some spark to start the game, he is not tall enough to keep a mismatch against I.T. from happening. We also need Overton to be able to sub in and out with Isaiah should either get into foul trouble. MBA against Casto should be a good match up and it will be interesting to see how Holiday and Gant are able to perform defensively against Klay Thompson at home.
As of the time I wrote this, UA just lost to USC on the road. If UCLA can complete the sweep and either UO or OSU beats UA AND we win out we will win at least a share of the title. Unlikely scenario, but it could happen. OSU has won 3 straight against UA, including one on UA's court last season. Could they make it 4-0? I sure hope so. UO has been playing pretty strong the past few games as well.
In order to keep their at-large bid secured, UW must win out these final 3 conference games and it all starts with WSU.
UW has a definitive edge at home, with an average margin of victory around 27 points and no victory at home this season was less than a 10 point margin of victory.
WSU's lone tournament hope is to win the Pac-10 tournament, but you can bet the Cougars would love to spoil our at-large hopes and drop us into the bubble. This is not a game to be taken lightly as the Cougars can be a very strong team when they get hot. It is important for UW to keep the crowd in the game and get hot early to extinguish any hopes of an upset once more.
DeAngelo Casto recently shaved off his dreads, but it hasn't helped his game yet.
Klay Thompson continues to be the lone star for the Cougars, but his support crew is slowly coming into their own. They are a very young team who could compete for the title in another year or two when they have a bit more experience under their belts. Thompson is currently leading the Pac-10 in scoring with 21.2 points per game as well as being second on the team in rebounding with 5.2 boards per game. Thompson is also leading the Cougars in assists with 4.0 per game and steals with 1.8 per game. Thompson has the team high in turnovers with 3.6 per game. He is a one man show, doing everything good, and bad, for the Cougars.
The Cougars run a 9 man rotation with 5 players picking up 25+ minutes per game, led by Thompson at 34.3 minutes per outing and followed closely by Reggie Moore at 34.1 minutes per game.
4 players contribute significant points per game for the Cougars (~8+ ppg). Thompson, as said above, leads the team with 21.2. There is a significant drop to the second player, Faisal Aden who scores about 12.9 per game. Casto is the last double digit scorer at 11.4 points on average and Moore rounds out the group with 9.8 ppg.
Casto leads the Cougs in rebounding with 6.5 per game. Moore is second on the team in assists with 3.6 per outing.
The Cougars are averaging 73 points, 34 boards, 14 assists, and 13 turnovers per game. They are shooting a pretty nice 35.8% from behind the arc and 69% at the free throw line. Thompson leads the Cougars in both categories with 81.3% from the charity stripe and 41.5% from range.
Starting Line Up Predictions
Washington State
Reggie Moore 6-1 180lb G
Marcus Capers 6-4 185lb G
Klay Thompson 6-6 202lb G
Brock Motum 6-10 230lb F
DeAngelo Casto 6-8 255lb F
Washington
Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185lb G
C.J. Wilcox 6-5 190lb G
Justin Holiday 6-6 185lb F
Matthew Bryan-Amaning 6-9 240lb F
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb C
Keys to the Game
Rebounding
This stat is one of the most important for the Huskies. It has kept us close in several games as well as separated us quickly in others. UW was dominated on the glass by Arizona and in the end it was one of the factors that cost them the game. UW must continue their success in rebounding, which begins with more strong showings from Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Aziz N'Diaye. Our perimeter players need to do their job and box their men out to prevent a sea of red inside the paint.
Ball Handling/Turnovers
Turnovers demolished the Huskies in Pullman. 24 turnovers is twice as many as this team should have on any given day. We cannot afford to commit similar mistakes on Sunday and risk a repeat of the Pullman game. Isaiah Thomas needs to bring back his A game in terms of passing and handling. He dishes out the assists well enough game in and game out, but his turnover numbers have gone up the last week or so. He is trying to do too much or is playing half assed. Neither is acceptable. I.T. needs to return to the roots of what he was doing well in those first few games without Abdul Gaddy. He also needs to get his confidence at the free throw line back.
Outside Shooting
The Cougars have done a fantastic job this season defending the perimeter shots. UW shoots much better at home and needs to find a rhythm early in the game. Their 1-9 shooting in the first half against SU was ugly and will be the death of us against a more skilled team such as WSU. When we are not hitting outside we need to become more patient and work the ball inside for an easier, higher percentage shot.
Push the Middle
The best way to open up our shooters is by getting MBA the ball inside. Even Aziz is becoming a stronger option as he has been much more aggressive in the paint and is developing a nice hook shot.I.T. should look to drive, but if he isn't getting good shots, is turning it over, and not getting foul calls then he needs to back the ball out and work the perimeter more before penetrating. It would be nice to see Overton use his speed and agility to get inside and at least drive and dish.
Free Throw Shooting
Free throws win close ball games. We missed 5 against UA in a one point loss. Any one of those misses would have tied the game and any two could have won it. We don't get much home cooking at Hec Ed so make the easy ones for Pete's sake.
Bench Production
With UW down to an 8 man rotation while Scott Suggs recovers it is important that our bench can produce and allow our starters some rest. Presumably Wilcox will start again and allow I.T. and Overton to rotate with a little more ease when one or the other needs a break. Terrence Ross and Darnell Gant need to continue to help and contribute where they can, especially on the glass.
Final Thoughts
This will be a tough game, but even Arizona fell by 17 here. UW has been playing some of its best basketball as of late, evident by the one point loss to Arizona on the road due to a debatable block/goaltend call, as well as some mistake made earlier by the team. WSU will be hard pressed to win this game, especially after the WSU student section rushed the court for some odd reason. The Husky players took this to heart and you can bet they are looking to settle the score. After a humiliating loss to last place ASU and their bubble popped, the Cougars are a team with nothing to lose and that is often one of the most dangerous types of teams to play. Think USC last season when they were banned from post season play.
Final Score Prediction
UW-88 WSU-75
The Cougs could play this one close for a majority of the game or this could be blown open from the start, it really depends on the mental attitude and level of play the Huskies bring from the start. We cannot afford to start slow as we do all too often. While I would like to start Venoy Overton to get some spark to start the game, he is not tall enough to keep a mismatch against I.T. from happening. We also need Overton to be able to sub in and out with Isaiah should either get into foul trouble. MBA against Casto should be a good match up and it will be interesting to see how Holiday and Gant are able to perform defensively against Klay Thompson at home.
