A&M is 8 and 1 on the season with their only loss coming against Boston College. The Aggies won their most recent game against Prairie View A&M 87-63. Their toughest challenge this season has been the game against then #20 Temple, winning a close game 54-51. A&M took the lead with 18.5 seconds remaining (52-51) off a put back by B.J. Holmes and hit two free throws to seal the lead at 54-51.
Khris Middleton is leading the Aggies in scoring with 13.8 points per game followed by David Loubeau (10.4), BJ Holmes (10.0), and Nathan Walkup (9.9)
The Aggies are currently getting 41 rebounds per game and is second in the nation with a +13 rebound margin. David Loubeau leads the team in rebounding with 5.3 rpg. Middleton grabs 4.9 per game and Kourtney Roberson brings down 4.8 per game.
10 players are averaging 10+ minutes a game, 6 of those average 20+ a game.
The Aggies are also averaging 16 assist, 6 steals, 2 blocks, and 14 turnovers per game. They have won 56 consecutive non-conference home games.
Four of the five starters for the Aggies have made 11 or more 3 pointers. Walkup is leading the team in percentage on 11 for 21 shooting. Holmes leads in makes with 17 of 41.
Last season UW played Texas A&M at home, winning 73-64 after a horrific broken leg suffered by Derrick Roland. He came down awkward after jumping up for a rebound resulting in a compound fracture. To say the least, his leg was folded underneath him and it was by far the most gruesome thing I have seen in person.
The Aggies are averaging 74.7 ppg while holding their opponents to 56.1 ppg and 37.1% from the field.
Starting Line Up
Texas A&M
B.J. Holmes 5-11 175 lb G
Dash Harris 6-1 175 lb G
Nathan Walkup 6-7 210 lb F
Khris Middleton 6-7 215 lb F
David Loubeau 6-8 230 lb F
Washington
Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185 lb SG
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 195 lb PG
Justin Holiday 6-6 185 lb F
Darnell Gant 6-8 225 lb F
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260 lb C
Keys to the Game
Rebounding
A&M is a very good rebounding team bringing in 41 a game and having a +13 rebounding differential. Even in their loss to Boston College, they won the rebounding battle 29-14. They out rebounded Temple 44-28. If we can secure boards to limit their second chance opportunities as well as gaining second chance opportunities ourselves, the game will be much more comfortable and the outcome much more appealing for Huskies fans. Aziz and MBA will need to bring their A-game tomorrow along with the rest of the team. The Aggies, much like ourselves, rebound by committee, e.g. the whole team grabs boards. With 3 players averaging about 5 a game they do not possess a single dominant rebounding player like Portland had with Luke Sikma. What it does mean is that the whole team is able to box out, get possession on their man, and get the board. Something we do pretty well. Individual performances and match ups will be key in winning the rebounding battle.
Perimeter Defense
This is something MSU was able to exploit against us and Portland used to stage a small comeback. Four starters for A&M have scored 11+ 3 pointers this year. They are a solid shooting team that needs to be respected. Our players need to stay close to their man and not let screens or help defense create open shots on the perimeter. We have some of the best defenders in the nation so as long as they do their job in limiting opportunities things will be looking good.
Forcing Turnovers
The Aggies are currently averaging 14 turnovers per game. UW is averaging 12. We are also averaging 10 steals and 5 blocks per game. This means we create at least 15 turnovers per game. We are currently forcing almost 20 turnovers per game at a rate of over 25%, meaning 1 in 4 possessions by the opposition results in a turnover. Much like Portland, the Aggies play a slower game, meaning less possessions to go around so every turnover is huge. Converting those turnovers into transition points will be a big part of our offense and is a big part of our offense currently. One of our strengths is our speed and the ability to get the ball moving up the court.
3 Point Shooting
In two losses we have shot terribly from range. At home we are lights out. We need to establish a road ability to shoot the ball. We did well against Virginia in the neutral site, but proving we still have our offensive game away from Hec Ed will be huge in establishing us as a force to be reckoned with. We aren't necessarily a live by the 3, die by the 3 team yet, but it plays a major part of our game and is something we need to continue to do well. This means finding the hot player whether its CJ, Holiday, I.T., Gant, etc.
Passing
We continue to excel at passing, averaging 20 assists per game. Our shooting is so good because we make the time for one more pass to the best shot. Overton, I.T., and Gaddy are all putting up huge assist numbers and their success in crisp, accurate passes show in our scoring efforts. If we pass well we will play well.
Free Throws
Our performances from the line have been greatly improved, especially from I.T. and Aziz. If the game comes down to the wire we will need to make our free throws to avoid last years Texas Tech fiasco. Speaking of which, Elston Turner will be sitting on the bench tomorrow while he waits out his transfer season. If I am Romar, I am making sure C.J. and Overton are on the court during the final possessions as they have been excellent from the free throw line through the year and, in Overton's case, last season as well. As my father always tells me "Free Throws Win Ball Games" and it couldn't be more true. Make the easy ones, make the freebies, they are call FREE throws for a reason.
Push the Middle
Like I have said in almost every write up, the key to a good game is solid play from the inside. This comes not only from strong performances by the post players, but also driving guards. They don't need to shoot every time they get the ball in the middle, but by getting inside they will force help defense to show up meaning there is an open player on the court who needs the ball. Drive and Dish or if its a post player Catch and Pass. Don't force shots that aren't there, score the easy ones. Make a move or two, whatever it takes. Just get the ball down low and we will have a field day from outside.
Final Thoughts
If I am Romar, I'm letting MBA come off the bench the rest of the season. MBA should know that he is playing better off the bench and as a team this is the better option. His stats aren't going down, if anything they are going up. He will more than likely be the player on the court at the end of games and in reality that is the better position to be in. Aziz needs to establish some inside dominance and wear down his man so MBA can come in and have a field day. Our guards and wings need to be on their toes to prevent A&M from getting opportunities from the outside and getting into a rhythm. This should be a tougher game for the UW as A&M is a possible top 25 team and will more than likely make the NCAA tournament. They have 6 straight 20+ win seasons and have a great home record. Big games are won by big players. It's time for our team to step up and show they have what it takes to compete at the top, beat the best, and win tough games in road situations. A&M is not bad on the offensive end and they play solid defense. I see this game starting close and playing close most of the game with a final push coming near the end of the game to secure the win.
Final Score Prediction
UW-89 Texas A&M-78
Links
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskymensbasketballblog/2013646212_scouting_report_10.html
Friday, December 10, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Some thoughts on the team as we near Pac-10 play
Montlake Madness has a good article up, polling Husky fans out what they think of our team thus far.
Link Here: http://www.montlakemadness.com/taking-your-pulse/
Here's what I wrote in response to it, though you don't need to see the poll to understand my comment.
I want to believe we will have 0 losses on the year in Pac-10 play, but I imagine we will drop one or two. Every team has an off night where they aren’t at their best and the other team is. I just hope our team has the resilience to bounce back right away, fix the mistake that were made, and move on to the next game. I really do feel as thought the only team that can truly compete with us is UA and that is only because of Derrick Williams. Without Williams, UA would be another team to suffer at our hands. He will keep them in the game with rebounding and offensive prowess. WSU could play well against us, it depends a lot on how Klay Thompson responds to Holiday in his face, and how Reggie Moore reacts to Aziz smashing away his shots. As long as our team keeps its composure and does not panic under pressure we will be fine.
When our game is being played, there isn’t a team in the nation that can compete with us, not UK nor MSU or Duke.
In Maui, we panicked, we didn’t play our game, we let their defense affect our game much more than it should have. We showed how good we can be against Virginia, a team that since our man handling of them has stepped up and won some big games.
Maui made me concerned that we could fall into the trap of not being able to finish big games under pressure. We have gone into half EVERY GAME with the lead. We gave up that lead (1 for UK, 10 for MSU) due to our slow starts to the second half.We saw it again against Portland, but instead of panicking we went on our own run and put the game away for good. Whatever changes between the end of the first and the start of the second needs to change, no more slow starts. Good teams will take advantage of that and swing momentum in their favor.
I gave the team a 10 in how I feel about them because as good as they have been, there is still room for improvement and Romar is known for having his teams peak in February and March (just look at last years squad). A big win this weekend against a tough Texas A&M team will be huge not only for our rankings in the Poll (we are still getting screwed by the East Coast Bias), but also for our moral and momentum heading into Pac-10 play. After A&M we have two games that should be in the bag, #225 San Francisco and #208 Nevada, then we are over to SoCal to face USC and UCLA (while the football team battles Nebraska again). Sweeping the rest of non-conference will have us heading into Pac-10 play with 6 straight wins and 9 overall. Thats a damn good start.
We could be a 5 loss or less team heading into the NCAA with a 2 or 3 seed being very feasible. We could even be a 1 seed depending on how things work out. We are that good. I know a lot of people are shying away from Final Four talk after having their heart strings pulled at last year. I’m not going to avoid it, we are contenders for the National Title, any analyst who watches us play can tell you that. Our depth, experience, and talent allow us to be right there with the “big boys.” Number 1 in scoring, number 1 in 3 pt pct., number 2 in assists, 7th in FG pct., and 45th in rebounding. Huge numbers that when added into our defensive stats, 25+% turnover rate for the opposing team, 10 steals and 5 blocks per game while forcing 20+ turnovers, bode well for a great season.
Our team can be great and I believe they will be. They have the heart and the coaching staff to take them there. If they take it one game at a time and do it the right way, we will be singing Bow Down to Washington in Houston come March.
There are two X-Factors to making this happen. Aziz N’Diaye in the post to pick up 7 to 10 boards in his 15 minutes of play (damn impressive if you ask me) and MBA stepping up against bigger and better teams.
He is performing extremely well off the bench and I hope he has the team mentality not to shut down because he isn’t starting. Like Overton, he does the most damage coming off the bench, allowing us to be a completely dominant team on both sides of the court.
Gant is beginning to be an unforeseen addition to our offensive repertoire. I know I wasn’t expecting him to dump in 8+ points a game, including his 6 for 7 from range?! He made what? Like 3 long balls all season last year? We an array of players who can shoot the 3. C.J., Holiday, and Suggs excel game in and game out. I.T., Gaddy, and Gant have shown great promise and make their shots. Ross, Overton, and MBA are all right there (how bout that 12 footer by MBA against Portland? Pretty Sweet). The only player who gets significant minutes who can’t drop from range is Aziz. 9 players, 9. Absurd.
3 players with 6+ boards a game, 5 with 2 a game, 2 with 3 and 4 boards.
3 players averaging 4+ assists a game. 5 players averaging 1 or more steals a game.
As a Husky fan you can’t help but get amped up about this season and what could be. I’m very excited, as you can probably tell from my long rant here. I want to see us go deep, play well, fight hard, and wipe out everyone we play. I don’t want the roller coaster again. I want pure, dominate, consistent play game in and game out.
I want the banner.
Post your responses and thoughts here and on Montlake. Get some conversation going. We have an exciting team, let's show it.
Link Here: http://www.montlakemadness.com/taking-your-pulse/
Here's what I wrote in response to it, though you don't need to see the poll to understand my comment.
I want to believe we will have 0 losses on the year in Pac-10 play, but I imagine we will drop one or two. Every team has an off night where they aren’t at their best and the other team is. I just hope our team has the resilience to bounce back right away, fix the mistake that were made, and move on to the next game. I really do feel as thought the only team that can truly compete with us is UA and that is only because of Derrick Williams. Without Williams, UA would be another team to suffer at our hands. He will keep them in the game with rebounding and offensive prowess. WSU could play well against us, it depends a lot on how Klay Thompson responds to Holiday in his face, and how Reggie Moore reacts to Aziz smashing away his shots. As long as our team keeps its composure and does not panic under pressure we will be fine.
When our game is being played, there isn’t a team in the nation that can compete with us, not UK nor MSU or Duke.
In Maui, we panicked, we didn’t play our game, we let their defense affect our game much more than it should have. We showed how good we can be against Virginia, a team that since our man handling of them has stepped up and won some big games.
Maui made me concerned that we could fall into the trap of not being able to finish big games under pressure. We have gone into half EVERY GAME with the lead. We gave up that lead (1 for UK, 10 for MSU) due to our slow starts to the second half.We saw it again against Portland, but instead of panicking we went on our own run and put the game away for good. Whatever changes between the end of the first and the start of the second needs to change, no more slow starts. Good teams will take advantage of that and swing momentum in their favor.
