Didn't catch the game (thank god), looking at the box score alone

[babysheep]

Two observations: one detrimental, one odd

First, our 6 bench players combined for 7 points and 5 rebounds. This is unacceptable and not at all what we've seen so far this year. Only two of them (TO and LK) earned more than 5 minutes, and they are the lone scorers. Omar and PN combine for 4 attempts. Then I look at the guards, and it's clear Bazz and Boat tried to do everything. What's up with all this?

Second, I'm also looking more specifically at the front court minutes.

I see Brimah started, played only got 4 minutes, no shot attempts, one foul. PN gets 4 minutes, gets one rebound, and misses both his shots, with zero fouls. Facey gets two minutes, no shot attempts, no fouls.

Tyler Olander gets 16 minutes off the bench, gets 2 and 4, and fouls out.

Two things here: Why does TO get more minutes than the rest of our possible 5s combined? And second, the total minutes played at the 5 by those potential 5 spots only comes to 26 minutes. Who else was playing the 5, and FFS, why?

Someone please provide me with a synopsis.

 

[Clockshop]

Are you the real Jon Rothstein?

 

[Gurleyman]

Two observations: one detrimental, one odd

First, our 6 bench players combined for 7 points and 5 rebounds. This is unacceptable and not at all what we've seen so far this year. Only two of them (TO and LK) earned more than 5 minutes, and they are the lone scorers. Omar and PN combine for 4 attempts. Then I look at the guards, and it's clear Bazz and Boat tried to do everything. What's up with all this?

Second, I'm also looking more specifically at the front court minutes.

I see Brimah started, played only got 4 minutes, no shot attempts, one foul. PN gets 4 minutes, gets one rebound, and misses both his shots, with zero fouls. Facey gets two minutes, no shot attempts, no fouls.

Tyler Olander gets 16 minutes off the bench, gets 2 and 4, and fouls out.

Two things here: Why does TO get more minutes than the rest of our possible 5s combined? And second, the total minutes played at the 5 by those potential 5 spots only comes to 26 minutes. Who else was playing the 5, and FFS, why?

Someone please provide me with a synopsis.

TO was doing a good job defensively on their leading scorer (Thomas) who is a big body but also had some guard skills and could draw people outside. Giffey did a good job on him too when we went small, which was a lot. We were down by 20 in the first half and needed our best scorers out there.

I think we see a lot more TO from here on out, for better or worse. He picked it up in the second half, and he's the only 4 or 5 on our team who sometimes sets a decent screen (including DD and Giff, who tend to avoid contact). He'll be in permanent foul trouble though, so PN and AB will get their chances too. Nolan was apparently sick yesterday and got an offensive rebound right at the rim, brought it down, and faded away into an airball.

Omar missed two shots in the first half (one on a spin move in the paint, one three) by a combined 8 feet and didn't hustle back on defense after Boat hit a tough baseline shot, so Houston went the other way for a layup. Ollie was not pleased, yanked him, and that was it for the first half. He gave him another chance in the second half, but he got the ball open off a Boat kickout and traveled when he was afraid to shoot. That was it for the second half.

Bazz had 25 in the second half. Boat had seven assists and no turnovers in the second half after being our only bright spot in the first half with 13. Lasan dove after a loose ball late in the first half, so he may have been rewarded for effort. Ollie started TO and Lasan in the second half in place of Brimah and Giffey and we played much better. Giffey played much better in the second half after he came in - he had his treadmill set to "light jog" in the first half, but DD and SN had theirs set to "sleep".

 

[buddy]

The biggest disappointment in Daniels. His head is not in the game.

 

[Dove]

I dvr-ed the game and I'm afraid to watch it.

 

[champs99and04]

Ollie played Giffey at center a fair amount last night, mostly because he was by far the best interior defender of our big men. I actually would have preferred Giffey in the game down the stretch rather than Olander. Tyler's a decent enough help defender, and he played about as well as we could have expected in the second half, but he just doesn't have the foot speed to guard guys off the bounce, and he has the frustrating tendency to reach-in rather than using his feet and chest.

 

[caw]

Two observations: one detrimental, one odd

First, our 6 bench players combined for 7 points and 5 rebounds. This is unacceptable and not at all what we've seen so far this year. Only two of them (TO and LK) earned more than 5 minutes, and they are the lone scorers. Omar and PN combine for 4 attempts. Then I look at the guards, and it's clear Bazz and Boat tried to do everything. What's up with all this?

Second, I'm also looking more specifically at the front court minutes.

I see Brimah started, played only got 4 minutes, no shot attempts, one foul. PN gets 4 minutes, gets one rebound, and misses both his shots, with zero fouls. Facey gets two minutes, no shot attempts, no fouls.

Tyler Olander gets 16 minutes off the bench, gets 2 and 4, and fouls out.

Two things here: Why does TO get more minutes than the rest of our possible 5s combined? And second, the total minutes played at the 5 by those potential 5 spots only comes to 26 minutes. Who else was playing the 5, and FFS, why?

Someone please provide me with a synopsis.

It wasn't that Boat and Napier were the only ones trying to do anything, it was they were the only ones hitting shots. Boat almost literally was the only one hitting anything in the first half. Napier did all his work in the second. Daniels and Giffey were either missing or not aggressive. Kromah missed his few open looks. Calhoun an Nolan were no shows and Brimah wasn't mobile enough to defend their center.

People asked what would happen when UConn had a bad shooting night, this is it. Throw in Houston's bench playing out of their minds and you have the first half. Things returned to the norm in the second half but Houston did just enough non-sucking to win, plus a favorable call at the end.