As of the time I wrote this, UA just lost to USC on the road. If UCLA can complete the sweep and either UO or OSU beats UA AND we win out we will win at least a share of the title. Unlikely scenario, but it could happen. OSU has won 3 straight against UA, including one on UA's court last season. Could they make it 4-0? I sure hope so. UO has been playing pretty strong the past few games as well.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Washington State University Review
Final Score UW-80 WSU-87
Another game in which the Dawgs had every reason and chance to win, but beat themselves into defeat. This was one of the sloppiest played games I have seen in quite some time and as it turned out the Huskies were much, much sloppier. UW finished with a season high 24 turnovers. 24. Wow...you will not win a game turning the ball over that often. WSU finished with only 12 turnovers.
The Huskies had a 44-28 rebound advantage at the games end and were destroying WSU on the second chance points. We simply could not shoot in the second half and we could not handle the ball at all. The Dawgs started off 1 for 9 in the second half and finished 37% on the night.
The Cougars ended up in a tough zone defense that forced the Huskies into taking half their shots from range (31 of 62 shots were for 3 points). The Huskies hit well in the first half, but like the rest of their shots they struggled in the second half, ending up 11-31 from 3 and 23 of 62 overall.
Isaiah Thomas shot horribly from the field (3-13), but he hit a pair of 3 pointers to quell the Cougars runs and went 11-12 from the free throw line. He could not hit his dribble drive and when he went in, rather than getting a foul, he turned it over. I.T. had only 5 assists and 7 turnovers on the night. That won't win you any ball games.
Klay Thompson finally got hot against the Huskies despite early foul trouble in the second half. The law of averages was on his side and he finished with 25 points.
Reggie Moore was the real star for the Cougars in my opinion. He had 18 points including 9-10 form the free throw line. He also had a team high 5 assist. He did the most damage to the Huskies, not Thompson. He was the X-factor the Cougars needed. Along with Faisal Aden off the bench, Moore was key in holding the Cougar lead while the usual Cougar stars rode the pine with foul trouble.
The Husky player of the night had to be Terrence Ross. He finished with 14 points including 4 of 8 from range. He was the lone Husky without a turnover.
Our biggest problem was ourselves and the fact that we could get no post production. The Cougars did a great job of double and triple teaming MBA and MBA forced up shots he had no reason to take. MBA also forced up shots from well outside what I would consider his range. He could not get an open shot and he could not score what he attempted.
UW did a fantastic job getting fouls on all the right players. DeAngelo Casto fouled out along with Abe Lodwick and Brock Motum, while Thompson finished with 4. They just couldn't get fouls on the drive and it killed us. With Isaiah either missing or turning it over on the drive the Dawgs really had no choice but to resort to outside shots.
The Huskies got down early in the second half when they couldn't make a shot, but made a slow and steady come back eventually cutting the lead to 80-74. The Huskies then made 4 straight defensive stops, but did not make One. Single. Basket. It was terrible offensive execution and in my mind was why we lost. The Cougars then came down on the next possession and Klay Thompson hit a dagger three pointer that sealed the game off.
If not for solid defense by our own players, this would have been a 20 to 30 point blowout. Sure we hit 11-3 pointers, but that doesn't matter when you give the ball up 24 times.
After a solid night from the line, MBA stunk up the free throw line, once again finishing 4-8. He also went 1-8 from the field. His one redeeming factor was the 11 rebounds he picked up.
While the refs certainly did not help our cause tonight, they were inconsistent on both ends and to blame them would be avoiding the real problem and truth to the game. The Huskies simply did not play their A-game basketball and allowed the Cougar's zone defense to really trouble them. Justin Holiday had 4 turnovers and at least 3, if not all 4, were completely dumb and senseless turnovers caused by soft, lazy passes through the middle of the key that were easily picked off. Scott Suggs had 5 turnovers as well and a majority of his as well were terrible passes that never should have been made.
What was Bad
Ball Handling
This lost us the game, plain and simple. We out rebounded the Cougars by 16. We had a decent number of assists with 12. We had 5 blocks and 8 steals. We hit 11 3 pointers. All great stats negated by the 24 turnovers the Huskies suffered. Lorenzo Romar has said 14 turnovers is their maximum. If they can stay under 14 they will win the game. What do you know? We went 10 over and lost by 7. Surprise, surprise. UW has got to get it under control on the road. The sloppy tempo got set early, but without Abdul Gaddy we really lack a leader who can come out and calm the team down to get them in the rhythm they need to be at.
Post Production
Our 3 bigs combined for 17 points, lead by Darnell Gant with 9. Gant actually had one of the better nights finishing with 7 rebounds as well. To be fair, Aziz only played 9 minutes and went 1-1 from the field and grabbed 5 rebounds. For only 9 minutes those are some pretty decent numbers. It really came down to MBA not being able to get a shot off and the Huskies not doing a great job of breaking down the zone to get him some open looks. On the other side of that, MBA did a terrible job when it came to shot selection and even had an airball from about 12 feet out when he attempted to hook shot the ball in.
What was Good
Rebounding
44-28. 14-5 in the offensive board category. This should have given us a commanding lead, but as I have said countless times by now; the turnovers absolutely demolished every positive thing we did. Justin Holiday led all players with 12 and had a double double tonight. MBA had 11 and Gant came off the bench to give us 7.
Free Throw Shooting
I am somewhat hesitant to put this here, but in all reality MBA was the only one who hurt our stats. The Huskies finished 23-29 with Holiday and I.T. combining for 17-19. Gant hit both of his shots. You make those 6 shots and suddenly it is a 1 point game and well within reach. You have to make your free throws if you want to win games.
Defense
Despite the final score, our defense was not why we lost. We forced 12 turnovers, a respectable number, and held WSU under 50% shooting. Whereas the Huskies could not hit contested shots, the Cougars couldn't miss. UW did a pretty good job of defending Thompson, but he finally found his groove against us and finished 9-18 including 3-6 from range. Hats off to him for stepping it up.
Player by Player Reviews
Venoy Overton
A bad night, not quite unexpected. He got in foul trouble early and played a team low 8 minutes tonight. He made his lone shot attempt, but managed to commit 3 turnovers in that short span of time and dished out 0 assists. He did pick up 2 rebounds and 1 steal, but those really don't justify the poor ball handling.