I gave the team a 10 in how I feel about them because as good as they have been, there is still room for improvement and Romar is known for having his teams peak in February and March (just look at last years squad). A big win this weekend against a tough Texas A&M team will be huge not only for our rankings in the Poll (we are still getting screwed by the East Coast Bias), but also for our moral and momentum heading into Pac-10 play. After A&M we have two games that should be in the bag, #225 San Francisco and #208 Nevada, then we are over to SoCal to face USC and UCLA (while the football team battles Nebraska again). Sweeping the rest of non-conference will have us heading into Pac-10 play with 6 straight wins and 9 overall. Thats a damn good start.
We could be a 5 loss or less team heading into the NCAA with a 2 or 3 seed being very feasible. We could even be a 1 seed depending on how things work out. We are that good. I know a lot of people are shying away from Final Four talk after having their heart strings pulled at last year. I’m not going to avoid it, we are contenders for the National Title, any analyst who watches us play can tell you that. Our depth, experience, and talent allow us to be right there with the “big boys.” Number 1 in scoring, number 1 in 3 pt pct., number 2 in assists, 7th in FG pct., and 45th in rebounding. Huge numbers that when added into our defensive stats, 25+% turnover rate for the opposing team, 10 steals and 5 blocks per game while forcing 20+ turnovers, bode well for a great season.
Our team can be great and I believe they will be. They have the heart and the coaching staff to take them there. If they take it one game at a time and do it the right way, we will be singing Bow Down to Washington in Houston come March.
There are two X-Factors to making this happen. Aziz N’Diaye in the post to pick up 7 to 10 boards in his 15 minutes of play (damn impressive if you ask me) and MBA stepping up against bigger and better teams.
He is performing extremely well off the bench and I hope he has the team mentality not to shut down because he isn’t starting. Like Overton, he does the most damage coming off the bench, allowing us to be a completely dominant team on both sides of the court.
Gant is beginning to be an unforeseen addition to our offensive repertoire. I know I wasn’t expecting him to dump in 8+ points a game, including his 6 for 7 from range?! He made what? Like 3 long balls all season last year? We an array of players who can shoot the 3. C.J., Holiday, and Suggs excel game in and game out. I.T., Gaddy, and Gant have shown great promise and make their shots. Ross, Overton, and MBA are all right there (how bout that 12 footer by MBA against Portland? Pretty Sweet). The only player who gets significant minutes who can’t drop from range is Aziz. 9 players, 9. Absurd.
3 players with 6+ boards a game, 5 with 2 a game, 2 with 3 and 4 boards.
3 players averaging 4+ assists a game. 5 players averaging 1 or more steals a game.
As a Husky fan you can’t help but get amped up about this season and what could be. I’m very excited, as you can probably tell from my long rant here. I want to see us go deep, play well, fight hard, and wipe out everyone we play. I don’t want the roller coaster again. I want pure, dominate, consistent play game in and game out.
I want the banner.
Post your responses and thoughts here and on Montlake. Get some conversation going. We have an exciting team, let's show it.
Monday, December 6, 2010
University of Portland Review
Final Score UW-94 UP-72
Well, it wasn't quite the blow out I was expecting and the Pilots can thank Nemanja Mitrovic for that, 15 points all from 3's, kept them in the game and helped them make a run at the Huskies. Again, UW was slow coming out of the gates in the second half, which turned their 16 point lead into 6 after a run by the Pilots. The Dawgs started their own 11-0 run after that and never looked back. Scott Suggs played a huge part in that effort and was rewarded for his consistent play. It looks like Romar has decided to start Suggs over Ross. Scott seems to have better decision making abilities and his inside game is looking much better. I like what I am seeing out of him and it looks like all his work is really starting to pay off. This means Ross will likely play limited minutes and will be used to create opportunities with his athletic ability. C.J. was fairly limited in his minutes as well, while Holiday and IT both played 30 minutes.
Holiday and Isaiah led UW with 20 points a piece followed by MBA with 15 and Suggs with 13. IT was the leading rebounder with 7 boards while MBA and Holiday came in with 6 and Aziz grabbed 5 in his 12 minutes. Gaddy had 6 assists and 1 turnover, Isaiah and Venoy both had 4 assists. The Huskies had 20 assists on 31 makes, an insane number. Holiday shot a BEAUTIFUL 7 for 8 from the free throw line. IT went 5 for 9, MBA went 5 for 8 and Suggs was a perfect 2 for 2. UW barely won the rebounding battle 36-32 and shot 13 for 23 from range, led by Holiday making 3 of 4. Sikma had 14 points and 16 rebounds for Portland, what an athlete.
What Needs Improvement
Rebounding
I may just leave this as a permanent fixture in both the preview and review. We just aren't doing the rebounding we should be, simple as that. I don't have much to add that I haven't said in the previous reviews. IT and Holiday continue to put up bigger numbers than one might expect, Aziz does well with his limited times getting 7 last game and 5 this game playing only 12 minutes. MBA still struggles to get position and boards. The good thing for our team is that our team as a whole gets after the boards, which limits touches by the opposition.
Perimeter Defense
Holiday and others got caught a few times on screens that led to Portland 3 pointers. Mitrovic, for Portland, was shooting well and was the only Pilot getting hot from outside. UW did a good job of neutralizing Stohl, but at the cost of leaving Mitrovic wide open all too often. It's still a work in progress, but things are looking better and better. As a whole we are coming off screens better.
What Was Good
Perimeter Shooting
Holiday went 3 for 4, Suggs went 3 for 6, Gaddy went 2 for 3, CJ went 2 for 4, IT went 1 for 2, and both Gant and Ross went 1 for 1. We did a good job of spreading out the shots and not limiting it to one person. This marks the second night in a row Holiday has had a hot start and led the team in scoring. He is beginning a UW style senior campaign highlighted by high scoring and stat sheet stuffing efforts.
Passing
An assist rate of near 70% is excellent and will lead to many great things for our team. We continue to be excellent passers with a keen eye for finding the open man. Not much to add to this as I have stated this almost every game review.
Driving Ability
IT was able to penetrate at will and really took advantage of our hot outside shooting. I love the way he has played the last two games. We will need him to show up big against A&M. With how he and Holiday have been playing along with MBA coming off the bench (something that looks to be a permanent change until further notice), I am feeling great about our success.
Not going to be able to do a Player by Player Review tonight, but I'll highlight a few good things that I saw and some weak points players need to improve.
Aziz is looking great defensively. Guards don't dare come at him. His rebounding and hands looked much better tonight, pulling down balls with more authority and strength so he doesn't get stripped. He had one bad moment after which Romar immediately pulled him. He had a wide open shot off a tipped ball. He tried laying it in and bounced it off the front of the rim. He easily could have jumped a tad higher and jammed the ball in. He is 7 feet tall for goodness sakes, dunk it. No need to be soft about it, use MBA as your role model, Aziz. Dunk it every chance you get, the crowd will love it, you will love it, your stats will love it, and its a much higher percentage shot.
Holiday knows how to get open and get the ball to him. He has been so hot especially at the start of games. For whatever reason, the opposition doesn't seem to take him seriously until he has already racked up 10 or so points. His defense continues to be excellent and a key part of our success. He did well covering the much heavier Sikma along side Gant.
Isaiah seems to know the outside shot is not his. He will be hot some nights and should take the shots, but with perimeter shooters like Holiday and CJ on the team he doesn't need to take the deep shots. He did great penetrating and dishing when he needed to. Wasn't as good at the line as he was last game. Still needs to work on that shot. He looked much calmer and collected than he has been when shooting FT's.
Suggs is playing like a very experienced player. He dribbled well, he made smart passes, he took good shots, he made his open shots. He is earning his minutes for sure.
Final Thoughts
A solid win. Our team show much better composure as Portland made a run at them. They collected themselves, went on a big run of their own and never looked back. Our 3 shots continue to fall at home, I'm interested to see how we fair on the road against Texas A&M. We continue to force lots of turnovers while limiting our own. Our rebounding game is still developing, but our transition game allows us to play it closer than I would like. Got to keep this momentum going into the weekend and throughout the rest of non-conference. I'll have a preview for A&M up on Friday sometime.
Links
http://www.montlakemadness.com/huskies-shoot-down-pilots-94-72/
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=303400264
http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/120710aab.html
Edit: Looks like Ross was limited by a nervous stress reaction in his leg. Not sure what that means, but he is not expected to miss practices or games because of it.
Well, it wasn't quite the blow out I was expecting and the Pilots can thank Nemanja Mitrovic for that, 15 points all from 3's, kept them in the game and helped them make a run at the Huskies. Again, UW was slow coming out of the gates in the second half, which turned their 16 point lead into 6 after a run by the Pilots. The Dawgs started their own 11-0 run after that and never looked back. Scott Suggs played a huge part in that effort and was rewarded for his consistent play. It looks like Romar has decided to start Suggs over Ross. Scott seems to have better decision making abilities and his inside game is looking much better. I like what I am seeing out of him and it looks like all his work is really starting to pay off. This means Ross will likely play limited minutes and will be used to create opportunities with his athletic ability. C.J. was fairly limited in his minutes as well, while Holiday and IT both played 30 minutes.
Holiday and Isaiah led UW with 20 points a piece followed by MBA with 15 and Suggs with 13. IT was the leading rebounder with 7 boards while MBA and Holiday came in with 6 and Aziz grabbed 5 in his 12 minutes. Gaddy had 6 assists and 1 turnover, Isaiah and Venoy both had 4 assists. The Huskies had 20 assists on 31 makes, an insane number. Holiday shot a BEAUTIFUL 7 for 8 from the free throw line. IT went 5 for 9, MBA went 5 for 8 and Suggs was a perfect 2 for 2. UW barely won the rebounding battle 36-32 and shot 13 for 23 from range, led by Holiday making 3 of 4. Sikma had 14 points and 16 rebounds for Portland, what an athlete.
What Needs Improvement
Rebounding
I may just leave this as a permanent fixture in both the preview and review. We just aren't doing the rebounding we should be, simple as that. I don't have much to add that I haven't said in the previous reviews. IT and Holiday continue to put up bigger numbers than one might expect, Aziz does well with his limited times getting 7 last game and 5 this game playing only 12 minutes. MBA still struggles to get position and boards. The good thing for our team is that our team as a whole gets after the boards, which limits touches by the opposition.
Perimeter Defense
Holiday and others got caught a few times on screens that led to Portland 3 pointers. Mitrovic, for Portland, was shooting well and was the only Pilot getting hot from outside. UW did a good job of neutralizing Stohl, but at the cost of leaving Mitrovic wide open all too often. It's still a work in progress, but things are looking better and better. As a whole we are coming off screens better.
What Was Good
Perimeter Shooting
Holiday went 3 for 4, Suggs went 3 for 6, Gaddy went 2 for 3, CJ went 2 for 4, IT went 1 for 2, and both Gant and Ross went 1 for 1. We did a good job of spreading out the shots and not limiting it to one person. This marks the second night in a row Holiday has had a hot start and led the team in scoring. He is beginning a UW style senior campaign highlighted by high scoring and stat sheet stuffing efforts.
Passing
An assist rate of near 70% is excellent and will lead to many great things for our team. We continue to be excellent passers with a keen eye for finding the open man. Not much to add to this as I have stated this almost every game review.
Driving Ability
IT was able to penetrate at will and really took advantage of our hot outside shooting. I love the way he has played the last two games. We will need him to show up big against A&M. With how he and Holiday have been playing along with MBA coming off the bench (something that looks to be a permanent change until further notice), I am feeling great about our success.
Not going to be able to do a Player by Player Review tonight, but I'll highlight a few good things that I saw and some weak points players need to improve.
Aziz is looking great defensively. Guards don't dare come at him. His rebounding and hands looked much better tonight, pulling down balls with more authority and strength so he doesn't get stripped. He had one bad moment after which Romar immediately pulled him. He had a wide open shot off a tipped ball. He tried laying it in and bounced it off the front of the rim. He easily could have jumped a tad higher and jammed the ball in. He is 7 feet tall for goodness sakes, dunk it. No need to be soft about it, use MBA as your role model, Aziz. Dunk it every chance you get, the crowd will love it, you will love it, your stats will love it, and its a much higher percentage shot.
Holiday knows how to get open and get the ball to him. He has been so hot especially at the start of games. For whatever reason, the opposition doesn't seem to take him seriously until he has already racked up 10 or so points. His defense continues to be excellent and a key part of our success. He did well covering the much heavier Sikma along side Gant.
