SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Just what we needed: a discouraging double-digit road loss to a team behind us in the ACC standings who we had previously defeated in the Dome.
- We lost for one primary reason: we got out-hustled by a team that was better focused on winning this game than we were. We were out-rebounded 30-45, the second time in the last four games that we’ve lost the boards by a large margin after being close or ahead in virtually all our prior games. if there was a stat for getting loose balls, (and it’s the one thing missing from the box score), we’d have lost that by an even worse margin. We often make up for a rebounding deficit with an advantage in turnover margin. In this game we had 18 turnovers, 7 of them unforced. The other 11 were steals. We had 8 steals and 4 blocks but they had 5 blocks. The “hustle stat” that is sponsored on the radio broadcast, rebounds + steals + blocks, came to 42-61. My “manufactured possession” stat, (rebounds + the other team’s turnovers) came to 45-63. Possession is 9/10ths of the law. It’s probably 60% of basketball but that’s plenty.
- I get sick of our skinny guys getting “rooted out”, to use Matt Park’s term, under the basket. I’m also tired of balls bouncing off our hands. Some are intentionally tipped in hopes that the ball winds up with a teammate. Others – too many others – just bounce off as if our guys were born without fingers. We just have so many guys with bad hands, guys you wouldn’t want to pass the ball to.
- But when we passed the ball, the results could occasionally be brilliant, with 2-3 quick passes leading to a lay-up. The problem is, such moments are way too rare. It’s mostly one-on-one moves with players probing for a weakness using the dribble and finding nothing.
- My nomination for the nadir of the game: With 10:32 left Brissett made a three to make it 41-47 and Clemson was called for a foul elsewhere after the shot, which gave us the ball. But we couldn’t get the ball inbounds in 5 second and gave it right back to them.
- Clemson missed their first 14 shots and were shut out for 5 minutes and 43 seconds to open the game. The problem is, we were only up 4-0 at that point. The last 36:16 were 51-67. If we’d been ahead 10-12 points when they first scored, we’d have been in it until the very end.
- We scored 18 field goals to 19 and 6 three pointers to 5. That’s 42-43. The margin of victory really came at the foul line where we were 13/17 and they were 24/30. Some of that was possession: see above. You get the ball in unsettled situations, you are more likely to get fouled by the team that failed to come up with the ball and isn’t in a set defense. Then there’s the problem of failing to get penetration in our set offense, which makes it easier to defend without fouling. Still, there have been too many games this year in which there was a substantial deficit in the number of free throws taken. Does anybody know why Brissett didn’t go to the line when he was fouled on that dunk attempt?
- Tyus Battle is 8 for 30 in his last two games. We can’t win with him shooting 27%. But the other teams knows that and with the defensive attention he’s getting, he needs help from his teammates. He’s not getting it and as long as that’s the case, he’ll continue to shoot 27% - and we will continue to lose. We could be 1 and done X 2.
- Where’s Elijah?
Elijah Hughes only played 11 minutes and was shut out in this game. Was he shut out because he only played 11 minutes or did he only play 11 minutes because he was being shut out? I think the latter. He got off two shots in those 11 minutes and both were inaccurate three pointers. He’s now scored 125 points in his last 12 games, (10.4). He’s scored 290 points in the first 19 games, (15.3).
- Oshae Brissett actually played pretty well overall but got off only 7 shots in 40 minutes of play. Like his teammates, he couldn’t get around people.
- Frank Howard opened the second half scoring for SU with a 3 pointer with 18:57 left. Those were his only points. Other than that, he was 0 for 5 with 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and an assist but 3 turnovers and 5 fouls. Net Points: -4. He averaged 14.4 ppg last year, 8.0 this year and has 2 assists in 47 minutes in the last two games.
- Buddy Boeheim scored 11 points but was only 3 for 9 from the field, missing 5 of 7 three pointers. But scored a rare 4 point play when he was fouled and made a 3 anyway, then converted the free throw to make it 47-49 after we’d bene down by 9, then immediately fouled Sheldon Mitchell on three point attempt. Mitchell got three of those points back at the line and we never got as close again.
- Marek Dolezaj scored 8 points but had 0 assists and 4 turnovers. As a team we had 8 assists and 18 turnovers.
- It’s a good thing we’d already wrapped up the NCAA invitation. We have haven’t we? I guess one way to find out is to do nothing to clinch it and see if you get it anyway.
