Arizona State is 9-9 on the year and 1-5 in conference with their lone win coming over Oregon on the road. The most recently lost to WSU by 17 in a 78-61 game.
ASU only has 3 players who have competed in all 18 games this year, a little strange considering a team needs 5 players on the court to start the game (yes this is not always true, but for college it essentially is). Those 3 players are Rihards Kuksiks, Kyle Cain, and Ruslan Pateev.
ASU is led in scoring by Ty Abbott with 13.5 points per game, followed closely by Trent Lockett with 13.3 points per game. Kuksiks is the only other major point contributor with 9.4 per game. ASU is a low scoring team, averaging 63 per game and only 58 in conference.
ASU does not rebound extremely well either, averaging only 33 per game. Kyle Cain is picking up 6.2 per game and Lockett adds 5.6 boards per match up. To say the least, this is a big opportunity for our bigs to put up some big rebounding numbers as ASU lacks a strong post player with rebounding talents.
Both Abbott and Kuksiks are strong outside shooters. Kuksiks really took it to the Dawgs last time, if my memory serves me well. Both are shooting around 40% from range. Abbott is 48 of 120, while Kuksiks has made 43 of 112 attempts from range.
Thankfully, ASU is a terrible free throw shooting team as well, with only two players near or above 75% on the year. Kuksiks leads the team with 81% and Carrick Felix is 74% on the season.
ASU does not have any stand out players except for Rihards Kuksiks and he is only mildly impressive. Much like Jorge Guitierrez of Cal, Kuksiks is good because he has to be. At least that is how I see it. He shoot well from outside, but doesn't do much more.
Jamelle McMillian is a fairly good point guard, averaging 4.2 assists and 1.5 turnovers per game. He only scores 6.2 points per game.
Starting Line Ups
Arizona State
Jamelle McMillian 6-2 180lb G
Ty Abbott 6-3 205lb G
Trent Lockett 6-3 210lb G
Rihards Kuksiks 6-6 206lb G/F
Ruslan Pateev 7-0 249lb C
Washington
Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185lb G
Scott Suggs 6-6 195lb G
Justin Holiday 6-6 185lb F
Matthew Bryan-Amaning 6-9 240lb F
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb C
Keys to the Game
Rebounding
As usual, rebounding will be key. Unlike the Arizona game, ASU does not have a dominate rebounding force, nor are they a highly competitive team for UW. Regardless, more rebounds = more chances for us and less for ASU. Personally, I would love to see a 15 board advantage by games end including 10+ for both MBA and Aziz. I think it is very plausible for both as Aziz was able to play 27 minutes by avoiding foul trouble. He and MBA combined for 15 boards last game against a strong Arizona frontcourt. Pateev, despite being 7 feet tall, only picks up 2.3 boards per game.
Outside Defense
This is one of the few places ASU could hurt us. As I stated earlier, Kuksiks was on fire from range last time the teams met and along with Abbott there could be a closer game if they are hitting. Strong outside, man to man defense will be key in preventing this. I think putting Suggs in the starting 5 will help prevent this as he is a taller defender and can get his hand up higher.
Push the Middle
This has been working extremely well for the Huskies as I.T. has really stepped up his passing game, creating hell for the opposition. With UW having a big size advantage inside there is a big opportunity for MBA and/or Aziz to put up major numbers. Once our bigs get going or I.T. is slashing the court up, ASU will be forced to double up on the defenders or resort to a zone, giving out shooters space to put up their shots.
Outside Shooting
Once the middle is strong we need to take advantage by abusing ASU from range. Holiday has been shooting well and I.T. as well. Hopefully C.J. Wilcox can break out of his slump and move his way back up the rotation. Let it rain, Dawgs.
Free Throw Shooting
Thank goodness Thursday's game was not a close one or our FT shooting would have killed us. I.T. had a now unusual off night and MBA continued to shoot around 50%. Holiday and Ross were very solid. Let's hope I.T. corrects his mistakes and the rest of the team can hit well.
A quick side note for those who missed the game Thursday. MBA was fouled hard on a break away and had an eye problem. He went to the sideline to get it checked out. The refs did not call a medical timeout and I.T. stepped to the line and for whatever reason the refs gave him the ball. I.T. shot it and missed, then told the refs I'm not the shooter. The refs were pissed I.T. was making them look bad. MBA got fixed up and hit both free throws. Hilarious.
Ball Handling
UW had some early miscues and mishandles early in the UA game and it kept UA in it til late. In the second half they cleaned up their play and, no surprise, they dominated. Handling the ball well will mean a blow out on Saturday as UW is statistically superior in every way.
Final Thoughts
This should be an easy game for UW, but they cannot afford to over look ASU. As long as they play with the toughness and tenacity they brought against UA, the Dawgs will not have any problems handling ASU. We will likely see big numbers from I.T., MBA, and Holiday again and I think we could see some solid numbers from Aziz and either Ross or Suggs. I think Wilcox is having some confidence issues that aren't quite dealt with yet and it may take another few games of slow, steady progress to get back to where he was. He is a freshman and has plenty of time to reemerge as a dominant, offensive threat. With good passing, strong post play, and some decent outside shooting the Huskies should have this one in the bag big and early. I think this is another Pac-10 team we could drop 100 on. ASU does not have a lot of size, experience, or talent. They are rebuilding after losing Derrick Glasser and the other ASU seniors.
Final Score UW-104 ASU-66
Links
Dirt: http://tinyurl.com/DPD-ASU
Friday, January 21, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
University of Arizona Review
Final Score: UW-85 UA-68
What a battle. That was a great game, a ton of fun to be at and it has big implications for the remainder of the season. The Huskies did a terrific job of shutting down Derrick Williams in the first half with a combination of defensive efforts from Aziz, MBA, and a zone. Even Gant posted up on him a few times. Williams, being the great player he is, came out storming the second half. Williams eventually picked up 4 fouls and Sean Miller subbed him in and out on offense/defense. Williams finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Like I said he can have his 20 and 10, we got the win. We also had 2-20+ point scorers ourselves.
Isaiah Thomas led the way again with his second straight double, scoring 22 and dishing out 10 assists. He had a rough night at the free throw line, but limited his turnovers and was a floor general once more. Justin Holiday also added 22 points, 3 assists, 2 boards, 2 steals, a huge block, and one turnover. MBA added 18 points and 7 boards, 4 offensive.
Aziz led the team in rebounding tonight with 8, 6 defensive. He played great on defense and did not pick up a single foul until the second half. He only scored 2 points, but did exactly what we needed him to. He clogged the lane, forced Williams to look elsewhere, shut him down in the first half, and rebounded well.
Darnell Gant showed up huge off the bench once more, grabbing 6 boards. He had a bad turnover, but blocked the shot, IT recovered it and brought it up the floor. Darnell was waiting in the corner where he nailed a 3 pointer. Beautiful.
Speaking of beautiful, two of IT's assists led to monstrous alley oops. The first was to...Venoy Overton. Sweet Jesus it was absurd. 5-9 to 6-0. Boom. The second was a little floater on a drive to MBA who came flying in from the side to jam it home. BOOM!
Terrence Ross was fairly solid off the bench, scoring 8 on 1-4 shooting and 5-6 from them line. He also had 3 rebounds.
What Needed Improvement
Free Throw Shooting
After several great games, Isaiah started off 1-4. He finished 6-10. MBA was 4-8. Ross was 5-6 and Holiday was 4-5, those are good numbers.
Turnovers
MBA had 5. Bleh. Other than him, no one had more than 2. Isaiah finished with 1 turnover. That gives him a 10/1 assist to turnover ratio. 23/6 over the last two game, approximately 4/1. Damn that's sexy.
What Was Good
The Big Trio
IT, Holiday, and MBA. In today's game they combined for 62 points. In the Cal game they combined for 72. That's 134 points in 2 game. Also, a good stat, IT was a part of 57 points in the Cal game, not sure how many tonight. It is close to 45 or 50 I would imagine. Absurd.
Rebounding
After being down 21-18 in the first, the Dawgs finished strong and won the battle 41-35. Aziz, MBA, and Gant were great and with the help of the rest of the team they pulled off a tough task. I.T. even pulled out 6.
Defense
UW shut Williams down the first half and also kept UA well below their FG average. They also limited their fouling and for the first time in quite a number of games the Huskies shot more free throws than their opponent.
Player by Player Reviews
Venoy Overton
Damn solid night for Venoy Overton. He caught an alley oop for a dunk, dished out 3 assists, and finished with 7 points including a pair of tricky lay-ins, one that was a granny shot. He did pick up 4 fouls as well as 4 boards. His 2 turnovers somewhat dampen his performance, but he was key in picking up the game tempo.
Grade: B+
Justin Holiday
Another solid stat line. 22 points, 3 assists, 2 boards, 2 steals, 1 block, and 1 turnover. He found MBA a few times down low and had a great AND1 basket with about 13 left to quell an Arizona run. He played well on defense and his block was tremendous. It prevented a great scoring opportunity for UA. His second straight 20+ point game.
