As bad as SMU was from three, we were equally inept on the boards, getting trounced 41 to 26, and as a team, could only come up with 6 offensive boards in the entire game. Thank God for CV, Sid & Carlton, because no-one else on this team seems capable of getting more than the occasional board.
We all know our inside 'presence' (if you want to call it that) is lacking, both in strength, intensity, and toughness. A string bean like Sid might be our toughest inside guy right now. In this case, struggling on the boards is exacerbated by them missing a ton of 3's. Those long rebounds often lead to the other team grabbing the ball (if our guys are boxing out inside).
Sid's got some sky walker ability, and combined with his long arms, he makes some of his blocks look effortless. With decent rebounding effort, he can help us win without scoring a lot of points. A couple of his blocks brought back fleeting Donyell-esque thoughts. If only he could shoot like Donyell!
Give him time. 1. he ain't an AA. 2. he's played like 3 games in his college career. People seem to forget or overlook (not saying you Rich) that he's played only 142 minutes of college ball. That equates to 3.5 full games collegiate games, minutes-wise.
Only 10 turnovers, while SMU was credited with 8 steals shows an improvement in the careless/stupid mistake area. We did have a bit of trouble maintaining possession when they went to a zone though. Not sure why they ditched the zone so quickly.
Single most important part of the game. I don't care if we get stripped. It does not matter how you turn it over, only how often. If we keep it to 10, that's all that matters.
The offensive efficiency we displayed against SMU seems to have changed the narrative in the Boneyard big-time. Just the other day, the air here was filled with dispair, now suddenly, there is hope! Yet I still have serious concerns. Did "we" hold them to 13% on three point attempts, or did they just have a historically bad night from 3? Sure seemed like it didn't matter whether they were covered or not, they just couldn't make the ball go through the hoop from distance. Kinda like us the last few games, but even more so. And rebounding like we displayed last night won't go unpunished against very many teams. A good shooting night and managing not to turn it over too much overcame those flaws last night, but will we be able to replicate the offensive effort night in and night out?
Fear not. When we lose our next game. Despare will be back in full force.
A good shooting night and managing not to turn it over too much overcame those flaws last night, but will we be able to replicate the offensive effort night in and night out?
We will need to keep the turnovers the same, and play (better) solid D. Whatever happens with the offense, happens.
Seems like Hurley may have found a happy medium between the annoyingly deliberate pace he tried a few games ago and the helter skelter, run-on-every-possession pace of earlier this season. We didn't wear ourselves down, and we didn't turn the ball over as much, but we pushed them harder/faster than they were comfortable with.
Hurley is still learning this team, and these guys. People overlook the fact that he hasn't had these guys for years. He doesn't know them inside and out. He hasn't molded them to his ways. It's going to take experimenting. He's slowly working it out.