Grade: D
Justin Holiday
16 points and 12 rebounds is normally a successful evening, but when you take into consideration his 4-12 shooting from the field and the 4 turnovers versus only 2 assists, it really wasn't that fantastic of a night. He had 5 offensive boards, which helped the Huskies stay in the game, but had nearly as many turnovers that disrupted our offense and momentum several times.
Grade: B. Much like Isaiah, as I'll mention later, he kept us in as much as he kept us out.
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
If it weren't for his rebounds, MBA would be getting a D as well. He picked his shots poorly, he was poor at the free throw line, and he had a pair of turnovers. He picked up 2 blocks and 2 steals and only committed 2 fouls, but on the night we needed him the most to make smart decisions and score we just didn't get it. As I said, the Cougars did a good job preventing him from getting good shots, but he had not reason to force attempts that hadn't been falling all night. I would not go so far as to say he took a step back in his game play, but mentally he was not all there tonight for one reason or another.
Grade: C
Brendan Sherrer
Did not play.
Grade: N/A
Scott Suggs
Much like Holiday, this night could have been considered very successful if not for overall poor shooting and turnovers. Suggs had a pair of very nice pull up jumpers and finished with 12 points on 5-12 shooting, but he went 2-8 from range and committed 5 turnovers while only picking up 2 assists. He played defense on Thompson at times, but does not have the lateral quickness to keep up with him, leading to a few more open shots for Klay than I would ever like to see. Suggs also had 2 carrying calls tonight. He may have played point guard in high school, but after 3 years of not handling that duty at the college level has really shown. He does not handle the ball well enough yet to be a decent point guard option for the Huskies. This hurt us tonight with Overton in foul trouble.
Grade: C+
Darnell Gant
Definitely one of the few successful players tonight. His presence off the bench, along with Ross, was how we stayed in the game. He played 29 minutes, picked up 9 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, a block, and 2 turnovers. He shot 3-5 from the field, 1-2 from range, and hit both his free throws. He did not force up shots, he did a pretty good job of handling the ball, and found open teammates, something he normally does not do. Like Holiday and Suggs, Gant was guilty of poor passing that led to steals and turnovers.
Grade: B+
Isaiah Thomas
Bleh. What a poor night. Despite scoring a team high 19 points, Isaiah was one of the main reasons the Huskies lost this game. Isaiah played like he did his freshman year, over penetrating, selfish, forcing shots, and turning it over way too often. He hit some big 3 pointers in the second half, but started the game 0-9 or 0-10. His free throw shooting was what allowed him so many points. I believe he should have shot a few more, but that should not have mattered in this game. 5 assist and 7 turnovers. Not good at all. His 3 steals were all ineffective as well, as I do not remember a single steal that resulted in a made basket for the Huskies.
Grade: C to C-. As much as he hurt us, we wouldn't have been in this game without him.
Aziz N'Diaye
Aziz picked up 4 fouls in 9 minutes. The zone defense kills him and he commits fouls left and right against them. He was playing well to start the game and had a great rebound he put right back in off the glass. With 5 rebounds in 9 minutes it is not hard to say that the Huskies could really have used him tonight to help offset MBA getting over defended. Without Aziz in play the Cougars were able to pack the middle and were more than happy to let us continue firing blindly from range. Aziz still lacks the body and foul control we need him to display.
Grade: B-
Antoine Hosley
Did not play.
Grade: N/A
C.J. Wilcox
Did not play. Wilcox was out with a concussion suffered in practice after Aziz accidentally hit him in the head with an elbow off of a rebound. Could we have used him tonight? I'm not sure. We were hitting decently from range. Our bench had pretty good production. It was really our post play and ball handling that hurt us and C.J. is really not a factor in either of those as he does not handle any point guard or post duties. Our once amazing depth has really started to shrink up on us. Not good.
Grade: N/A
Terrence Ross
I am giving him MVP honors for the Huskies tonight. He didn't have a USC style game where he completely wowed everyone and put the team on his back, but he did damn well near it. 14 points off the bench in 22 minutes. He was by far the best shooting, hitting 50% overall and from range. His 4-3 pointers kept us in the ball game and he did it with a hand in his face on one or two occasions, something I'm not sure any other Husky tonight could say minus I.T., perhaps. His 0 turnovers is another big reason I am giving him props. He had one iffy pass to MBA that ended up getting stolen away, but that was more MBA not catching the ball well and the Cougars reading the pass.
Grade: A
Final Thoughts
So what can we take out of this game? We still are in first place, albeit tied with Arizona. We have a road series against the Oregon schools next week and Arizona will be facing off against the Bay area schools, California and Stanford, on the road. UW can not afford to let either of those games slip between their fingers. It did not really surprise me to have lost this game. WSU plays tough at home, its a rivalry game, UW had 4 straight wins over them, and it was a much bigger and important game to the Cougars than the Huskies. They wanted it more and they played much better, I'll give them that much. That being said, despite 24 turnovers and 37% shooting we were still in the game with 5 minutes to go. Down 4 with 4 defensive stops in a row should have put us in the lead by at least 2 if not 4. This is the second game we have been behind at half and we have lost both those games. We haven't yet shown the ability to come back and win a tough one. This could hurt us later, yet at the same time it is better to suffer this kind of loss now than late February or March.
The Huskies let the fans get in the game and in their heads. They couldn't get over the proverbial hump. Several times they cut down a double digit lead to get within 4 or 5 points only to turn the ball over and kill their momentum. Scott Suggs had a pretty good look at a 3 ball to cut the lead to 3, but like almost every other shot he took that night, it rimmed out.
I'm trying to stay positive, but this was a prime week for the Huskies to take a one game lead for first place, move up in the rankings, solidify their name in the national title race, and prove they can gut it out on the road in a very hostile environment. This is something that still holds us back. We are a fantastic team at home, but unlike the other great teams in the nation right now, we still struggle mightily on the road. The wins over USC and UCLA gave me hope, but the loss at Stanford and tonight versus the Cougars show a team still developing its road identity. Turnovers were the reason for losing both the road games. We have to control the ball if we want to win. The game against Arizona will be monstrous in terms of the title race, our seeding, and national perception of not only the team, but the league as well. I could very well see us losing at Arizona and finishing 15-3 on the season. What that means is no more slip ups and no more shooting ourselves in the foot. We have to hope this loss shows the Huskies how important their team play is and how important slowing the ball down sometimes can be. Don't rush the game when you aren't hitting shots.
