Bottom line, we beat a good team pretty convincingly.
I hope UNI goes to Charlottesville and kicks butt!!
I hope UNI goes to Charlottesville and kicks butt!!
Northern Iowa game thread
- Thread starter Gospiders06
- Start date
A really fun one to watch. I like that this team seems to be very balanced, so you never really know who might go off from one game to the next. Lots of options.
Nelson is the stud we expected him to be. A 20-year-old freshman running the show for the first of four years here is a pretty nice spot to be in. Roche is capable of playing 10 minutes and scoring 12 points if he's hot. Totally changed the game tonight. Quite a weapon to have.
Also, not sure who the shooting coach is at UNI but he's got his hands full with some of those atrocious looking jumpers they threw up tonight.
Nelson is the stud we expected him to be. A 20-year-old freshman running the show for the first of four years here is a pretty nice spot to be in. Roche is capable of playing 10 minutes and scoring 12 points if he's hot. Totally changed the game tonight. Quite a weapon to have.
Also, not sure who the shooting coach is at UNI but he's got his hands full with some of those atrocious looking jumpers they threw up tonight.
Can you imagine what this team might be when Burton really gets it going on offense??
Going to be hard to keep Roche off the court with his shooting ability. Quinn needs to be on the block and look to score when he catches the ball on the block. Dji, Nelson, and Goose are all very solid defenders. Hopefully they can start knocking down 3s more consistently. 2-0! Great way to start the year.
Very good game. But lets throw the brakes on UNI being a really good team. They look like a bottom half team in their conference to me. Good news is I think we can get a lot better on offense and love the defense so far.
I saw him zipping passes like that in pre-game warmups from the sideline in street clothes last year with Gilly. Knew we were going to see some highlight reel passes.
Nelson was great, he’s the next great UR point guard. He’s going to be very good for us.
Burtons going to have to figure out how to create his opportunities, him taking 6 shots isn’t going to cut it.
really good minutes from Randolph tonight. Wasn’t sure where he was going to fit on this team, but he seems to be the energy guy.
Burtons going to have to figure out how to create his opportunities, him taking 6 shots isn’t going to cut it.
really good minutes from Randolph tonight. Wasn’t sure where he was going to fit on this team, but he seems to be the energy guy.
Agree... Not a very good team and it looks like they didn't even look at the tape of the VMI game.
Better game from Quinn of course but he's so easily pushed around, the offense will be difficult to run through him. Heck, Mooney almost knocked him down as was checking into the game. But better game in his 19 minutes. Unfortunately, Grace will be hard to keep off the floor...too many minutes for him for us to be a good team.
Nelson, might be freshman of the week... Two very good games.
Goose... 23 minutes... but should be trending down further as our need for offense becomes more obvious - he's just not what we need this year. If he didn't get 28 minutes in this game he might not EVER get 28 (much less avg. 28 as some on here have said).
Dji will continue to have a hard time getting time at point because of Nelson but he should get a few more minutes than he got tonite... probably from Goose who did bring good D and poor offense tonite.
Burton - nothing to lead me believe he'll ever be able to shoot the ball consistently but he's fun to watch rebound on the defensive end.
Roche's time trending up. He's all we got from 3 and he is a bit of a liability on D but one I think we'll have to live with.
Bigelow didnt do much offensively but thought he played #32? pretty well. #32 was a good player as was their point guard but this team was not a good team.
Randolph was a bit of a surprise... played strong and with some confidence.
The more Burton is able play at the four the more offense we should generate so look for less time for Quinn and Grace on the floor together (they both start which must be a Mooney loyalty thing) and more time for Burton and Bigelow together.
Other notes: thank goodness Noyes is what 6'7" cuz he pushes the ball from his nose on his shot..no Skrocki there, but looks like he's a pretty good athlete and gets up!
Best 5 right now: Nelson, Roche, Bigelow, Burton, Grace
Going forward Quinn has to have some success to stay on floor longer, but it's going to be a tough year offensively.
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I thought Quinn looked pretty good out there tonight. Mostly finished at the rim, made most of his free throws, had some nice moved at the hoop, disrupted a bunch of shots on D. He's a nice equalizer to have if the other teams guards get past ours. He allowed the rest of our defense to catch up tonight when that happened a few times, and the end result was a turnover by UNI or a heavily contested shot.
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Regarding Quinn, he's not the same player as TJ or GG. I see him more as a traditional, back to the basket, low block big. I think he can be very effective and score a lot of points when used in this roll, but that has to be where he plays. He simply can't handle the ball as well as TJ or GG.
26 mins for Goose not 23. I didn’t see game but per box score it was 26. With the in game scoreboard issues I read about idk maybe we screwed the box up. That’s what she said.
26 was the 3rd most minutes in game. Most was 31. We basically led by double digits all 2nd half. Game flow. Burton mpg is down too. That’s a product of how our 1st 2 games went. If most r like that averages will be down. Of course it’s possible Goose mpg will trend down but last night is not an example of that imo.
tough battle on road coming Monday.
I thought Quinn looked solid and did you exactly what we need from him right now. He didn't force anything, shot a good percentage, got to the line again (and shot better this time).
Team defense looks very good through 2 games. For those saying UNI is not a good team, time will tell but they are at least a solid non-conf. opponent and you could see they have some good pieces. And I think they looked bad more because our D made them look bad.
Nobody is taking any plays off - you can see the hustle all over the floor especially on D. I think having the extra depth at the 1-3 positions (and Mooney's willingness so far to rotate guys out frequently) is paying off right now. Challenge will be to keep everyone happy with their roles.
