Week 11 - Jan 12 to 18 | Page 9 | The Boneyard

Week 11 - Jan 12 to 18

Kennedy Smith was back for USC today and they hammered Purdue.
 
UConnCat said:
The most interesting thing about Tennessee is despite all the talk about Kim Caldwell and her system, the team is really not playing the style Caldwell envisioned (not counting the hockey-style substitutions).

After joining Tennessee, Caldwell's stated goals were 1) 85-90 shots per game, 2) force 20-25 turnovers per game, 3) 15 steals per game and 4) 20 offensive rebounds per game.

So far this season, even with some cupcake opponents thrown in, the Vols are 1) attempting 69 shots per game (65 vs conference opponents), 2) forcing 17.8 turnover per game 3) averaging 8.6 steals per game and 4) grabbing 17 offensive boards per game (15 against conference opponents).

Edited to add: Points per game are down this season compared to last (80 vs 86), with the more difficult part of their schedule coming up.
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There are five freshman and the transfers. Three of the freshman were in at crunch time. It's been a lot of coaching, and there has been improvement. I think Mia Pauldo may be one of the best point guards in the country before she graduates.
 
Centerstream said:
I have never seen a team giveaway a possible win with less than 15 seconds to go than NC State did at the end of regulation. They handed Louisville the OT opportunity. Unbelievable.
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UNC did the same thing when it lost to Louisville in OT. Should have won in regulation but Indya Nivar missed two FTs allowing Louisville to tie the game and force overtime.
 
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Hope PETA didn't see what happened over in Cameron Indoor
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Centerstream said:
I have never seen a team giveaway a possible win with less than 15 seconds to go than NC State did at the end of regulation. They handed Louisville the OT opportunity. Unbelievable.
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State's biggest rival did the exact same thing. I'm still not a believer in Louisville.
 
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UConnCat said:
Duluth, GA for some reason.
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Ahh Atlanta suburbs in 26 and Charlotte in 27.
Hitting the bigger media markets I guess. But will be interesting to see what happens with attendance.
 
Michigan St. has been fairly hot, but Iowa took care of them tonight. 75-68, Stuelke and Heiden went for 22 and 20.
 
UConnCat said:
Stanford traveled to frigid upstate NY and lost to Syracuse 69-58.

Only 2 more trips to the east coast for the Cardinal: @Pitt and @GaTech and then @Miami and @FSU. At least there won't be snow in Florida.
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Gotta find a way to win winnable games like that if we want to return to being considered a contender. Unsurprising, but still a bad loss.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Michigan St. has been fairly hot, but Iowa took care of them tonight. 75-68, Stuelke and Heiden went for 22 and 20.
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Was at the game tonight. Iowa was up 17 half way through the 3rd quarter but Sparty battled back to get it within 5 in the 4th.
Iowa stumbled to the finish but have to give them credit for holding Michigan State to 20 points under their average.
Spartans are a good team; lots of players that can get the ball in the basket and didn't give up.
 
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Bjbod said:
Was at the game tonight. Iowa was up 17 half way through the 3rd quarter but Sparty battled back to get it within 5 in the 4th.
Iowa stumbled to the finish but have to give them credit for holding Michigan State to 20 points under their average.
Spartans are a good team; lots of players that can get the ball in the basket and didn't give up.
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Foul trouble for VanSlooten and Jones didn't help matters for Mich State. That seemed to throw them out of whack during the first half as well. Agree that the Spartans don't quit, but getting into holes like this against, teams like Iowa will continue to hurt them.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Never heard of her before, but Destiny Howell scored 39 and Wisconsin wins 94-92 in 2 OT. Badgers are 4-4 in conference. I think coaches generally don't like doing it, but I gotta question Oregon getting burned twice by not fouling when up 3 late in the game. The only thing you can't do is give up a 3, and they did it at the end of regulation and the end of the first OT.
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I saw the score was 69-63 Oregon with about 30 seconds left and walked away from my TV. Wish I stayed and watched. But major props to Wisconsin and Pingeton for the start they’ve had. They’ve already matched the B1G win total from a year ago and have 10 games left.
 
