Anyone Notice

[anomander]

Just how easily Cooney and Ennis were allowing UVA guards to penetrate past them. They were decent in the 1st half, but the 2nd half this area just fell apart. A couple instances it just looked like half hearted effort. Almost every single time they allowed this UVA made something happen. Even if the guard missed the shot it forces Rak/Baye to step up and is out of rebounding position. Even their close outs were late, and didn't get as many deflections as we usually have. It seems they have been getting progressively worse in this area from the beginning of the season. It always seems to happen in the 2nd half as well. For anyone to think fatigue isn't playing a factor into this I don't know what to say. Go back and watch the tape and let me know what you think.

 

[mark79]

I agree that this was a key factor in our loss. There's only a few ways to beat our defense and certainly one of them is allowing that kind of penetration. Getting killed in rebounding is another way and that happened too unfortunately. Not having Grant in there healthy was a huge factor.

 

[jdubs30]

Cooney and Ennis just aren't as quick/long as the guards we've had in the past up top. The defense is overall better this year because the improvement of Rak and replacing Southerland with Grant. They're still solid, but they aren't MCW/Triche

 

[hoopsupstate]

Did anyone notice that they put a bigger guard out front in the second half. They moved their freshmen point guard. He was bigger and he forced our guards to play him, which opened up gaps to drive. UVA has had huge runs in the second half all year. Teams are close and they go on huge runs and break open the game. We don't have any pop in our game right now. We aren't exploding to the basket. We seem a half-step slow and look physically and emotionally tired. Tuesday night will give us a clearer picture of what kind of team we are. If we have to slog through another game against Georgia Tech, then you can kiss the rest of the year goodbye. If Grant can't play, Roberson should get his first start of the year. We need to keep our rotations the same with Silent G and Bye coming off the bench. Let Roberson get into the game a little. Do I think this will happen? Unfortunately, NO!