Baylor Post Game Thread

[bendm]

Shocked we won the foul and FT battle. They had 6 more fouls than us and we took 14 more FTs. we already improved both when it came to playing D without fouling as much and attacking the basket more.

 

[Candyman]

And why is that a downside? Coach tried it and it worked... I hope we see it again.

Next game it won’t work. Karaban will guard Kaluma or Stew will. Reed can’t hang with him outside the paint. Samson /Reed will be on Shedrick. Texas is much better than Colorado and probably Dayton. Kaluma or Shedrick in foul trouble and their backups aren’t good or play much.

Stew/McNeeley/Ross will have to guard Johnson. That kid is legit. He shoots a lot but over 40% from 3.

Will be a tough game at their place.

 

[3rdbass]

Hassan was not Hassan tonight.

Really? I thought he was great for us in the second half and was the only guard playing good D. He had 7 assists and 1 TO and was 7-10 from the FT line. Hassan isn't a shooter and anything he can give us is a bonus. I do agree his D was bad in the first half but he tightened that up in the 2nd half and was a great floor general with some great passes including the one to Samson for that big dunk in the 2nd half. There is a reason why he played a majority of the 2nd half. I still think Nowell is out best PG.

 

[caw]

At the game, my takes

Ball got us going, reminded me of Rashad

Breakout game for Mahaney

Reed and Johnson were awesome down low

Liam is morphing in to a superstar

Stewie got hops

Hassan was not Hassan tonight. I thought we needed him to be at his best. Instead, the newbies all stepped it up

Thank you Huskies. More fun than anyone is entitled too

Balls shooting this year has been extremely good. Wild how much better he has gotten in a year.

 

[Huskyforlife]

He's clearly a great three point shooter, that's not luck.

If he shoot’s over 45% for the entire season, I’ll eat my words. Not even Spencer could maintain that.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

If Samson Johnson had turned to watch the ball after the shot to get the rebound then the foul would have been on Ojianuwa. Samson Johnson just kept his back to the basket and moved into Ojianuwa. It was an iffy call.

Samson Johnson just never thinks about trying to get into position for a rebound.

The coaching staff needs to tell Johnson that you box out with your ass, not your forearms.

 

[Viet Vet]

Doesn't really matter but I always thought smacking the rim was automatic goaltending.

Smacking the rim is basket interference, not goaltending (touching the ball on its downward flight).

 

[husky429]

Abdou Toure was at the game sitting next to Karaban tonight.

That was our walk on. I made that mistake as well in the chat... they look similar.

 

[businesslawyer]

Made some bad plays with that ball tonight. Bad passes, picked up dribbles, took bad shots. Uncharacteristic poor foul shooting. Did have some great rebounds though.

Hass is pressing too hard trying to be, if not “the guy,” at least “a guy.” Way too many difficult shots, some at the end of the clock to be sure but others because he’s just too anxious to score. He needs to let the shots come to him on offense, rather than hunting for them. That’s what he did so effectively last year.

 

[TheShot1990]

I too echo the let's give Ahmad Nowell a few minutes.
I don't know if Ahmad Nowell could have guarded Robert Wright III, but what I do know is everyone else on the floor could not. Who's going to guard Steven Ashworth? Or Tre Johnson on Sunday (who just poured in 18)?

2 more words and then I'll stop - Liam McNeeley

 

[WhereistheDove?]

And why is that a downside? Coach tried it and it worked... I hope we see it again.

Next time we see a PF in the mold of Norchad Omier, I too wouldn’t mind. Not sure that’s this season though.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

Young team. They need to learn how to win first. Then and only then will they learn to annihilate the competition. What a difference when Samson plays without foul trouble!! What a difference when the bench comes in and becomes a factor! What a difference when your defense is tight! And lastly, when you find your alpha. To me the play of the game was the transition 3 made by Liam. This kid is the alpha male of this team.

