Enjit ThoughtZ™

[RichZ]

1. Is it just me that sees NJIT and pronounces it EN-JIT? I didn't even know what their mascot/team name was until I looked it up. The Northparaders? What the hell does that even mean? Scratch that. They are the Highlanders. Major late night brainfart on my part. The Northparaders were/are the Stratford High school teams.
2. It's tough to get much of a feel for how the team is actually coming along off a game against such a terribly overmatched opponent. Especially when that inferior opponent's best offensive player is having career worst game. Can't be sure how much of that was because of us and how much was just him being off. It did seem though that he wasn't comfortable with the way we made him (and all their guards) work for openings all afternoon long, and made them work to get the ball up court almost every possession. Either way, after watching them play, I felt like we should have beaten them by more. A lot more.
3. Once again, Akok came out of the gate with an offensive mindset, then quickly ran out of steam as far as scoring goes. He had two blocks, two boards and 7 points on 3 for 4 shooting in the first 6:45. He played more minutes than anyone else (27) and continued to block (and alter) shots, and had his best day yet on the boards. But after that initial offensive flurry, he only attempted 4 more shots in the remaining 20 minutes he was on the court, and missed all of them.
4. Our starting front court had 24 of our 43 rebounds! This is good.
5. Polley's shot was way off today, but he did match his season high with 5 boards, which is only one shy of his career high 6 (against Memphis last year) and contributed a couple blocks as well. Seems a lot more willing to mix it up a bit in the paint of late, so (assuming it's temporary and short-lived) his offensive slump isn't the end of the world.
6. Brendan was 5 for 7 from the floor and had 3 boards. Not a bad 17 minutes.
7. Listening to Hurley, it seems like they really worked with Josh to get him to get position closer to the rim on offense, so he doesn't have to put the ball on the floor to make a move and go up with it. He did get one bucket today off a close set up. But the other times he seemed to set up, he didn't get the ball. Once he had to step out from good position before getting the ball, in much less desirable position.
8. You would have to be suffering from a serious case of the CV hates to not call Vital the POG. 23 points on 8 for 15 shooting including 5 of 8 from deep, 5 boards, a pair of dimes and 4 steals against one turnover and no fouls in 23 minutes?
9. 18 assists on 25 buckets is a very pleasing stat. Even more so when 8 of our 9 regular rotation players had at least one.
10. Gaffney led the assist parade, but he also had the strangest stat line I've ever taken note of. Seven dimes, but the rest of his cupboard was almost bare. 1 point, 1 board, 1 foul and a bunch of cyphers.
11. How can I have ThoughtZ™ about a game and not mention the refs? Only 29 fouls called, which means that they weren't whistle happy. Unfortunately, three of their missed calls were wide open to be seen by all, and all hurt us. The failure to call the foul flagrant when the defender grabbed a breaking Bouknight around the waist at half court, especially after reviewing it and discussing it, was particularly egregious, but the last half minute or so of the half was a text book sample of bad officiating, starting with Bouk being called for a foul on a clean, highlight-reel-worthy block, then they completely blew Vital getting hammered twice trying to drive into the lane at the end of the half, and T'd up Hurley for complaining about it.
12. We won the rebound battle pretty handily in the 2nd half. Only had a 1 board edge at the break, and ended up with an 11 board advantage. Another advantage of the deep bench. It ain't just their guards getting worn out and playing against fresher guys late.

 

[superjohn]

1. NJIT is the Highlanders.

 

[Leebo]

The Northparaders? What the hell does that even mean?

Where did you even get that?

 

[RichZ]

1. NJIT is the Highlanders.

Obviously, from a dream somewhere. The northparaders were the teams at stratford high school. Probably still are.

 

[Huskybass]

CV played excellent, one of his best games in my opinion. On the other hand, AG continues to have many head scratching moments resulting in few assists (2) and poor shooting (2-7). Through 12 games he is shooting 30% and Gaffney is looking like the better facilitator with 7 assists off the bench. AG does play great on ball defense, but his ability to distribute and not take bad shots both really need to improve heading into conference play. I really hope he turns it around because Hurley seems very loyal to him.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I'm rarely a CV fan but he was great yesterday. Played exactly the way he should. He had a couple of classic bad CV 3s but he made at least one.

AG started off ok, then started forcing things again. Watching Gaffney, once he crosses the foul line he is looking to kick it out. AG is looking to score and he just don't have that game. I do think the bigs need to react to AG penetrating by cutting to the rim. Give him better options.

I'm not sure how I feel about us largely abandoning the feed Carlton offense. If he's not scoring down low, he's not very useful at all. Yes he needs to catch the ball closer but he can't jump so it's easy for the defense to deny that pass in from outside. Nobody plays behind him, they front him.

Akok needs to keep that early offensive aggressiveness all game. We need him to shoot from outside and be the post offense when we go away from Carlton. Akok can get up and catch that entry pass closer to the basket.

Adams had a good shooting game. When he does we are much tougher. But he seems to be inconsistent. Polley was off today so we needed Adams even more.

 

[ctchamps]

I'm rarely a CV fan but he was great yesterday. Played exactly the way he should. He had a couple of classic bad CV 3s but he made at least one.

AG started off ok, then started forcing things again. Watching Gaffney, once he crosses the foul line he is looking to kick it out. AG is looking to score and he just don't have that game. I do think the bigs need to react to AG penetrating by cutting to the rim. Give him better options.

I'm not sure how I feel about us largely abandoning the feed Carlton offense. If he's not scoring down low, he's not very useful at all. Yes he needs to catch the ball closer but he can't jump so it's easy for the defense to deny that pass in from outside. Nobody plays behind him, they front him.

Akok needs to keep that early offensive aggressiveness all game. We need him to shoot from outside and be the post offense when we go away from Carlton. Akok can get up and catch that entry pass closer to the basket.

Adams had a good shooting game. When he does we are much tougher. But he seems to be inconsistent. Polley was off today so we needed Adams even more.

That’s the point of having a deep team and multiple weapons. When someone is shooting poorly there’s a better chance someone else steps up.

It was good to see Sid get some playing time. He had the one great block but still hasn’t figured things out. Tough balancing act for Hurley trying to light a fire under the kid but not lose him completely.

Bouknight had one three and a highlight block that Rich correctly pointed out the refs blew. Otherwise a really bad outing for him.

 

[RayRay]

That’s the point of having a deep team and multiple weapons. When someone is shooting poorly there’s a better chance someone else steps up.

It was good to see Sid get some playing time. He had the one great block but still hasn’t figured things out. Tough balancing act for Hurley trying to light a fire under the kid but not lose him completely.

Bouknight had one three and a highlight block that Rich correctly pointed out the refs blew. Otherwise a really bad outing for him.

I agree on Bouknight. I was at the game with my dad and we both agreed that he just looked out of it. We blamed it on the Christmas Ham. But seriously. DH has been saying all along that the one bouk needs to work on is 100% intensity on every single possession, and it was really clear being at the game yesterday that he didn't have that. I hope he can figure it out because I'm really excited about him, and if he starts to show that and gets his defense up to speed, then he will be in the starting lineup before the season is over.