SU vs Virginia Tech (57-77): Thurs Jan 8, 6 PM

[OrangeXtreme]

V2

 

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[Cheriehoop]

Defense and transition basketball has been this teams strength all season and half court offense, with poor outside shooting has been their weakness. Virginia Tech. beat us at our own game: They scored in transition and beat us on the offensive boards. I haven't seen the stats but VT made a hell of a lot of open shots in the first half. We looked tired! We also need to fix our half court offense beyond dumping it down low to Uche, which VT made very difficult today. This inability to score in the half court really concerns me!

VT seemed physically tougher, they were super aggressive on defense and on the boards. We seemed to lose confidence and aggressiveness after missing so many open shots early in the 1st quarter. VT came to battle, challenge everything. They made 2 threes early in the game then switched to attacking with dribble drives for numerous layups. Our defense was porous, seemed slow to react for some reason or as you said “tired”. I actually thought VT fouled often on rebounds but they weren’t being called and we didn’t adjust to the physicality at all. Really hurtful loss. Hoping they learned something when they don’t adjust and lose their aggressiveness and teamwork after the very slow start they had. LGO 13-3

 

[Dr. Bill]

VT seemed physically tougher, they were super aggressive on defense and on the boards. We seemed to lose confidence and aggressiveness after missing so many open shots early in the 1st quarter. VT came to battle, challenge everything. They made 2 threes early in the game then switched to attacking with dribble drives for numerous layups. Our defense was porous, seemed slow to react for some reason or as you said “tired”. I actually thought VT fouled often on rebounds but they weren’t being called and we didn’t adjust to the physicality at all. Really hurtful loss. Hoping they learned something when they don’t adjust and lose their aggressiveness and teamwork after the very slow start they had. LGO 13-3

I agree 100% with what you stated. Having watched every game this season, as stated above, we ususally play good defense and rebound well...but not tonight. The other achilles heel for us is how poor our outside shooting has been number one and number tow is the lack of quality depth off the bench, especially in the are of scoring the ball. Good teams have players that they can bring off the bench...who can play. Moving forward, I think Coach Jack needs to encourage and develop some quality play off of the bench. Maddy Potts was recruited as a bang bang shooter...have not seen that from her at all this year! There is a lot of potential playing time..just waiting for an outside shooter! I can tell from Coach Jack's post game comments that there are bench players griping about not getting playing time...but I haven't seen anyone go out and grab that opportunity by the throat and take it! Phelia needs to be more aggressive on offense and take more shots. she averaged 17/game at Michigan a few years ago..I was expecting more dominance from her.. I still have hope for this team...but the clock is ticking..

 

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