Normally I would talk about hoping Arizona loses one this weekend in an upset, but when it comes down to it, it really shouldn't matter what the other teams do. So long as we win, we will succeed. So UW needs to sweep from here on out. Going into Tuscon with an 11-2 record will be very important as UW currently holds the tie breaker over Arizona.
So heads up Dawg fans, as bad as this loss may feel now it could do a load of good later on this season. We still have 9 conference games to go, 5 at home, including a rematch against WSU. Pack the House, bring it loud.
This review will be up on Montlake Madness shortly as well. Be sure to check them out. www.montlakemadness.com
Another game in which the Dawgs had every reason and chance to win, but beat themselves into defeat. This was one of the sloppiest played games I have seen in quite some time and as it turned out the Huskies were much, much sloppier. UW finished with a season high 24 turnovers. 24. Wow...you will not win a game turning the ball over that often. WSU finished with only 12 turnovers.
The Huskies had a 44-28 rebound advantage at the games end and were destroying WSU on the second chance points. We simply could not shoot in the second half and we could not handle the ball at all. The Dawgs started off 1 for 9 in the second half and finished 37% on the night.
The Cougars ended up in a tough zone defense that forced the Huskies into taking half their shots from range (31 of 62 shots were for 3 points). The Huskies hit well in the first half, but like the rest of their shots they struggled in the second half, ending up 11-31 from 3 and 23 of 62 overall.
Isaiah Thomas shot horribly from the field (3-13), but he hit a pair of 3 pointers to quell the Cougars runs and went 11-12 from the free throw line. He could not hit his dribble drive and when he went in, rather than getting a foul, he turned it over. I.T. had only 5 assists and 7 turnovers on the night. That won't win you any ball games.
Klay Thompson finally got hot against the Huskies despite early foul trouble in the second half. The law of averages was on his side and he finished with 25 points.
Reggie Moore was the real star for the Cougars in my opinion. He had 18 points including 9-10 form the free throw line. He also had a team high 5 assist. He did the most damage to the Huskies, not Thompson. He was the X-factor the Cougars needed. Along with Faisal Aden off the bench, Moore was key in holding the Cougar lead while the usual Cougar stars rode the pine with foul trouble.
The Husky player of the night had to be Terrence Ross. He finished with 14 points including 4 of 8 from range. He was the lone Husky without a turnover.
Our biggest problem was ourselves and the fact that we could get no post production. The Cougars did a great job of double and triple teaming MBA and MBA forced up shots he had no reason to take. MBA also forced up shots from well outside what I would consider his range. He could not get an open shot and he could not score what he attempted.
UW did a fantastic job getting fouls on all the right players. DeAngelo Casto fouled out along with Abe Lodwick and Brock Motum, while Thompson finished with 4. They just couldn't get fouls on the drive and it killed us. With Isaiah either missing or turning it over on the drive the Dawgs really had no choice but to resort to outside shots.
The Huskies got down early in the second half when they couldn't make a shot, but made a slow and steady come back eventually cutting the lead to 80-74. The Huskies then made 4 straight defensive stops, but did not make One. Single. Basket. It was terrible offensive execution and in my mind was why we lost. The Cougars then came down on the next possession and Klay Thompson hit a dagger three pointer that sealed the game off.
If not for solid defense by our own players, this would have been a 20 to 30 point blowout. Sure we hit 11-3 pointers, but that doesn't matter when you give the ball up 24 times.
After a solid night from the line, MBA stunk up the free throw line, once again finishing 4-8. He also went 1-8 from the field. His one redeeming factor was the 11 rebounds he picked up.
While the refs certainly did not help our cause tonight, they were inconsistent on both ends and to blame them would be avoiding the real problem and truth to the game. The Huskies simply did not play their A-game basketball and allowed the Cougar's zone defense to really trouble them. Justin Holiday had 4 turnovers and at least 3, if not all 4, were completely dumb and senseless turnovers caused by soft, lazy passes through the middle of the key that were easily picked off. Scott Suggs had 5 turnovers as well and a majority of his as well were terrible passes that never should have been made.
What was Bad
Ball Handling
This lost us the game, plain and simple. We out rebounded the Cougars by 16. We had a decent number of assists with 12. We had 5 blocks and 8 steals. We hit 11 3 pointers. All great stats negated by the 24 turnovers the Huskies suffered. Lorenzo Romar has said 14 turnovers is their maximum. If they can stay under 14 they will win the game. What do you know? We went 10 over and lost by 7. Surprise, surprise. UW has got to get it under control on the road. The sloppy tempo got set early, but without Abdul Gaddy we really lack a leader who can come out and calm the team down to get them in the rhythm they need to be at.
Post Production
Our 3 bigs combined for 17 points, lead by Darnell Gant with 9. Gant actually had one of the better nights finishing with 7 rebounds as well. To be fair, Aziz only played 9 minutes and went 1-1 from the field and grabbed 5 rebounds. For only 9 minutes those are some pretty decent numbers. It really came down to MBA not being able to get a shot off and the Huskies not doing a great job of breaking down the zone to get him some open looks. On the other side of that, MBA did a terrible job when it came to shot selection and even had an airball from about 12 feet out when he attempted to hook shot the ball in.
What was Good
Rebounding
44-28. 14-5 in the offensive board category. This should have given us a commanding lead, but as I have said countless times by now; the turnovers absolutely demolished every positive thing we did. Justin Holiday led all players with 12 and had a double double tonight. MBA had 11 and Gant came off the bench to give us 7.
Free Throw Shooting
I am somewhat hesitant to put this here, but in all reality MBA was the only one who hurt our stats. The Huskies finished 23-29 with Holiday and I.T. combining for 17-19. Gant hit both of his shots. You make those 6 shots and suddenly it is a 1 point game and well within reach. You have to make your free throws if you want to win games.
Defense
Despite the final score, our defense was not why we lost. We forced 12 turnovers, a respectable number, and held WSU under 50% shooting. Whereas the Huskies could not hit contested shots, the Cougars couldn't miss. UW did a pretty good job of defending Thompson, but he finally found his groove against us and finished 9-18 including 3-6 from range. Hats off to him for stepping it up.
Player by Player Reviews
Venoy Overton
A bad night, not quite unexpected. He got in foul trouble early and played a team low 8 minutes tonight. He made his lone shot attempt, but managed to commit 3 turnovers in that short span of time and dished out 0 assists. He did pick up 2 rebounds and 1 steal, but those really don't justify the poor ball handling.