Grade: A
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
MBA continues to impress. Another night with high scoring a solid rebounding numbers, only a few boards short of a double double. His 5 turnovers were unusual, but its his horrid free throw shooting that concerns me more. He really needs to take a step up in that department. Other than that he had a fantastic night. Several emphatic dunks, most dumped to him by I.T. The alley oop was ridiculous and the reverse was brilliant. Great offense tonight and tight defense.
Grade: A-
Brendan Sherrer
Did not play
Grade: N/A
Scott Suggs
Suggs is a fairly good starter, but he still makes too many mistakes as a point guard. He is too timid and often turns it over under pressure defense. 3 points in 14 minutes. Not too exciting
Grade: C+
Darnell Gant
In my opinion, the 6th Man of the game once again. 6 boards and only 3 points. Those 3 came off of a beautiful 3 pointer given to him by Isaiah. His defensive effort was much needed and his boards even more.
Grade: B+
Isaiah Thomas
MVP of the game. 22 points, 10 assists, 6 boards, 1 steal, 1 turnover. He is playing out of his mind as of late. To say the least, he wants that POY award. If he keeps averaging near 10 assists per game on top of 18+ points he will get it. He drove, he scored, he passed, he hustled. What a player. Minus his poor free throw shooting it was a brilliant night.
Grade: A+
Aziz N'Diaye
A great game for the big man. 8 boards in 27 minutes as well as a block or two. Only a pair of points, but that's not what he is there for. His points came off a nice put back. His defense was the best aspect of his game and was crucial in shutting down Williams. He finished with only 2 fouls and showed a lot more body control and poise to avoid those silly fouls.
Grade: B+
Antoine Hosley
Did not play.
Grade: N/A
C.J. Wilcox
Something just isn't clicking how it was. Wilcox was again scoreless and just can't seem to get the rhythm he had. Something needs to change. Someone needs to get his shot back and get him some confidence. Only 8 minutes.
Grade: C-
Terrence Ross
A pretty good night for Ross. He forced fouls, took shots, and rebounded a bit. He got beat a few times on D getting back and was forced to foul himself. He is still improving, but like a stick off dynamite can go off any time for huge numbers.
Grade: B
Final Thoughts
It was close for a bit, but Arizona is a tad too one dimensional to hang with UW. We played great D, shot fairly well, and did the things we needed to win. A 17 point win is fairly decisive, especially when you consider we missed 11 free throws. That's a possible 28 point blowout. The game was physical and the refs let it play out for the most part which was nice to see. This win will go a long ways toward winning the title.
Ernie Kent was not doing color commentary today, Kim Grinolds lied. He is here on Saturday and it is his birthday. Romar requested we not bring up any "ghosts". No promises. Sorry, coach.
UW now has a 1.5 game lead on second place. A nice cushion we need to build on.
Links
Highlights : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMriDGDNaWU&feature=feedu
More Highlights : http://www.athletixnation.com/video/757168437001
Percy Allen : http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskymensbasketballblog/2013992868_sean_miller_on.html
Montlake : http://www.montlakemadness.com/dawgs-make-it-rain-on-cats/
What a battle. That was a great game, a ton of fun to be at and it has big implications for the remainder of the season. The Huskies did a terrific job of shutting down Derrick Williams in the first half with a combination of defensive efforts from Aziz, MBA, and a zone. Even Gant posted up on him a few times. Williams, being the great player he is, came out storming the second half. Williams eventually picked up 4 fouls and Sean Miller subbed him in and out on offense/defense. Williams finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Like I said he can have his 20 and 10, we got the win. We also had 2-20+ point scorers ourselves.
Isaiah Thomas led the way again with his second straight double, scoring 22 and dishing out 10 assists. He had a rough night at the free throw line, but limited his turnovers and was a floor general once more. Justin Holiday also added 22 points, 3 assists, 2 boards, 2 steals, a huge block, and one turnover. MBA added 18 points and 7 boards, 4 offensive.
Aziz led the team in rebounding tonight with 8, 6 defensive. He played great on defense and did not pick up a single foul until the second half. He only scored 2 points, but did exactly what we needed him to. He clogged the lane, forced Williams to look elsewhere, shut him down in the first half, and rebounded well.
Darnell Gant showed up huge off the bench once more, grabbing 6 boards. He had a bad turnover, but blocked the shot, IT recovered it and brought it up the floor. Darnell was waiting in the corner where he nailed a 3 pointer. Beautiful.
Speaking of beautiful, two of IT's assists led to monstrous alley oops. The first was to...Venoy Overton. Sweet Jesus it was absurd. 5-9 to 6-0. Boom. The second was a little floater on a drive to MBA who came flying in from the side to jam it home. BOOM!
Terrence Ross was fairly solid off the bench, scoring 8 on 1-4 shooting and 5-6 from them line. He also had 3 rebounds.
What Needed Improvement
Free Throw Shooting
After several great games, Isaiah started off 1-4. He finished 6-10. MBA was 4-8. Ross was 5-6 and Holiday was 4-5, those are good numbers.
Turnovers
MBA had 5. Bleh. Other than him, no one had more than 2. Isaiah finished with 1 turnover. That gives him a 10/1 assist to turnover ratio. 23/6 over the last two game, approximately 4/1. Damn that's sexy.
What Was Good
The Big Trio
IT, Holiday, and MBA. In today's game they combined for 62 points. In the Cal game they combined for 72. That's 134 points in 2 game. Also, a good stat, IT was a part of 57 points in the Cal game, not sure how many tonight. It is close to 45 or 50 I would imagine. Absurd.
Rebounding
After being down 21-18 in the first, the Dawgs finished strong and won the battle 41-35. Aziz, MBA, and Gant were great and with the help of the rest of the team they pulled off a tough task. I.T. even pulled out 6.
Defense
UW shut Williams down the first half and also kept UA well below their FG average. They also limited their fouling and for the first time in quite a number of games the Huskies shot more free throws than their opponent.
Player by Player Reviews
Venoy Overton
Damn solid night for Venoy Overton. He caught an alley oop for a dunk, dished out 3 assists, and finished with 7 points including a pair of tricky lay-ins, one that was a granny shot. He did pick up 4 fouls as well as 4 boards. His 2 turnovers somewhat dampen his performance, but he was key in picking up the game tempo.
Grade: B+
Justin Holiday
Another solid stat line. 22 points, 3 assists, 2 boards, 2 steals, 1 block, and 1 turnover. He found MBA a few times down low and had a great AND1 basket with about 13 left to quell an Arizona run. He played well on defense and his block was tremendous. It prevented a great scoring opportunity for UA. His second straight 20+ point game.
Grade: A
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
MBA continues to impress. Another night with high scoring a solid rebounding numbers, only a few boards short of a double double. His 5 turnovers were unusual, but its his horrid free throw shooting that concerns me more. He really needs to take a step up in that department. Other than that he had a fantastic night. Several emphatic dunks, most dumped to him by I.T. The alley oop was ridiculous and the reverse was brilliant. Great offense tonight and tight defense.
Grade: A-
Brendan Sherrer
Did not play
Grade: N/A
Scott Suggs
Suggs is a fairly good starter, but he still makes too many mistakes as a point guard. He is too timid and often turns it over under pressure defense. 3 points in 14 minutes. Not too exciting
Grade: C+
Darnell Gant
In my opinion, the 6th Man of the game once again. 6 boards and only 3 points. Those 3 came off of a beautiful 3 pointer given to him by Isaiah. His defensive effort was much needed and his boards even more.
Grade: B+
Isaiah Thomas
MVP of the game. 22 points, 10 assists, 6 boards, 1 steal, 1 turnover. He is playing out of his mind as of late. To say the least, he wants that POY award. If he keeps averaging near 10 assists per game on top of 18+ points he will get it. He drove, he scored, he passed, he hustled. What a player. Minus his poor free throw shooting it was a brilliant night.
Grade: A+
Aziz N'Diaye
A great game for the big man. 8 boards in 27 minutes as well as a block or two. Only a pair of points, but that's not what he is there for. His points came off a nice put back. His defense was the best aspect of his game and was crucial in shutting down Williams. He finished with only 2 fouls and showed a lot more body control and poise to avoid those silly fouls.
Grade: B+
Antoine Hosley
Did not play.
Grade: N/A
C.J. Wilcox
Something just isn't clicking how it was. Wilcox was again scoreless and just can't seem to get the rhythm he had. Something needs to change. Someone needs to get his shot back and get him some confidence. Only 8 minutes.
Grade: C-
Terrence Ross
A pretty good night for Ross. He forced fouls, took shots, and rebounded a bit. He got beat a few times on D getting back and was forced to foul himself. He is still improving, but like a stick off dynamite can go off any time for huge numbers.
