Team Defense

[intlzncster]

Was absolutely phenomenal tonight. We gave up a few easy ones in their first third run, but even some of those were closely contested.

People mentioned that they just settled for threes. But we forced that. Our post defense was outstanding. Collapsing, Doubling, Tripling, Switching. They were forced to settle for long shots which was eventually their undoing.

Totally negated their strength and their best advantage/matchups against us. Phenomenal coaching by Ollie. Especially with a one day turn around.

If we play D this way here on out, I like our chances to win this thing. Without question.

 

[Matrim55]

Team defense was great - everyone deserves props.

But to me, it began with Nolan. He refused to let Payne get position on the block, and by doing that turned Sparty into a jump-shooting team. He was a man out there tonight, and we're going to Dallas in large part because of it.

 

[RichZ]

Team defense was great - everyone deserves props.

But to me, it began with Nolan. He refused to let Payne get position on the block, and by doing that turned Sparty into a jump-shooting team. He was a man out there tonight, and we're going to Dallas in large part because of it.

Agreed. When the refs seemed to set a tone that Brimah wasn't going to get any blocks, KO had to go to Tyler, and that kind of coincided with MSU's run. But once Phil returned for the 2nd half, it was a different game again.

 

[Gurleyman]

Was absolutely phenomenal tonight. We gave up a few easy ones in their first third run, but even some of those were closely contested.

People mentioned that they just settled for threes. But we forced that. Our post defense was outstanding. Collapsing, Doubling, Tripling, Switching. They were forced to settle for long shots which was eventually their undoing.

Totally negated their strength and their best advantage/matchups against us. Phenomenal coaching by Ollie. Especially with a one day turn around.

If we play D this way here on out, I like our chances to win this thing. Without question.

Those easy ones wee mostly before we got matched up. They spotted up well on the secondary break when we were in scramble mode. Once in the half court, they really got nothing. And that includes put backs. We controlled our glass to finish those stops.

 

[Lefty2one]

Today's game reminded me, fittingly enough, of Ollie (as a player) era UConn defense. That was early/mid 90's UConn D minus the 2-2-1. Quicker than the opponent across the board, didn't let them get into their sets easily, swarmed in the paint. Ferocious and aggressive. Just unbelievable. MSU got nothing outside of transition threes. Couldn't score in the paint, get to the FT or do much in the half court.

I never thought we'd beat MSU with Brimah being a non-factor.