Game 2: Canisius

[travismParticipant]

If goldy isn’t 100 percent. Why risk it. I get it. No depth. But me personally I want him ready for pl game number one. We are in trouble tho. Carter and glover are not good players. Sucks sedore went down. Least would have been a body.

[toddcuddParticipant]

Maybe I’ve got my rose-colored glasses on, but I’m not at all discouraged by last night’s loss. We had concerns about offense, and shooting specifically, after the ‘cuse loss. Last night we put up 89 pts, at 1.24 pts/possession, while two of our primary contributors were very limited by foul trouble. We shot 46.6% from the floor, and 48.1% from three.
We were the best defensive team in the PL last year, and held a fast-paced high-scoring Canisius to 42.4% and 36.7%, including 33.3% and 28.6% in the first half.
TK and JG played a combined 38 minutes. That is brutal. That hurt badly on D and on the glass, and we were still right in that game – tied with 2 mins left. This was a road game that KenPom had us projected to lose.
The foul situation is worrisome – but I believe every team in the nation will have at least one early game like that. The officiating changes are a BIG deal, and the impact was obvious. 51 combined PFs!! The offensive foul on TK at the end of the game unquestionably changed the game, and it was sketchy. I’m going to go back and review the NCAA guidance video again, and compare it to that call. As of now, I think it was crap. With our frontcourt depth trouble, this will be something that we will need to adjust to.
The game vs. Yale will be a very good indicator, I think. We need to win our home games, and this should be another very competitive matchup. I hope to see JG and KR return to form, and lessons learned re: new foul rules.

[lehigh90Participant]

Not sure it makes sense to play a tempo in the 90’s with a really short roster and injuries. I know Reed likes an up and down pace, but our big scorer is 6’10” and plays in the paint. I think for this team to be good, they should play in the 60’s and 70’s. If you game plan for a team like Canisius who wants to get up and down, don’t you take some air out of the ball, and maybe pack in a zone for a few reasons (1. to slow the pace, 2. to protect your bigs from foul trouble and 3.) to make it easier to defensive rebound.

[vanParticipant]

actually with the 30 sec clock and the full court pressure, the pace was not as fast as you might expect from the score, the high score was as much from the high % shooting from 3 and the many O rebounds we gave up while playing zone (much harder to box out when playing zone)

[toddcuddParticipant]

Agreed, Van. I also think it’s hard to slow down the game when the other team chooses to press. When you beat the press, you get good quick looks on the other end. I don’t see backing out to slow the game down.

[toddcuddParticipant]

Well, I feel better. I wasn’t just being a homer:

@toddcudd Yeah, that's just a masterful flop and a terrible call. Looked like Kempton had him beat w/ the fake.

— Rush the Other 26 (@other26hoops) November 17, 2015

[lehigh90Participant]

Are you guys OK with both the tempo and the defensive effort? I may be crazy, but how can you ever win giving up 98 on the road? I can’t recall the last time we gave up 100 (maybe Baylor or Pitt a couple years ago when we got dominated) Something has to change. Nothing is contested.

[travismParticipant]

Wide open threes all game. I had enough of carter after two games to.

[lehigh90Participant]

I’d like to see KL in that 5th starter spot, either him or a healthy MH. To me, every starter should have a role. Defender, scorer, shot blocker, shooter, rebounder, ball-handler, etc. We aren’t getting anything out of that spot.

[toddcuddParticipant]

I didn’t have the same reaction re: the defense. I’ll watch it again; it’s hard (impossible?) for me to be objective/analytical when i’m still rooting and the game is in question.
Regarding pace, I have two points here. First, at our level of basketball, I think we have to be able to play at a variety of paces. We’re not, and never will be, VCU and run wide-open all night. I suppose we could consciously play slow in the half-court set, a la Princeton, but I wouldn’t want to see that either. With the offensive efficiency, I just don’t have a complaint. Again, if a team presses, pace will go up. Unless you completely destroy the press, in which case they’ll give it up. And with our difficulties in-bounding, that wasn’t gonna happen.
Second point on pace – I don’t think it was that high in this game. KenPom has the pace at 72 – right on national average so far; I believe that’s based on the number of possessions. Scoring was high because shooting was good.
I’m leaning the same way re: KL, too 90. I do think I saw some defensive lapses – lost his man or got too far way. But again, I’ll have to re-watch. If that is the case, that would explain why DC has earned the spot. I definitely think defense earns minutes at LU.

[Author]

Posts