Grade: D
Justin Holiday
16 points and 12 rebounds is normally a successful evening, but when you take into consideration his 4-12 shooting from the field and the 4 turnovers versus only 2 assists, it really wasn't that fantastic of a night. He had 5 offensive boards, which helped the Huskies stay in the game, but had nearly as many turnovers that disrupted our offense and momentum several times.
Grade: B. Much like Isaiah, as I'll mention later, he kept us in as much as he kept us out.
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
If it weren't for his rebounds, MBA would be getting a D as well. He picked his shots poorly, he was poor at the free throw line, and he had a pair of turnovers. He picked up 2 blocks and 2 steals and only committed 2 fouls, but on the night we needed him the most to make smart decisions and score we just didn't get it. As I said, the Cougars did a good job preventing him from getting good shots, but he had not reason to force attempts that hadn't been falling all night. I would not go so far as to say he took a step back in his game play, but mentally he was not all there tonight for one reason or another.
Grade: C
Brendan Sherrer
Did not play.
Grade: N/A
Scott Suggs
Much like Holiday, this night could have been considered very successful if not for overall poor shooting and turnovers. Suggs had a pair of very nice pull up jumpers and finished with 12 points on 5-12 shooting, but he went 2-8 from range and committed 5 turnovers while only picking up 2 assists. He played defense on Thompson at times, but does not have the lateral quickness to keep up with him, leading to a few more open shots for Klay than I would ever like to see. Suggs also had 2 carrying calls tonight. He may have played point guard in high school, but after 3 years of not handling that duty at the college level has really shown. He does not handle the ball well enough yet to be a decent point guard option for the Huskies. This hurt us tonight with Overton in foul trouble.
Grade: C+
Darnell Gant
Definitely one of the few successful players tonight. His presence off the bench, along with Ross, was how we stayed in the game. He played 29 minutes, picked up 9 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, a block, and 2 turnovers. He shot 3-5 from the field, 1-2 from range, and hit both his free throws. He did not force up shots, he did a pretty good job of handling the ball, and found open teammates, something he normally does not do. Like Holiday and Suggs, Gant was guilty of poor passing that led to steals and turnovers.
Grade: B+
Isaiah Thomas
Bleh. What a poor night. Despite scoring a team high 19 points, Isaiah was one of the main reasons the Huskies lost this game. Isaiah played like he did his freshman year, over penetrating, selfish, forcing shots, and turning it over way too often. He hit some big 3 pointers in the second half, but started the game 0-9 or 0-10. His free throw shooting was what allowed him so many points. I believe he should have shot a few more, but that should not have mattered in this game. 5 assist and 7 turnovers. Not good at all. His 3 steals were all ineffective as well, as I do not remember a single steal that resulted in a made basket for the Huskies.
Grade: C to C-. As much as he hurt us, we wouldn't have been in this game without him.
Aziz N'Diaye
Aziz picked up 4 fouls in 9 minutes. The zone defense kills him and he commits fouls left and right against them. He was playing well to start the game and had a great rebound he put right back in off the glass. With 5 rebounds in 9 minutes it is not hard to say that the Huskies could really have used him tonight to help offset MBA getting over defended. Without Aziz in play the Cougars were able to pack the middle and were more than happy to let us continue firing blindly from range. Aziz still lacks the body and foul control we need him to display.
Grade: B-
Antoine Hosley
Did not play.
Grade: N/A
C.J. Wilcox
Did not play. Wilcox was out with a concussion suffered in practice after Aziz accidentally hit him in the head with an elbow off of a rebound. Could we have used him tonight? I'm not sure. We were hitting decently from range. Our bench had pretty good production. It was really our post play and ball handling that hurt us and C.J. is really not a factor in either of those as he does not handle any point guard or post duties. Our once amazing depth has really started to shrink up on us. Not good.
Grade: N/A
Terrence Ross
I am giving him MVP honors for the Huskies tonight. He didn't have a USC style game where he completely wowed everyone and put the team on his back, but he did damn well near it. 14 points off the bench in 22 minutes. He was by far the best shooting, hitting 50% overall and from range. His 4-3 pointers kept us in the ball game and he did it with a hand in his face on one or two occasions, something I'm not sure any other Husky tonight could say minus I.T., perhaps. His 0 turnovers is another big reason I am giving him props. He had one iffy pass to MBA that ended up getting stolen away, but that was more MBA not catching the ball well and the Cougars reading the pass.
Grade: A
Final Thoughts
So what can we take out of this game? We still are in first place, albeit tied with Arizona. We have a road series against the Oregon schools next week and Arizona will be facing off against the Bay area schools, California and Stanford, on the road. UW can not afford to let either of those games slip between their fingers. It did not really surprise me to have lost this game. WSU plays tough at home, its a rivalry game, UW had 4 straight wins over them, and it was a much bigger and important game to the Cougars than the Huskies. They wanted it more and they played much better, I'll give them that much. That being said, despite 24 turnovers and 37% shooting we were still in the game with 5 minutes to go. Down 4 with 4 defensive stops in a row should have put us in the lead by at least 2 if not 4. This is the second game we have been behind at half and we have lost both those games. We haven't yet shown the ability to come back and win a tough one. This could hurt us later, yet at the same time it is better to suffer this kind of loss now than late February or March.
The Huskies let the fans get in the game and in their heads. They couldn't get over the proverbial hump. Several times they cut down a double digit lead to get within 4 or 5 points only to turn the ball over and kill their momentum. Scott Suggs had a pretty good look at a 3 ball to cut the lead to 3, but like almost every other shot he took that night, it rimmed out.
I'm trying to stay positive, but this was a prime week for the Huskies to take a one game lead for first place, move up in the rankings, solidify their name in the national title race, and prove they can gut it out on the road in a very hostile environment. This is something that still holds us back. We are a fantastic team at home, but unlike the other great teams in the nation right now, we still struggle mightily on the road. The wins over USC and UCLA gave me hope, but the loss at Stanford and tonight versus the Cougars show a team still developing its road identity. Turnovers were the reason for losing both the road games. We have to control the ball if we want to win. The game against Arizona will be monstrous in terms of the title race, our seeding, and national perception of not only the team, but the league as well. I could very well see us losing at Arizona and finishing 15-3 on the season. What that means is no more slip ups and no more shooting ourselves in the foot. We have to hope this loss shows the Huskies how important their team play is and how important slowing the ball down sometimes can be. Don't rush the game when you aren't hitting shots.