Grade: B
Final Thoughts
It was close for a bit, but Arizona is a tad too one dimensional to hang with UW. We played great D, shot fairly well, and did the things we needed to win. A 17 point win is fairly decisive, especially when you consider we missed 11 free throws. That's a possible 28 point blowout. The game was physical and the refs let it play out for the most part which was nice to see. This win will go a long ways toward winning the title.
Ernie Kent was not doing color commentary today, Kim Grinolds lied. He is here on Saturday and it is his birthday. Romar requested we not bring up any "ghosts". No promises. Sorry, coach.
UW now has a 1.5 game lead on second place. A nice cushion we need to build on.
Links
Highlights : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMriDGDNaWU&feature=feedu
More Highlights : http://www.athletixnation.com/video/757168437001
Percy Allen : http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskymensbasketballblog/2013992868_sean_miller_on.html
Montlake : http://www.montlakemadness.com/dawgs-make-it-rain-on-cats/
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
University of Arizona Preview
In what is arguably the most important conference game this season, UW hosts Arizona, recently ranked number 25 in the ESPN/Coaches Poll. This will likely be the lone game this Pac-10 season where two ranked teams play one another. Whoever wins will stay in the polls while the loser will drop out. This game will be broadcast as the FSN national game. So to say the least, it is a big deal.
Arizona is 15-3 on the year and 4-1 in conference, having lost to Oregon State and most recently beat their rival, ASU, 80-69. The OSU game was lost technically by 1, but only because UA managed to make a 3 pointer at the end of regulation.
When Arizona comes to mind there is one player who everyone knows of and that is Derrick Williams, a favorite for Pac-10 Player of the Year and possible candidate for National Player of the Year. Derrick Williams is a 6-8 241lb F who can shoot from anywhere on the court. He leads the Wildcats in scoring with 19.7 points per game as well as a team high 7.3 rebounds per game. The next highest scorer is Solomon Hill at 8.5 ppg. Solomon is also second on the team in rebounding at 4.7 rpg. To say the Wildcats depend on Williams is a bit of an understatement. He is their core and main option. He has scored more than 14 points in every game this year and has two 31 point games, including Arizona's lone game this past week against Arizona State University.
Williams is shooting 65.8% from the field and 70.8% from beyond the arc, connecting on 17 of 24 shots. Last season Williams only attempted 16 shots, making 4. He has made considerable improvement in that aspect of his game. The biggest way Williams scores is by getting to the line. Not to knock on the guy, he is a hard worker, but it seems as though if someone sneezes on him he will be shooting two. Derrick Williams is like Isaiah Thomas his freshman year, he shoots a lot of free throws. Williams is a solid free throw shooter as well, making 77% of his shots. Against ASU he went 15-16 and at home against Cal he went 16-22. This game, more than any, will need to see our big men avoid foul trouble.
Williams is also rated as the number 1 player in the nation in effective offense by KenPom.
UA runs a 10 man rotation with no player receiving less 12 minutes per game. There are 5 players that contribute significant amounts of points (~8 ppg or more) and 4 of them are starters. The bench for Arizona, while deep, is not extremely talented. Jamelle Horne is UA's 6th man and scores 7.6 ppg in 19 minutes of play. He is also third in rebounding at 4.3 rpg.
Where UW will be able to take the biggest advantage is our senior backcourt. Arizona is somewhat turnover prone, averaging 14 per game, led by Williams at 2.4 per game and Lamont Jones at 2.2 per game.
Arizona is a tall team with their shortest player coming in at 6-0. They have a 7-0 player, but he has only played in a few games and averages 6 minutes per game.
Starting Line Ups
Arizona
Lamont Jones 6-0 196lb G
Kyle Fogg 6-3 180lb G
Solomon Hill 6-6 226lb F
Jesse Perry 6-7 210lb F
Derrick Williams 6-8 241lb F
Washington
Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185lb G
Scott Suggs 6-6 195lb G
Justin Holiday 6-6 185lb F
Matthew Bryan-Amaning 6-9 240lb F
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb C
Keys to the Game
Rebounding
Washington has done a great job of late out rebounding opponents and rates second in the conference in rebounding margin, narrowly behind Arizona. Williams will get his boards no doubt, Washington needs to capitalize on boxing out as best they can to maximize their opportunities. Williams can have his 9 or 10 boards as long as we win the game and battle of the boards. We rebound very well by committee. If Darnell Gant and Terrence Ross can continue to pick up a combined 10+ boards off the bench we will be in good shape. This could be a high scoring game and second chance opportunities will have a profound effect on the outcome of the game.
Free Throw Shooting
Arizona is a great FT shooting team. They are currently shooting 75.7%, while the Huskies are shooting a miserable 65.2%. There have been marked improvements by the team in their free throw shooting, especially Isaiah Thomas who I talked about in my last post. This will likely be a close game and free throws will be extremely important. We cannot afford to miss our shots because Arizona won't that is for sure.
Passing/Ball Control
After Isaiah's brilliant performance with 13 assists it seems as though he is unstoppable. He had 5 turnovers, but those were negated by his assists, rebounds, and steals. With Arizona having a young backcourt, UW is in prime position to get in transition by forcing turnovers. We need to first pass well on offense and keep control of the ball. Limiting our turnovers means less touches for Arizona and Derrick Williams.
Push the Middle
Williams is a good defender, but a better offensive threat. The biggest and best way to negate his presence is not by trying to double team him, rather make him foul. Isaiah can lead the way by driving the lane and dishing out, forcing Williams out of position and hopefully picking up a few fouls. MBA and Aziz need to see the ball often, especially MBA as he has the talents to pick up fouls better than Aziz.
Fouling
In the same vein as the last, we need to limit our fouling as Williams will kill us at the line. Even with the home court advantage that usually occurs with foul calls, Williams will still see 8+ shots at the free throw line.
Outside Shooting
Arizona is shooting 38.9% from range. They can drain the ball. UW can drain it better. Against Cal, our 3 point shooting showed up as it had earlier in the year and it paid off in dividends. If we can shoot that well again, as we usually do at home, we will be feeling much better.
Final Thoughts
This will be a tough battle, no doubt about it. Could we win by double digits? Yes we can, it all depends on how well our post players show up. Williams is going to score and rebound. He is a great player and is near impossible to stop. It is up to our post players to negate his effort by putting up great numbers themselves. Get him fouls and keep the ball from getting to him. That's how you stop Williams. Arizona will need big games from someone other than Williams to pull off the upset, in my mind. MBA, IT, and Holiday have been playing great the past week and I hope they have the same, if not more intense mentality, coming into this game. Is this make or break for winning the Pac-10 title? I don't think so, but it will be a contributing factor. The key to winning the title is win all the home games and at least split all the road trips. So far UW has picked up two big road wins in LA, something Arizona has not had to do yet. Montlake Madness has a good article on this that I will post a link to at the bottom.
Final Score Prediction
UW-83 UA-77
I think the Huskies will be able to win this, it'll be tough, but at home we have a great advantage. The crowd needs to come rocking. If we do manage to shut down Williams one way or another this game could get to be a bit of a blowout. We shall wait and see. I think Suggs will start to avoid a big size differential. Overton does really well off the bench and offers good support for Isaiah when he needs it. Suggs also gives us a better outside shooter to start the game.
Ernie Kent will be doing Color Commentary for the game tomorrow. Bring your sombreros, Dawg Pack. Ole!
Links
Montlake http://www.montlakemadness.com/how-big-is-the-zona-game/
For Dawg Pack Members: New Chant Reminder http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggl6VG0zUTw
Dirt: http://tinyurl.com/DawgPackDirtUA
Arizona is 15-3 on the year and 4-1 in conference, having lost to Oregon State and most recently beat their rival, ASU, 80-69. The OSU game was lost technically by 1, but only because UA managed to make a 3 pointer at the end of regulation.
When Arizona comes to mind there is one player who everyone knows of and that is Derrick Williams, a favorite for Pac-10 Player of the Year and possible candidate for National Player of the Year. Derrick Williams is a 6-8 241lb F who can shoot from anywhere on the court. He leads the Wildcats in scoring with 19.7 points per game as well as a team high 7.3 rebounds per game. The next highest scorer is Solomon Hill at 8.5 ppg. Solomon is also second on the team in rebounding at 4.7 rpg. To say the Wildcats depend on Williams is a bit of an understatement. He is their core and main option. He has scored more than 14 points in every game this year and has two 31 point games, including Arizona's lone game this past week against Arizona State University.
Williams is shooting 65.8% from the field and 70.8% from beyond the arc, connecting on 17 of 24 shots. Last season Williams only attempted 16 shots, making 4. He has made considerable improvement in that aspect of his game. The biggest way Williams scores is by getting to the line. Not to knock on the guy, he is a hard worker, but it seems as though if someone sneezes on him he will be shooting two. Derrick Williams is like Isaiah Thomas his freshman year, he shoots a lot of free throws. Williams is a solid free throw shooter as well, making 77% of his shots. Against ASU he went 15-16 and at home against Cal he went 16-22. This game, more than any, will need to see our big men avoid foul trouble.
