A little kid naptime tape review. Video courtesy of
@tcf15. From Newton's freshman season against us, Hurley's 2nd year. Reminder that this was 2 years ago, so he's improved since then.
Halftime. 10 points, 3 assists (+2 drawn shooting foul assists), 3 rebounds.
Will do the 2nd half later tonight.
2nd half time. Reminder this is ECU transfer Tristan Newton's freshman year from 2 years ago against UConn.
48:59 - Runs into an infamous Whaley hedge, doesn't get the ball stolen. Gets a pass off to the roll-man, but Adams does a good job of rotating and breaks up the pass.
49:41 - Rotates over from off ball and draws a charge against Vital. Think it was the right call, nice play.
50:16 - Nice cut, but misses a tough layup over Whaley/Vital helping in the lane. Commits a frustration hack foul coming inbounds. Not his best moment.
51:01 - Fills the lane on a long rebound. Gets Vital to commit and no problem finishing past him.
52:33 - Does a great job setting up Gilbert on the screen, then drives hard. Has an open lane with no shot blockers, only Brendan Adams contesting. Should've finished. Fights hard, gets the rebound, gets stripped going back up, but then is the first guy to the ground. Gets a foul call on Gilbert (should have been a tie up probably). Shaken up a bit on the play. Really like the effort level from a freshman.
58:47 - Smartly identifies the hard hedge coming and their coach drew up a slip to beat it. Our D reacts, so he smartly moves the defense without taking a dribble by using a jab step and a couple ball fakes. Easily makes an overhand no-step cross court pass to the far corner right to his guy's chest, who is able to pump fake the defender closing hard, leading to a wide open shot. Savvy PG play, QB-esque moving the defense.
59:18 - Picks up a loose ball and runs the break. Vital funnels him into Adams. Newton tries to finish through him, but either blocked or altered or fouled. Not sure. Teammate cleans it up. Maybe should've passed to #4 after getting by Vital.
59:55 - Fakes the deep 3, uses the cushion offered by Bouknight to get downhill and then jump stops in the paint. Gets Whaley in the air with a slight hesitation and small ball fake, then draws the foul and finishes strong through contact. Nails the And-1 FT. That's a high major play.
1:03:19 - Decent first step but Vital recovers. Pulls up, Vital called for a cheap hand to wrist. Not an amazing move, Vital bailed him out (or got unlucky he hit wrist).
1:05:27 - Catch and shoot 3. Was ready for the pass, shot without hesitation.
1:06:13 - Whaley hedge forces him backwards on the PnR. He resets and gets downhill against Gaffney. Good behind the back gets him to a better part of the court, gets Gaffney on his hip, then hangs and converts in the paint. Gaffney can't guard him.
1:07:19 - Slight hesitation, but mostly just drives right at Gilbert and shoots a runner over him, uses the bank. Easy. Gilbert can't guard him. Lead down to 6, 7-0 personal run. UConn TO.
1:10:38 - Once again just goes right at Gilbert. Gathers early outside the paint and just elevates. Gilbert caught in no man's land and blocking foul. Still can't guard him. He's gotten both Vital and Gilbert into a bit of foul trouble here in the 2nd half. Short rims the first one, makes the 2nd.
He draws a hand check foul 25 feet from the hoop. Rims out the first shot of a 1-and-1. He's played most of the game at this point, I've only seen him out for a brief stint in the 1st half, probably a bit tired. Gets a bit lazy and commits a freedom of movement foul on D.
1:15:41 - Another beauty of an overhand 20 foot assist. Right on the money to Gardner open down low. He's open because Newton looks and pump fakes once, waits for the guy cheating into the lane to retreat back out and then gets the pass in with velocity before Whaley fully recovers. Great stuff. Scorer doesn't give him an assist because Gardner pump faked for no reason 1 time despite being open 1 foot from the basket?
1:21:55 - Navigates the hedge in PnR, has an open lane to the pass to the roll man. The corner cheats in and the roll man is stripped immediately when he goes up (eventually recovers and his fouled, so another foul assist). It's an okay pass since he did have a window (announcer even said "Good pass!"), but the best play is probably a skip to the wide open far corner.
1:24:52 - Hadn't shot in a few minutes, UConn is now walling the paint with help against his drives. Offense going nowhere so he pulls up for a long 2. Surprised Adams with the decisive move, but not the best shot selection. Shot looked pretty good, but rims out.
1:27:15 - Garbage time setting in a bit and we're really walling off the paint on his PnRs now and his guys didn't really roll at all. Taking what the defense is giving, another pull-up midrange jumper. Probably should keep looking. Vital with an awesome contest.
Coach takes him out for I think the first time in the 2nd half with 1:30 left.
Overall stats - 38 minutes, 25 points, 9/17 from the field, 1/2 from 3pt, 6/8 from FT (1 was missed front end), 5 rebounds, 6 assists (should be 7) plus 3 foul assists, 2 steals, 0 turnovers.
Really impressive showing from a freshman, especially against our 2pt D helmed by Whaley, which is where he did most of his damage. He roasted Gilbert (with his size) and Gaffney (with savvy and change of pace). Had a couple scores against Vital and Bouknight also. Got to the line 8 times, jumper looked good. Scored at all 3 levels. He's not a jitter bug, not an amazing first step, definitely more a guy that plays under control and uses his size to create an advantage.
Pretty impressed with his vision and velocity on his passes. Definitely a point guard. Mostly made the right reads in pick and roll. Playing under control also helps him wait for a play to develop before getting the pass in. No idea how a guy with this scoring acumen and vision at this size fell through the cracks to ECU with no other major offers. Looks like West Virginia gave him a look but didn't offer.
I also don't recall his man scoring very often (Vital hit a 3 or so), and he held up pretty well when he was defending Bouknight (emerging at end of freshman year) and Vital. Got clipped chasing on screens once or twice, but also had a few where he hung well enough to deny a pass and break up a set action. He was generally in good position off ball and not flat-footed too often.
Bring him in Danny.
