Report Card vs Xavier

[Report Card]

R. Cole- 7.5: This game was a tale of two halves. Clearly we're not a good "in control of lead" team. When we get comfortable, we let off the gas and get sloppy in all aspects of our game. Cole made sure to keep this game from getting away from us.
T. Polley- 7.5: The Tyler Polley first half game! "Bingo bango!" Clutch free throws down the line. Great defensive effort yet again.
A. Sanogo- 7.0: Fantastic first half. Not his fault he laid a goose egg in the 2nd. Refer to our "change in gameplan" method in 2nd half. Starting our plays with 10 seconds in the shot clock renders Adama helpless.
I. Whaley-7.0: Strong defense throughout the game. Needs to cutdown turnovers.
J. Hawkins-7.0: He's made at least one 3pt shot in 5 consecutive games now? His defense and free-throw shooting keep improving. Our future.
A. Jackson- 6.5: Good work on the boards and for the most part a good defensive showing. Needs needs needs to clean up sloppy turnovers. NEEDS to.
T. Martin- 6.0: Strong first half, horrible 2nd. I felt like he was the leader of the "lets just coast until this game is over" pack. Can't have it. His rebounding though was 2nd to none, and that's literal: he led the game with 11 boards.
J. Gaffney- 4.0: Nope, not today. :/

Player of the Match- R. Cole: Helped us avoid disaster.
Notes: -From the moment Bouknight got onto campus driving and ditching cars, until his very last today, he's always been a little mischievous. Appreciate the kid coming out today to support the lads, on his feet for every play. Coach Hurley grabbed him after the game and yelled: "You almost cost us a tech you balloon knot!"
-Vital got a bigger roar from the crows than Bouknight during introductions.
-This game locked Justin Edwards as a husky. Impossible to think otherwise. Seeing the way he interacted with Sool, Floyd, Donovan, and Castle during the game, he's a shoe in.
-Clearly playing with a big lead isn't one of our strengths. We like to be in the trenches and that's okay with me.
-Coach Hurley, we love you oh so much.

RC over and out

 

[PAHusky]

For their relative abilities, Gaffney had a much better game than Jackson or Martin. I know the announcers a few games ago kept talking about how Martin needs to get to the rim more than shoot from deep according to Hurley but I’m not sure I agree - I think it’s the opposite. If we ran a few sets to get him some open looks from 3 - he’s shooting over 40% - it could open up the lane for his drives. When he tried to drive to set up his three, on the other hand, it seems like he’s constantly dribbling into a crowd and throwing up something off balanced, followed by a contested jumper.

Would love to see Hawkins add some dribble drive to his game now that his confidence is coming back.

Polley went from being a liability on the defensive end to actually holding his own. Really impressive growth so late in his career. Happy for him.

We either seem to force it too much to Sanogo or forget him entirely. Not sure if that’s gameplan or player failure.

Whaley’s shot selection is underrated.

 

[HooperScooper]

Would love to see Hawkins add some dribble drive to his game now that his confidence is coming back.

He needs to improve his handle before he can do that. He loses the ball a lot when he tries to dribble drive.

We either seem to force it too much to Sanogo or forget him entirely. Not sure if that’s gameplan or player failure.

Did he even get off a shot in the 2nd half? That was strange. Did Xavier do something to deny him the ball?

 

[Luckyhusky81]

Would love to see Hawkins add some dribble drive to his game now that his confidence is coming back.

I can't remember the last time he actually made a layup that was contested at all.

 

[SwingDog]

Good points, but you have to think the difficulty in playing with a lead or taking our foot off the gas had a lot to do with Xavier. They clearly played with greater intensity and desperation in the second half. I think the most impressive thing is although they rattled us for a bit, we regained our composure and closed out. That should pay dividends in upcoming games. You have to be able to take punches, and we showed that today.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Good points, but you have to think the difficulty in playing with a lead or taking our foot off the gas had a lot to do with Xavier. They clearly played with greater intensity and desperation in the second half. I think the most impressive thing is although they rattled us for a bit, we regained our composure and closed out. That should pay dividends in upcoming games. You have to be able to take punches, and we showed that today.

Cole regained his composure. You could argue everyone else forgot their role on offense.

 

[Report Card]

Good points, but you have to think the difficulty in playing with a lead or taking our foot off the gas had a lot to do with Xavier. They clearly played with greater intensity and desperation in the second half. I think the most impressive thing is although they rattled us for a bit, we regained our composure and closed out. That should pay dividends in upcoming games. You have to be able to take punches, and we showed that today.