Williams is also rated as the number 1 player in the nation in effective offense by KenPom.
UA runs a 10 man rotation with no player receiving less 12 minutes per game. There are 5 players that contribute significant amounts of points (~8 ppg or more) and 4 of them are starters. The bench for Arizona, while deep, is not extremely talented. Jamelle Horne is UA's 6th man and scores 7.6 ppg in 19 minutes of play. He is also third in rebounding at 4.3 rpg.
Where UW will be able to take the biggest advantage is our senior backcourt. Arizona is somewhat turnover prone, averaging 14 per game, led by Williams at 2.4 per game and Lamont Jones at 2.2 per game.
Arizona is a tall team with their shortest player coming in at 6-0. They have a 7-0 player, but he has only played in a few games and averages 6 minutes per game.
Starting Line Ups
Arizona
Lamont Jones 6-0 196lb G
Kyle Fogg 6-3 180lb G
Solomon Hill 6-6 226lb F
Jesse Perry 6-7 210lb F
Derrick Williams 6-8 241lb F
Washington
Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185lb G
Scott Suggs 6-6 195lb G
Justin Holiday 6-6 185lb F
Matthew Bryan-Amaning 6-9 240lb F
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb C
Keys to the Game
Rebounding
Washington has done a great job of late out rebounding opponents and rates second in the conference in rebounding margin, narrowly behind Arizona. Williams will get his boards no doubt, Washington needs to capitalize on boxing out as best they can to maximize their opportunities. Williams can have his 9 or 10 boards as long as we win the game and battle of the boards. We rebound very well by committee. If Darnell Gant and Terrence Ross can continue to pick up a combined 10+ boards off the bench we will be in good shape. This could be a high scoring game and second chance opportunities will have a profound effect on the outcome of the game.
Free Throw Shooting
Arizona is a great FT shooting team. They are currently shooting 75.7%, while the Huskies are shooting a miserable 65.2%. There have been marked improvements by the team in their free throw shooting, especially Isaiah Thomas who I talked about in my last post. This will likely be a close game and free throws will be extremely important. We cannot afford to miss our shots because Arizona won't that is for sure.
Passing/Ball Control
After Isaiah's brilliant performance with 13 assists it seems as though he is unstoppable. He had 5 turnovers, but those were negated by his assists, rebounds, and steals. With Arizona having a young backcourt, UW is in prime position to get in transition by forcing turnovers. We need to first pass well on offense and keep control of the ball. Limiting our turnovers means less touches for Arizona and Derrick Williams.
Push the Middle
Williams is a good defender, but a better offensive threat. The biggest and best way to negate his presence is not by trying to double team him, rather make him foul. Isaiah can lead the way by driving the lane and dishing out, forcing Williams out of position and hopefully picking up a few fouls. MBA and Aziz need to see the ball often, especially MBA as he has the talents to pick up fouls better than Aziz.
Fouling
In the same vein as the last, we need to limit our fouling as Williams will kill us at the line. Even with the home court advantage that usually occurs with foul calls, Williams will still see 8+ shots at the free throw line.
Outside Shooting
Arizona is shooting 38.9% from range. They can drain the ball. UW can drain it better. Against Cal, our 3 point shooting showed up as it had earlier in the year and it paid off in dividends. If we can shoot that well again, as we usually do at home, we will be feeling much better.
Final Thoughts
This will be a tough battle, no doubt about it. Could we win by double digits? Yes we can, it all depends on how well our post players show up. Williams is going to score and rebound. He is a great player and is near impossible to stop. It is up to our post players to negate his effort by putting up great numbers themselves. Get him fouls and keep the ball from getting to him. That's how you stop Williams. Arizona will need big games from someone other than Williams to pull off the upset, in my mind. MBA, IT, and Holiday have been playing great the past week and I hope they have the same, if not more intense mentality, coming into this game. Is this make or break for winning the Pac-10 title? I don't think so, but it will be a contributing factor. The key to winning the title is win all the home games and at least split all the road trips. So far UW has picked up two big road wins in LA, something Arizona has not had to do yet. Montlake Madness has a good article on this that I will post a link to at the bottom.
Final Score Prediction
UW-83 UA-77
I think the Huskies will be able to win this, it'll be tough, but at home we have a great advantage. The crowd needs to come rocking. If we do manage to shut down Williams one way or another this game could get to be a bit of a blowout. We shall wait and see. I think Suggs will start to avoid a big size differential. Overton does really well off the bench and offers good support for Isaiah when he needs it. Suggs also gives us a better outside shooter to start the game.
Ernie Kent will be doing Color Commentary for the game tomorrow. Bring your sombreros, Dawg Pack. Ole!
Links
Montlake http://www.montlakemadness.com/how-big-is-the-zona-game/
For Dawg Pack Members: New Chant Reminder http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggl6VG0zUTw
Dirt: http://tinyurl.com/DawgPackDirtUA
Monday, January 17, 2011
Isaiah Thomas's Free Throw Percentage
After going 8-8 from the line in his last game, Isaiah has really shown just how hard work and the willingness to tweak traditions can turn a player's game up a notch. I first noticed his new free throw motion in the home game against San Fransisco, but I believe he also used it during the Texas A&M game. I was too busy stressing about other parts of our game to really appreciate the 16-16 effort our team had from the free throw line.
Here are a few stats.
Isaiah is currently shooting 80.5% since changing his form (not including A&M). 33/41
Isaiah is shooting 83.7% including the A&M game. 41/49
Before changing his motion, Isaiah was shooting 61.7% (not including A&M). 29/47
Including A&M he was shooting 67.3%. 37/55
His percentage jumped up nearly 15% by adding a four second count after his dribbles instead of shooting straight off the dribble. Those extra few seconds allow him to concentrate on the shot and the significance is easily seen.
So to Isaiah, I say, thank you for making me a believer again. I criticized your free throw shooting early in the year and you have turned it around and are shooting great from the line. Keep it up.
Here are a few stats.
Isaiah is currently shooting 80.5% since changing his form (not including A&M). 33/41
Isaiah is shooting 83.7% including the A&M game. 41/49
Before changing his motion, Isaiah was shooting 61.7% (not including A&M). 29/47
Including A&M he was shooting 67.3%. 37/55
His percentage jumped up nearly 15% by adding a four second count after his dribbles instead of shooting straight off the dribble. Those extra few seconds allow him to concentrate on the shot and the significance is easily seen.
So to Isaiah, I say, thank you for making me a believer again. I criticized your free throw shooting early in the year and you have turned it around and are shooting great from the line. Keep it up.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
University of California-Berkeley Review
Final Score UW-92 Cal-71
What a bounce back after one of the worst performances of the season on Thursday. The extra day on the road didn't seem to affect the Huskies at all, if anything they got that much better. The Huskies shot really well going 52.3% from the field and 44.8% from range (34-65 and 13-29). They rebounded well, winning that battle 43-27. They defended well, finishing with 6 steals and 3 blocks as well as forcing 12 turnovers. They passed well, by they I mean Isaiah who finished with 13 of the 20 assists.
The team was lead by three players. Isaiah Thomas, Matthew Bryan-Amaning, and Justin Holiday. Just take a look at these stat lines. Justin Holiday: 23 points, 1 steals, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 0 turnovers. Matthew Bryan-Amaning: 22 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal, 0 turnovers. Isaiah Thomas: 27 points, 13 assists (!), 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 5 turnovers. I, for one, am completely OK with 5 turnovers when you dish out 13 assists and score 27 points (and of course win).
Cal offered little resistance as UW went into half leading by 15 (48-33). Harper Kamp had 20 points and 7 boards, while Allen Crabbe had 16 points and 6 boards. Richard Solomon came off the bench and added 14 for the Bears.
Scott Suggs got the start today instead of Venoy Overton. Personally, I think it is a smart move as it gives us a solid point guard off the bench. Though neither Overton nor Suggs contributed much in terms of stats, their presence allowed I.T. to play some shooting guard and opened him up for a few more scoring opportunities.
Aziz N'Diaye struggled again, finishing with 1 point on split free throws and 3 boards. He did do a great job of taking space on defense and drawing pressure on offense. He fouled out with 8:24 left to play.
What Was Good
Shooting
For the first time in a while the Huskies found their rhythm from range. Holiday lead the way going 5 for 8 from downtown. I.T. added 3 on 9 attempts. Darnell Gant, Terrence Ross, C.J. Wilcox, Overton, and Suggs each added 1. MBA was 10-15. I.T. was 8-16. Holiday was 9-14. C.J. missed his first pair of shots, but drained the third, hopefully signaling the end of his slump. Holiday opened the half receiving 2 passes from I.T. and draining both 3 pointers back to back.