Isaiah seems to know the outside shot is not his. He will be hot some nights and should take the shots, but with perimeter shooters like Holiday and CJ on the team he doesn't need to take the deep shots. He did great penetrating and dishing when he needed to. Wasn't as good at the line as he was last game. Still needs to work on that shot. He looked much calmer and collected than he has been when shooting FT's.
Suggs is playing like a very experienced player. He dribbled well, he made smart passes, he took good shots, he made his open shots. He is earning his minutes for sure.
Final Thoughts
A solid win. Our team show much better composure as Portland made a run at them. They collected themselves, went on a big run of their own and never looked back. Our 3 shots continue to fall at home, I'm interested to see how we fair on the road against Texas A&M. We continue to force lots of turnovers while limiting our own. Our rebounding game is still developing, but our transition game allows us to play it closer than I would like. Got to keep this momentum going into the weekend and throughout the rest of non-conference. I'll have a preview for A&M up on Friday sometime.
Links
http://www.montlakemadness.com/huskies-shoot-down-pilots-94-72/
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=303400264
http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/120710aab.html
Edit: Looks like Ross was limited by a nervous stress reaction in his leg. Not sure what that means, but he is not expected to miss practices or games because of it.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
University of Portland Preview
Portland comes out of the West Coast Conference (WCC) alongside the likes of Loyola Marymount, St. Mary's, and Gonzaga. They are currently 7-2 on the year. Their two losses are a 31 point loss to Kentucky (79-48) and a 16 point loss to WSU (74-68). They are coming off a 58-54 win over Montana on the road. They are not a great offensive team as can be seen by their losses to upper tier opponents in UK and WSU. Against teams ranked 154 or lower they are winning by 13+ points. They average 69.8 points per game, UW is averaging 95.7 after Saturday's game. Their offense only averages 70 points a game due to good performances against weak basketball programs. Kenpom currently has Portland ranked at 92, as a comparison Texas Tech was 84. Their one plus is their 3 point shooting. UW is currently number 2 in the nation in 3 point percentage at 46.3% while Portland comes in at number 4 (45.4%). Portland also shoots free throws fairly well at 75.6%, good for 30th in the nation.
Portland's leading scorer is 6-2 guard Jared Stohl at 15.0 points per game. Two other starters are averaging double digit scoring per game. Luke Sikma is scoring 12.1 ppg and 11.7 rebounds per game, and is in my opinion their best player. Nemanja Mitrovic drops in 11.1 ppg.
Jared Stohl is shooting 52.5% from range on 31 for 59 from range. Stohl has only missed 1 free throw out of his 27 attempts thus far this season. Nemanja is also efficient from range making 20 shots on 42 attempts (47.6%). Sikma is an absolute beast on the boards, picking up rebounding totals of 12, 12, 13, 18, and 19, which came against FAU. Luke is a 6-8 235 lb forward. Expect Gant/Holiday to pick up the assignment. If they do as good of a job on Sikma as they did on Singletary we will be in good hands.
Portland has one of the more balanced team in terms of minutes played that the UW has faced in a while. The 5 starters average 24+ minutes with 2 players averaging 30 minutes a piece. 4 bench players play 10+ minutes a game. The Portland bench brings in about 17 points per game (24.2%). UW's bench is averaging 35 ppg (36.5%).
Portland runs a very slow offense with an adjusted tempo of 65.6, while UW is running one of the faster offenses at 75.0 (6th in the nation). It'll be key for UW to control the tempo of the game and not let Portland run the reins.
Portland upset the Dawgs in 2008 80-74. UW avenged the loss last season against a similarly skilled Portland team 89-54. Seeing as the Pilots are not any better or worse than last year and UW is much better than last year, this should be another 100+ point performance and 30+ point blowout.
Portland has some good size; 2 players at 6-10, 1 at 6-9, and 2 at 6-8.
Keys to the Game
Rebounding
Sikma is a rebounding expert. With a near 12 rpg average and two games just under 20 boards, he is a threat to contend with. He had a similar build to Darnell Gant, but a bit more muscle. Darnell will need to be at his best to contain Sikma, look for Holiday to possibly pick up the assignment as well as he faired very well against the much larger Singletary on Saturday. MBA and/or Aziz will also need to step up their game to help box out Sikma and their own man to get the boards we need. Letting Portland win the rebounding battle will allow them to keep the game much closer than it should be. We must limit second chance points game in and game out. We are keeping our opponents around 32 or 33 boards a game, not bad, but not great when our average is only 39 to 40. We are still lacking a dominant, consistent post rebounder. Neither MBA nor Aziz have stepped up to show they can fill this role yet. Until then, Holiday and the rest of the squad need to continue to spread the boards around and keep the edge on our side. I'm still confident we can get 44 to 45 boards a game and hold our opponents to 30 a game. Two years later we are still missing Jon Brockman's presence down low. If MBA wants a career in the NBA he needs to step it up on the glass.
Perimeter Defense
With two skilled three ball shooters on the team, it is highly important our backcourt defense is on its A-game. Limiting the number of quality shots Stohl and Mitrovic get off will help push the game beyond the Pilots best efforts. Alongside Sikma, the trio form a deadly group who UW needs to focus on shutting down. All three could post big numbers, all three could hurt our progress. I would much rather see us shut down the two outside threats and give up a 20 point 10 rebound game to Sikma than see Stohl and Mitrovic combine for 35 or more points. I also think our backcourt defense is much stronger than our frontcourt. Gaddy will most likely be assigned 6-2 Jared Stohl, while Holiday draws the 6-5 Mitrovic. Overton stated after Saturday's game that he is about 80% right now and is still recovering from his hamstring and tailbone injuries. I'd like to see his minutes limited to get him healed up for A&M where we will need him more, but I think his presence will be important Monday against the Pilots as well.
Inside Presence
Sikma looks to be a tough challenge for MBA and Aziz, putting up big numbers on a more consistent rate than either of UW's bigs. We may see Aziz draw the start again to wear on Sikma so MBA can come in and work the post. We need to establish an inside game through the post and develop our play out from there. Getting either MBA or Aziz rolling along with driving efforts from our backcourt will let C.J., Ross, Holiday, Gant, etc. get open for outside shot attempts. If MBA plays anything like he did on Saturday (though I'd like to see more rebounds) we should be fine. He received a lot of nice transition passes that led to a majority of his points, but he had some good post moves that looked promising. Gant looks to be an X-factor in not only this game, but the season. If he can draw out some of the size from the middle and open the lanes we will be looking good.
Outside Shooting
When we start dropping three's, the game is in our bag. We have struggled so far in games where we aren't hitting the long ball. Saturday's game was our only game with less than 12 made threes in a win. To me this is an improvement as it shows less dependency on the 3 ball and an ability to work the middle. If any of our shooters, especially C.J., can get hot, we need to feed them the ball. On Saturday, it was Holiday and C.J., on Monday it could be a number of people.
Starting Line Up Predictions
Portland
Eric Waterford 6-1 180 lb G
Jared Stohl 6-2 165 lb G
Nemanja Mitrovic 6-5 200 lb G
Luke Sikma 6-8 235 lb F
Kramer Knutson 6-9 220 lb C
Washington
Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185 lb SG
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 195 lb PG
Justin Holiday 6-6 185 lb F
Darnell Gant 6-8 225 lb F
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260 lb C
What We Should See
Portland keeps it close for the first few minutes per usual with UW pulling away about 6 or 7 minutes into the first half. With Portland having an adjusted defensive efficiency of 99.2 and UW sitting pretty at an adjusted offensive efficiency of 117.2 we should have no problem doing what we want on offense. We continue to force 20 turnovers a game at a rate of 1 in 4 possessions resulting in a turnover for the opposition. 10 of those turnovers are steals. Against the Raiders we converted those 20 turnovers into 28 points, a huge and important number. We need to continue to convert turnovers into points. Another great stat is the over 40% offensive rebounding rate, meaning 4 out of every 10 missed shots on offensive is picked up by our team for second chance opportunities. Defensively, we are picking up over 65% of the boards, another solid number. Sikma will most likely snatch 9 boards or more with Holiday and Ross grabbing a majority for us. Aziz may face another zone defense from the Pilots. If this is the case we will most likely need to rely on MBA to do more work in the post. If we find ourselves in a man to man situation, Aziz could have a great day against a smaller post in 6-9 220 lb Kramer Knutson. 6-10 270 lb Jasonn Hannibal is only averaging 7 minutes a game so don't expect UW to be outsized much, if at all, this game.
Portland is going to be simply outclassed like every opponent that has visited Hec Ed thus far. Only Eastern Washington escaped from the 100 point line due to kindness from Romar (finished with 98 and had the ball with 33 seconds on the clock). We have shown we can play with the best, we need to continue to prove this and show we can finish by demolishing a lesser opponent once again. It can't be fun to be on the other end of a 30 point loss, but we need to keep our rhythm and flow regardless of who we are playing. Upsets occur when big teams play to the level of their competition, rather than the level they are capable of. Thus far we are not sinking to that level, though arguably we allowed ourselves to sink a bit against UK and MSU. At home are a very confident team and securing this win will be great for our momentum and moral going into a tough road match against Texas A&M.
I'm giving Aziz the start due to MBA's success off the bench and Aziz's ability to pick up boards. His size should help control the post and limit not only Knutson's touches, but Sikma's as well.
Scott Suggs is still recovering from a strained MCL and will likely play limited minutes against Portland. I'm impressed by what I saw from him in an injured state. I still stand by what I said when I believe the order off the bench should be Wilcox, then Ross, then Suggs.
Isaiah will likely be able to muscle his way inside. Gaddy should be able to pass around the defense and our wings should put up strong offensive performances.
This could get ugly fast and end up much rougher on the Pilots than the Raiders.
Final Score Prediction
UW-104 Portland-64
So far we have been giving up points near the opposition average, hence the Portland score. Our ppg average was hurt by our subpar performances in Maui, so against a faster team I would predict more points, but Portland runs a slower offense that will limit possessions. We could get up to 110 points if we can really get after the Pilot guards and force 20 to 25 turnovers. I have consistently been under predicting the UW final score so I could be off by as many as 6 to 8 points. Absolutely cannot drop this game, we need to come out guns blazing, pedal to the metal the entire way. No Mercy.
An interesting fact: Portland has scored 628 points in 9 games, UW has scored 670 in 7 games. Just throwing that out there.
Links
Dawg Pack Dirt http://freepdfhosting.com/adbbd8c12d.pdf
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskymensbasketballblog/2013608898_scouting_report_9.html
http://www.montlakemadness.com/game-preview-portland/
Portland's leading scorer is 6-2 guard Jared Stohl at 15.0 points per game. Two other starters are averaging double digit scoring per game. Luke Sikma is scoring 12.1 ppg and 11.7 rebounds per game, and is in my opinion their best player. Nemanja Mitrovic drops in 11.1 ppg.
Jared Stohl is shooting 52.5% from range on 31 for 59 from range. Stohl has only missed 1 free throw out of his 27 attempts thus far this season. Nemanja is also efficient from range making 20 shots on 42 attempts (47.6%). Sikma is an absolute beast on the boards, picking up rebounding totals of 12, 12, 13, 18, and 19, which came against FAU. Luke is a 6-8 235 lb forward. Expect Gant/Holiday to pick up the assignment. If they do as good of a job on Sikma as they did on Singletary we will be in good hands.
Portland has one of the more balanced team in terms of minutes played that the UW has faced in a while. The 5 starters average 24+ minutes with 2 players averaging 30 minutes a piece. 4 bench players play 10+ minutes a game. The Portland bench brings in about 17 points per game (24.2%). UW's bench is averaging 35 ppg (36.5%).
Portland runs a very slow offense with an adjusted tempo of 65.6, while UW is running one of the faster offenses at 75.0 (6th in the nation). It'll be key for UW to control the tempo of the game and not let Portland run the reins.
Portland upset the Dawgs in 2008 80-74. UW avenged the loss last season against a similarly skilled Portland team 89-54. Seeing as the Pilots are not any better or worse than last year and UW is much better than last year, this should be another 100+ point performance and 30+ point blowout.
Portland has some good size; 2 players at 6-10, 1 at 6-9, and 2 at 6-8.