Normally I would talk about hoping Arizona loses one this weekend in an upset, but when it comes down to it, it really shouldn't matter what the other teams do. So long as we win, we will succeed. So UW needs to sweep from here on out. Going into Tuscon with an 11-2 record will be very important as UW currently holds the tie breaker over Arizona.
So heads up Dawg fans, as bad as this loss may feel now it could do a load of good later on this season. We still have 9 conference games to go, 5 at home, including a rematch against WSU. Pack the House, bring it loud.
This review will be up on Montlake Madness shortly as well. Be sure to check them out. www.montlakemadness.com
Friday, January 28, 2011
Washington State University Preview
My preview is up at Montlake Madness. The link is below. There is also a link to my statistical comparison of the two teams.
Montlake: http://www.montlakemadness.com/game-preview-wsu/
Statistics: http://uwbasketblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/uw-wsu-statistical-comparison.html
Montlake: http://www.montlakemadness.com/game-preview-wsu/
Statistics: http://uwbasketblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/uw-wsu-statistical-comparison.html
Thursday, January 27, 2011
UW-WSU Statistical Comparison
First for the big numbers. The team stats. These are directly comparable because both teams play the full 40 minutes. Player stats need to be broken down into a per minute basis or per 40 basis to be compared.
Washington (Offensive) Washington State (Offensive)
PPG: 87.1 (3rd in the Nation) PPG: 75.3 (50th in the Nation)
RPG: 40.3 (14th in the Nation) RPG: 35.2 (182nd in the Nation)
APG: 17.7 (8th in the Nation) APG: 14.3 (96th in the Nation)
FG%: 48.8 (8th in the Nation) FG%: 47.7 (32nd in the Nation)
Washington (Defensive) Washington State (Defensive)
PPG: 68.1 (180th in the Nation) PPG: 64.3 (85th in the Nation)
RPG: 33.7 (131st in the Nation) RPG: 36.0 (243rd in the Nation)
APG: 10.0 (13th in the Nation) APG: 12.6 (151st in the Nation)
FG%: 40.3 (51st in the Nation) APG: 37.8 (5th in the Nation)
Washington (Difference) Washington State (Difference)
PPG: +19 PPG: +11
RPG: +6.6 RPG: -.8
APG: +7.7 APG: +1.7
FG%: +8.5 FG%: +9.9
So what do all these numbers tell us? The Huskies run a faster, more efficient offense and defense than the Cougars. The Dawgs score more points and have a larger scoring differential than the Cougars. The Huskies do much better on the boards, especially offensive, and this is a large part of why the Huskies have that larger scoring differential. If you keep your opponent from getting second chances and you get more second chances for your own team, 9 times out of 10 you will find success. If you aren't out rebounding your opponent you better hope you are shooting lights out.
I have seen a few Cougars on the ESPN boards say that our +12 points, but only +3 assists over the Cougars gives the Huskies a sketchy and more selfish offense than the Cougars. To this, I say nonsense. An assist at minimum is worth 2 points, possibly 3. That means those +3 assists are worth between 6 and 9 points. This gives us 3 to 6 points unassisted extra. 3 to 6 points can be made with 1 to 3 shots. This is by no means selfish or sketchy especially when one considers how many touches Matthew Bryan-Amaning gets and the rate at which he scores directly versus those he needs to make a move to get to the hoop. A prime example is the ASU game last Saturday. Several times Isaiah Thomas was able to get the ball inside to MBA and rather than having an open shot near the basket, MBA needed to take a dribble or two and perform some sort of post move to get the points. When that happens Isaiah does not get the assist. So to say that our offensive is sketchy for 3 extra, "self" made shots is just absurd.
Another important difference is the assist differential. Not only do the Huskies record 3 more assists a game than the Cougars, they also prevent nearly 3 fewer assists per game. UW does a better job of distributing the ball and a better job on defense of containing the ball.
Here are a few more defensive and offensive stats to look at.
Washington (Offensive) Washington State (Offensive)
3PT%: 39.4 (24th in the Nation) 3PT%: 38.1 (44th in the Nation)
TPG: 11.9 TPG: 12.5
T%: 16.2 (4th in the Nation) T%: 17.8 (41st in the Nation)
EFG%: 55.8 (8th in the Nation) EFG%: 54.5 (22nd in the Nation)
Washington (Defensive) Washington State (Defensive)
3PT%: 30.8 (44th in the Nation) 3PT%: 30.8 (42nd in the Nation)
TPG: 15.8 TPG: 15.3
T%: 22.0 (99th in the Nation) T%: 22.2 (94th in the Nation)
EFG%: 44.5 (26th in the Nation)EFG%: 44.0 (19th in the Nation)
Washington (Difference) Washington State (Differential)
3PT%: +8.6 3PT%: +7.3
TPG: -4.9 TPG: -2.8
T%: -5.8 T%: -4.6
EFG%: +11.3 EFG%: +10.5
Even in per possession stats as seen by percentages, the Huskies have better offense and defense. Sure the Cougars are better than the Dawgs at creating missed shots for their opponents, but they also make their own shots at a lower percentage. Overall the Huskies have a slight, .8%, effective field goal advantage.
One other important stat is tempo. The biggest problem with comparing pure points per game on both offensive and defense is the difference in tempo two teams will likely have. Take Stanford for example. They are currently posting the leagues "best" defense by allowing the lowest points per game. Stanford is also dead last in offensive points per game. Stanford simply plays less possessions per game by chewing up as much clock as possible, resulting in fewer opportunities for both teams. Right now the average offensive tempo in Division 1 basketball is 67.4. UW is 14th in the nation with 73.1. WSU is currently 83rd in the Nation at 69.2. This tempo difference leads to a new and more interesting stat called Adjusted Efficiency. This is basically a per possession break down of the above stats and how well the team per performs.
The Huskies are currently the 4th most efficient offense in the nation at 120.8. The Cougars are 57th at 109.2 (The National average is 100.9).
Defensively, UW is 22nd at 89.8 and WSU is 31st at 90.7, again using 100.9 as a reference point.
Knowing these two adjusted stats, one can see that defensively the two teams are very similar with UW holding the slight edge. On offense UW has a more commanding lead, hence the 12 point difference in the two teams scoring.