Passing
While I.T. obviously led the way with his 13 assists, the rest of the team did a good job of opening themselves up and moving the ball around. They were able to get it inside with easy, which allowed MBA to take over. Highlight pass has to be I.T. going behind the back to Holiday, who drained the 3.
Rebounding
MBA continued to dominate the boards in conference play, finishing with 11. Gant came off the bench and grabbed 6, a great performance by him. Suggs, Ross, and I.T. all added 4. A +16 margin on a Pac-10 team is fantastic.
I would have liked to have seen us get more offensive boards, finishing only with 9. Usually, Aziz grabs offensive boards at a high rate, but he was fairly ineffective today. We did hold Cal to 6 offensive boards, so that is one positive.
Free Throws
I am mainly talking about I.T. who went 8-8 from the line tonight. He continues to show off the new free throw motion and it continues to be working great for him. I'll have to look at which game he changed and his stats since then. MBA went 2-3, Aziz split his pair, and Ross missed both of his shots.
What Needed Improvement
Fouling
Our bigs found themselves in some foul trouble again, especially Aziz who tends to foul out almost every game. He has not been able to get the position he needs to avoid fouling. Gant also fouled out late in the game. MBA had 3 and I.T. picked up a somewhat surprising 4 fouls, including a charge. Cal got to the line twice as much as us, taking 30 attempts to our 15. With Derrick Williams coming into town Thursday our bigs need to avoid fouling. It seems as though anytime Williams is touched he gets to shoot free throws. I believe he had back to back games where he attempted 22 free throws and finished the nights with 30 and 31 points. While Sherrer may be able to play with some of the Pac-10 frontcourt, Williams would have his way down low if Sherrer was forced to come in.
Player by Player Reviews
Venoy Overton
After starting the few games since Abdul Gaddy's injury, Overton was put back on the bench in favor of Suggs. I agree with the decision. Overton is a solid point guard and coming off the bench allows us to sub out I.T. or Suggs if necessary and not drop off in terms of execution ability. He only scored 3 points on the night and had 2 rebounds on top of an assist and a steal. It was an average night, but with Isaiah stealing the show, its no wonder Overton has not had the best of stats. He did only play 14 minutes. Overall I didn't see anything bad about his game, it just wasn't an outstanding night.
Grade: B
Justin Holiday
Man, what a game for Holiday. He continued the hot streak he found in the second half against Stanford and scored a career high 23 points. He shot extremely well and was the beneficiary of several I.T. dimes. His long range shots meant he was further from the basket and as such he didn't have the chance to grab rebounds like he normally does. Thankfully Gant has toughened up considerably and took over where Holiday left off. Holiday did some nice passing of his own and helped take some of the load off I.T. It was great to see his shot falling again after having had a few sub par shooting nights the last week or two.
Grade: A
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
22 points and 11 rebounds. Another double double for the big Brit. He got his 19th and 20th points along with his 10th rebound in a great put back. He shot 66% from the field and made some nice post moves to get his points. He played one of his better games of the season thanks to I.T. giving him shots left and right. If not for I.T. he would have MVP of the game honors. It is also no surprise that went MBA is shooting and scoring, we are scoring more and winning. Inside-out basketball is the way to play. MBA showed up strong allowing our perimeter play to open up. The big question now is: How will MBA fair Thursday against arguably the best post player in the Pac-10, Derrick Williams? If MBA can be an impacting force on either offense and match Williams' output or on defense by shutting Williams down it should be considered a successful night. If he can do both, it'll be fantastic. If he does neither, I won't be terribly surprised, though I would be a bit disappointed.
Grade: A+
Brendan Sherrer
Saw only a few minutes at the end of the game, despite the foul trouble in the frontcourt. No stats today.
Grade: A for effort
Scott Suggs
Suggs started his first official collegiate game. He did start the exhibition game against St. Martin's, but sadly that game does not count in the record books. Suggs finished on 1 of 3 shooting with 3 points, adding 4 boards, an assist, a steal, and a turnover. He did play 24 minutes and ran the plays a bit at point guard. It's good to see he can run the point when necessary, though his ball handling is a little lower quality than I would like to see. Give him more time and I am sure it will improve.
Grade: B
Darnell Gant
A pretty solid night for the 6-8 junior. Though he only added 5 points and fouled out, he grabbed 6 rebounds. That is a solid stat coming off the bench. If he can continue to perform like that throughout the season he will put up a strong argument for replacing MBA in the starting 5 next season after MBA has graduated. Gant hit a sweet 3 from the top of the key. Good to see his shot is still solid from outside the arc.
Grade: B+
Isaiah Thomas
MVP of the night. Sure, he had 5 turnovers, but he finished with an assist/turnover ratio of 2.6 That is damn impressive. I.T. scored 18 of his 27 points in the first half. 13 assists. Man, I am still amazed. He drove the line, he shot from range, he passed behind his back. He was a BEAST on the court. He played fairly well against Stanford, but this was absurd. I.T. had a great floater over 6-10 Richard Soloman. He "pushed it down" after sinking a nice 3 pointer. He was 3 points shy of his career high set last season against Wright State.
Grade: A+
Aziz N'Diaye
A lack luster night for the 7 footer. He continues to take up space well on defense and prevents the drive that way, but other than that he didn't do terribly much. After showing so much promise in the fouling category, he has fallen back a bit and has fouled out in almost every conference game thus far. If he wants to get more time and put more stats in the book he will need to learn to position himself better and avoid silly fouls.
Grade: C
Antoine Hosley
No stats for the other walk-on either. *EDIT* Hosley did grab a long rebound in the last minute.
Grade: A for effort
C.J. Wilcox
Only 6 minutes, but he did manage 5 points on 2-6 shooting. C.J. still seems to be in a little bit of a slump. His shot does look better though, minus the first airball. Hopefully he is close to being fully healed after his Staph infection. Still not where he was earlier in the season, but that happens with freshmen.
Grade: C+
Terrence Ross
Ross saw the most minutes off the bench, with 17. He finished with 3 points on 1-3 shooting (1-2 from range, 0-2 from the FT line). He rebounded well and handled the ball pretty well. He did have a pair of sloppy turnovers, including one on a drive where he went to dish and lost control of the ball. Ross also added 2 assists. Not a great shooting night, but the one he did hit was an in your face shot that was pretty filthy.
Grade: B-
Final Thoughts
A great way to bounce back after a bad game. They showed great concentration and appeared to be having much more fun with their game. MBA, IT, and Holiday took over and as such no other player scored in double digits and the next closest had 5 (Wilcox and Ross). In games like this, you don't always need bench production in terms of points. The bench did do a good job of rebounding and avoiding turnovers. Sitting at 5-1 with Arizona coming in Thursday at 4-1 gives the game huge implications for the conference title. If UW beats UA, they will be 6-1 with a 1.5 game lead on Arizona while losing gives Arizona a .5 game lead. UW has played extremely well at home this year and hopefully the Dawgs can carry this momentum home with them and build on it with the support of the home crowd.
Video Highlights: http://www.athletixnation.com/video/753288543001
What a bounce back after one of the worst performances of the season on Thursday. The extra day on the road didn't seem to affect the Huskies at all, if anything they got that much better. The Huskies shot really well going 52.3% from the field and 44.8% from range (34-65 and 13-29). They rebounded well, winning that battle 43-27. They defended well, finishing with 6 steals and 3 blocks as well as forcing 12 turnovers. They passed well, by they I mean Isaiah who finished with 13 of the 20 assists.
The team was lead by three players. Isaiah Thomas, Matthew Bryan-Amaning, and Justin Holiday. Just take a look at these stat lines. Justin Holiday: 23 points, 1 steals, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 0 turnovers. Matthew Bryan-Amaning: 22 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal, 0 turnovers. Isaiah Thomas: 27 points, 13 assists (!), 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 5 turnovers. I, for one, am completely OK with 5 turnovers when you dish out 13 assists and score 27 points (and of course win).
Cal offered little resistance as UW went into half leading by 15 (48-33). Harper Kamp had 20 points and 7 boards, while Allen Crabbe had 16 points and 6 boards. Richard Solomon came off the bench and added 14 for the Bears.
Scott Suggs got the start today instead of Venoy Overton. Personally, I think it is a smart move as it gives us a solid point guard off the bench. Though neither Overton nor Suggs contributed much in terms of stats, their presence allowed I.T. to play some shooting guard and opened him up for a few more scoring opportunities.
Aziz N'Diaye struggled again, finishing with 1 point on split free throws and 3 boards. He did do a great job of taking space on defense and drawing pressure on offense. He fouled out with 8:24 left to play.
What Was Good
Shooting
For the first time in a while the Huskies found their rhythm from range. Holiday lead the way going 5 for 8 from downtown. I.T. added 3 on 9 attempts. Darnell Gant, Terrence Ross, C.J. Wilcox, Overton, and Suggs each added 1. MBA was 10-15. I.T. was 8-16. Holiday was 9-14. C.J. missed his first pair of shots, but drained the third, hopefully signaling the end of his slump. Holiday opened the half receiving 2 passes from I.T. and draining both 3 pointers back to back.
