2 funky stats from last night

[FrancoPizza]

I agree that teams are making the entry pass to the foul line (common way of attacking the zone). On the other hand, I haven't seen that shot go in a lot because Sidibe and Chukwu have been coming up to defend it.

The problem comes, as you mention, with close-outs ... when the ball comes into the the foul line and then back out to shooters. TB is pretty good at hustling out. FH needs some work on that and MM has failed to close a bunch of times and has been getting the hook. There's no excuse for that with his minutes. But with our starting guards, it's tough to close out against good teams that know how to move the ball when you're playing the entire game with little if any rest.

And that's another point, if the center is coming up to contest the post, then the guards need to stay home and trust that the front line will manage their assignments. Too often we're triple-teaming the post and leaving the shooters wide open on kick-outs. Let sidibe do his job of coming up and don't take your eyes of the perimeter. We're going to get lit up sooner than later because I don't see JB changing his approach to post defense.

 

[reedny]

And that's another point, if the center is coming up to contest the post, then the guards need to stay home and trust that the front line will manage their assignments. Too often we're triple-teaming the post and leaving the shooters wide open on kick-outs. Let sidibe do his job of coming up and don't take your eyes of the perimeter. We're going to get lit up sooner than later because I don't see JB changing his approach to post defense.

And I think that's where we're headed defensively. With our size inside, most teams are going to try to light us up from deep. As the season wears on, I think Tyus and Frank are going to have to stay out on shooters even when the ball goes into the foul line ... if they have any legs left by then.

 

[bnoro]

SU and UM are both top 10 nationally in rebound margin. Maryland's a big team, as SU94 points out. So we did well to hold their bigs to a draw inside (roughly) in points and rebounds. The difference was Oshae.

The bad news coming up to this weekend is, we're one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the country. And are we're not especially good at defending the 3 either (average overall, weaker against better teams of late). With our size inside, teams are going to rain 3's. Huerter went off on us, and we repeatedly failed to find him and get a hand in his face. If we do that against UK, we'll lose by 30. They have 5 guys that shoot as well, or significantly better, than our best shooter (TB). They have two guards that are about 6'2 or 6'3 that are shooting the lights out, and their outside assassin from the Ukraine is 6'8" and is hitting better than 50%. So this game will really test our perimeter defense because we have no chance of competing with them if we can't contain their outside gunners.

Huerter was shooting from the half court logo the entire game. Besides him we've been pretty excellent defending 3s (besides Moyer not closing out the corner a few times) all season.

 

[reedny]

Huerter was shooting from the half court logo the entire game. Besides him we've been pretty excellent defending 3s (besides Moyer not closing out the corner a few times) all season.

I don't think that's accurate. Huerter was all over the scouting report and we still couldn't locate him. And he's not the only one. We haven't defended the 3 well all year. Not only have our opponents shot 3's at 34% (at the national average), most of them have been MM's. The last two games against better opponents ... we've given up 3's at a .48% clip. Maryland was 11-23 against us. We're nowhere near where we need to be from a perimeter defense standpoint if we want to compete in the ACC or have a chance at the tournament. And unless that improves significantly we're going to be rained on Saturday.

 

[br801]

I don't think that's accurate. Huerter was all over the scouting report and we still couldn't locate him. And he's not the only one. We haven't defended the 3 well all year. Not only have our opponents shooting 3's at 34% (just at the national average), most of them have been MM's. The last two games against better opponents ... we've given up 3's at a .48% clip. Maryland was 11-23 against us. We're nowhere near where we need to be from a perimeter defense standpoint if we want to compete in the ACC or have a chance at the tournament.

That kid was shooting and hitting from 4 to 8 feet beyond the arc all night long, a low percentage shot even when unguarded. Not many people in the college game will be doing that this season. And in the end, it wasn't enough to put them over top.

 

[reedny]

That kid was shooting and hitting from 4 to 8 feet beyond the arc all night long, a low percentage shot even when unguarded. Not many people in the college game will be doing that this season. And in the end, it wasn't enough to put them over top.

No doubt, he has deep range. But he's not the only one. Their other shorter guard hit from deep too. And we've seen that in the past, going all the way back to Vermont. D-1 players can step into 3's from way out if they're unguarded.

We have to locate shooters and we have to guard them. In too many cases, we haven't done either. There are many things to like about this team, including some defensive aspects. But our perimeter defense is not where it needs to be to compete in the ACC or make the tournament.