I think another important aspect of the game to look at is player possession percentage. By this I mean how much impact does a player have on a game? How much of the offense runs through them?
UW has two players who use about one fourth of the possessions or more. These two being, no surprises here, Isaiah Thomas and Matthew Bryan-Amaning. The Cougars have 3 players in the category. Two players use over 28% of the possessions, Klay Thompson and Faisal Aden. DeAngelo Casto is the 3rd.
To me personally, this gives WSU a much more 1 Dimensional game as they really have two offensive threats who are their go to guy. Much like Derrick Williams and Arizona, you don't necessarily have to shut down the big offensive threat to win the game. You just have to shut down their number 2 and 3 guys. Klay Thompson can have his 25 points as long as we get the W. I personally don't believe he will score more than 15, history has shown he has a poor chance of scoring more than 10. In the last, and only, 4 games against Washington Klay has scored a combined 29 points (5, 7, 8, 9). Justin Holiday has been a big part of this defensive stop.
To his credit, Thompson has been much more consistent in conference play than the last two years. So we may see a more effective and dangerous player than we have seen in his time against us.
On to the Player Comparisons!
For this I will compare the closest player opposite them in the starting line up. These are all per minutes stats, PPM = points per minute, etc.
Isaiah Thomas Reggie Moore
PPM: .56 PPM: .276
RPM: .129 RPM: .092
APM: .192 APM: .122
TPM: .079 TPM: .062
SPM: .046 SPM: .03
Edge: UW
Scott Suggs Marcus Capers
PPM: .41 PPM: .232
RPM: .126 RPM: .172
APM: .066 APM: .073
TPM: .054 TPM: .026
SPM: .018 SPM: .03
Edge: WSU
Justin Holiday Klay Thompson
PPM: .458 PPM: .649
RPM: .194 RPM: .161
APM: .07 APM: .129
TPM: .044 TPM: .096
SPM: .059 SPM: .056
Edge: Even. Klay scores and assists better, but Holiday rebounds and turns the ball over less. Both steal at approximately the same rate.
Matthew Bryan-Amaning Abe Lodwick
PPM: .609 PPM: .132
RPM: .289 RPM: .194
TPM: .064 TPM: .031
BPM: .053 BPM: .018
Edge: UW
Aziz N'Diaye DeAngelo Casto
PPM: .269 PPM: .408
RPM: .337 RPM: .236
TPM: .057 TPM: .086
BPM: .069 BPM: .071
Edge: Even. Aziz rebounds better and turns it over less. Casto scores more. Both block at approximately the same rate.
Both benches feature a few significant contributors. For WSU it'll be Faisal Aden and Brock Motum. Aden is an interesting case as he was suffering from knee pain against UA and played minimal time and did not start. If healthy, he will likely replace Capers in the starting line up. WSU also has Patrick Simmons and Dre' Winston Jr., but neither are significant players, only receiving 11 minutes or less. For UW we have Venoy Overton, Darnell Gant, Terrence Ross, and C.J. Wilcox. Both Ross and Wilcox have had 20+ point games. Gant has been rebounding between 4 and 6 boards per game since conference play has begun. Overton has always been a strong 6th man off the bench, starting nearly every game his freshman year and a few this season and last.
Edge: UW
As the stats show, UW outmatches WSU is nearly every aspect of the game. WSU does have 2 or 3 skilled players in Thompson, Aden, and Casto, but overall Klay is the go to guy and when he plays bad the Cougars generally follow suit. Holiday has shown to be a shut down defender and, along with Isaiah, have managed to shut Thompson down each and every time the two teams have faced off. What UW brings to the table is an array of players who can go off for major points at any time. Shutting down one player opens up another. Wilcox, Ross, Holiday, MBA, and I.T. have all had 20 point games. Aziz should have had a 20 point game against McNeese State, but he missed 12 free throws.
So there is some food for thought. I'll post a link to my more complete review from Montlake Madness tomorrow when it is up.
Washington (Offensive) Washington State (Offensive)
PPG: 87.1 (3rd in the Nation) PPG: 75.3 (50th in the Nation)
RPG: 40.3 (14th in the Nation) RPG: 35.2 (182nd in the Nation)
APG: 17.7 (8th in the Nation) APG: 14.3 (96th in the Nation)
FG%: 48.8 (8th in the Nation) FG%: 47.7 (32nd in the Nation)
Washington (Defensive) Washington State (Defensive)
PPG: 68.1 (180th in the Nation) PPG: 64.3 (85th in the Nation)
RPG: 33.7 (131st in the Nation) RPG: 36.0 (243rd in the Nation)
APG: 10.0 (13th in the Nation) APG: 12.6 (151st in the Nation)
FG%: 40.3 (51st in the Nation) APG: 37.8 (5th in the Nation)
Washington (Difference) Washington State (Difference)
PPG: +19 PPG: +11
RPG: +6.6 RPG: -.8
APG: +7.7 APG: +1.7
FG%: +8.5 FG%: +9.9
So what do all these numbers tell us? The Huskies run a faster, more efficient offense and defense than the Cougars. The Dawgs score more points and have a larger scoring differential than the Cougars. The Huskies do much better on the boards, especially offensive, and this is a large part of why the Huskies have that larger scoring differential. If you keep your opponent from getting second chances and you get more second chances for your own team, 9 times out of 10 you will find success. If you aren't out rebounding your opponent you better hope you are shooting lights out.
I have seen a few Cougars on the ESPN boards say that our +12 points, but only +3 assists over the Cougars gives the Huskies a sketchy and more selfish offense than the Cougars. To this, I say nonsense. An assist at minimum is worth 2 points, possibly 3. That means those +3 assists are worth between 6 and 9 points. This gives us 3 to 6 points unassisted extra. 3 to 6 points can be made with 1 to 3 shots. This is by no means selfish or sketchy especially when one considers how many touches Matthew Bryan-Amaning gets and the rate at which he scores directly versus those he needs to make a move to get to the hoop. A prime example is the ASU game last Saturday. Several times Isaiah Thomas was able to get the ball inside to MBA and rather than having an open shot near the basket, MBA needed to take a dribble or two and perform some sort of post move to get the points. When that happens Isaiah does not get the assist. So to say that our offensive is sketchy for 3 extra, "self" made shots is just absurd.
Another important difference is the assist differential. Not only do the Huskies record 3 more assists a game than the Cougars, they also prevent nearly 3 fewer assists per game. UW does a better job of distributing the ball and a better job on defense of containing the ball.