Passing
While I.T. obviously led the way with his 13 assists, the rest of the team did a good job of opening themselves up and moving the ball around. They were able to get it inside with easy, which allowed MBA to take over. Highlight pass has to be I.T. going behind the back to Holiday, who drained the 3.
Rebounding
MBA continued to dominate the boards in conference play, finishing with 11. Gant came off the bench and grabbed 6, a great performance by him. Suggs, Ross, and I.T. all added 4. A +16 margin on a Pac-10 team is fantastic.
I would have liked to have seen us get more offensive boards, finishing only with 9. Usually, Aziz grabs offensive boards at a high rate, but he was fairly ineffective today. We did hold Cal to 6 offensive boards, so that is one positive.
Free Throws
I am mainly talking about I.T. who went 8-8 from the line tonight. He continues to show off the new free throw motion and it continues to be working great for him. I'll have to look at which game he changed and his stats since then. MBA went 2-3, Aziz split his pair, and Ross missed both of his shots.
What Needed Improvement
Fouling
Our bigs found themselves in some foul trouble again, especially Aziz who tends to foul out almost every game. He has not been able to get the position he needs to avoid fouling. Gant also fouled out late in the game. MBA had 3 and I.T. picked up a somewhat surprising 4 fouls, including a charge. Cal got to the line twice as much as us, taking 30 attempts to our 15. With Derrick Williams coming into town Thursday our bigs need to avoid fouling. It seems as though anytime Williams is touched he gets to shoot free throws. I believe he had back to back games where he attempted 22 free throws and finished the nights with 30 and 31 points. While Sherrer may be able to play with some of the Pac-10 frontcourt, Williams would have his way down low if Sherrer was forced to come in.
Player by Player Reviews
Venoy Overton
After starting the few games since Abdul Gaddy's injury, Overton was put back on the bench in favor of Suggs. I agree with the decision. Overton is a solid point guard and coming off the bench allows us to sub out I.T. or Suggs if necessary and not drop off in terms of execution ability. He only scored 3 points on the night and had 2 rebounds on top of an assist and a steal. It was an average night, but with Isaiah stealing the show, its no wonder Overton has not had the best of stats. He did only play 14 minutes. Overall I didn't see anything bad about his game, it just wasn't an outstanding night.
Grade: B
Justin Holiday
Man, what a game for Holiday. He continued the hot streak he found in the second half against Stanford and scored a career high 23 points. He shot extremely well and was the beneficiary of several I.T. dimes. His long range shots meant he was further from the basket and as such he didn't have the chance to grab rebounds like he normally does. Thankfully Gant has toughened up considerably and took over where Holiday left off. Holiday did some nice passing of his own and helped take some of the load off I.T. It was great to see his shot falling again after having had a few sub par shooting nights the last week or two.
Grade: A
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
22 points and 11 rebounds. Another double double for the big Brit. He got his 19th and 20th points along with his 10th rebound in a great put back. He shot 66% from the field and made some nice post moves to get his points. He played one of his better games of the season thanks to I.T. giving him shots left and right. If not for I.T. he would have MVP of the game honors. It is also no surprise that went MBA is shooting and scoring, we are scoring more and winning. Inside-out basketball is the way to play. MBA showed up strong allowing our perimeter play to open up. The big question now is: How will MBA fair Thursday against arguably the best post player in the Pac-10, Derrick Williams? If MBA can be an impacting force on either offense and match Williams' output or on defense by shutting Williams down it should be considered a successful night. If he can do both, it'll be fantastic. If he does neither, I won't be terribly surprised, though I would be a bit disappointed.
Grade: A+
Brendan Sherrer
Saw only a few minutes at the end of the game, despite the foul trouble in the frontcourt. No stats today.
Grade: A for effort
Scott Suggs
Suggs started his first official collegiate game. He did start the exhibition game against St. Martin's, but sadly that game does not count in the record books. Suggs finished on 1 of 3 shooting with 3 points, adding 4 boards, an assist, a steal, and a turnover. He did play 24 minutes and ran the plays a bit at point guard. It's good to see he can run the point when necessary, though his ball handling is a little lower quality than I would like to see. Give him more time and I am sure it will improve.
Grade: B
Darnell Gant
A pretty solid night for the 6-8 junior. Though he only added 5 points and fouled out, he grabbed 6 rebounds. That is a solid stat coming off the bench. If he can continue to perform like that throughout the season he will put up a strong argument for replacing MBA in the starting 5 next season after MBA has graduated. Gant hit a sweet 3 from the top of the key. Good to see his shot is still solid from outside the arc.
Grade: B+
Isaiah Thomas
MVP of the night. Sure, he had 5 turnovers, but he finished with an assist/turnover ratio of 2.6 That is damn impressive. I.T. scored 18 of his 27 points in the first half. 13 assists. Man, I am still amazed. He drove the line, he shot from range, he passed behind his back. He was a BEAST on the court. He played fairly well against Stanford, but this was absurd. I.T. had a great floater over 6-10 Richard Soloman. He "pushed it down" after sinking a nice 3 pointer. He was 3 points shy of his career high set last season against Wright State.
Grade: A+
Aziz N'Diaye
A lack luster night for the 7 footer. He continues to take up space well on defense and prevents the drive that way, but other than that he didn't do terribly much. After showing so much promise in the fouling category, he has fallen back a bit and has fouled out in almost every conference game thus far. If he wants to get more time and put more stats in the book he will need to learn to position himself better and avoid silly fouls.
Grade: C
Antoine Hosley
No stats for the other walk-on either. *EDIT* Hosley did grab a long rebound in the last minute.
Grade: A for effort
C.J. Wilcox
Only 6 minutes, but he did manage 5 points on 2-6 shooting. C.J. still seems to be in a little bit of a slump. His shot does look better though, minus the first airball. Hopefully he is close to being fully healed after his Staph infection. Still not where he was earlier in the season, but that happens with freshmen.
Grade: C+
Terrence Ross
Ross saw the most minutes off the bench, with 17. He finished with 3 points on 1-3 shooting (1-2 from range, 0-2 from the FT line). He rebounded well and handled the ball pretty well. He did have a pair of sloppy turnovers, including one on a drive where he went to dish and lost control of the ball. Ross also added 2 assists. Not a great shooting night, but the one he did hit was an in your face shot that was pretty filthy.
Grade: B-
Final Thoughts
A great way to bounce back after a bad game. They showed great concentration and appeared to be having much more fun with their game. MBA, IT, and Holiday took over and as such no other player scored in double digits and the next closest had 5 (Wilcox and Ross). In games like this, you don't always need bench production in terms of points. The bench did do a good job of rebounding and avoiding turnovers. Sitting at 5-1 with Arizona coming in Thursday at 4-1 gives the game huge implications for the conference title. If UW beats UA, they will be 6-1 with a 1.5 game lead on Arizona while losing gives Arizona a .5 game lead. UW has played extremely well at home this year and hopefully the Dawgs can carry this momentum home with them and build on it with the support of the home crowd.
Video Highlights: http://www.athletixnation.com/video/753288543001
Saturday, January 15, 2011
University of California-Berkeley Preview
After a disappointing loss to Stanford, UW is looking to split the Bay area trip with a win over California who is coming off a 7 point win in overtime against WSU. Cal is 9-7 on the year and 2-2 in conference.
Cal is a solid team despite some lack luster performances this year including a 5 point first half against Notre Dame. I am certain, that in 20 minutes, I could put up 5 points.
Cal is lead in scoring by Harper Kamp at 13.4 points per game. Jorge Guitierrez is second with 12.7 points per game. Two other Cal players are scoring 10+ a game. Allen Crabbe is scoring 10.8 per game. Markhuri Sanders-Frision comes in at 10.3 points per game.
Cal rebounds pretty well and are second in the nation at defending against the offensive rebounding, only allowing opponents to grab 23% of their offensive misses. MSF leads Cal with 8.3 boards per game. Kamp is picking up 5.5 and Crabbe is grabbing 5.4 boards per game.
Cal is averaging 14.9 assists and turnovers per game. Jorge Guitierrez is leading Cal in both categories with 4 assists and 3 turnovers per outing. The starting guards for Cal average 6.5 turnovers and 9.2 assists per game.
Cal runs a 9 to 10 man rotation with 7 players getting 15+ minutes per game and 5 significant point contributors (8+ pts per game).
Frision is an undersized center at 6-7, but he weighs 265lbs. Much like Jon Brockman, Frision is able to get position and use his strength to get the boards. At 8.3 rebounds per game he is a threat MBA and Aziz will have to deal with.
