The Difference that led to the big W

[sammydabiz]

Besides the obvious Boat, Purvis, great D

There were two main differences this game, that really vaulted our Huskies into another gear:

1. Turnovers, or lack thereof. 3 TO's (shoulda been 2, Brimah's backcourt was flukey) But ya fellas, only three turnovers, who woulda thunk? We played 40 minutes of smart Basketball and it truly made a difference. We all knew Cincy's D is stout, heck their fg% was 45% to our 36%. If not for taking care of the ball, this game would have never came down to a killer crossover stepback by Boat.

2. Allocation of minutes: Ladies & Gents, Ollie finally got it right. Never like to bash our boys, but did anyone else notice Terrance Samuel only played 4 minutes. I'm a fan of his, but he really doesn't provide much... and with no jumpshot, he becomes a bit of a liability. Cincy totally stopped guarding him all together around the arc, he'd be wide open and knew better not to shot, which pushed the ball to the corners where defenders would trap. (Although to his credit, he did attempt a 3, god bless his heart)

One thing to keep an eye on, with games "tourney style" on consecutive days... It's worth keeping an eye on how fresh we'll be tmw. Boat played all 40 minutes, DHam-38, Purvis-36. We're gonna need another great effort tmw, just like today. But as we all know (and Calhoun use to speak on this) the Huskies are most dangerous, when we're trapped in a corner with our backs against the wall.

I got that feelin again..... It must be March

 

[huskyharry]

Part of the lack of turnovers correlates with taking more three point shots, their highest number in the season. Normally, with a team that shoots poorly from outside, it would be foolish to encourage that volume of shots, but it worked out tonight ( as well as in the home game against SMU).

 

[Kitaman]

Don't over-think it. We had a 6th man at all times, even I saw that on TV. On to Tulsa!

 

[dogpause]

...

One thing to keep an eye on, with games "tourney style" on consecutive days... It's worth keeping an eye on how fresh we'll be tmw. Boat played all 40 minutes, DHam-38, Purvis-36. We're gonna need another great effort tmw, just like today. But as we all know (and Calhoun use to speak on this) the Huskies are most dangerous, when we're trapped in a corner with our backs against the wall.

I got that feelin again..... It must be March [/QUOTE]

I'll take swagger for freshness any day. This team is finding its swagger.

 

[Stinger92860]

That stretch of knocking down threes also helped.

 

[alexd]

The crowd was amazing. Our seats were a few rows below Big Red. Lots of standing. Loud. Great time.

 

[tzznandrew]

Part of the lack of turnovers correlates with taking more three point shots, their highest number in the season. Normally, with a team that shoots poorly from outside, it would be foolish to encourage that volume of shots, but it worked out tonight ( as well as in the home game against SMU).

You know, we don't shoot 3s all that poorly:

Boatright: 80/191 (41.9%)
Purvis: 45/125 (36%)
Hamilton: 43/122 (35.2%)
Calhoun: 25/73 (34.2%)

If you eliminate Samuel's 0/17, the team shoots 207/562 (36.8%).

Last year spoiled us...and this team sometimes over-relies on 3s. And we started out not particularly good from 3. But this team is, in fact, dangerous from downtown.

 

[Chin Diesel]

The managing of minutes was big last night. Part of the benefit of sitting Samuels against Cincy's zone is that he is perfectly rested for this afternoon.
As several have noted Samuels brings nothing against Cincy's pressure D and zone. But playing Boat 40 minutes and Purvis 35 minutes last night and then turning them around for this afternoon is going to be tough. Samuels is going to have to bring it today.

 

[Stinger92860]

You know, we don't shoot 3s all that poorly:

Boatright: 80/191 (41.9%)
Purvis: 45/125 (36%)
Hamilton: 43/122 (35.2%)
Calhoun: 25/73 (34.2%)

If you eliminate Samuel's 0/17, the team shoots 207/562 (36.8%).

Last year spoiled us...and this team sometimes over-relies on 3s. And we started out not particularly good from 3. But this team is, in fact, dangerous from downtown.

