sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 25,280
- Like
- 109,187
Seems like when I write these My Take posts this season, the first thing that occurs to me to type is that is was a surprising game.
The game started out with NC State hurting us on the boards. We couldn’t get any offensive rebounds and they were doing some damage on their offensive boards. That would change over time and in the end, we ended up out rebounding them 32-28.
NC State did most of their damage last game getting the ball to Hellems near the foul line, where he would take a mid range jumper (usually made) or drive a little and pass it low to Bates for a dunk when Marek came out to stop him. We eventually adjusted in the second half, and that was a key in the first victory over the Wolfpack.
This game, Hellems rarely touched it near the high post and when he did, he had a guard coming from behind. He was never left alone and when pressured, he often turned it over. Bates was out for extended periods and the offense seemed to focus on getting the ball to Funderburke down low.
We again took away their high low game and gave them some looks from the corner, which hurt us some. But NC State is not a good offensive team, they have no true point guard, and when we got in their face, they made a starling number of turnovers. Some were completely unforced.
We again struggled to score for the first ten minutes or so of the game. I think we got some baskets off turnovers to help get the offense started, but we worked the ball around well on offense and took advantage of the smaller NC State players (especially their guards), just like we did last game.
Good to see this team identify mismatches and get the ball to the right player for easy baskets. Beverly in particular was abused and had to be sat down for a while because he couldn’t cover anyone.
They again had Beverly on Q for most of the first half and again, it worked for a long time. Disappointed we didn’t just clear out and let Q post up him up for dunks and layups. Q has fallen into a pretty bad slump and started this game off badly again. But we got better as the game went on and as usual, Q was part of this. He did a lot of damage on the offensive boards. This is where he got his scoring touch going again.
Alan was the best athlete on the floor all game. It looks like he is slowly getting more comfortable and confident. When he is right, he can take over a game pretty well and he did that at times. Yes, he shot well from the 3 point circle but I am more happy with his developing mid range game. He has great touch on anything inside 15 feet and is quick enough and shifty enough to get in the paint against just about anyone. So I was really liking what he did tonight.
And the long wait for a good game from Buddy is over. Gotta give some credit to his teammates, who did a nice job getting him some wide open looks for 3s. But Buddy hurt NC State just as badly with his slashes to the hoop tonight. Seemed like he played just a little slower and got his shooting touch back. It helped being covered by a midge a lot. Even draw a couple fouls.
Gotta give credit to Braswell for being ready when Q got his fourth. He came in and immediately drained a 3, got a couple rebounds and hit a couple of FTs, all in just a few minutes. Maybe he will get some PT next game. Hope so.
JB did try to pain Kadary and JGIII together but Joe missed a couple of 3s, and Buddy and Kadary were playing well, so Joe sat a lot. He did a good job rebounding and got some points in the paint, continuing where he left off last game. Probably deserved more playing time but when a lot of players play well, this sometimes happens.
Marek did a nice job battling down low, neutralizing the NC State bigs and he did a lot of little things. Was key in beating the NC State press. Had some nice passes. Hit a couple mid range jumpers. Got some big rebounds. He wasn’t awesome, only had 6 points but he stayed out of foul trouble and was good enough that we didn’t get destroyed down low.
That leaves Kadary. Kadary was a big part of making sure the right player got the ball where he could score in our half court sets. He made some nice passes. He got some good steals. The blocks and rebounds he had been piling up have largely stopped in his last few games but when he is in up top on defense, the ball rarely gets into the high post and players rarely get off quality 3s on his side of the zone. He made a couple really bad turnovers on consecutive sets when we were trying to close out the game, but he got us 8 badly needed points and ran the half court offense nicely. He is a very mature frosh.
If we are going to get an NCAA bid, this was pretty much a must win. Have to find a way to get into the top 5 or 6 in the conference to have a reasonable chance to get a bid. Have to get some more road wins and have to win the 3 home games remaining. Hopefully we get one or two more home games back. That unfortunately does not sound likely.