Guitierrez has had to step up his game after Cal lost 4 of their 5 starters and something like 90% of their scoring. He went from 5.5 points to 12.7 by necessity and opportunity. Recently he was switched from point guard to shooting guard as he was unsuccessful at the 1. Brandon Smith has stepped in as the starting point guard.
3 players on Cal's team have made 20 or more 3 pointers this season. Jorge Guitierrez is leading in percentage at 20 of 48. Crabbe has the most makes at 29 of 81 attempts. Gary Franklin has made 24 of 82. *Edit* Gary Franklin has transferred to Baylor.
Starting Line Ups
California
Brandon Smith 5-11 185lb PG
Jorge Guitierrez 6-3 195lb SG
Allen Crabbe 6-4 205lb G
Harper Kamp 6-8 245lb F
Markhuri Sanders-Frision 6-7 265lb C
Washington
Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185lb G
Venoy Overton 6-0 185lb G
Justin Holiday 6-6 185lb F
Matthew Bryan-Amaning 6-9 240lb F
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb C
Keys to the Game
Rebounding
Good rebounding against Stanford kept the game manageable as UW won the battle of the boards 33-26. This will be a big factor again as Cal rebounds slightly better than Stanford and is much better on the defensive end. If Aziz and MBA can pick up a bunch of rebounds again, it will be a good starting place for the Dawgs to build off of.
Perimeter Defense
UW did a good job of shutting down Stanford's outside shot, holding them to 2-11. Cal shoots much better from range and has 3 legitimate threats from outside the arc and UW will have its hands full trying to keep a hand in their face. Shutting down the outside shot will force Cal to look inside where our size should give us an advantage.
Ball Handling
UW did a poor job of handling the ball against Stanford, committing 14 turnovers and only completing 11 assists. It seemed as if anytime UW made a great defensive stop or steal they would turn the ball over or miss an easy lay-in. The USC game was the first win where we had more turnovers than assists. When we pass well, we play well and we win. Limiting turnovers is the name of the game.
Force the Middle
I don't mean make unnecessary drives or taking bad shots. I mean get the ball down low to the post players and give them some looks. MBA only took one shot in the second half due to tough defense by Stanford. Without TV coverage it is hard to tell if UW was simply unable to get him and Aziz the ball or if they didn't look to them. Holiday was shooting well, but that doesn't mean ignore MBA who had scored on the first three possessions. With so much extra size on our side down low, UW needs to take advantage of the mismatch and get the big boys rolling.
Bench Production
UW had no production from our bench, though Suggs did hit a pair of big three points including the tying shot with about 1 minute to go. We need Ross, Suggs, or Wilcox to get going and get going early. Without an outside shot presence coming off the bench we lack a good scoring option like we have thrived on in the first half of the year. Even Gant getting some points would be great for the team. Either way we need our bench players to help the starters get points on the board. Cal allows their opponents 66.6 a game and scores 67.6 points per game. UW scores 86.8 and allows 67.4 points per game. The difference in scoring is our bench production. Without our bench, Cal will be right in this game.
Free Throw Shooting
UW went 6-12 from the line. Stanford went 14-21. If UW had matched Stanford percentage (66%) the game would have been tied. Make 75% and UW wins by 1. Overton missed the front end of a 1 and 1. Personally that should count as 2 misses because you can't make what you don't get. Holiday missed the front end of his free throws at the end of the game, forcing him to intentionally miss the second. MBA went 2-4. With him alone we tie the game. 6 missed points, any two of which could have tied it up. UW has struggled with free throws all year and something needs to change if they want to win the close ones.
Final Thoughts
The loss at Stanford hopefully woke the team up a bit and made them realize just how hard they need to work to win games in the Pac-10. No matter how favored they are, UW cannot let up. The Pac-10 teams are by no means slackers, down year or not. Cal could pull the upset if UW doesn't bring their A-game. Get the ball to MBA, let him score. Get hot on the shot. Rebound well.
Final Score Prediction
After the loss to Stanford its hard for me to judge where this game will go. I think UW will show up with a little more intensity and emotion than the last. I'll call it UW over Cal 80-69.
Cal is a solid team despite some lack luster performances this year including a 5 point first half against Notre Dame. I am certain, that in 20 minutes, I could put up 5 points.
Cal is lead in scoring by Harper Kamp at 13.4 points per game. Jorge Guitierrez is second with 12.7 points per game. Two other Cal players are scoring 10+ a game. Allen Crabbe is scoring 10.8 per game. Markhuri Sanders-Frision comes in at 10.3 points per game.
Cal rebounds pretty well and are second in the nation at defending against the offensive rebounding, only allowing opponents to grab 23% of their offensive misses. MSF leads Cal with 8.3 boards per game. Kamp is picking up 5.5 and Crabbe is grabbing 5.4 boards per game.
Cal is averaging 14.9 assists and turnovers per game. Jorge Guitierrez is leading Cal in both categories with 4 assists and 3 turnovers per outing. The starting guards for Cal average 6.5 turnovers and 9.2 assists per game.
Cal runs a 9 to 10 man rotation with 7 players getting 15+ minutes per game and 5 significant point contributors (8+ pts per game).
Frision is an undersized center at 6-7, but he weighs 265lbs. Much like Jon Brockman, Frision is able to get position and use his strength to get the boards. At 8.3 rebounds per game he is a threat MBA and Aziz will have to deal with.
Guitierrez has had to step up his game after Cal lost 4 of their 5 starters and something like 90% of their scoring. He went from 5.5 points to 12.7 by necessity and opportunity. Recently he was switched from point guard to shooting guard as he was unsuccessful at the 1. Brandon Smith has stepped in as the starting point guard.
3 players on Cal's team have made 20 or more 3 pointers this season. Jorge Guitierrez is leading in percentage at 20 of 48. Crabbe has the most makes at 29 of 81 attempts. Gary Franklin has made 24 of 82. *Edit* Gary Franklin has transferred to Baylor.
Starting Line Ups
California
Brandon Smith 5-11 185lb PG
Jorge Guitierrez 6-3 195lb SG
Allen Crabbe 6-4 205lb G
Harper Kamp 6-8 245lb F
Markhuri Sanders-Frision 6-7 265lb C
Washington
Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185lb G
Venoy Overton 6-0 185lb G
Justin Holiday 6-6 185lb F
Matthew Bryan-Amaning 6-9 240lb F
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb C
Keys to the Game
Rebounding
Good rebounding against Stanford kept the game manageable as UW won the battle of the boards 33-26. This will be a big factor again as Cal rebounds slightly better than Stanford and is much better on the defensive end. If Aziz and MBA can pick up a bunch of rebounds again, it will be a good starting place for the Dawgs to build off of.
Perimeter Defense
UW did a good job of shutting down Stanford's outside shot, holding them to 2-11. Cal shoots much better from range and has 3 legitimate threats from outside the arc and UW will have its hands full trying to keep a hand in their face. Shutting down the outside shot will force Cal to look inside where our size should give us an advantage.
Ball Handling
UW did a poor job of handling the ball against Stanford, committing 14 turnovers and only completing 11 assists. It seemed as if anytime UW made a great defensive stop or steal they would turn the ball over or miss an easy lay-in. The USC game was the first win where we had more turnovers than assists. When we pass well, we play well and we win. Limiting turnovers is the name of the game.
Force the Middle
I don't mean make unnecessary drives or taking bad shots. I mean get the ball down low to the post players and give them some looks. MBA only took one shot in the second half due to tough defense by Stanford. Without TV coverage it is hard to tell if UW was simply unable to get him and Aziz the ball or if they didn't look to them. Holiday was shooting well, but that doesn't mean ignore MBA who had scored on the first three possessions. With so much extra size on our side down low, UW needs to take advantage of the mismatch and get the big boys rolling.
Bench Production
UW had no production from our bench, though Suggs did hit a pair of big three points including the tying shot with about 1 minute to go. We need Ross, Suggs, or Wilcox to get going and get going early. Without an outside shot presence coming off the bench we lack a good scoring option like we have thrived on in the first half of the year. Even Gant getting some points would be great for the team. Either way we need our bench players to help the starters get points on the board. Cal allows their opponents 66.6 a game and scores 67.6 points per game. UW scores 86.8 and allows 67.4 points per game. The difference in scoring is our bench production. Without our bench, Cal will be right in this game.
Free Throw Shooting
UW went 6-12 from the line. Stanford went 14-21. If UW had matched Stanford percentage (66%) the game would have been tied. Make 75% and UW wins by 1. Overton missed the front end of a 1 and 1. Personally that should count as 2 misses because you can't make what you don't get. Holiday missed the front end of his free throws at the end of the game, forcing him to intentionally miss the second. MBA went 2-4. With him alone we tie the game. 6 missed points, any two of which could have tied it up. UW has struggled with free throws all year and something needs to change if they want to win the close ones.
