prhoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 23,373
|
Post by prhoya on Feb 7, 2021 16:59:33 GMT -5
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2021 17:00:04 GMT -5
Another career day for an opposing player ā¹ļø By a player that will never get close to that again. Is that a GTown centric issue? It seems like it happens at least 5-6 times a season. Honestly I donāt get this critique. You canāt take everything away and if you are going to pick a player on Nova you want to force to beat you, itās Samuels.
|
|
SSHoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown."
Posts: 18,462
|
Post by SSHoya on Feb 7, 2021 17:00:07 GMT -5
Dante is becoming a "field general"!
|
|
SSHoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown."
Posts: 18,462
|
Post by SSHoya on Feb 7, 2021 17:01:59 GMT -5
Coach agrees with me!!!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2021 17:02:44 GMT -5
Which part of Sibley having the best +/- in the 1st half (+6) "didn't work out?"
|
|
|
Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 7, 2021 17:03:54 GMT -5
Encouraging performance at times, and was happy with the team for fighting back from multiple deficits to tie/take the lead, but you're simply not going to beat a top-5 team on the road with your B- game, and we paid the price for a lot of our own self-inflicted mistakes and poor decisions.
The problem was compounded by Bile being in massive foul trouble virtually all game, but Ewing's decision to have one of Q/Timmy/Malcolm in the game at all times when the situation was screaming to go small was puzzling. Q was basically lost on defense all game; in addition to overhelping off Samuels all afternoon to unnecessarily double in the post, he lost numerous Nova guys in the paint who snuck behind him as he crept up. Going for every shot fake didn't help either. He has to understand how to stop being a ball magnet and understand his defensive assignment. In their limited time, Tim and Malcolm were both just as bad defensively if not worse. Neither provided the offense of Q, so it's hard to understand how we didn't go smaller with Sibley more. Additionally, probably would've tried Pickett on Samuels and move the big over to JRE, who couldn't buy a perimeter shot for most of the game.
For the most part, I liked what we did on offense. Nova hit a couple more open looks than we did from the outside, but we dominated the paint as we should have. The issue was the careless turnovers; yes we kept it to 13 today, but there were about 3-4 brain freeze ones (Blair lazy entries, Pickett dribble at midcourt, Bile travel) that could have should have been avoided. When you're in a game that's within a few possessions, that's how you lose.
Box score says we won the rebounding battle by 3, but Nova killed us repeatedly with those tap outs off missed shots to gain extra possessions. If we are going to insist on staying with a big lineup, we've got to be better about winning the boards and limiting 2nd shot opportunities.
Officials not good again today. Jay earned his game check working the refs, did Pat? Q probably was shorted about 4-6 FT attempts today, and that late "intentional" on Blair was just plain embarrassing and a call you can't make to effectively determine the outcome of a game that's already not really in doubt. Also, for them to warn Dante about flopping when Gillespie essentially pulled the same stunt that earned him a charge vs. Pickett on the other end was absurd. Those are the breaks though when you play on the road, they just better be repaid when we're at home and they're usually not.
Earlier in the year, it felt like even though we were in some of those games like WVU and the first Nova game, you felt like you knew we weren't going to have enough gas to sustain the effort despite having late leads and playing relatively well early. Now, it feels like the results are better overall even though we clearly have room to improve. Think this is a sign of growth and the ceiling of this team starting to rise, even if slowly still. Another competitive effort against Creighton on Tues. would go a long ways towards consolidating the improvement we've gained over the past 7-10 days. Remaining hopeful.
|
|
hoyazeke
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,818
|
Post by hoyazeke on Feb 7, 2021 17:04:42 GMT -5
A little late. We should have started that at 5mins... that Morko unforced TO was a backbreaker... I dont' think that turnover had any influence on the game.Ā The game was 40 minutes long and that play was only 5 seconds long. That's true but we had a rebound and were playing well. Instead of getting a possible lead we let Nova come down steal momentum. We never really got it back after that play...
|
|
DanMcQ
Moderator
Posts: 30,717
|
Post by DanMcQ on Feb 7, 2021 17:07:33 GMT -5
This:
|
|
saxagael
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,900
|
Post by saxagael on Feb 7, 2021 17:08:33 GMT -5
Another career day for an opposing player ā¹ļø By a player that will never get close to that again. Is that a GTown centric issue? It seems like it happens at least 5-6 times a season. Man, we shut DOWN their top three players for a very mature #3 team in the nation with a young team (rookie shut down Gillespie fairly well by himself) and not a lot of cohesion and played them tightly and we are at this? This Nova game and the last two seem to show Ewing has this team finally understanding who they are. They found floor leadership with Dante on offense and Pickett and Bile on defense getting those on top of them set. Samuels was going off because Bile was in foul trouble and there isn't quite anybody ready to fill those shoes. Pickett pretty much shut down Earl, Nova's top player (Pickett doing this is awesome as before the last 3 games this was a long shot, so is Blair playing defense well and not just a handful of plays).