- We lost for one primary reason: we got out-hustled by a team that was better focused on winning this game than we were. We were out-rebounded 30-45, the second time in the last four games that we’ve lost the boards by a large margin after being close or ahead in virtually all our prior games. if there was a stat for getting loose balls, (and it’s the one thing missing from the box score), we’d have lost that by an even worse margin. We often make up for a rebounding deficit with an advantage in turnover margin. In this game we had 18 turnovers, 7 of them unforced. The other 11 were steals. We had 8 steals and 4 blocks but they had 5 blocks. The “hustle stat” that is sponsored on the radio broadcast, rebounds + steals + blocks, came to 42-61. My “manufactured possession” stat, (rebounds + the other team’s turnovers) came to 45-63. Possession is 9/10ths of the law. It’s probably 60% of basketball but that’s plenty.
- I get sick of our skinny guys getting “rooted out”, to use Matt Park’s term, under the basket. I’m also tired of balls bouncing off our hands. Some are intentionally tipped in hopes that the ball winds up with a teammate. Others – too many others – just bounce off as if our guys were born without fingers. We just have so many guys with bad hands, guys you wouldn’t want to pass the ball to.
- But when we passed the ball, the results could occasionally be brilliant, with 2-3 quick passes leading to a lay-up. The problem is, such moments are way too rare. It’s mostly one-on-one moves with players probing for a weakness using the dribble and finding nothing.
- My nomination for the nadir of the game: With 10:32 left Brissett made a three to make it 41-47 and Clemson was called for a foul elsewhere after the shot, which gave us the ball. But we couldn’t get the ball inbounds in 5 second and gave it right back to them.
- Clemson missed their first 14 shots and were shut out for 5 minutes and 43 seconds to open the game. The problem is, we were only up 4-0 at that point. The last 36:16 were 51-67. If we’d been ahead 10-12 points when they first scored, we’d have been in it until the very end.
- We scored 18 field goals to 19 and 6 three pointers to 5. That’s 42-43. The margin of victory really came at the foul line where we were 13/17 and they were 24/30. Some of that was possession: see above. You get the ball in unsettled situations, you are more likely to get fouled by the team that failed to come up with the ball and isn’t in a set defense. Then there’s the problem of failing to get penetration in our set offense, which makes it easier to defend without fouling. Still, there have been too many games this year in which there was a substantial deficit in the number of free throws taken. Does anybody know why Brissett didn’t go to the line when he was fouled on that dunk attempt?
- Tyus Battle is 8 for 30 in his last two games. We can’t win with him shooting 27%. But the other teams knows that and with the defensive attention he’s getting, he needs help from his teammates. He’s not getting it and as long as that’s the case, he’ll continue to shoot 27% - and we will continue to lose. We could be 1 and done X 2.
- Where’s Elijah?
Elijah Hughes only played 11 minutes and was shut out in this game. Was he shut out because he only played 11 minutes or did he only play 11 minutes because he was being shut out? I think the latter. He got off two shots in those 11 minutes and both were inaccurate three pointers. He’s now scored 125 points in his last 12 games, (10.4). He’s scored 290 points in the first 19 games, (15.3).
- Oshae Brissett actually played pretty well overall but got off only 7 shots in 40 minutes of play. Like his teammates, he couldn’t get around people.
- Frank Howard opened the second half scoring for SU with a 3 pointer with 18:57 left. Those were his only points. Other than that, he was 0 for 5 with 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and an assist but 3 turnovers and 5 fouls. Net Points: -4. He averaged 14.4 ppg last year, 8.0 this year and has 2 assists in 47 minutes in the last two games.
- Buddy Boeheim scored 11 points but was only 3 for 9 from the field, missing 5 of 7 three pointers. But scored a rare 4 point play when he was fouled and made a 3 anyway, then converted the free throw to make it 47-49 after we’d bene down by 9, then immediately fouled Sheldon Mitchell on three point attempt. Mitchell got three of those points back at the line and we never got as close again.
- Marek Dolezaj scored 8 points but had 0 assists and 4 turnovers. As a team we had 8 assists and 18 turnovers.
- It’s a good thing we’d already wrapped up the NCAA invitation. We have haven’t we? I guess one way to find out is to do nothing to clinch it and see if you get it anyway.
