Duquesne game
- Thread starter MrTbone
- Start date
good win tonight. offense carried us cause defense sucked. the only thing i worry about on defense is that we struggle against ball screens away from the basket, allowing the guard to dribble penetrate. gonna need to find a way to stop that against VCU on wed. i think our defensive intensity will match that of the URI game on wed though. this team gets up for big games
Several really important take-aways from this game.
1) The Ducks are actually a very talented team and one we will not want to play again, late in the season or in the tourney. Their two freshmen are truly outstanding, and likely Buck's main competition for ROY. Mike and Lewis (both freshmen) and Blackman are all talented players, and are only going to get better. We had to play well to win this one.
2. Our two seniors (TJ and SDJ) played outstanding games when we needed them to. Hope to see them play at this level this coming Wednesday, and the rest of the way.
3. I felt that JJ deserved major recognition for having his best game so far when it mattered, since we needed his contributions to win today. He brings some great intensity, toughness, and lots of other intangibles, so when he is hitting his shots, and contributing offensively, we are a far better team.
4. We started playing with some fire with under 10 minutes to go in this game, when it looked like we were just not "feeling it." It was great to see Buck and TJ combine on the "steal-half-court-pass-monster dunk"
play that I felt really defined the competitiveness of both players. They just would not let us lose. JJ played with that kind of fire too, and SDJ had that look in his eyes, late in this game too.
5. The free-throw shooting looked much better in this game, especially near the end. Heard that TJ stayed after practice this week to practice his FTs, and it showed. SDJ was also "ice-man" at the line.
6. It was very nice to see Kirby get more minutes than MW and Kwesi combined (9 to 5+2). It was well-deserved. Kirby better understands the offense, and can keep the "flow" of it going, much better than our front-line subs. Kirby did a nice job today of getting some of our guys a rest, but MW and Kwesi just kill our momentum, and do it with regularity. The good news is that today we played the guys who give us the best chance to win, and they did win. .
1) The Ducks are actually a very talented team and one we will not want to play again, late in the season or in the tourney. Their two freshmen are truly outstanding, and likely Buck's main competition for ROY. Mike and Lewis (both freshmen) and Blackman are all talented players, and are only going to get better. We had to play well to win this one.
2. Our two seniors (TJ and SDJ) played outstanding games when we needed them to. Hope to see them play at this level this coming Wednesday, and the rest of the way.
3. I felt that JJ deserved major recognition for having his best game so far when it mattered, since we needed his contributions to win today. He brings some great intensity, toughness, and lots of other intangibles, so when he is hitting his shots, and contributing offensively, we are a far better team.
4. We started playing with some fire with under 10 minutes to go in this game, when it looked like we were just not "feeling it." It was great to see Buck and TJ combine on the "steal-half-court-pass-monster dunk"
play that I felt really defined the competitiveness of both players. They just would not let us lose. JJ played with that kind of fire too, and SDJ had that look in his eyes, late in this game too.
5. The free-throw shooting looked much better in this game, especially near the end. Heard that TJ stayed after practice this week to practice his FTs, and it showed. SDJ was also "ice-man" at the line.
6. It was very nice to see Kirby get more minutes than MW and Kwesi combined (9 to 5+2). It was well-deserved. Kirby better understands the offense, and can keep the "flow" of it going, much better than our front-line subs. Kirby did a nice job today of getting some of our guys a rest, but MW and Kwesi just kill our momentum, and do it with regularity. The good news is that today we played the guys who give us the best chance to win, and they did win. .
And great game by JJ. His 3's all seemed to come at key moments and he made some great hustle plays.
Johnson is definitely getting better and better and is a major contributor to our success. Third leading scorer tonight with 16 and his tenacity is great. His play that ended up being call an intentional foul when he made a flying leap to block a shot showcased his athleticism. Major mistake after a long debate by refs to call that intentional...........but has been stated was a major factor in getting the crowd and the team fired up...........
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Thanks - asleep on that one - must have had the 26 free throws in mind - will change it
TJ has no arc on his Free Throw, so his room for error is very small.
Nick got a nice quiet 12 points tonight in 19 minutes. Solid game
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I don't care how we win as long as we do. We win with defense on Wednesday and with offense tonight. That makes us dangerous, in my opinion.
I know TJ is not known for his defense anyway, but I noticed last night that he seemed especially intentional about avoiding fouls.
Not sure if that was a part of the game plan, but 37 minutes and no fouls meant that TJ's offense was always in the game. It made for some frustratingly easy layups and putbacks but kudos to the team/coaching staff for making sure our best player stayed on the court.
Not sure if that was a part of the game plan, but 37 minutes and no fouls meant that TJ's offense was always in the game. It made for some frustratingly easy layups and putbacks but kudos to the team/coaching staff for making sure our best player stayed on the court.
Someone has coached him to avoid borderline contact, clearly they don't want him fouling early or out. It's been this way for the last 3-4 games. I think he's such a key cog to how we play it's worth the occasional easy bucket(s) he gives up.
i think sometimespivot step out and recover, or double with stepout sometimes changes the ball screen flowing if mixing up the patterns
30 minutes into the game Dukes were shooting 59% from three point land. That's good in practice much less bad defense or not. They are young and will be a force to be dealt with going forward. Perhaps as soon as the tournament.
It's more than TJ's offense that must remain in the game. It's his command of the floor and team leadership that must be out there. He is the only player over 6'4" that can play at this point. We would be better off to play solid inside ball denial defense and box out on shots and cut down the second chance points. For some reason our team has never been taught box out skills.