The game started out with NC State hurting us on the boards. We couldn’t get any offensive rebounds and they were doing some damage on their offensive boards. That would change over time and in the end, we ended up out rebounding them 32-28.
NC State did most of their damage last game getting the ball to Hellems near the foul line, where he would take a mid range jumper (usually made) or drive a little and pass it low to Bates for a dunk when Marek came out to stop him. We eventually adjusted in the second half, and that was a key in the first victory over the Wolfpack.
This game, Hellems rarely touched it near the high post and when he did, he had a guard coming from behind. He was never left alone and when pressured, he often turned it over. Bates was out for extended periods and the offense seemed to focus on getting the ball to Funderburke down low.
We again took away their high low game and gave them some looks from the corner, which hurt us some. But NC State is not a good offensive team, they have no true point guard, and when we got in their face, they made a starling number of turnovers. Some were completely unforced.
We again struggled to score for the first ten minutes or so of the game. I think we got some baskets off turnovers to help get the offense started, but we worked the ball around well on offense and took advantage of the smaller NC State players (especially their guards), just like we did last game.
Good to see this team identify mismatches and get the ball to the right player for easy baskets. Beverly in particular was abused and had to be sat down for a while because he couldn’t cover anyone.
They again had Beverly on Q for most of the first half and again, it worked for a long time. Disappointed we didn’t just clear out and let Q post up him up for dunks and layups. Q has fallen into a pretty bad slump and started this game off badly again. But we got better as the game went on and as usual, Q was part of this. He did a lot of damage on the offensive boards. This is where he got his scoring touch going again.
Alan was the best athlete on the floor all game. It looks like he is slowly getting more comfortable and confident. When he is right, he can take over a game pretty well and he did that at times. Yes, he shot well from the 3 point circle but I am more happy with his developing mid range game. He has great touch on anything inside 15 feet and is quick enough and shifty enough to get in the paint against just about anyone. So I was really liking what he did tonight.
And the long wait for a good game from Buddy is over. Gotta give some credit to his teammates, who did a nice job getting him some wide open looks for 3s. But Buddy hurt NC State just as badly with his slashes to the hoop tonight. Seemed like he played just a little slower and got his shooting touch back. It helped being covered by a midge a lot. Even draw a couple fouls.
Gotta give credit to Braswell for being ready when Q got his fourth. He came in and immediately drained a 3, got a couple rebounds and hit a couple of FTs, all in just a few minutes. Maybe he will get some PT next game. Hope so.
JB did try to pain Kadary and JGIII together but Joe missed a couple of 3s, and Buddy and Kadary were playing well, so Joe sat a lot. He did a good job rebounding and got some points in the paint, continuing where he left off last game. Probably deserved more playing time but when a lot of players play well, this sometimes happens.
Marek did a nice job battling down low, neutralizing the NC State bigs and he did a lot of little things. Was key in beating the NC State press. Had some nice passes. Hit a couple mid range jumpers. Got some big rebounds. He wasn’t awesome, only had 6 points but he stayed out of foul trouble and was good enough that we didn’t get destroyed down low.
That leaves Kadary. Kadary was a big part of making sure the right player got the ball where he could score in our half court sets. He made some nice passes. He got some good steals. The blocks and rebounds he had been piling up have largely stopped in his last few games but when he is in up top on defense, the ball rarely gets into the high post and players rarely get off quality 3s on his side of the zone. He made a couple really bad turnovers on consecutive sets when we were trying to close out the game, but he got us 8 badly needed points and ran the half court offense nicely. He is a very mature frosh.
If we are going to get an NCAA bid, this was pretty much a must win. Have to find a way to get into the top 5 or 6 in the conference to have a reasonable chance to get a bid. Have to get some more road wins and have to win the 3 home games remaining. Hopefully we get one or two more home games back. That unfortunately does not sound likely.