BRS24 said:
In the last 10 secs, NCAT shot a three, got the rebound, and instead of reseting the offense for a better shot and using time, the player went back in and missed a shot. I'm no hoops expert and even I was screaming reset!
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So a couple things...for the original comment about never seeing a team give away game like that ...State has done that multiple times this year. Against USC they led and controlled the entire game and blew it in the final minutes. Against Oklahoma they led and controlled the entire game and folded at the end, very similar actually because it went to OT and State had chances to put it away in regulation. This is a team that hasn't figured out how to close against good teams yet. It's been a theme.

However, to me this one wasn't as egregious on State's part...sure there were definitely things! But I thought Coach Walz and UL deserve a lot of credit.

As an overview of the game, it was a fantastic environment and State controlled the game for 90% at least. State really lost for 3 main reasons IMO - 1) UL dominated the offensive boards, they were scrappy and really took away one of State's strengths. They got several second chance points, every rebound was a battle. 2) Turnovers. State is traditionally very good with taking care of the ball, they turned it over 19 times yesterday - credit to UL for switching defenses and being physical with their press, it caused State issues and changed the game. 3) Lack of depth. State fully ran out of gas in OT and even before then, anytime they had to dip into the bench, it was obvious. State only played 2 players off the bench and they had the worst +/- on the team. Lunan was -15 in 26 minutes and Cox was -8 in 7 minutes.

You felt it slip in the 2nd quarter, Zoe picked up her 2nd foul early and they had to ride much of the 2nd quarter with Lunan out there and Cox was giving both KP and Tilda breathers. State went over 5 minutes without points in that stretch. Still led by 5 at half though. Then again in the 3rd Zam went to the bench with State up 13 and UL went to a full court trap and the freshman Lunan struggled. That was a major major stretch there. Final minute of the 3rd and the start of the 4th with a couple of State turnovers and UL hit back to back 3s to cut it from a 9 point game to a 3 point game in an instant. Zam had to leave the game after taking a shot to the face at one point and was out a few minutes before returning with a mask. State simply doesn't have the depth to overcome that. Those top 4 players can play with anyone in the nation, I firmly believe that. But it's a drop off without one of those girls out there. Significant.

As for the end of the game. State was closing strong, Zoe had a great acrobatic lay up in the final couple minutes followed by a bogus off the ball foul on KP that sent UL to the line. Later Zoe had a fantastic drive and dish to KP for an and 1 that put State up 5 with maybe 45 seconds. UL calls a time out and draws up a beautiful play, long lob to the far corner and had Barry coming off a screen to catch the next pass for a catch and shoot 3 and she drilled it. That wasn't a fold by State, that was a great design and flawless execution from UL. Now its a 2 point game with 41 seconds and it's anyones game. After State's next time out I thought Walz was great again coming out in an extend zone look they hadn't given all game and it through State some. Lots of passes back and forth outside the perimeter and ends with Lunan taking a corner 3. That's State's 5th option on the floor at that time, it was a good clean look, but exactly who UL wanted shooting.

Zoe gets the rebound and should have pulled it back out with no shot clock and let UL foul. To her defense, the shot clock operator did not reset the clock and the clock above the goal was counting down 6...5... and she put it up. Now, she should know that ball hit the rim. She's a junior and should have the basketball IQ there to recognize the situation, but it happened. It's a shot she makes 70% of the time, she missed it and to UL's credit it wasn't a clean rebound but they outhustled State to the ball, gets fouled on the rebounding action and sinks both FTs.

State's final play with 10 seconds wasn't terrible. You got Zam who had been red hot, going to the basket and she just didn't finish. Then in OT it just fell apart, you could tell they were gassed.

UL deserves a lot of credit for surviving in that environment. For State it was a massive gut punch. That was a big game for them, could have put them right back on the map and in the mix for the ACC title, now it feels like that is a pipe dream. This is the 3rd time this year State has really controlled the entire game against a top team and not been able to finish them off. It feels like State is right there on the edge of being a legit top 15/20 team but can't get over. Probably a good thing they have no games mid week, they need to regroup. That one was demoralizing.
 