Keys to the Game
Rebounding
Sikma is a rebounding expert. With a near 12 rpg average and two games just under 20 boards, he is a threat to contend with. He had a similar build to Darnell Gant, but a bit more muscle. Darnell will need to be at his best to contain Sikma, look for Holiday to possibly pick up the assignment as well as he faired very well against the much larger Singletary on Saturday. MBA and/or Aziz will also need to step up their game to help box out Sikma and their own man to get the boards we need. Letting Portland win the rebounding battle will allow them to keep the game much closer than it should be. We must limit second chance points game in and game out. We are keeping our opponents around 32 or 33 boards a game, not bad, but not great when our average is only 39 to 40. We are still lacking a dominant, consistent post rebounder. Neither MBA nor Aziz have stepped up to show they can fill this role yet. Until then, Holiday and the rest of the squad need to continue to spread the boards around and keep the edge on our side. I'm still confident we can get 44 to 45 boards a game and hold our opponents to 30 a game. Two years later we are still missing Jon Brockman's presence down low. If MBA wants a career in the NBA he needs to step it up on the glass.
Perimeter Defense
With two skilled three ball shooters on the team, it is highly important our backcourt defense is on its A-game. Limiting the number of quality shots Stohl and Mitrovic get off will help push the game beyond the Pilots best efforts. Alongside Sikma, the trio form a deadly group who UW needs to focus on shutting down. All three could post big numbers, all three could hurt our progress. I would much rather see us shut down the two outside threats and give up a 20 point 10 rebound game to Sikma than see Stohl and Mitrovic combine for 35 or more points. I also think our backcourt defense is much stronger than our frontcourt. Gaddy will most likely be assigned 6-2 Jared Stohl, while Holiday draws the 6-5 Mitrovic. Overton stated after Saturday's game that he is about 80% right now and is still recovering from his hamstring and tailbone injuries. I'd like to see his minutes limited to get him healed up for A&M where we will need him more, but I think his presence will be important Monday against the Pilots as well.
Inside Presence
Sikma looks to be a tough challenge for MBA and Aziz, putting up big numbers on a more consistent rate than either of UW's bigs. We may see Aziz draw the start again to wear on Sikma so MBA can come in and work the post. We need to establish an inside game through the post and develop our play out from there. Getting either MBA or Aziz rolling along with driving efforts from our backcourt will let C.J., Ross, Holiday, Gant, etc. get open for outside shot attempts. If MBA plays anything like he did on Saturday (though I'd like to see more rebounds) we should be fine. He received a lot of nice transition passes that led to a majority of his points, but he had some good post moves that looked promising. Gant looks to be an X-factor in not only this game, but the season. If he can draw out some of the size from the middle and open the lanes we will be looking good.
Outside Shooting
When we start dropping three's, the game is in our bag. We have struggled so far in games where we aren't hitting the long ball. Saturday's game was our only game with less than 12 made threes in a win. To me this is an improvement as it shows less dependency on the 3 ball and an ability to work the middle. If any of our shooters, especially C.J., can get hot, we need to feed them the ball. On Saturday, it was Holiday and C.J., on Monday it could be a number of people.
Starting Line Up Predictions
Portland
Eric Waterford 6-1 180 lb G
Jared Stohl 6-2 165 lb G
Nemanja Mitrovic 6-5 200 lb G
Luke Sikma 6-8 235 lb F
Kramer Knutson 6-9 220 lb C
Washington
Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185 lb SG
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 195 lb PG
Justin Holiday 6-6 185 lb F
Darnell Gant 6-8 225 lb F
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260 lb C
What We Should See
Portland keeps it close for the first few minutes per usual with UW pulling away about 6 or 7 minutes into the first half. With Portland having an adjusted defensive efficiency of 99.2 and UW sitting pretty at an adjusted offensive efficiency of 117.2 we should have no problem doing what we want on offense. We continue to force 20 turnovers a game at a rate of 1 in 4 possessions resulting in a turnover for the opposition. 10 of those turnovers are steals. Against the Raiders we converted those 20 turnovers into 28 points, a huge and important number. We need to continue to convert turnovers into points. Another great stat is the over 40% offensive rebounding rate, meaning 4 out of every 10 missed shots on offensive is picked up by our team for second chance opportunities. Defensively, we are picking up over 65% of the boards, another solid number. Sikma will most likely snatch 9 boards or more with Holiday and Ross grabbing a majority for us. Aziz may face another zone defense from the Pilots. If this is the case we will most likely need to rely on MBA to do more work in the post. If we find ourselves in a man to man situation, Aziz could have a great day against a smaller post in 6-9 220 lb Kramer Knutson. 6-10 270 lb Jasonn Hannibal is only averaging 7 minutes a game so don't expect UW to be outsized much, if at all, this game.
Portland is going to be simply outclassed like every opponent that has visited Hec Ed thus far. Only Eastern Washington escaped from the 100 point line due to kindness from Romar (finished with 98 and had the ball with 33 seconds on the clock). We have shown we can play with the best, we need to continue to prove this and show we can finish by demolishing a lesser opponent once again. It can't be fun to be on the other end of a 30 point loss, but we need to keep our rhythm and flow regardless of who we are playing. Upsets occur when big teams play to the level of their competition, rather than the level they are capable of. Thus far we are not sinking to that level, though arguably we allowed ourselves to sink a bit against UK and MSU. At home are a very confident team and securing this win will be great for our momentum and moral going into a tough road match against Texas A&M.
I'm giving Aziz the start due to MBA's success off the bench and Aziz's ability to pick up boards. His size should help control the post and limit not only Knutson's touches, but Sikma's as well.
Scott Suggs is still recovering from a strained MCL and will likely play limited minutes against Portland. I'm impressed by what I saw from him in an injured state. I still stand by what I said when I believe the order off the bench should be Wilcox, then Ross, then Suggs.
Isaiah will likely be able to muscle his way inside. Gaddy should be able to pass around the defense and our wings should put up strong offensive performances.
This could get ugly fast and end up much rougher on the Pilots than the Raiders.
Final Score Prediction
UW-104 Portland-64
So far we have been giving up points near the opposition average, hence the Portland score. Our ppg average was hurt by our subpar performances in Maui, so against a faster team I would predict more points, but Portland runs a slower offense that will limit possessions. We could get up to 110 points if we can really get after the Pilot guards and force 20 to 25 turnovers. I have consistently been under predicting the UW final score so I could be off by as many as 6 to 8 points. Absolutely cannot drop this game, we need to come out guns blazing, pedal to the metal the entire way. No Mercy.
An interesting fact: Portland has scored 628 points in 9 games, UW has scored 670 in 7 games. Just throwing that out there.
Links
Dawg Pack Dirt http://freepdfhosting.com/adbbd8c12d.pdf
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskymensbasketballblog/2013608898_scouting_report_9.html
http://www.montlakemadness.com/game-preview-portland/
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Texas Tech Review
Final Score UW-108 Texas Tech-79
Wow...what a game. UW played absolutely filthy today. The last few minutes of the first half were insane to say the least. Ross had a behind the back to MBA for a lay-in, followed immediately by I.T. tossing a long pass to MBA, again, for a monster slam, and ending with Overton pulling an MJ type move going up left handed, rolling the ball down and around to his right hand and finishing the lay-in. Brendan Sherrer even scored today during his 4 minutes on a beautiful pick and roll passed to him by Overton. Everyone who got in the game scored. Hosley was the only Husky not to play.
Holiday lead the Huskies in scoring today with an completely dominate performance. He scored 13 of UW's first 14 points, finished the first half with 17 and played limited minutes in the second half, finishing with 20 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a block. He was all over the place and he was not to be denied.
Matthew Bryan-Amaning had another great game off the bench. If you ask me, Romar should seriously consider keeping him on the bench and make him a 6th man like Overton. He finished with 18 points, sadly only 2 rebounds, and 2 blocks.
Aziz N'Diaye started again and finished with 4 points and 7 boards. He fouled out with 4 minutes remaining. Several of his fouls were questionable, the last was an accident after falling getting a board.
Isaiah Thomas finished with 16, a perfect 6 for 6 from the free throw line, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, a block, and 2 turnovers. He was a true leader out there and did a great job of penetrating and dishing out to the open man.
C.J. Wilcox's shot was pretty as ever, playing only 19 minutes he went 4 for 7 from the field, 3 for 5 from range, finishing with 11.
Darnell Gant is really coming into his own, finishing with 8 points, 4 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, and 3 turnovers.
UW out rebounded Tech 39-33, finishing with 16 offensive boards. We shot 56.2% from the field, 9 for 17 from range (52.9%), and finally shot a respectable 73.9% from the free throw line. UW had 21 assist on 41 makes (just over 50%), passing excellent once again.
UW held Tech to 30% from range and 46% from the field overall. 3 players for Tech finished with 14+ points, only 1 player had more than 5 rebounds.
Player by Player Review
Venoy Overton
Overton played a pretty good game tonight, he looked to be in a lot better condition and seems to have healed up nicely. He had a great end to the half and played solid in the second as well. He is only credited with 2 turnovers, but it seemed like he had 3 or 4. His turnovers are usually on great play ideas that just aren't quite open. This is something he needs to limit before long; close games won't be able to afford those kind of sloppy give aways. I liked what I saw aside from that. His driving ability really showed this game, his speed allows him to penetrate at will.
Grade: B+
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
MBA came off the bench again today and had another huge offensive night. He wasn't much on the boards, but his 18 points were made with authority. He shot 8 for 13 from the floor and put on some good moves, not all of which worked completely. He had several nice hook shots that missed short, something that can easily be corrected. I like him coming off the bench. Aziz does a great job on defense to start the game, allowing our post offense to sub in when the opposition is a little more tired. I'm interested to see if Romar keeps MBA on the bench, personally it seems like the best option for our team as a whole. He was the recipient of several excellent passes that led to great transition baskets. He played better against the post even if he didn't grab the boards we'd like him to. Things are looking better, good performances against A&M and Nevada will make me feel much better about his capabilities this season.
Grade: A-
Justin Holiday
No question, MVP of the game of either team. He scored 13 of our first 14 points on three 3's and two short jumpers. He went 3 for 3 from range before missing, finishing the night at 4 for 7 from range and 7 for 12 overall. He stuffed the stats all night long. Holiday along with Gant held Singultary to 6 points, all in the first half. Holiday's only blemish was his 3 turnovers. I don't know what got into Holiday, but he is really developing into a dangerous talent.
Grade: A+
Brendan Sherrer
Logged 4 minutes today after Aziz fouled out. Romar is beginning to trust Sherrer with more and more minutes and that's pretty sweet, in my opinion. Scored his first points of the year and is a perfect 1.000 from the field. Also snagged a rebound and picked up a foul, he is in the stat book finally.
Grade: A
Scott Suggs
Fresh off a recent knee injury, he played a good game. Most of his 8 points came in garbage time, but he had some sweet moves including a scoop lay-in and a nice rebound put back. He played a much more complete game and showed an offensive game that doesn't include catch and shoot 3's. This bodes well for us and I honestly don't know how Romar is going to drop down from 10 to 9 in his rotation. I also don't see why he would want to unless there was a chemistry issue and so far I don't see that. I still think he is third in the Wilcox/Ross/Suggs rotation as both Wilcox and Ross have shown better athleticism, defense, and shooting ability.
Grade: B
Darnell Gant
I'm really beginning to love this kid more and more. He plays excellent defense, his offense is a legit threat finally. He had a solid night, 8 points, 4 boards, 3 steals, 2 assist, 1 block. He did a good job taking the ball at the top of the key, drawing defenders, then passing the ball out. He creates a lot of opportunities using his length and outside shot threat. Starting him and Aziz gives us some solid size and defensive strength, allowing us to take the lead early. The Birdman is beginning to fly and he may an unseen X-factor towards our season's success.
Grade: B+
Isaiah Thomas
No three point shots for Isaiah today, he went 5 for 9 from the field and a perfect 6 for 6 from the charity stripe. He looked much calmer and poised on his free throws and it showed. That was the type of performance we needed from him. His 16 points along with 4 rebounds and 4 assists is beautiful. We don't need him to lead our scoring, we need him to do the little things, open up the perimeter with hard drives, pass well, and create opportunities. He did that tonight and looked very good out there.
Grade: A
Aziz N'Diaye
Played solid on the glass tonight pulling in 7 boards. He only scored 4 points, shot 50% from the line. 1 steal and 1 block, but 3 turnovers. His hands still bobble the ball too much, especially on easy passes that should lead to easy baskets. Once he can start grabbing and holding we will find him scoring in the double digits on a regular basis. He doesn't need to be fancy, just needs to take the nice easy shots given to him and dish out when it isn't there. I like him starting, his presence allows our guards to play a little more risky at the start when they are fresh and the game isn't in jeopardy. He picked up a lot of silly fouls today, though the refs certainly didn't help him. I like his progress, I like his potential. We will see a lot of great things out of him in the next three years.