Final Thoughts
The loss at Stanford hopefully woke the team up a bit and made them realize just how hard they need to work to win games in the Pac-10. No matter how favored they are, UW cannot let up. The Pac-10 teams are by no means slackers, down year or not. Cal could pull the upset if UW doesn't bring their A-game. Get the ball to MBA, let him score. Get hot on the shot. Rebound well.
Final Score Prediction
After the loss to Stanford its hard for me to judge where this game will go. I think UW will show up with a little more intensity and emotion than the last. I'll call it UW over Cal 80-69.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Stanford Univeristy Review Part 2
Now that I have had some time to reflect and try to take in exactly what happened I can offer a little more review of the game.
This was probably our poorest performance of the year. We shot 36% from the field. That is horrendous. MBA only attempted one shot in the second half and blew it. It was a point blank, 3 footer that should go in 100% of the time. Aziz is also guilty of missing a close and easy shot.
What killed us was free throw shooting. Free throws win close ball games. Free throws win close ball games. Free throws win close ball games. What happened? Holiday missed his free throw. He was not the only one. MBA went 2-4. Overton missed the front end of a 1 and 1. I.T. missed one. Right there you miss out for sure on 3 points and if Overton converts the front end you have 5 missed points. Make your free throws, win games. Simple.
We rebounded great. By we I mean Aziz and MBA. Holiday had a few clutch boards as did Suggs. Ross added 4. 33-26 is a good night normally, but when you can't make a shot to save your life it doesn't do a whole lot of good. They also missed out on several key defensive boards that led to Stanford put backs and tip ins including the game winner.
What happened to our bench? Sure Suggs hit a huge 3 pointer, but he led the bench with 6 points. I'm not expecting 10+ point performances from everyone, but scoring more than 13 points between the 4 of them would be nice.
Our bigs are still fouling like no other. Darnell Gant had 3, MBA had 3, Aziz had 4. The first half they did a pretty good job of not fouling. They second half they picked up a ton. This gave Stanford 21 attempts to our 12. They hit 8 more free throws than we did. Take away two of those and its a tie game. Stanford made their free throws, they won the game. (66% vs 50%, neither number is great, but the higher percentage won out. Surprising....)
Holiday lit it up the second half after going 0-5 in the first. As a senior, he should have made those free throws or at least the front end to give us a chance. Sure it worked out in a way that he missed and we had another shot, but a free throw is a high percentage shot. Holiday was shooting at an 80% clip. He is a senior. He may not come in to mind immediately as the clutch free throw shooter, but he shoots 80% so why not. Disappointing way to end the game.
We were terrible handling the ball. I don't know how many times I heard us pass away the ball or fail to convert on a nice pass and easy basket. 14 turnovers to 11 assists is not how the Huskies play. They let Stanford control the pace and fell into their hands.
No point in doing player reviews as Aziz, Holiday, IT, and maybe MBA were the only players who had decent games. Aziz did exactly what he was supposed to. Rebound, rebound, rebound, and rebound. He scored a few points and missed one easy shot, but he did his job. Holiday, while he had a terrible first half, was critical in us taking an 11 point lead that we proceeded to blow. He missed his last second free throws and shot attempt, but you can't blame one player for a lost game, especially when there were so many open opportunities that were blown. IT had 7 assists and should have had at least two more if not for missed lay-ins and easy conversions. He had 4 turnovers as well, but like I said when you factor in his assists and how many he should have had it is easy to ignore. Say he finished with 10 assists instead of 7, an A/T ratio of 2.5 is great. Other than IT, no one added more than 1 assist. MBA scored 8 and had 7 rebounds, but attempting only one shot in the second half and blowing it is terrible. Its hard to tell if he was getting the ball (Thanks FSN...), but if he was he needs to create more opportunities. After averaging a double double in the first 4 conference games he should be getting shots and making them. The rebounding was nice, but we needed more production from him.
So what does this mean for the Huskies? In the long run, hopefully not much. They can still go 17-1, which is fantastic. Sunday's game is a sort of must win for the Huskies as we play second ranked Arizona at home next week. Arizona is a half game back at 3-1, while we are at 4-1. Losing to Cal puts them up half a game if I have done my calculations correctly. On the plus side, we didn't surprise a fair amount of people by losing this one. We have only won twice in the last 17 years at Stanford and those both came in the last two seasons. Cal is always a tough road game as well, but the Dawgs need to take this loss to heart and realize they have to play their best each and every game. Down year or not the Pac-10 is always tough and being the only ranked team and favorite to win the conference puts a big target on your back.
By no means does this loss mean we need to win the Pac-10 tournament to go to the NCAA, but it does not help our seeding. If we can get the split by winning Sunday we should see our seeding remain level and probably our ranking move a spot or two either way depending on who wins and loses. I don't really care about the ranking, but its nice to have and is great for getting recruits.
Heads up Dawgs. Get focused. Get the wins.
This was probably our poorest performance of the year. We shot 36% from the field. That is horrendous. MBA only attempted one shot in the second half and blew it. It was a point blank, 3 footer that should go in 100% of the time. Aziz is also guilty of missing a close and easy shot.
What killed us was free throw shooting. Free throws win close ball games. Free throws win close ball games. Free throws win close ball games. What happened? Holiday missed his free throw. He was not the only one. MBA went 2-4. Overton missed the front end of a 1 and 1. I.T. missed one. Right there you miss out for sure on 3 points and if Overton converts the front end you have 5 missed points. Make your free throws, win games. Simple.
We rebounded great. By we I mean Aziz and MBA. Holiday had a few clutch boards as did Suggs. Ross added 4. 33-26 is a good night normally, but when you can't make a shot to save your life it doesn't do a whole lot of good. They also missed out on several key defensive boards that led to Stanford put backs and tip ins including the game winner.
What happened to our bench? Sure Suggs hit a huge 3 pointer, but he led the bench with 6 points. I'm not expecting 10+ point performances from everyone, but scoring more than 13 points between the 4 of them would be nice.
Our bigs are still fouling like no other. Darnell Gant had 3, MBA had 3, Aziz had 4. The first half they did a pretty good job of not fouling. They second half they picked up a ton. This gave Stanford 21 attempts to our 12. They hit 8 more free throws than we did. Take away two of those and its a tie game. Stanford made their free throws, they won the game. (66% vs 50%, neither number is great, but the higher percentage won out. Surprising....)
Holiday lit it up the second half after going 0-5 in the first. As a senior, he should have made those free throws or at least the front end to give us a chance. Sure it worked out in a way that he missed and we had another shot, but a free throw is a high percentage shot. Holiday was shooting at an 80% clip. He is a senior. He may not come in to mind immediately as the clutch free throw shooter, but he shoots 80% so why not. Disappointing way to end the game.
We were terrible handling the ball. I don't know how many times I heard us pass away the ball or fail to convert on a nice pass and easy basket. 14 turnovers to 11 assists is not how the Huskies play. They let Stanford control the pace and fell into their hands.
No point in doing player reviews as Aziz, Holiday, IT, and maybe MBA were the only players who had decent games. Aziz did exactly what he was supposed to. Rebound, rebound, rebound, and rebound. He scored a few points and missed one easy shot, but he did his job. Holiday, while he had a terrible first half, was critical in us taking an 11 point lead that we proceeded to blow. He missed his last second free throws and shot attempt, but you can't blame one player for a lost game, especially when there were so many open opportunities that were blown. IT had 7 assists and should have had at least two more if not for missed lay-ins and easy conversions. He had 4 turnovers as well, but like I said when you factor in his assists and how many he should have had it is easy to ignore. Say he finished with 10 assists instead of 7, an A/T ratio of 2.5 is great. Other than IT, no one added more than 1 assist. MBA scored 8 and had 7 rebounds, but attempting only one shot in the second half and blowing it is terrible. Its hard to tell if he was getting the ball (Thanks FSN...), but if he was he needs to create more opportunities. After averaging a double double in the first 4 conference games he should be getting shots and making them. The rebounding was nice, but we needed more production from him.
So what does this mean for the Huskies? In the long run, hopefully not much. They can still go 17-1, which is fantastic. Sunday's game is a sort of must win for the Huskies as we play second ranked Arizona at home next week. Arizona is a half game back at 3-1, while we are at 4-1. Losing to Cal puts them up half a game if I have done my calculations correctly. On the plus side, we didn't surprise a fair amount of people by losing this one. We have only won twice in the last 17 years at Stanford and those both came in the last two seasons. Cal is always a tough road game as well, but the Dawgs need to take this loss to heart and realize they have to play their best each and every game. Down year or not the Pac-10 is always tough and being the only ranked team and favorite to win the conference puts a big target on your back.
By no means does this loss mean we need to win the Pac-10 tournament to go to the NCAA, but it does not help our seeding. If we can get the split by winning Sunday we should see our seeding remain level and probably our ranking move a spot or two either way depending on who wins and loses. I don't really care about the ranking, but its nice to have and is great for getting recruits.
Heads up Dawgs. Get focused. Get the wins.
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