Good post. I did not realize those were the numbers. I'd be curious as to the numbers for the 2nd half of the season. We had some terrible shooting nights at the start of the season.

 

[tzznandrew]

Good post. I did not realize those were the numbers. I'd be curious as to the numbers for the 2nd half of the season. We had some terrible shooting nights at the start of the season.

Ask and received:

Since January 1st, from 3 they are 161/416 (38.7%).
Up to 12/31, they were 46/163 from 3. That's 28.2%. (That's the reason we think of them as a bad 3 point shooting team. For roughly half the season they were. And they went 6-5 in that stretch.)

Since 1/1, they make an average of 7.67 3s per game and take an average of 19.8.

In their 13 wins since 1/1, from 3 they are 108/252 (42.8%).
In those games they make an average of 8.3 and take 19.3.

In their 8 losses, they are 53/164 (32.2%)
In those games, they average 6.6 makes and 20.5 attempts.

They isn't a huge difference in 3pt attempts between wins and losses, but they shoot 10% better in the wins, and make almost 2 more 3s in their wins, on average.

 

[auror]

Good post. I did not realize those were the numbers. I'd be curious as to the numbers for the 2nd half of the season. We had some terrible shooting nights at the start of the season.

Boatright improved his numbers dramatically. He was mid-30's to start the year. He hits 42% all year, we win a few more nonconf games.

*Edit* I looked it up. In the tough 4-game stretch against Dayton (we won this one), West Virginia, Texas, and Yale, Boatright was 1/15 from 3.

 

[HungryHuskies]

I think DHam's deep three from the center of the court was a huge turning point of the game. It gave us a spark that we needed.

 

[RichZ]

Good post. I did not realize those were the numbers. I'd be curious as to the numbers for the 2nd half of the season. We had some terrible shooting nights at the start of the season.

Counting the 2 tourney games so far, we've played 32 games. We are 122 of 327 from three in those 16 games, for a 37.31% average.

For the season, we are 207 of 579 for 35.75%, so we are about 3 percentage points better at 3 point shooting in the 2nd half of the season than in the first half. I hate to say it, but the difference might be losing SamJr's 26.5% accuracy. Since losing him, Omar's minutes and productivity have gone up, so we've replaced 26.5 with 35% for our 4th perimeter option.

FWIW, we are 15 of 42 against Tulsa so far this year for 35.7%

 

[Waquoit]

That stretch of knocking down threes also helped.

That's what it's all about. When they make shots they win.

 

[Excalibur]

You know, we don't shoot 3s all that poorly: Boatright: 80/191 (41.9%) Purvis: 45/125 (36%) Hamilton: 43/122 (35.2%) Calhoun: 25/73 (34.2%) If you eliminate Samuel's 0/17, the team shoots 207/562 (36.8%). Last year spoiled us...and this team sometimes over-relies on 3s. And we started out not particularly good from 3. But this team is, in fact, dangerous from downtown.

It's not so much that Purvis, Hamilton and Calhoun are bad three point shooters, it's that they are all really streaky. If two of the three of them aren't hitting we struggle offensively.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

You know, we don't shoot 3s all that poorly:

Boatright: 80/191 (41.9%)
Purvis: 45/125 (36%)
Hamilton: 43/122 (35.2%)
Calhoun: 25/73 (34.2%)

If you eliminate Samuel's 0/17, the team shoots 207/562 (36.8%).

Last year spoiled us...and this team sometimes over-relies on 3s. And we started out not particularly good from 3. But this team is, in fact, dangerous from downtown.

If you look at the Stat line you would of thought we got rolled.
Shooting % ,outrebounded by 10

Until you look at the number of made three's the difference was huge .

 

[RichZ]

If you look at the Stat line you would of thought we got rolled.
Shooting % ,outrebounded by 10

Until you look at the number of made three's the difference was huge .

I think the turnover differential was huge, too.

 

[joober jones]

S**t nobody ever spells my last name correctly
And I'm so tired of that extra s at the end
Maybe by the time I'm a senior it will stop
Unlikely though
Even if I start sinking threes
Looks like I'll just have to get used to that damn s