Grade: B
Abdul Gaddy
Quiet tonight offensively. Did not score in the first half, but finished with 6 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 1 steal and again, 0 turnovers. Gaddy played a smooth role tonight. He did what we needed from a point guard; good ball distribution, some drives in the middle, points when we need it. This kid has really turned up his play and know what the team needs from him each game. His stepping up is allowing us to be a Final Four team. Solid performance again, let's hope he maintains come conference play.
Grade: B+
Antoine Hosley
Only Husky who did not play tonight. Not sure why Romar didn't put him in with 2 or 3 minutes remaining.
Grade: N/A
Terrence Ross
6 points on 3 for 4 shooting, 1 rebound and an assist. He threw down a monster dunk on a great transition pass. His raw talent is absurd. He does all the right things, just wasn't given the shot opportunities necessary to put up big numbers. He may get much more time next year after Holiday graduates. After a year in the program we will see his talent really begin to unleash. He doesn't look to be a one and done yet, but depending on his sophomore year he could be NBA bound after that. I want him for four years, let's hope he stays that long. Next year with Wroten coming in, our backcourt will continue to be a dominant force.
Grade: B
C.J. Wilcox
While his touches were limited today, it did not effect his stroke at all. His shot is just pretty, plain and simple. His defense is another facet of his game that is under appreciated. He really stepped up from the exhibition game in terms of how effective he is on defense. He comes off well from the screens, stays low and in front of his man, gets up high enough to affect the shot. No rebounds today, but he did get an assist, steal, and a block. He continues to shine for the Huskies. It won't be every game he drops 20 points, but that wasn't a once in a season performance that's for sure.
Grade: B+
Final Thoughts
Solid performance tonight. I'd like to see our defense hold the opponents to 70 or less points, but putting up 100 point games mean opponents will have more opportunities as well (by the way we now have the school record for most 100+ point games in a season). We picked up another 9 steals and forced 20 turnovers. Did fairly well on the boards, winning the rebounding battle by 6. Still not at the 45 or so I would like to see, but we didn't miss a whole lot so there weren't a lot of boards to go around. Holiday was the leading rebounder as I guessed. MBA and Aziz just don't have the read on the glass yet to step up and get 8+ boards a game. Holiday's Go-Go Gadget Arms are glass cleaners. We continue to roll on offense and it doesn't look like we will face a defense that can stop it until conference play. Outlook is good. The rest of non-conference should go pretty well. Texas A&M will be our toughest test, especially since it is on the road. Holiday continues to be the most consistent player for the Dawgs.
Links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDUwJMwtEFM&feature=sub - Highlights
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskymensbasketballblog/2013598450_nothing_but_goo.html
http://www.montlakemadness.com/huskies-thump-red-raiders-108-79/
http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/120410aaa.html
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=303380264
In other news, UW football is 6-6 (5-4 in conference) and is bowl eligible. Alamos or Holiday Bowl it looks like.
Wow...what a game. UW played absolutely filthy today. The last few minutes of the first half were insane to say the least. Ross had a behind the back to MBA for a lay-in, followed immediately by I.T. tossing a long pass to MBA, again, for a monster slam, and ending with Overton pulling an MJ type move going up left handed, rolling the ball down and around to his right hand and finishing the lay-in. Brendan Sherrer even scored today during his 4 minutes on a beautiful pick and roll passed to him by Overton. Everyone who got in the game scored. Hosley was the only Husky not to play.
Holiday lead the Huskies in scoring today with an completely dominate performance. He scored 13 of UW's first 14 points, finished the first half with 17 and played limited minutes in the second half, finishing with 20 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a block. He was all over the place and he was not to be denied.
Matthew Bryan-Amaning had another great game off the bench. If you ask me, Romar should seriously consider keeping him on the bench and make him a 6th man like Overton. He finished with 18 points, sadly only 2 rebounds, and 2 blocks.
Aziz N'Diaye started again and finished with 4 points and 7 boards. He fouled out with 4 minutes remaining. Several of his fouls were questionable, the last was an accident after falling getting a board.
Isaiah Thomas finished with 16, a perfect 6 for 6 from the free throw line, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, a block, and 2 turnovers. He was a true leader out there and did a great job of penetrating and dishing out to the open man.
C.J. Wilcox's shot was pretty as ever, playing only 19 minutes he went 4 for 7 from the field, 3 for 5 from range, finishing with 11.
Darnell Gant is really coming into his own, finishing with 8 points, 4 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, and 3 turnovers.
UW out rebounded Tech 39-33, finishing with 16 offensive boards. We shot 56.2% from the field, 9 for 17 from range (52.9%), and finally shot a respectable 73.9% from the free throw line. UW had 21 assist on 41 makes (just over 50%), passing excellent once again.
UW held Tech to 30% from range and 46% from the field overall. 3 players for Tech finished with 14+ points, only 1 player had more than 5 rebounds.
Player by Player Review
Venoy Overton
Overton played a pretty good game tonight, he looked to be in a lot better condition and seems to have healed up nicely. He had a great end to the half and played solid in the second as well. He is only credited with 2 turnovers, but it seemed like he had 3 or 4. His turnovers are usually on great play ideas that just aren't quite open. This is something he needs to limit before long; close games won't be able to afford those kind of sloppy give aways. I liked what I saw aside from that. His driving ability really showed this game, his speed allows him to penetrate at will.
Grade: B+
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
MBA came off the bench again today and had another huge offensive night. He wasn't much on the boards, but his 18 points were made with authority. He shot 8 for 13 from the floor and put on some good moves, not all of which worked completely. He had several nice hook shots that missed short, something that can easily be corrected. I like him coming off the bench. Aziz does a great job on defense to start the game, allowing our post offense to sub in when the opposition is a little more tired. I'm interested to see if Romar keeps MBA on the bench, personally it seems like the best option for our team as a whole. He was the recipient of several excellent passes that led to great transition baskets. He played better against the post even if he didn't grab the boards we'd like him to. Things are looking better, good performances against A&M and Nevada will make me feel much better about his capabilities this season.
Grade: A-
Justin Holiday
No question, MVP of the game of either team. He scored 13 of our first 14 points on three 3's and two short jumpers. He went 3 for 3 from range before missing, finishing the night at 4 for 7 from range and 7 for 12 overall. He stuffed the stats all night long. Holiday along with Gant held Singultary to 6 points, all in the first half. Holiday's only blemish was his 3 turnovers. I don't know what got into Holiday, but he is really developing into a dangerous talent.
Grade: A+
Brendan Sherrer
Logged 4 minutes today after Aziz fouled out. Romar is beginning to trust Sherrer with more and more minutes and that's pretty sweet, in my opinion. Scored his first points of the year and is a perfect 1.000 from the field. Also snagged a rebound and picked up a foul, he is in the stat book finally.
Grade: A
Scott Suggs
Fresh off a recent knee injury, he played a good game. Most of his 8 points came in garbage time, but he had some sweet moves including a scoop lay-in and a nice rebound put back. He played a much more complete game and showed an offensive game that doesn't include catch and shoot 3's. This bodes well for us and I honestly don't know how Romar is going to drop down from 10 to 9 in his rotation. I also don't see why he would want to unless there was a chemistry issue and so far I don't see that. I still think he is third in the Wilcox/Ross/Suggs rotation as both Wilcox and Ross have shown better athleticism, defense, and shooting ability.
Grade: B
Darnell Gant
I'm really beginning to love this kid more and more. He plays excellent defense, his offense is a legit threat finally. He had a solid night, 8 points, 4 boards, 3 steals, 2 assist, 1 block. He did a good job taking the ball at the top of the key, drawing defenders, then passing the ball out. He creates a lot of opportunities using his length and outside shot threat. Starting him and Aziz gives us some solid size and defensive strength, allowing us to take the lead early. The Birdman is beginning to fly and he may an unseen X-factor towards our season's success.
Grade: B+
Isaiah Thomas
No three point shots for Isaiah today, he went 5 for 9 from the field and a perfect 6 for 6 from the charity stripe. He looked much calmer and poised on his free throws and it showed. That was the type of performance we needed from him. His 16 points along with 4 rebounds and 4 assists is beautiful. We don't need him to lead our scoring, we need him to do the little things, open up the perimeter with hard drives, pass well, and create opportunities. He did that tonight and looked very good out there.
Grade: A
Aziz N'Diaye
Played solid on the glass tonight pulling in 7 boards. He only scored 4 points, shot 50% from the line. 1 steal and 1 block, but 3 turnovers. His hands still bobble the ball too much, especially on easy passes that should lead to easy baskets. Once he can start grabbing and holding we will find him scoring in the double digits on a regular basis. He doesn't need to be fancy, just needs to take the nice easy shots given to him and dish out when it isn't there. I like him starting, his presence allows our guards to play a little more risky at the start when they are fresh and the game isn't in jeopardy. He picked up a lot of silly fouls today, though the refs certainly didn't help him. I like his progress, I like his potential. We will see a lot of great things out of him in the next three years.
Grade: B
Abdul Gaddy
Quiet tonight offensively. Did not score in the first half, but finished with 6 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 1 steal and again, 0 turnovers. Gaddy played a smooth role tonight. He did what we needed from a point guard; good ball distribution, some drives in the middle, points when we need it. This kid has really turned up his play and know what the team needs from him each game. His stepping up is allowing us to be a Final Four team. Solid performance again, let's hope he maintains come conference play.
Grade: B+
Antoine Hosley
Only Husky who did not play tonight. Not sure why Romar didn't put him in with 2 or 3 minutes remaining.
Grade: N/A
Terrence Ross
6 points on 3 for 4 shooting, 1 rebound and an assist. He threw down a monster dunk on a great transition pass. His raw talent is absurd. He does all the right things, just wasn't given the shot opportunities necessary to put up big numbers. He may get much more time next year after Holiday graduates. After a year in the program we will see his talent really begin to unleash. He doesn't look to be a one and done yet, but depending on his sophomore year he could be NBA bound after that. I want him for four years, let's hope he stays that long. Next year with Wroten coming in, our backcourt will continue to be a dominant force.
Grade: B
C.J. Wilcox
While his touches were limited today, it did not effect his stroke at all. His shot is just pretty, plain and simple. His defense is another facet of his game that is under appreciated. He really stepped up from the exhibition game in terms of how effective he is on defense. He comes off well from the screens, stays low and in front of his man, gets up high enough to affect the shot. No rebounds today, but he did get an assist, steal, and a block. He continues to shine for the Huskies. It won't be every game he drops 20 points, but that wasn't a once in a season performance that's for sure.
Grade: B+
Final Thoughts
Solid performance tonight. I'd like to see our defense hold the opponents to 70 or less points, but putting up 100 point games mean opponents will have more opportunities as well (by the way we now have the school record for most 100+ point games in a season). We picked up another 9 steals and forced 20 turnovers. Did fairly well on the boards, winning the rebounding battle by 6. Still not at the 45 or so I would like to see, but we didn't miss a whole lot so there weren't a lot of boards to go around. Holiday was the leading rebounder as I guessed. MBA and Aziz just don't have the read on the glass yet to step up and get 8+ boards a game. Holiday's Go-Go Gadget Arms are glass cleaners. We continue to roll on offense and it doesn't look like we will face a defense that can stop it until conference play. Outlook is good. The rest of non-conference should go pretty well. Texas A&M will be our toughest test, especially since it is on the road. Holiday continues to be the most consistent player for the Dawgs.
Links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDUwJMwtEFM&feature=sub - Highlights
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskymensbasketballblog/2013598450_nothing_but_goo.html
http://www.montlakemadness.com/huskies-thump-red-raiders-108-79/
http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/120410aaa.html
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=303380264
In other news, UW football is 6-6 (5-4 in conference) and is bowl eligible. Alamos or Holiday Bowl it looks like.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Texas Tech Preview
UW is looking to avenge last year's OT loss to Texas Tech, which ended 99-92 in the first OT. A quick recap of that game.
Elston Turner had two free throw opportunities to take the lead in the final seconds in what was a tied game at 80-80. He missed both. On the second miss, Tech rebounded and Mike Singultary made a desperation shot that went in as time expired. After further review it was determined the shot was not off in time and did not count. Tech students had rushed the court and were pushed off and a slight delay occurred as the floor needed to be cleaned. Tech out scored UW 19-12 in over time period to win the game.
Texas Tech is coming off an 86-82 win over Oral Roberts and are 5-3 on the year. Mike Singultary played a dominate game for Texas Tech with 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists. He also had two turnovers. Three other players scored in double digits. Three of the four Tech players in double digits played 35+ minutes. Only two bench players played more than 10 minutes in the game.