All in all a nice 2 game start to the season, better than I had envisioned. Great games from Roche and Nelson, fun team to watch.
Team defense looks very good through 2 games. For those saying UNI is not a good team, time will tell but they are at least a solid non-conf. opponent and you could see they have some good pieces. And I think they looked bad more because our D made them look bad.
Nobody is taking any plays off - you can see the hustle all over the floor especially on D. I think having the extra depth at the 1-3 positions (and Mooney's willingness so far to rotate guys out frequently) is paying off right now. Challenge will be to keep everyone happy with their roles.
All in all a nice 2 game start to the season, better than I had envisioned. Great games from Roche and Nelson, fun team to watch.
I think Goose is going to be in a battle for minutes. Saw him get beat off the dribble pretty good a couple times last night. And his offense has not improved. 3pt shot looks flat still, but bounced one in. Solid player, but Roche reminds me a bit of Chris Fleming in that as soon as touches the ball the crowd anticipates the splash from 3.
I like Burton at the big forward. as sman has called for. I like Grace and Quinn, but like them sharing the 5. If u combine their Stat line from last night, they put up a big line. A front line with Bigelow/Burton/ and Grace or Quinn is pretty damn solid.
I like Burton at the big forward. as sman has called for. I like Grace and Quinn, but like them sharing the 5. If u combine their Stat line from last night, they put up a big line. A front line with Bigelow/Burton/ and Grace or Quinn is pretty damn solid.
I vote we make Gilly a regular commentator when available. Give him a couple bud lights and turn him loose.
Ha that was terrible. Grant got it right when he texted him that he needs to get off the broadcast.
He needs a little polishing, I enjoyed the heck out of it though.
Has it been 3 years since we played them? They did lead at half at UNC.
Good thing only Nelson hasn’t been in a road game.
They are a top 10 tempo team, but we are expected to be favored by 5.
I thought the same re Fleming. Tarrant didn't want to play him because he didn't really want to play D but his shot was truly one of the best ever.
Roche is like a machine form-wise and at least seems willing to play D
I think what we're seeing is a very balanced team that at its best has a bunch of players who can come in for 10-20 minutes and make a real impact even if they don't get a ton more time than that. We'll see if that holds up over time, but I think it can. It presents a lot of challenges for opponents and gives us a lot of flexibility if someone is having an off-night.
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Roche is def a hustler and makes up for what he lacks athletically with that hard work. Love to see it. I’m def enjoying watching all of these guys bust their butts out there.
I def agree. Like you said I think we present problems where we have several guys that can add to the scoring load if someone is off. We have some versatility. Love Marcus’s toughness and no fear attitude. We haven’t seen how Crab will slide into the mix either…lots of options and that’s a good thing.
to be fair, Born was beating everyone on our team off the dribble last night, without exception. Guy was quick.
Got to give Mooney some praise this morning too. I've been fairly critical of him for years now but what he's got with this team is impressive. I know it's only 2 games but you can see the potential for a very good year coming together if things go right. We are used to more of the long, slow build to a successful team but they way we have restocked and not dropped off a cliff after losing so much from last year has to be acknowledged.
The second half of the game was tremendous. We need to work on scoring more in the paint during the 1st half. Grace showed great skill in scoring down low. If he continues to focus on that verse 3 point shooting, he could be a terrific player this year.
speaking of recruiting…
makes me already look towards next year (in a good way)
so far…
Smith for Goose
Tanner for Crab
with Grace & Burton to go
Roche is an exceptional three point shooter - not sure we have ever had a three point shooter with a quicker release. If he was open he went for three and if not quickly passed the ball. Give Gilly lots of props for enthusiasm - after he left the broadcast and sat court side whenever Nelson touched the ball and especially on drives to the basket Gilly's body movements willed Nelson on.........................
Quick, yes. Talented, not sure. He was 6 for 17 and only scored 17. Not a great ratio at all. I don't know if he shot so much because they don't have any other shooters or because he's a hog. Either way, I'll take the results.
Hopefully all our shooters are spending time with Roche. Great stroke. Hope the rest of the guys can improve by working with him/looking at film of his shot.
I think he was there guy. Quick and knew the game and how to attack the screens, so i would argue he is talented. I personally wouldn’t judge a guy entirely off his shooting numbers. He was a problem for us but I think Goose and Dji were fairly solid on him but he was a baller and kept attacking.
Yep, that's fair. He might normally make a ton of shots, I don't know. He definitely looked like a player, but I thought he had a quick trigger finger too often last night, especially given his lack of success. But shooters shoot, I guess.
Yeah I’m not sure either(shot making) and I agree he did have a quick trigger…but hey we did enough and got that W…😃 that’s the best part🕷️🏀
I am loving this team. My 3 biggest questions coming in were probably PG play, 3 point shooting, and defense. Maybe not so much questions, but areas that I think are big time important. Well, Nelson looks great, the defense has been outstanding, and Roche showed he can carry us from 3. I think some other guys will start making more 3s, and when they do.....look out!!
This is a fun team to watch with great energy and chemistry. I am really liking what Randolph brings. He comes in and you can just feel the jolt. He has a great motor that the other guys feed off of.
This is a fun team to watch with great energy and chemistry. I am really liking what Randolph brings. He comes in and you can just feel the jolt. He has a great motor that the other guys feed off of.
I don’t think anyone said that UNI was a very good team. But, they are a solid program, and certainly better than some of our OOC games.
What I liked was that our team looked a lot more prepared to play solid ball. In the past it has always seemed like we needed 7 or 8 games to settle in. You couldn’t tell anything from an undermanned VMI team
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