FanInNC said:
So a couple things...for the original comment about never seeing a team give away game like that ...State has done that multiple times this year. Against USC they led and controlled the entire game and blew it in the final minutes. Against Oklahoma they led and controlled the entire game and folded at the end, very similar actually because it went to OT and State had chances to put it away in regulation. This is a team that hasn't figured out how to close against good teams yet. It's been a theme.

However, to me this one wasn't as egregious on State's part...sure there were definitely things! But I thought Coach Walz and UL deserve a lot of credit.

As an overview of the game, it was a fantastic environment and State controlled the game for 90% at least. State really lost for 3 main reasons IMO - 1) UL dominated the offensive boards, they were scrappy and really took away one of State's strengths. They got several second chance points, every rebound was a battle. 2) Turnovers. State is traditionally very good with taking care of the ball, they turned it over 19 times yesterday - credit to UL for switching defenses and being physical with their press, it caused State issues and changed the game. 3) Lack of depth. State fully ran out of gas in OT and even before then, anytime they had to dip into the bench, it was obvious. State only played 2 players off the bench and they had the worst +/- on the team. Lunan was -15 in 26 minutes and Cox was -8 in 7 minutes.

You felt it slip in the 2nd quarter, Zoe picked up her 2nd foul early and they had to ride much of the 2nd quarter with Lunan out there and Cox was giving both KP and Tilda breathers. State went over 5 minutes without points in that stretch. Still led by 5 at half though. Then again in the 3rd Zam went to the bench with State up 13 and UL went to a full court trap and the freshman Lunan struggled. That was a major major stretch there. Final minute of the 3rd and the start of the 4th with a couple of State turnovers and UL hit back to back 3s to cut it from a 9 point game to a 3 point game in an instant. Zam had to leave the game after taking a shot to the face at one point and was out a few minutes before returning with a mask. State simply doesn't have the depth to overcome that. Those top 4 players can play with anyone in the nation, I firmly believe that. But it's a drop off without one of those girls out there. Significant.

As for the end of the game. State was closing strong, Zoe had a great acrobatic lay up in the final couple minutes followed by a bogus off the ball foul on KP that sent UL to the line. Later Zoe had a fantastic drive and dish to KP for an and 1 that put State up 5 with maybe 45 seconds. UL calls a time out and draws up a beautiful play, long lob to the far corner and had Barry coming off a screen to catch the next pass for a catch and shoot 3 and she drilled it. That wasn't a fold by State, that was a great design and flawless execution from UL. Now its a 2 point game with 41 seconds and it's anyones game. After State's next time out I thought Walz was great again coming out in an extend zone look they hadn't given all game and it through State some. Lots of passes back and forth outside the perimeter and ends with Lunan taking a corner 3. That's State's 5th option on the floor at that time, it was a good clean look, but exactly who UL wanted shooting.

Zoe gets the rebound and should have pulled it back out with no shot clock and let UL foul. To her defense, the shot clock operator did not reset the clock and the clock above the goal was counting down 6...5... and she put it up. Now, she should know that ball hit the rim. She's a junior and should have the basketball IQ there to recognize the situation, but it happened. It's a shot she makes 70% of the time, she missed it and to UL's credit it wasn't a clean rebound but they outhustled State to the ball, gets fouled on the rebounding action and sinks both FTs.

State's final play with 10 seconds wasn't terrible. You got Zam who had been red hot, going to the basket and she just didn't finish. Then in OT it just fell apart, you could tell they were gassed.

UL deserves a lot of credit for surviving in that environment. For State it was a massive gut punch. That was a big game for them, could have put them right back on the map and in the mix for the ACC title, now it feels like that is a pipe dream. This is the 3rd time this year State has really controlled the entire game against a top team and not been able to finish them off. It feels like State is right there on the edge of being a legit top 15/20 team but can't get over. Probably a good thing they have no games mid week, they need to regroup. That one was demoralizing.
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That was a stupid play after the first shot attempt in regulation. All State needed to do was passed the ball out and forced Louisville to foul.
 
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