Texas Tech coming into the game scoring almost 80 points a game, 34 rebounds, and 16 assists shooting 47% from the field. UW is currently 2nd in ppg and apg at 93.7 and 20 respectively. They are also averaging 41 rebounds per game and shooting 50.1% from the field, 45.5% from range (thank you C.J.).
Texas Tech is similar to LBSU in that their 5 starters are averaging 27+ minutes a piece but unlike LBSU they have 4 reserves averaging 13+ minutes. The Tech bench is averaging 20 of the teams 80 points per game (25%). Currently the UW bench is averaging 35 of the teams 94 points per game (37%). Currently 10 players on UW's squad average 13+ minutes, with 6 of the 10 players 20+ minutes, and the maximum minutes per game is 27 for Isaiah Thomas, the minimum minutes for the Texas Tech starters.
Size wise, Tech is very similar to UW. Tech's tallest player is 6-10 center and starter Robert Lewandowski. Tech has two players each at 6-8 and 6-7. Their guards range between 5-11 and 6-4 while their forwards are between 6-6 and 6-8.
John Roberson and Mike Singultary are the lead scorers for Texas Tech at 13.5 and 12.8 ppg. Singultary is the second leading rebounder at 6 per game behind Lewandowski at 6.9 rpg. Roberson is leading the team with 3.8 assists per game as well as the most made threes at 19 on 49 attempts (~39%). Singultary is currently 1 for 15 from the arc. Lewandowski is 14 of 15 from the free throw line.
So what kind of team is Texas Tech? They are fairly experienced with 7 seniors on the roster, 2 juniors, and 2 sophomores. They start 4 seniors and a junior. They finished last season at 19-16 and are 42-45 under current head coach Pat Knight, son of famous Bob Knight. Tech does not have the best defense, currently allowing 75 ppg only 5 points below their own ppg. UW is also allowing 75 ppg, though it is 19 ppg below their average.
Texas Tech recently lost to St. Mary's 88-68 at a neutral site. In that game Lewandowski had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Starting Line Ups
Texas Tech
John Roberson 5-11 168 lb G
David Tairu 6-3 177 lb G
Brad Reese 6-6 195 lb F
Mike Singultary 6-6 235 lb F
Robert Lewandowski 6-10 256 lb C
Washington
Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185 lb SG
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 195 lb PG
Justin Holiday 6-6 185 lb F
Darnell Gant 6-6 225lb F
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260 lb C
I'm giving Aziz the start, because I think Romar is still proving a point to MBA that he needs to perform at an elite level at all times and not just against small and weak teams.
Though MBA went 7-7 with 4 rebounds, most of his shots were open dunks and not moves made on players that required skills and post moves. Aziz had 1 point and 1 rebound during the LBSU game. I blame this on busting his face going for a loose ball, something I think is very commendable and is great to see. Next time he dives for a loose ball he should take care not to hurt himself, we need him. Aziz also had trouble with the zone defense. I think we will find ourselves against a man defense, allowing Aziz to play a better game. He will come out with something to prove in my opinion, prove that he deserves the start.
Whether Aziz or MBA starts is a coin toss in my opinion with the lean going towards Aziz. Either way we should be strong in the middle. What Romar will do will be interesting to see. Personally I think MBA needs to start on the bench 1 or 2 more games until he proves he is going to be playing consistently against tougher opponents.
Keys to the Game
Rebounding
If UW wants to keep this game out of reach for the Red Raiders, they must rebound first and foremost. Tech is not the best rebounding team at 34 a game with 46% of those rebounds being offensive. Washington current averages 41 a game with over 60% offensive boards. Lewandowski is their best rebounder, having multiple 10+ board games. Where UW has the rebounding advantage is our backcourt. The Tech guards do not rebound nearly as good as ours, while their frontcourt is on par, maybe slightly better, than ours. This is a big game in terms of showing that we can rebound against tougher teams. That being said Tech is not a terribly good team, slightly better than LBSU, most likely we will face the same sort of skill as Virginia (Kenpom has Virginia at 80 and Tech at 82). Once again, I expect MBA and Aziz to double team the Tech starter and use their fresher legs to get all over the place and snatch up the boards.
I expect our leading rebounder to be Justin Holiday for this game, though I want it to MBA or Aziz. I say this because I expect Holiday to be much more skilled than the Texas Tech forwards, allowing him to get better positioning on his man. Hopefully Aziz will have a better day than he did on Tuesday against a team who plays more man defense than zone. Also hopeful that his lip is feeling better and the stitches are healing nicely. His play can really be exceptional when he is on his game. His stats are not always stellar, but his size really is a factor that the stats don't show. Penetrating guards have a tough time getting their shots off. His defensive improvement is what really pleases me. He has lapse moments where he gets some over the back calls, but being 7 feet tall thats bound to happen. He is getting much better at knowing when to keep his feet and when to go up for the block, what still needs work is boxing out and getting the rebound when there is already a man or two on the shot taker.
MBA needs to prove he can play against bigger players, something that will be key when he has to bang against guys like DeAngelo Casto, rolly polly Josh Smith, Reeves Nelson, and Derrick Williams. Here is a chance to play against a skilled post player with similar size. If he can't get it done tomorrow, it's going to be tough to do well against Pac-10 opponents. We need him to grab 8 to 12 boards while limiting Lewandowski to 7 or less.
Defense
Texas Tech is not the most proficient offensive team, but all 5 starters are scoring in the double digits. This, to me, means any of said players could go for 20+ points if left unchecked, something Roberson did last game making 29 points on 11 for 18 shooting (6 of 9 from the free throw line, 1 for 2 from range). We need to play tough, Husky defense to prevent such a thing from happening. I.T. has almost 20 lbs on the man he will most likely guard, John Roberson. Isaiah should be quick and strong enough to prevent Roberson for driving very effectively, meaning he needs to stay out on the ball and prevent the 3 point shot which Roberson knocks down at a decent clip. 39% is a pretty good average and he had twice as many makes as the next Tech player.
MBA and Aziz will need to be at their best on the block so Lewandowski doesn't dominate the paint and give Tech a a way to stay in the game. Limiting second chance points by snatching defensive rebounds while maximizing our own second chance opportunities will be a significant factor in whether this game is a 10 point win or 30+ point blowout.
Perimeter Play
Both offensively and defensively, this is important. Last game LBSU made the game slightly interesting after a string of 3 point makes. Against tough teams where the score is closer this will absolutely kill us (see the MSU game where their inbounds play that led to several 3 pointers allowed them to retake the lead and eventually win the game). UW needs to prevent the Texas Tech players from getting in a rhythm from range. We need to force the guards to drive or take bad shots. Our center defense is solid and our backcourt defense is one of the best in the nation.
Our offense really excels when we make crisp, clean passes around the arc to open players. This forces a lot of defensive movement, causes confusion, opens the middle, and creates opportunities. If you have a chance, watch the LBSU game again. Look at the shots Wilcox takes, on two plays I can think of off the top of my head he received crisp, chest height passes from Overton and Holiday allowing him to catch and shoot in motion much like in practices and warm ups. From there muscle memory takes over and the result is that perfect stroke we are so privileged to have.
When our three point shots are dropping we are rolling and not a team in the nation can beat us. When they are off the game gets more competitive and we struggle to find a rhythm, not to say we don't play well, but we seem to panic.
Tempo
With our deep and talented bench, we need to play our game, play uptempo, push the ball, and wear out the Texas Tech starters.
That being said we cannot outplay ourselves. Too many senseless turnovers were committed against LBSU due to overplaying our offense. We played too fast for our own good and our play turned a little chaotic. We need to keep our heads and not force breaks that aren't there. Feel free to drive and penetrate, but if the gap isn't there, dish it out and work the ball around. The shot will come. We have enough weapons that we should always have a capable and open player on the court.
Drive the Middle
This comes down to not only I.T., Gaddy, and Overton, but also MBA and Aziz. Our frontcourt needs to establish themselves as scoring threats so our perimeter play can work efficiently. I.T., Gaddy, and Overton need to collapse the defense by driving the middle, sometimes the shot will be there and they should take it if its there, but they need to be willing to pass out when the shot is too tough. Gaddy does the best job of that in my opinion. Overton is the most prone to over penetrate and shoot a bad shot. I.T. is generally very capable of taking even the strangest shots and making them somehow.
After nearly dunking on Kentucky and I believe in the McNeese State game, I would really like to see Isaiah throw down a Nate Robinson type dunk. It's something we haven't seen out of him the first two season and I think it would go a long ways towards pumping up the team and the crowd.
Final Thoughts
This should be another blow out type game. I don't think Texas has shown themselves to be competitive against upper tier opponents. Losing by 20 to St. Mary's at a "neutral" site game is pretty rough. The Dawg Pack may not be as loud as they have been in recent years, but its a home game for what I feel is a top 15 or top 10 team. As long as we keep our heads and play our game this is a no contest situation.
Score Prediction
UW-105 TTU-72
Other Links
http://www.montlakemadness.com/game-preview-texas-tech/
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskymensbasketballblog/2013586673_scouting_report_8.html
http://freepdfhosting.com/408ee5aab4.pdf - Dirt for the Game
How close was Gordon Hayward when he nearly upset Duke? Very close
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/19243/video-sport-science-butlers-last-shot
.5 mph less on the release and half a degree to the left on release and Butler wins it all
Elston Turner had two free throw opportunities to take the lead in the final seconds in what was a tied game at 80-80. He missed both. On the second miss, Tech rebounded and Mike Singultary made a desperation shot that went in as time expired. After further review it was determined the shot was not off in time and did not count. Tech students had rushed the court and were pushed off and a slight delay occurred as the floor needed to be cleaned. Tech out scored UW 19-12 in over time period to win the game.
Texas Tech is coming off an 86-82 win over Oral Roberts and are 5-3 on the year. Mike Singultary played a dominate game for Texas Tech with 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists. He also had two turnovers. Three other players scored in double digits. Three of the four Tech players in double digits played 35+ minutes. Only two bench players played more than 10 minutes in the game.
Texas Tech coming into the game scoring almost 80 points a game, 34 rebounds, and 16 assists shooting 47% from the field. UW is currently 2nd in ppg and apg at 93.7 and 20 respectively. They are also averaging 41 rebounds per game and shooting 50.1% from the field, 45.5% from range (thank you C.J.).
Texas Tech is similar to LBSU in that their 5 starters are averaging 27+ minutes a piece but unlike LBSU they have 4 reserves averaging 13+ minutes. The Tech bench is averaging 20 of the teams 80 points per game (25%). Currently the UW bench is averaging 35 of the teams 94 points per game (37%). Currently 10 players on UW's squad average 13+ minutes, with 6 of the 10 players 20+ minutes, and the maximum minutes per game is 27 for Isaiah Thomas, the minimum minutes for the Texas Tech starters.
Size wise, Tech is very similar to UW. Tech's tallest player is 6-10 center and starter Robert Lewandowski. Tech has two players each at 6-8 and 6-7. Their guards range between 5-11 and 6-4 while their forwards are between 6-6 and 6-8.
John Roberson and Mike Singultary are the lead scorers for Texas Tech at 13.5 and 12.8 ppg. Singultary is the second leading rebounder at 6 per game behind Lewandowski at 6.9 rpg. Roberson is leading the team with 3.8 assists per game as well as the most made threes at 19 on 49 attempts (~39%). Singultary is currently 1 for 15 from the arc. Lewandowski is 14 of 15 from the free throw line.
So what kind of team is Texas Tech? They are fairly experienced with 7 seniors on the roster, 2 juniors, and 2 sophomores. They start 4 seniors and a junior. They finished last season at 19-16 and are 42-45 under current head coach Pat Knight, son of famous Bob Knight. Tech does not have the best defense, currently allowing 75 ppg only 5 points below their own ppg. UW is also allowing 75 ppg, though it is 19 ppg below their average.
Texas Tech recently lost to St. Mary's 88-68 at a neutral site. In that game Lewandowski had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Starting Line Ups
Texas Tech
John Roberson 5-11 168 lb G
David Tairu 6-3 177 lb G
Brad Reese 6-6 195 lb F
Mike Singultary 6-6 235 lb F
Robert Lewandowski 6-10 256 lb C
Washington
Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185 lb SG
Abdul Gaddy 6-3 195 lb PG
Justin Holiday 6-6 185 lb F
Darnell Gant 6-6 225lb F
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260 lb C
I'm giving Aziz the start, because I think Romar is still proving a point to MBA that he needs to perform at an elite level at all times and not just against small and weak teams.
