Improvement

[uconngb]

Definitely a few good things today:

1. Ball movement and player movement was much better until that funk in the 2nd half. Definitely playing with more energy.
2. Finally realized that Miller can do many good things in the low post....feed him more!!
3. Purvis making some really big free throws in the clutch.
4. Nolan probably played the game of his career.
5. Blew a lead but fought back by playing D, hitting free throws and playing with energy.
6. DHam hitting a couple 3s, you could literally see what that did for his confidence.

The not so good:

1. Still very questionable substitution patterns. Calhoun had zero production in a lot of 2nd half minutes. I know Adams wasn't exactly lighting it up out there, but Omar was pretty much a liability. Give the kid at least a couple of minutes of run, he couldn't have been worse.
2. Still had that long period of offensive funk in the 2nd half and surrendered a lead. Maybe a TO might have been in order?
3. Purvis regressed a little with his futile drives to the hoop. At some point, try throwing one out.

All in all, a solid win that we should be VERY happy with.

 

[Palatine]

I think Enoch should have been on the court whenever the Hoyas played Hayes. Enoch killed him at both ends.

 

[Jerry1714]

The biggest not so good was the 3 point defense the first 35 min of the game, it was atrocious. It was great the last 5 min, need to play like that all game.

Outside of that no major complaints.

 

[mauconnfan]

I think Enoch should have been on the court whenever the Hoyas played Hayes. Enoch killed him at both ends.

Nolan was excellent. The guy made 2 maybe 3 jump hooks and he worked his butt off for everything he did. We don't win this game without Nolans minutes. Enoch was fine when he came in but this was Phil's game.

 

[CL82]

CBS game, big name opponent and the team steps up. Part of the toll of the American, is long flights, brutal travel and no name opponents.

To quote Eric Burdon "We gotta get out of this place. If it's the last thing ever do. "

 

[Ts5034]

Well..this was a win that we needed and I dont care how it happened. We shot 17/47 for the game which is about 37%. The final free throw stats are crazy how we hit 29/36. The offense was ugly many times in the second half and we could not buy a FG. At least they were able to get to the line and actually make them. Thats a huge positive.

 

[Jaybo]

This felt like a come together game for this team, they needed a win like this going into the rest of our conference games.

 

[superjohn]

Definitely a few good things today:

1. Ball movement and player movement was much better until that funk in the 2nd half. Definitely playing with more energy.
2. Finally realized that Miller can do many good things in the low post....feed him more!!
3. Purvis making some really big free throws in the clutch.
4. Nolan probably played the game of his career.
5. Blew a lead but fought back by playing D, hitting free throws and playing with energy.
6. DHam hitting a couple 3s, you could literally see what that did for his confidence.

The not so good:

1. Still very questionable substitution patterns. Calhoun had zero production in a lot of 2nd half minutes. I know Adams wasn't exactly lighting it up out there, but Omar was pretty much a liability. Give the kid at least a couple of minutes of run, he couldn't have been worse.
2. Still had that long period of offensive funk in the 2nd half and surrendered a lead. Maybe a TO might have been in order?
3. Purvis regressed a little with his futile drives to the hoop. At some point, try throwing one out.

All in all, a solid win that we should be VERY happy with.

Agree with most of this but Enoch also should have gotten a couple minutes in the second half but turns out this was Nolan's game. Disagree on Hamilton, thought he looked horrible again.

 

[Gurleyman]

The biggest not so good was the 3 point defense the first 35 min of the game, it was atrocious. It was great the last 5 min, need to play like that all game.

Outside of that no major complaints.

It wasn't great the last five minutes. For some reason, we sagged off DSR with the ball in the post up 3 and he got a good look, which he missed, and then the airball was a great look too.

A couple of their good looks earlier in the game were when we were unsettled in different defenses - once they solved our press they got a couple wide open looks which forced us to stop using it. And when we threw a zone at them (either regular halfcourt or off baseline o/b), we did not cover the corners at all.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

I commented after last game that the offense was stagnant and had no aggressiveness save for Adams. Today they all looked better. Calhoun did a nice job early on taking it into the lane and even Miller showed a little more than just backing his man down. Yes, still some things to work on, but a much better performance.

 

[superjohn]

This felt like a come together game for this team, they needed a win like this going into the rest of our conference games.

Agree on this. Have to imagine they give the game ball to Nolan and that's a good thing, I think he's huge for the morale of this team.

 

[mauconnfan]

Agree with most of this but Enoch also should have gotten a couple minutes in the second half but turns out this was Nolan's game. Disagree on Hamilton, thought he looked horrible again.

DHam had big rebounds but the guy is not the same. He needs to slow down and stop and shoot, cut the floaters and stuff, stop and bank a few home get some confidence. A big ball fake at the 3 arc though and made the 3 FT's so he was a part of the win no doubt.

 

[Scot-e]

D Ham needs to attack the rim more- it seems to be a mental thing with him. He is so skilled that if he just decides to be more aggressive I think it would do wonders for him on offense. Drive to the basket- look for a shot or an assist- that would most likely net him 3-4 more baskets a game.

 

[Matrim55]

3. Purvis regressed a little with his futile drives to the hoop. At some point, try throwing one out.

They're not futile if 1) he gets the other team into foul trouble, and 2) he makes his FTs.

 

[Matt (Chicago)]

Team is 10-44 in second half FGs the last two games (both wins ironically enough). Probably not sustainable if that trend continues. Fortunately they bailed themselves out at the FT line today. All in all I thought it was a well played game against a good OOC opponent. Felt like it shouldn't have been as close as it was.