 

[mauconnfan]

S

Really? I thought he was great for us in the second half and was the only guard playing good D. He had 7 assists and 1 TO and was 7-10 from the FT line. Hassan isn't a shooter and anything he can give us is a bonus. I do agree his D was bad in the first half but he tightened that up in the 2nd half and was a great floor general with some great passes including the one to Samson for that big dunk in the 2nd half. There is a reason why he played a majority of the 2nd half. I still think Nowell is out best PG.

No his D wasn’t much better than anyone else got beat off the dribble multiple times. I will try to defend him a bit as he knows others aren’t great so maybe his thoughts drift to help defense too much but last night HD was not good on either end, below average game for him. But we are asking for too much from what should be a 6th man.

 

[Candyman]

Balls shooting this year has been extremely good. Wild how much better he has gotten in a year.

Yes his shooting from 3 has been great but that’s about all. 30 Minutes and 1 rebound and zero assists. 30 minutes and he contributed 3 three pointers and a couple of late free throws plus very very bad D. Need a lot more from him.

 

[freshler40]

It seems to me that Diarra is the only one that can find an open Samson Johnson underneath.

They do have a chemistry, easily seen after a great pass into Johnson on several occasions. Diarra can also back down an opposing guard to open up Johnson. Hope he develops that move with Reed as well. Reed has some highlight moves under the hoop.

I don't get the easy hoop Stewart gave up on an inbound pass to their center late in the game. Stu should have fronted him.

 

[mauconnfan]

Balls shooting this year has been extremely good. Wild how much better he has gotten in a year.

There’s no denying his ability to shoot the ball. But he’s a negative on the court when you watch your guy score more than you make 3s and you don’t get rebounds. The one weakside he had and was more worried about dunking it off the carom than grabbing it and pulling it down was terrible. He needs to want to be as good of a defender as shooter to be a positive impact guy.

 

[TheHorde]

if only we had played Danny Wolf....

I hear he’s playing for Michigan now

 

[TheHorde]

Refs were great tonight

They weren’t great but calls went both ways so I’d say it was reasonably fair.

 

[Vancat]

2 best things about tonight:
1) Mahaney is figuring it out.
2) The crowd looked insane on TV. (Y’all made me feel ashamed I wasn’t there!)

Yes we were insane!

 

[Dove]

He is probably a fan of the Xmas carol, The First Nowell.

 

[TheShot1990]

Ball had one nice drive at the end with about 50 seconds to go. Liam fed him in the corner and he immediately took it to the hole and got fouled.

Do that...more.

 

[Sphinx]

So AK comes back, Stewart sits down, and Solo starts at the 2. DH just can't allow that to happen.

This team needs Mahaney to play well if we have any hope of reaching the Final 4. Nowell isn’t the answer. Mahaney needs to be the answer.

If you watched Duke/Auburn or Creighton/Kansas last night, you would not be saying that Mahaney is our hope to reach the Final 4. Mahaney might well be our hope to have a 20-win season.

 

[REB1094]

We won a close game!

Not gonna lie, after 8-9 minutes I thought we were on pace for a huge loss. But it was a game of runs and our runs were better than theirs

The defense wasn’t great, the offense had good moments and bad moments, but we won that game because our guys just outworked Baylor. Samson, Liam, and Stewart were EVERYWHERE

Big shoutout to Tarris. We struggle to consistently get him the ball in the paint, but when we do it usually ends well. 22 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks from our Cs

Shoutout to Mahaney too. Looking a little more comfortable after Maui

We’re back on track! Gotta keep this momentum rolling

 

[Conndog]

Sorry to say, but I just don’t see a role for Ross. Lot of energy and athleticism, but can’t put the ball on the floor, inconsistent shooter and not a plus defender. On offense he just camps out on the 3-pt line and doesn’t really get in the flow and on defense he’s always a step slow. Other than that, I see the Reggie Lewis comparison….

Way too early to close the book and give up on Ross! The coaches have a lot to work on maybe, but they also have a lot to work with- let’s see what happens.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Winning ugly is still winning.

I don't think that was ugly. It was a physical game and team executed down the stretch.