A great take @SwingDog . Basketball is a game of runs. And in the end, we closed out another game. This sets up the Villanova game to potentially go down as one of the greats.

 

[bfs3]

I hope he didn’t spend too much time talking with Sool….

 

[August_West]

For their relative abilities, Gaffney had a much better game than Jackson or Martin. I know the announcers a few games ago kept talking about how Martin needs to get to the rim more than shoot from deep according to Hurley but I’m not sure I agree - I think it’s the opposite. If we ran a few sets to get him some open looks from 3 - he’s shooting over 40% - it could open up the lane for his drives. When he tried to drive to set up his three, on the other hand, it seems like he’s constantly dribbling into a crowd and throwing up something off balanced, followed by a contested jumper.

Would love to see Hawkins add some dribble drive to his game now that his confidence is coming back.

Polley went from being a liability on the defensive end to actually holding his own. Really impressive growth so late in his career. Happy for him.

We either seem to force it too much to Sanogo or forget him entirely. Not sure if that’s gameplan or player failure.

Whaley’s shot selection is underrated.

I agree on Martin. He can hit a 3 at a decent clip. He can out tough matchups down low cleaning up garbage. Do both! But counting on him to attack paint off bounce, no thanks.

Hawkins had a nice drive or two today which is a good thing, but can’t finish at rim. All in all I see a lot of progress there. Because he’s getting there!

Polley has never been a great iso defender but has always been a decent team defender, he’s gotten a bad rap on D. But nowhe is improving in iso too.

 

[freshler40]

I agree on Martin. He can hit a 3 at a decent clip. He can out tough matchups down low cleaning up garbage. Do both! But counting on him to attack paint off bounce, no thanks.

Hawkins had a nice drive or two today which is a good thing, but can’t finish at rim. All in all I see a lot of progress there. Because he’s getting there!

Polley has never been a great iso defender but has always been a decent team defender, he’s gotten a bad rap on D. But nowhe is improving in iso too.

We seem to be growing in half's????? We can play like a top 10 team or top 40 but clearly trending in the right direction. Loved the steady wheel that Cole brought in the second half. He personally stopped their runs. Our problem stems from attempting to run down the clock and not having a solid second ball handler. Tradeoffs that in this case worked. Credit to X! They play hard, made half-time adjustments that brought them back to a four point deficit and never gave up.

 

[uconngb]

Grade for Danny: D-

He almost singlehandedly cost us the game with his coaching malfeasance in the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half. You could see the panic in his face. Not a good look. Thank god RJ bailed him out. That would have been an atrocious loss.

 

[Glastonhusky]

R. Cole- 7.5: This game was a tale of two halves. Clearly we're not a good "in control of lead" team. When we get comfortable, we let off the gas and get sloppy in all aspects of our game. Cole made sure to keep this game from getting away from us.
T. Polley- 7.5: The Tyler Polley first half game! "Bingo bango!" Clutch free throws down the line. Great defensive effort yet again.
A. Sanogo- 7.0: Fantastic first half. Not his fault he laid a goose egg in the 2nd. Refer to our "change in gameplan" method in 2nd half. Starting our plays with 10 seconds in the shot clock renders Adama helpless.
I. Whaley-7.0: Strong defense throughout the game. Needs to cutdown turnovers.
J. Hawkins-7.0: He's made at least one 3pt shot in 5 consecutive games now? His defense and free-throw shooting keep improving. Our future.
A. Jackson- 6.5: Good work on the boards and for the most part a good defensive showing. Needs needs needs to clean up sloppy turnovers. NEEDS to.
T. Martin- 6.0: Strong first half, horrible 2nd. I felt like he was the leader of the "lets just coast until this game is over" pack. Can't have it. His rebounding though was 2nd to none, and that's literal: he led the game with 11 boards.
J. Gaffney- 4.0: Nope, not today. :/

Player of the Match- R. Cole: Helped us avoid disaster.
Notes: -From the moment Bouknight got onto campus driving and ditching cars, until his very last today, he's always been a little mischievous. Appreciate the kid coming out today to support the lads, on his feet for every play. Coach Hurley grabbed him after the game and yelled: "You almost cost us a tech you balloon knot!"
-Vital got a bigger roar from the crows than Bouknight during introductions.
-This game locked Justin Edwards as a husky. Impossible to think otherwise. Seeing the way he interacted with Sool, Floyd, Donovan, and Castle during the game, he's a shoe in.
-Clearly playing with a big lead isn't one of our strengths. We like to be in the trenches and that's okay with me.
-Coach Hurley, we love you oh so much.

RC over and out

I hope you're right about Edwards.