 

[intlzncster]

Nolan was excellent. The guy made 2 maybe 3 jump hooks and he worked his butt off for everything he did. We don't win this game without Nolans minutes. Enoch was fine when he came in but this was Phil's game.

This has been the most pleasant surprised of the last few games. And GT front court isn't exactly a bunch of slouches. Nolan is playing within himself and with a lot of energy. Exactly what they need. When Amida comes back, I'm comfortable with that rotation now.

 

[spudzj6]

Definitely a few good things today:

1. Ball movement and player movement was much better until that funk in the 2nd half. Definitely playing with more energy.
2. Finally realized that Miller can do many good things in the low post....feed him more!!
3. Purvis making some really big free throws in the clutch.
4. Nolan probably played the game of his career.
5. Blew a lead but fought back by playing D, hitting free throws and playing with energy.
6. DHam hitting a couple 3s, you could literally see what that did for his confidence.

The not so good:

1. Still very questionable substitution patterns. Calhoun had zero production in a lot of 2nd half minutes. I know Adams wasn't exactly lighting it up out there, but Omar was pretty much a liability. Give the kid at least a couple of minutes of run, he couldn't have been worse.
2. Still had that long period of offensive funk in the 2nd half and surrendered a lead. Maybe a TO might have been in order?
3. Purvis regressed a little with his futile drives to the hoop. At some point, try throwing one out.

All in all, a solid win that we should be VERY happy with.

I agree with most stuff, but KO plays the players who play defense. 2nd half minutes for Calhoun were strictly based on his ability to defend the outside on dribble drives and covering down on back cuts. Also I think a TO was absolutely needed, however they called an early useless one within a minute of the 2nd half start due to not getting inbounds. KO had no choice but to let them play out of the funk. Would have been nice to regroup the team for closing out DSR on his 3's tho. Lastly, I think purvis has the right idea, but somebody needs to take him to town on finishing with contact. Put him in the gym, 2 defenders with a big old body mat and hit his ass while he drives.

 

[intlzncster]

They're not futile if 1) he gets the other team into foul trouble, and 2) he makes his FTs.

And I've got ZERO problem with guys trying to attack the rim. For a few games there, it was only Omar doing that. They need to get relentless about this.

 

[Deepster]

This felt like a come together game for this team, they needed a win like this going into the rest of our conference games.

Agreed. Their body language looked different, even though some of the stats were less than flattering to say the least. Hopefully the right attitude and energy grows from here. There's plenty of time.

 

[intlzncster]

Agreed. Their body language looked different, even though some of the stats were less than flattering to say the least. Hopefully the right attitude and energy grows from here. There's plenty of time.

And that's actually a good thing in a way. If you can grind out a win when your offense goes dry and you have to fall back on your D, that's a huge confidence booster. When the shots begin to fall, you're gonna blow the other guys out. It snowballs from there.

 

[Gurleyman]

DHam had big rebounds but the guy is not the same. He needs to slow down and stop and shoot, cut the floaters and stuff, stop and bank a few home get some confidence. A big ball fake at the 3 arc though and made the 3 FT's so he was a part of the win no doubt.

First 16 minutes, I thought he played pretty much perfectly. Knocked down a couple of threes, had three assists - one led to an "and one" for Miller. Led the break a couple times - Purvis had one slip out his hands on the way up that would have been a vintage DHam defensive rebound, push, fast break assist.

Second half he reverted back to slumping DHam. Part of it was the first half was maybe a little more loose and spread out, and then the second half was a grind it out half where there wasn't as much space. But even in grind it out games, I know he can create space in the paint and square his shoulders for a good look. Now he's usually just flipping it up there and hoping it goes in instead of shooting with some sense of assertiveness.

He still does some good things. But he has to get out of his own head when he gets into the paint. If the shot is there, just take a normal shot. It's like he doesn't want to pull the trigger and when he does, he's just going with the "flip and hope" as a bailout. But he only had 8 FGA, two of which were end of the shot clock forces in the first half, so at least he's not trying to shoot his way out of it like he did against Temple.

 

[80shusky]

The team used a half court trap at times in the first half to create turnovers, run, and build a lead. I'm not sure why we didn't see that in the second half at all because it worked. But, they gutted out a good win at home against a good team and they needed it. A good job, especially on defense in the game.

 

[tzznandrew]

The team used a half court trap at times in the first half to create turnovers, run, and build a lead. I'm not sure why we didn't see that in the second half at all because it worked. But, they gutted out a good win at home against a good team and they needed it. A good job, especially on defense in the game.

Georgetown had figured it out and got a couple of really nice 3 pt looks. I think that's why.

 

[RichZ]

The not so good:

1. Still very questionable substitution patterns. Calhoun had zero production in a lot of 2nd half minutes. I know Adams wasn't exactly lighting it up out there, but Omar was pretty much a liability. Give the kid at least a couple of minutes of run, he couldn't have been worse.

Omar played outstanding D, and had a couple boards and a couple big assists as well. There's a lot more to his game than shooting. To me, the questionable sub pattern was not putting Enoch back in when Hayes started to burn us in the 2nd half.

 

[mauconnfan]

Omar played outstanding D, and had a couple boards and a couple big assists as well. There's a lot more to his game than shooting. To me, the questionable sub pattern was not putting Enoch back in when Hayes started to burn us in the 2nd half.

I would have liked to see more Steve too but reality is there was no reason. Hayes only had 3 hoops so I'm not sure how he burned us other than a couple offensive rebounds too. Phil played him hard and made him work and get rid of the ball a lot so the staff made the right call on that one.

Good call on Omar though he was good down the D end.