Though MBA went 7-7 with 4 rebounds, most of his shots were open dunks and not moves made on players that required skills and post moves. Aziz had 1 point and 1 rebound during the LBSU game. I blame this on busting his face going for a loose ball, something I think is very commendable and is great to see. Next time he dives for a loose ball he should take care not to hurt himself, we need him. Aziz also had trouble with the zone defense. I think we will find ourselves against a man defense, allowing Aziz to play a better game. He will come out with something to prove in my opinion, prove that he deserves the start.
Whether Aziz or MBA starts is a coin toss in my opinion with the lean going towards Aziz. Either way we should be strong in the middle. What Romar will do will be interesting to see. Personally I think MBA needs to start on the bench 1 or 2 more games until he proves he is going to be playing consistently against tougher opponents.
Keys to the Game
Rebounding
If UW wants to keep this game out of reach for the Red Raiders, they must rebound first and foremost. Tech is not the best rebounding team at 34 a game with 46% of those rebounds being offensive. Washington current averages 41 a game with over 60% offensive boards. Lewandowski is their best rebounder, having multiple 10+ board games. Where UW has the rebounding advantage is our backcourt. The Tech guards do not rebound nearly as good as ours, while their frontcourt is on par, maybe slightly better, than ours. This is a big game in terms of showing that we can rebound against tougher teams. That being said Tech is not a terribly good team, slightly better than LBSU, most likely we will face the same sort of skill as Virginia (Kenpom has Virginia at 80 and Tech at 82). Once again, I expect MBA and Aziz to double team the Tech starter and use their fresher legs to get all over the place and snatch up the boards.
I expect our leading rebounder to be Justin Holiday for this game, though I want it to MBA or Aziz. I say this because I expect Holiday to be much more skilled than the Texas Tech forwards, allowing him to get better positioning on his man. Hopefully Aziz will have a better day than he did on Tuesday against a team who plays more man defense than zone. Also hopeful that his lip is feeling better and the stitches are healing nicely. His play can really be exceptional when he is on his game. His stats are not always stellar, but his size really is a factor that the stats don't show. Penetrating guards have a tough time getting their shots off. His defensive improvement is what really pleases me. He has lapse moments where he gets some over the back calls, but being 7 feet tall thats bound to happen. He is getting much better at knowing when to keep his feet and when to go up for the block, what still needs work is boxing out and getting the rebound when there is already a man or two on the shot taker.
MBA needs to prove he can play against bigger players, something that will be key when he has to bang against guys like DeAngelo Casto, rolly polly Josh Smith, Reeves Nelson, and Derrick Williams. Here is a chance to play against a skilled post player with similar size. If he can't get it done tomorrow, it's going to be tough to do well against Pac-10 opponents. We need him to grab 8 to 12 boards while limiting Lewandowski to 7 or less.
Defense
Texas Tech is not the most proficient offensive team, but all 5 starters are scoring in the double digits. This, to me, means any of said players could go for 20+ points if left unchecked, something Roberson did last game making 29 points on 11 for 18 shooting (6 of 9 from the free throw line, 1 for 2 from range). We need to play tough, Husky defense to prevent such a thing from happening. I.T. has almost 20 lbs on the man he will most likely guard, John Roberson. Isaiah should be quick and strong enough to prevent Roberson for driving very effectively, meaning he needs to stay out on the ball and prevent the 3 point shot which Roberson knocks down at a decent clip. 39% is a pretty good average and he had twice as many makes as the next Tech player.
MBA and Aziz will need to be at their best on the block so Lewandowski doesn't dominate the paint and give Tech a a way to stay in the game. Limiting second chance points by snatching defensive rebounds while maximizing our own second chance opportunities will be a significant factor in whether this game is a 10 point win or 30+ point blowout.
Perimeter Play
Both offensively and defensively, this is important. Last game LBSU made the game slightly interesting after a string of 3 point makes. Against tough teams where the score is closer this will absolutely kill us (see the MSU game where their inbounds play that led to several 3 pointers allowed them to retake the lead and eventually win the game). UW needs to prevent the Texas Tech players from getting in a rhythm from range. We need to force the guards to drive or take bad shots. Our center defense is solid and our backcourt defense is one of the best in the nation.
Our offense really excels when we make crisp, clean passes around the arc to open players. This forces a lot of defensive movement, causes confusion, opens the middle, and creates opportunities. If you have a chance, watch the LBSU game again. Look at the shots Wilcox takes, on two plays I can think of off the top of my head he received crisp, chest height passes from Overton and Holiday allowing him to catch and shoot in motion much like in practices and warm ups. From there muscle memory takes over and the result is that perfect stroke we are so privileged to have.
When our three point shots are dropping we are rolling and not a team in the nation can beat us. When they are off the game gets more competitive and we struggle to find a rhythm, not to say we don't play well, but we seem to panic.
Tempo
With our deep and talented bench, we need to play our game, play uptempo, push the ball, and wear out the Texas Tech starters.
That being said we cannot outplay ourselves. Too many senseless turnovers were committed against LBSU due to overplaying our offense. We played too fast for our own good and our play turned a little chaotic. We need to keep our heads and not force breaks that aren't there. Feel free to drive and penetrate, but if the gap isn't there, dish it out and work the ball around. The shot will come. We have enough weapons that we should always have a capable and open player on the court.
Drive the Middle
This comes down to not only I.T., Gaddy, and Overton, but also MBA and Aziz. Our frontcourt needs to establish themselves as scoring threats so our perimeter play can work efficiently. I.T., Gaddy, and Overton need to collapse the defense by driving the middle, sometimes the shot will be there and they should take it if its there, but they need to be willing to pass out when the shot is too tough. Gaddy does the best job of that in my opinion. Overton is the most prone to over penetrate and shoot a bad shot. I.T. is generally very capable of taking even the strangest shots and making them somehow.
After nearly dunking on Kentucky and I believe in the McNeese State game, I would really like to see Isaiah throw down a Nate Robinson type dunk. It's something we haven't seen out of him the first two season and I think it would go a long ways towards pumping up the team and the crowd.
Final Thoughts
This should be another blow out type game. I don't think Texas has shown themselves to be competitive against upper tier opponents. Losing by 20 to St. Mary's at a "neutral" site game is pretty rough. The Dawg Pack may not be as loud as they have been in recent years, but its a home game for what I feel is a top 15 or top 10 team. As long as we keep our heads and play our game this is a no contest situation.
Score Prediction
UW-105 TTU-72
Other Links
http://www.montlakemadness.com/game-preview-texas-tech/
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskymensbasketballblog/2013586673_scouting_report_8.html
http://freepdfhosting.com/408ee5aab4.pdf - Dirt for the Game
How close was Gordon Hayward when he nearly upset Duke? Very close
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/19243/video-sport-science-butlers-last-shot
.5 mph less on the release and half a degree to the left on release and Butler wins it all
Thursday, December 2, 2010
More Thoughts on the Long Beach State Game and Implications
With Romar stating he would like to turn the 10 man rotation into a 9 man rotation in the near future and the injury of Scott Suggs, C.J. Wilcox and Terrence Ross have the perfect opportunity to step up and show to Romar that they belong in this rotation. Let's be honest here, Ross, Wilcox, and Suggs are the three that will be fighting for playing time. All play similar positions and have somewhat similar skill sets.
C.J. Wilcox sent a message to Romar on Tuesday that his measly 3 minutes against MSU was a mistake by Romar and an opportunity missed. Romar made a bold move to bring C.J. in so suddenly off the bench after not playing the entire game. For whatever reason, Romar seems to have forgotten about the shooting ace sitting on the bench. C.J. showed that his air ball against MSU was a mistake due to a cold arm from sitting for so long.
Romar gave C.J. 23 minutes to put on a show against LBSU and boy did he do a great job. 7 for 9 shooting including 6 for 8 from downtown to set a new career high of 20 points. The only blemish on his performance were the 4 turnovers. These can be excused due to his otherwise stellar offense and much improved defense. C.J. has shown great improvement on the defensive edge since the exhibition and opening game. He is quick on his feet, gets low on the ball and moves well around screens.
Terrence Ross is still struggling a bit offensively, but I like his willingness to pull up and shoot even under pressure. Once he finds his stroke and his shots start dropping we will see him take more minutes. He plays superb defense and it is because of his defense that he garners as many minutes as he does. He has the length and athleticism to make plays and shut down players. He plays like a taller version of Venoy in my opinion. Ross has prove he can score, he is just inconsistent. Against Virginia Ross went 4 for 7 from the field, all the makes came from his 4 for 5 shooting from range. Ross gets shots and makes shots because he cuts well off screens and puts himself into positions where he has a half step lead on his man, more than enough for him to elevate over the defender to get up the shot.
This is a slightly different approach than C.J. takes. C.J. tends to do more work moving around the perimeter and letting a collapse in the middle lead to him opening up.
Both Ross and C.J. are more than willing and more than capable of running the ball up the court and pulling up 20 feet out and popping off a shot almost immediately without running a set offense. This wasn't seen as much by C.J. in the LBSU game, but he pulled similar stunts against McNeese.
Scott Suggs looks to be riding the pine for most of the year yet again. A lot of people were hopeful that his statements of an improved offense and more complete game would mean some more minutes for the junior, but the fresh, young talent on the Husky team seems to be better prepared to take over than Suggs is. Suggs simply hasn't show the strength and athleticism to create his own shots and despite a few driving lay-ins this year, he has again fallen into the role of a shop up shooter. We don't need a spot up shooter this year, we have 7 other people on the team that have proven they can shoot the long ball. What we need are play makers and athlete who can influence the field of play on both ends of the court.
To me, the drop from 10 to 9 is not going to result in much change for the team. Everyone will be playing in a lot of games this year we are going to have several more blowouts before all is said and done, that is for sure. The Pac-10 has 4 good teams this year, 2 mediocre teams, and 4 bad teams. The bad and mediocre teams should offer no real resistance to the Huskies so long as they keep their heads and don't look past their opponents before the game has taken place. The change means more minutes for certain players and much less for others and in my opinion the minutes are in favor of Wilcox and Ross at the moment, leaving Suggs to prove himself in practice and garbage minutes to earn more time. However; we should not concern ourselves to much with this matter at the moment as Suggs is currently suffering from an injured MCL and will not be playing. It looks improbable that he will be recovered enough to try and pay Saturday against Texas Tech.
So what else did we learn from the LBSU game?
Our team as a whole is rebounding fairly well. We are averaging almost 41 boards a game, a lot of this is still due to the McNeese state game. This comes from the fact that we have 10 players grabbing 3 or more boards, 3 of those grabbing 6 or more. Those three are Justin Holiday, Aziz N'Diaye, and Matthew Bryan-Amaning. In order to take the next step from good overall rebounding to great overall rebounding, we need to pick up another 4 boards a game simple as that. Against LBSU we barely won the rebounding battle 36-30. We shot well for the game, so there were less board to go around, yet I really would like to see us out rebound these lesser caliber teams by 10+ boards on 40+ rebound nights. MBA had another subpar rebounding night, nabbing only 5 boards. Aziz was rendered inefficient as well, only grabbing 1 board in 13 minutes of play. This cannot happen to us against competitive teams.
So why are our post players have trouble cleaning the glass? A lot has to do with our post players mentality when it comes to what role they need to perform on the court. Both MBA and Aziz seems to be more focused on the shot block than boxing out. While I do enjoy swats, we are putting too many defenders on penetrating guards. Our big men need to focus on preventing their assignment from getting position on them and box out to get the board. If an open man is penetrating or our defender is going to be beat, instead of helping out, BOX OUT! Trust your teammates to alter the shot enough that it will clank around. Get the ball and take away some opportunities from our opponents.
On the offensive end things are a bit different. Our big guys need to open up the field with screens then roll back into the middle, looking for the open shot and if it isn't available, using the pick and roll to gain position on your defender so when the ball is finally shot you are in place to grab it for the put back.
MBA may not be the biggest post player around, but he has the size and strength to compete with most college level 5's, it's simply a matter of knowing how to get in position and using your strength to enforce your will on people. That is what Jon Brockman did, he may only be 6'7'', but he was strong and knew how to get to where the ball will be heading. He broke noses, he hurt feelings, but that man gave his all out there and out played guys much taller than he is. He is still doing that today in the NBA.
