Trojan Horsey ThoughtZ™ | The Boneyard

Trojan Horsey ThoughtZ™

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RichZ

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  1. Josh picked a nice time to have his best game since the middle of his sophomore year. I don't know -- it might have been the best game of his career. He played like a man on a mission.
  2. Sanogo on the other hand, did nothing to justify the 10 minutes he spent on the court. One point, no boards, 3 fouls. I would have thought that he'd be a tough matchup for the elder Mobley.
  3. Polley's shot ain't right, and he seems reluctant to take it. His entire line consisted of 4 minutes, 4 fouls, and absolutely nothing else.
  4. As a team, we defended well enough to win, but the necessity to double Evan Mobley created a lot of wide open 3 point opportunities on the weak side elbow and wing. We did a semi-OK job of recovering on the wing, but not so much on the elbow. Fortunately, USC couldn't hit wide open threes. 3 of 19?
  5. Mobley is a talent, but Whaley played him tough, and the double team strategy kept him in check. 9 of his 17 points came on freebies, and he shot only 4 of 10 from the field.
  6. Whaley played 36 minutes, most of it on a bigger guy who is the centerpiece of his team's offense. Zay never showed any signs of fatigue. If he got the same level of protection from the refs as Mobely, he'd have outplayed him handily. I have a soft spot for bigs -- especially those with shot blocking instincts (Zay had another 5 tonight). Bouk, Andre and Martin aside, Whaley's my favorite player on this year's team.
  7. Martin really showed his value, and was a bigtime contributor at both ends. When he gets the ball, his first instinct is to attack. Reminds me of senior year Donny Marshall.
  8. Andre on the other hand, had a kind of a deer in the headlights look to him. Only played four minutes, because as soon as he touched it, he passed it. Not an attacking pass, not a probing pass. Just an "I don't want this thing" kind of pass. Maybe he needs to get involved in a few breakaways to get his juices flowing and his comfort level up. Pretty sure not being the dominant player on the court is new to him, and he's not sure how to adjust.
  9. Once again, Bouk started like a man possessed, then kind of disappeared offensively and when he tried to turn it on again late, he couldn't get it going. Hope that doesn't turn into a season-long recurring theme. Even when he's not being a scoring force though, he occupies the oppositions best perimeter defender, and he still contributes -- last night, he had 7 boards a steal and a couple dimes.
  10. Fifteen offensive boards to USC's 9 is a remarkable stat. Actually, I think they got three of their O boards on their last possession. Other than that possession, I suspect that our advantage had as much to do with USC sacrificing offensive rebounding to make it tough for us to run on them, as it did for our rebounding prowess.
  11. Neither team had a great assist night, but 9 is a bigger number than 4, so hey-hey for the good guys.
  12. On a purely statistical basis, we won this game from the 3 point line. When was the last time that ever happened? Freethrows were a virtual wash (16 to their 17). Both teams made the same number of field goals -- but we got 4 more points from the floor than they did, by way of 7 made threes to their 3.
  13. How did USC only commit 5 turnovers?
  14. Did anyone else think the horn at the Mohegan sounded like a kazoo?
 
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OkaForPrez

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Good stuff Rich. I think its noteworthy to say that even thought FT's were even. We shot 20 and at an 80% clip. That's huge! USC stayed in the game by doing the same on hand checks getting them into the bonus primarily while we got to the line through being aggressive. Bodes well.

BTW love the Donny comp.
 
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Its becoming clear freshman like Bouknight (last year) are rare. Sonago and Jackson are good players but need more development. Bouk was special and you can tell last year that his jersey would be hanging if he stayed long enough.

Just saying look up at Gampel and notice the scarcity of Bouknight types.
 
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Great gutty defensive win. Reminded me of an emerging years Jim Calhoun team type of win. Always preferred to close the game needing a defensive stop vs needing to score.

Bouk - I thought showed signs of figuring out how to impact a game throughout in that his early scoring binge lasted a bit longer than last game, the 3rd three was at 4:17 so not fort the ead (someone's got to do it) but definitely swung momentum. He was at least more aggressive late, albeit with mixed results.

Andre - agree with your analysis, biggest coaching need is to get his reactions up to game speed

Cole - Where was the aggressiveness?! Biggest pleasant surprise the first few games but was too often a non-factor in this one. Hoping superior size and speed doesn't render him ineffective, the little 12 footer he got and missed is an example of how he can score. He did lead UConn in assists & got that one key board late so not a total non-factor. Guts

Gaffney - box score doesn't show it, but I thought he moved the ball well, ran at least a probing offense

Carlton - Great game by him, #2 out there after Whaley. Thinner is working though on closeups I do a double-take as he looks as if he lost 30lbs over the past 4 weeks.

I wonder what the offensive stats looked like before the final 8 minutes of the rock fight?
 
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Sanogo will be fine, just not a good matchup for him. Not a lot of teams have an Evan Mobley-type stretch center so he’ll play better
 

87Xfer

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I found the Mobleys' FT shooting pretty annoying.

Their first 3 games, here's how they shot from the line:
(I Mobley / E Mobley) Game 1: 2-9/0-2, Game 2: 4-8/5-9; Game 3: 1-2/0-0. totals: 7-19 / 5-11

Last night: 3-4 / 9-11
. what the...?
 
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I found the Mobleys' FT shoting pretty annoying.

Their first 3 games, here's how they shot from the line:
(I Mobley / E Mobley) Game 1: 2-9/0-2, Game 2: 4-8/5-9; Game 3: 1-2/0-0. totals: 7-19 / 5-11

Last night: 3-4 / 9-11
. what the...?

We're clearly not ready to play fundamentally sound free throw defense yet.
 

BParkDog

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Cole - Where was the aggressiveness?! Biggest pleasant surprise the first few games but was too often a non-factor in this one.
Respectfully disagree - this was his best game. 2 for 5 from 3 (40%), missed all three of his 2s, but at least two were from 8' and very makeable, so his shot selection was good, 5 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 1 TO in 28 minutes. I'll take that from him every night and be very happy. He was very solid on ball, played tough D, and got rid of the TO bug that infected him the first two games. Had a very nice rebound in traffic, in the O lane late, with 4 trojans around him. Great board, in fact, and very timely.
 

RichZ

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Good stuff.

In regards to your comment:
Bouk, Andre and Martin aside, Whaley's my favorite player on this year's team.

So is he your fourth favorite on the team??
No. It means that despite these examples of flashier, higher profile guys, Whaley is my favorite.
 
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