Here are a few more defensive and offensive stats to look at.
Washington (Offensive) Washington State (Offensive)
3PT%: 39.4 (24th in the Nation) 3PT%: 38.1 (44th in the Nation)
TPG: 11.9 TPG: 12.5
T%: 16.2 (4th in the Nation) T%: 17.8 (41st in the Nation)
EFG%: 55.8 (8th in the Nation) EFG%: 54.5 (22nd in the Nation)
Washington (Defensive) Washington State (Defensive)
3PT%: 30.8 (44th in the Nation) 3PT%: 30.8 (42nd in the Nation)
TPG: 15.8 TPG: 15.3
T%: 22.0 (99th in the Nation) T%: 22.2 (94th in the Nation)
EFG%: 44.5 (26th in the Nation)EFG%: 44.0 (19th in the Nation)
Washington (Difference) Washington State (Differential)
3PT%: +8.6 3PT%: +7.3
TPG: -4.9 TPG: -2.8
T%: -5.8 T%: -4.6
EFG%: +11.3 EFG%: +10.5
Even in per possession stats as seen by percentages, the Huskies have better offense and defense. Sure the Cougars are better than the Dawgs at creating missed shots for their opponents, but they also make their own shots at a lower percentage. Overall the Huskies have a slight, .8%, effective field goal advantage.
One other important stat is tempo. The biggest problem with comparing pure points per game on both offensive and defense is the difference in tempo two teams will likely have. Take Stanford for example. They are currently posting the leagues "best" defense by allowing the lowest points per game. Stanford is also dead last in offensive points per game. Stanford simply plays less possessions per game by chewing up as much clock as possible, resulting in fewer opportunities for both teams. Right now the average offensive tempo in Division 1 basketball is 67.4. UW is 14th in the nation with 73.1. WSU is currently 83rd in the Nation at 69.2. This tempo difference leads to a new and more interesting stat called Adjusted Efficiency. This is basically a per possession break down of the above stats and how well the team per performs.
The Huskies are currently the 4th most efficient offense in the nation at 120.8. The Cougars are 57th at 109.2 (The National average is 100.9).
Defensively, UW is 22nd at 89.8 and WSU is 31st at 90.7, again using 100.9 as a reference point.
Knowing these two adjusted stats, one can see that defensively the two teams are very similar with UW holding the slight edge. On offense UW has a more commanding lead, hence the 12 point difference in the two teams scoring.
I think another important aspect of the game to look at is player possession percentage. By this I mean how much impact does a player have on a game? How much of the offense runs through them?
UW has two players who use about one fourth of the possessions or more. These two being, no surprises here, Isaiah Thomas and Matthew Bryan-Amaning. The Cougars have 3 players in the category. Two players use over 28% of the possessions, Klay Thompson and Faisal Aden. DeAngelo Casto is the 3rd.
To me personally, this gives WSU a much more 1 Dimensional game as they really have two offensive threats who are their go to guy. Much like Derrick Williams and Arizona, you don't necessarily have to shut down the big offensive threat to win the game. You just have to shut down their number 2 and 3 guys. Klay Thompson can have his 25 points as long as we get the W. I personally don't believe he will score more than 15, history has shown he has a poor chance of scoring more than 10. In the last, and only, 4 games against Washington Klay has scored a combined 29 points (5, 7, 8, 9). Justin Holiday has been a big part of this defensive stop.
To his credit, Thompson has been much more consistent in conference play than the last two years. So we may see a more effective and dangerous player than we have seen in his time against us.
On to the Player Comparisons!
For this I will compare the closest player opposite them in the starting line up. These are all per minutes stats, PPM = points per minute, etc.
Isaiah Thomas Reggie Moore
PPM: .56 PPM: .276
RPM: .129 RPM: .092
APM: .192 APM: .122
TPM: .079 TPM: .062
SPM: .046 SPM: .03
Edge: UW
Scott Suggs Marcus Capers
PPM: .41 PPM: .232
RPM: .126 RPM: .172
APM: .066 APM: .073
TPM: .054 TPM: .026
SPM: .018 SPM: .03
Edge: WSU
Justin Holiday Klay Thompson
PPM: .458 PPM: .649
RPM: .194 RPM: .161
APM: .07 APM: .129
TPM: .044 TPM: .096
SPM: .059 SPM: .056
Edge: Even. Klay scores and assists better, but Holiday rebounds and turns the ball over less. Both steal at approximately the same rate.
Matthew Bryan-Amaning Abe Lodwick
PPM: .609 PPM: .132
RPM: .289 RPM: .194
TPM: .064 TPM: .031
BPM: .053 BPM: .018
Edge: UW
Aziz N'Diaye DeAngelo Casto
PPM: .269 PPM: .408
RPM: .337 RPM: .236
TPM: .057 TPM: .086
BPM: .069 BPM: .071
Edge: Even. Aziz rebounds better and turns it over less. Casto scores more. Both block at approximately the same rate.
Both benches feature a few significant contributors. For WSU it'll be Faisal Aden and Brock Motum. Aden is an interesting case as he was suffering from knee pain against UA and played minimal time and did not start. If healthy, he will likely replace Capers in the starting line up. WSU also has Patrick Simmons and Dre' Winston Jr., but neither are significant players, only receiving 11 minutes or less. For UW we have Venoy Overton, Darnell Gant, Terrence Ross, and C.J. Wilcox. Both Ross and Wilcox have had 20+ point games. Gant has been rebounding between 4 and 6 boards per game since conference play has begun. Overton has always been a strong 6th man off the bench, starting nearly every game his freshman year and a few this season and last.
Edge: UW
As the stats show, UW outmatches WSU is nearly every aspect of the game. WSU does have 2 or 3 skilled players in Thompson, Aden, and Casto, but overall Klay is the go to guy and when he plays bad the Cougars generally follow suit. Holiday has shown to be a shut down defender and, along with Isaiah, have managed to shut Thompson down each and every time the two teams have faced off. What UW brings to the table is an array of players who can go off for major points at any time. Shutting down one player opens up another. Wilcox, Ross, Holiday, MBA, and I.T. have all had 20 point games. Aziz should have had a 20 point game against McNeese State, but he missed 12 free throws.
So there is some food for thought. I'll post a link to my more complete review from Montlake Madness tomorrow when it is up.
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