Aziz has the strength AND height to get 10+ boards a game. His quickness and lengthy body combined with his freakish strength should make him a superb rebounder. He is still learning positioning and with time he will improve his consistency on the glass. We need a big step up in his game, 8 or more boards a game would give us a huge advantage whether he starts or not. Getting both him and MBA to an 8+ board average would do wonders for our success.
Speaking of Aziz, I liked him starting. I think it keeps guards from getting in a rhythm early due to his immense presence in the center of the court. It makes MBA come off the bench with something to prove. It also means that if MBA can step up his offensive game against tougher opponents, we could be slightly better coming off the bench. We don't necessarily need Aziz to put up big offensive numbers, 6 to 8 a game would be great. Enough that the opposition has to put a few bodies on him down low to prevent easy baskets. He has the size to really use the old fashion sky hook effectively. It is a tool I would love to see him master, you'll be hard pressed to find a player who can defend against a 7 footer extending his arms to their maximum reach.
Something else Aziz need work on is softening his hands. Several turnovers were committed when Aziz couldn't handle a pass. Some were difficult passes he wasn't expecting, such as Holiday elevating and faking the shot to dump off the ball to Aziz. Once Aziz learns to expect these passes I think the problem will go away, but Romar should spend time working with Aziz on receiving hard passes from skilled guards.
Holiday continues to be one of the more consistent members of the squad. He had 0 first half points, but finished with double digit scoring. What he brings is more than just an offensive shot, he brings excellent defense, good court vision, high basketball IQ, and the heart and tenacity to pump up teammates and bring down opponents. If UW was to name an MVP right now, I might name Holiday simply for his consistent play game in, game out.
Darnell Gant has continued his somewhat surprising offensive performances. He has made 6 of the last 7 attempts from behind the arc and has put up 10+ points in the bast three games. He was one of the better players in Maui, especially against UK and MSU, getting open and creating shots for himself. Darnell isn't a greedy player by any means, all his shots have been good shots and he has done an amazing job of converting those shots into points. The better he plays on offense the more minutes he can expect to play. We know him as a great defender, but adding in this deadly offensive ability makes him that much more of a complete player. If he can continue to excel against tough competition we can expect to see him in the closing minutes of tight games. He has been a great starter once again, offering up stiff defense and shut down ability. What we need from him is rebounding. He has not been a great rebounder during his career at UW. If he can start grabbing 5 a game I'll be a happy clam.
Isaiah Thomas struggled mightily from range on Tuesday going 0 for 6, yet he still gets 19 points. Say what you will about the kid, but he finds a way to score. His driving ability has been under a bit of criticism after the UK and MSU game. The fact of the matter is UK and MSU offered up size and skill for the first time in the season for I.T. and the Dawgs in general. Going against players with size is a lot different and much more difficult when it comes to the slash and drive. He is rebounding very well for the Huskies, but his free throw shooting has been terrible. For a shooting guard he sure does need to work on the easy ones. Personally, it seems like an attitude thing. He spends too much time before the first shot talking with people rather than concentrating on the shot.
Venoy Overton seems slower than in years previous. This is probably due to his ham string injury preseason and his bruised tailbone from the Eastern Washington game. He still has problems turning the ball over, but it is slowly improving. Offensively he is about the same, a little more confident in his shots. Overton had an open three point attempt, but opted to dish it off to an open C.J. Wilcox who drained the shot. He is becoming an assist king, something that is very valuable especially on a team of scoring juggernauts.
So what does the LBSU game mean for UW? It was a good recovery game after two close, tough losses for UW. They did what any great team should do against an inferior opponent, they crushed them. They weren't perfect in every way, but they scored well and did a pretty good job on defense. It was a 27 point win, with 44 points off the bench and 58% of all shots made were assisted.
I'll get a post up about what we saw at Maui tomorrow along with a preview of the Texas Tech game.
C.J. Wilcox sent a message to Romar on Tuesday that his measly 3 minutes against MSU was a mistake by Romar and an opportunity missed. Romar made a bold move to bring C.J. in so suddenly off the bench after not playing the entire game. For whatever reason, Romar seems to have forgotten about the shooting ace sitting on the bench. C.J. showed that his air ball against MSU was a mistake due to a cold arm from sitting for so long.
Romar gave C.J. 23 minutes to put on a show against LBSU and boy did he do a great job. 7 for 9 shooting including 6 for 8 from downtown to set a new career high of 20 points. The only blemish on his performance were the 4 turnovers. These can be excused due to his otherwise stellar offense and much improved defense. C.J. has shown great improvement on the defensive edge since the exhibition and opening game. He is quick on his feet, gets low on the ball and moves well around screens.
Terrence Ross is still struggling a bit offensively, but I like his willingness to pull up and shoot even under pressure. Once he finds his stroke and his shots start dropping we will see him take more minutes. He plays superb defense and it is because of his defense that he garners as many minutes as he does. He has the length and athleticism to make plays and shut down players. He plays like a taller version of Venoy in my opinion. Ross has prove he can score, he is just inconsistent. Against Virginia Ross went 4 for 7 from the field, all the makes came from his 4 for 5 shooting from range. Ross gets shots and makes shots because he cuts well off screens and puts himself into positions where he has a half step lead on his man, more than enough for him to elevate over the defender to get up the shot.
This is a slightly different approach than C.J. takes. C.J. tends to do more work moving around the perimeter and letting a collapse in the middle lead to him opening up.
Both Ross and C.J. are more than willing and more than capable of running the ball up the court and pulling up 20 feet out and popping off a shot almost immediately without running a set offense. This wasn't seen as much by C.J. in the LBSU game, but he pulled similar stunts against McNeese.
Scott Suggs looks to be riding the pine for most of the year yet again. A lot of people were hopeful that his statements of an improved offense and more complete game would mean some more minutes for the junior, but the fresh, young talent on the Husky team seems to be better prepared to take over than Suggs is. Suggs simply hasn't show the strength and athleticism to create his own shots and despite a few driving lay-ins this year, he has again fallen into the role of a shop up shooter. We don't need a spot up shooter this year, we have 7 other people on the team that have proven they can shoot the long ball. What we need are play makers and athlete who can influence the field of play on both ends of the court.
To me, the drop from 10 to 9 is not going to result in much change for the team. Everyone will be playing in a lot of games this year we are going to have several more blowouts before all is said and done, that is for sure. The Pac-10 has 4 good teams this year, 2 mediocre teams, and 4 bad teams. The bad and mediocre teams should offer no real resistance to the Huskies so long as they keep their heads and don't look past their opponents before the game has taken place. The change means more minutes for certain players and much less for others and in my opinion the minutes are in favor of Wilcox and Ross at the moment, leaving Suggs to prove himself in practice and garbage minutes to earn more time. However; we should not concern ourselves to much with this matter at the moment as Suggs is currently suffering from an injured MCL and will not be playing. It looks improbable that he will be recovered enough to try and pay Saturday against Texas Tech.
So what else did we learn from the LBSU game?
Our team as a whole is rebounding fairly well. We are averaging almost 41 boards a game, a lot of this is still due to the McNeese state game. This comes from the fact that we have 10 players grabbing 3 or more boards, 3 of those grabbing 6 or more. Those three are Justin Holiday, Aziz N'Diaye, and Matthew Bryan-Amaning. In order to take the next step from good overall rebounding to great overall rebounding, we need to pick up another 4 boards a game simple as that. Against LBSU we barely won the rebounding battle 36-30. We shot well for the game, so there were less board to go around, yet I really would like to see us out rebound these lesser caliber teams by 10+ boards on 40+ rebound nights. MBA had another subpar rebounding night, nabbing only 5 boards. Aziz was rendered inefficient as well, only grabbing 1 board in 13 minutes of play. This cannot happen to us against competitive teams.
So why are our post players have trouble cleaning the glass? A lot has to do with our post players mentality when it comes to what role they need to perform on the court. Both MBA and Aziz seems to be more focused on the shot block than boxing out. While I do enjoy swats, we are putting too many defenders on penetrating guards. Our big men need to focus on preventing their assignment from getting position on them and box out to get the board. If an open man is penetrating or our defender is going to be beat, instead of helping out, BOX OUT! Trust your teammates to alter the shot enough that it will clank around. Get the ball and take away some opportunities from our opponents.
On the offensive end things are a bit different. Our big guys need to open up the field with screens then roll back into the middle, looking for the open shot and if it isn't available, using the pick and roll to gain position on your defender so when the ball is finally shot you are in place to grab it for the put back.
MBA may not be the biggest post player around, but he has the size and strength to compete with most college level 5's, it's simply a matter of knowing how to get in position and using your strength to enforce your will on people. That is what Jon Brockman did, he may only be 6'7'', but he was strong and knew how to get to where the ball will be heading. He broke noses, he hurt feelings, but that man gave his all out there and out played guys much taller than he is. He is still doing that today in the NBA.
Aziz has the strength AND height to get 10+ boards a game. His quickness and lengthy body combined with his freakish strength should make him a superb rebounder. He is still learning positioning and with time he will improve his consistency on the glass. We need a big step up in his game, 8 or more boards a game would give us a huge advantage whether he starts or not. Getting both him and MBA to an 8+ board average would do wonders for our success.
Speaking of Aziz, I liked him starting. I think it keeps guards from getting in a rhythm early due to his immense presence in the center of the court. It makes MBA come off the bench with something to prove. It also means that if MBA can step up his offensive game against tougher opponents, we could be slightly better coming off the bench. We don't necessarily need Aziz to put up big offensive numbers, 6 to 8 a game would be great. Enough that the opposition has to put a few bodies on him down low to prevent easy baskets. He has the size to really use the old fashion sky hook effectively. It is a tool I would love to see him master, you'll be hard pressed to find a player who can defend against a 7 footer extending his arms to their maximum reach.
Something else Aziz need work on is softening his hands. Several turnovers were committed when Aziz couldn't handle a pass. Some were difficult passes he wasn't expecting, such as Holiday elevating and faking the shot to dump off the ball to Aziz. Once Aziz learns to expect these passes I think the problem will go away, but Romar should spend time working with Aziz on receiving hard passes from skilled guards.
Holiday continues to be one of the more consistent members of the squad. He had 0 first half points, but finished with double digit scoring. What he brings is more than just an offensive shot, he brings excellent defense, good court vision, high basketball IQ, and the heart and tenacity to pump up teammates and bring down opponents. If UW was to name an MVP right now, I might name Holiday simply for his consistent play game in, game out.
Darnell Gant has continued his somewhat surprising offensive performances. He has made 6 of the last 7 attempts from behind the arc and has put up 10+ points in the bast three games. He was one of the better players in Maui, especially against UK and MSU, getting open and creating shots for himself. Darnell isn't a greedy player by any means, all his shots have been good shots and he has done an amazing job of converting those shots into points. The better he plays on offense the more minutes he can expect to play. We know him as a great defender, but adding in this deadly offensive ability makes him that much more of a complete player. If he can continue to excel against tough competition we can expect to see him in the closing minutes of tight games. He has been a great starter once again, offering up stiff defense and shut down ability. What we need from him is rebounding. He has not been a great rebounder during his career at UW. If he can start grabbing 5 a game I'll be a happy clam.
Isaiah Thomas struggled mightily from range on Tuesday going 0 for 6, yet he still gets 19 points. Say what you will about the kid, but he finds a way to score. His driving ability has been under a bit of criticism after the UK and MSU game. The fact of the matter is UK and MSU offered up size and skill for the first time in the season for I.T. and the Dawgs in general. Going against players with size is a lot different and much more difficult when it comes to the slash and drive. He is rebounding very well for the Huskies, but his free throw shooting has been terrible. For a shooting guard he sure does need to work on the easy ones. Personally, it seems like an attitude thing. He spends too much time before the first shot talking with people rather than concentrating on the shot.
Venoy Overton seems slower than in years previous. This is probably due to his ham string injury preseason and his bruised tailbone from the Eastern Washington game. He still has problems turning the ball over, but it is slowly improving. Offensively he is about the same, a little more confident in his shots. Overton had an open three point attempt, but opted to dish it off to an open C.J. Wilcox who drained the shot. He is becoming an assist king, something that is very valuable especially on a team of scoring juggernauts.
So what does the LBSU game mean for UW? It was a good recovery game after two close, tough losses for UW. They did what any great team should do against an inferior opponent, they crushed them. They weren't perfect in every way, but they scored well and did a pretty good job on defense. It was a 27 point win, with 44 points off the bench and 58% of all shots made were assisted.
I'll get a post up about what we saw at Maui tomorrow along with a preview of the Texas Tech game.
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