|
|
EtomicB
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 14,995
|
Post by EtomicB on Feb 7, 2021 17:11:09 GMT -5
While moral victories are pretty worthless, this team played 95% of the game toe to toe with a top 5 team. I was very pleased overall, but as said here previously turnovers reared their ugly head again at bad times. Nova is a tough match up for our personnel. They post smaller guards and stretch their bigs who can shoot 3s. Both Achilles' heel for us. And don't get me started on that intentional foul call. GARBAGE! If I was Ewing I'd have gotten ejected. And I'm sorry, anybody who says we should go small with Sibley is just not seeing how raw and lacking confidence he is right now on the offensive end. My God when he got the ball on that 2 on 1 with Blair in the first half you could see the indecision before it even happened. And Bile's foul trouble made that option even less doable. In the end, this team is MUCH better than what we saw early in the season and individual growth by several players is evident. It was an enjoyable game and effort, now beat Creighton again. Side note: I think we just bit on another pump fake during the post-game. Hearing Ewing yell "STAY DOWN" on almost ever possession instead of "REBOUND" was not on my Hoya bingo card. Are you certain about team and individual player improvement. Iāve heard this coaching staff is incapable of having that effect. LOL @ the last paragraph. As someone who has continually talked up player development as the key to a good program, I fully agree that the staff has done very good coaching over the last few games & they deserve credit for that no doubt... The same team is playing very good basketball without an influx of new players... How many of the folks who continually stated that Gtown was picked last for a reason believe that the team is devoid of talent?
|
|
DanMcQ
Moderator
Posts: 30,717
|
Post by DanMcQ on Feb 7, 2021 17:11:13 GMT -5
|
|
the_way
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
The Illest
Posts: 5,422
|
Post by the_way on Feb 7, 2021 17:13:14 GMT -5
By a player that will never get close to that again. Is that a GTown centric issue? It seems like it happens at least 5-6 times a season. Man, we shut DOWN their top three players for a very mature #3 team in the nation with a young team (rookie shut down Gillespie fairly well by himself) and not a lot of cohesion and played them tightly and we are at this? This Nova game and the last two seem to show Ewing has this team finally understanding who they are. They found floor leadership with Dante on offense and Pickett and Bile on defense getting those on top of them set. Samuels was going off because Bile was in foul trouble and there isn't quite anybody ready to fill those shoes. Pickett pretty much shut down Earl, Nova's top player (Pickett doing this is awesome as before the last 3 games this was a long shot, so is Blair playing defense well and not just a handful of plays). But, but, but....lol Great points.
|
|
hoyazeke
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,818
|
Post by hoyazeke on Feb 7, 2021 17:13:23 GMT -5
Offensively I thought we played pretty damn good. Blair shot a little too much, but otherwise I thought we had a good plan and took good shots. Defensively, we failed to consistently guard the three point line and Nova made us pay. Ighoefe was horribly overmatched in the first half. Wahab also helped too much and Samuels responded with a career game. We just needed to be smarter defensively and I thought it took PE too long to go to the small lineup. Just not good enough defensive awareness and coaching to beat good team that always plays five guys who can shoot the three. Wahab was good offensively in the post but trading 2ās for 3ās aināt going to get it done. Dang. Also Nova is the better team, with better players, playing on their home court. Home doesn't matter with no fans in the stands. We need to do a better job of staying home on the 3pt shooters. We have to do a better job with shot selection and less TOs. I'm interested in seeing which team shows up Wednesday.
|
|
prhoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 23,373
|
Post by prhoya on Feb 7, 2021 17:14:12 GMT -5
By a player that will never get close to that again. Is that a GTown centric issue? It seems like it happens at least 5-6 times a season. Honestly I donāt get this critique. You canāt take everything away and if you are going to pick a player on Nova you want to force to beat you, itās Samuels. Whenever a player is red hot, like Samuels, the opposition has to adjust. No way around it. Deny him the ball on the perimeter, play extra close to him... This game reminded me of the S. Bey game when he made 8 of 10 3s and we couldnāt stop him from getting the ball on the perimeter. Pat didnāt adjust and he had a career day. I know he was shooting over shorter players, but the defense in that situation has to start by getting close to him and denying him the comfortable pass. But, we were helping somewhere else and getting to him late...
|
|
saxagael
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,900
|
Post by saxagael on Feb 7, 2021 17:14:13 GMT -5
Dante is becoming a "field general"! A few weeks ago we were saying there needed to be a field general and Dante stepped up big time and turned into that on offense controlling pace and working one or two steps ahead setting the pass too an assist and creating space for others to use. The great things he is doing don't show up directly on expanded boxscores other than 1 TO for a PG (What!?!?). Dude put on the boy boy pants and owned them. His defense is freaking amazing these last three games. Pickett and Bile seem to be directing defense that is in front of them, as they should, but Dante is showing other guards how it is done and now Blair is finallly playing defense and consistently. Coaches have done a great job and Dante growing into their direction and expectations.
|
|
|
Post by professorhoya on Feb 7, 2021 17:14:15 GMT -5
We had half a Bile, and hung tough with them for 37 minutes
Teams are going to starting targeting Bile like Villanova did to get him off the floor.
A win would have been nice but we played hard and given the refs and the foul trouble with Bile and Q felt like we could have stolen this one.
|
|
prhoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 23,373
|
Post by prhoya on Feb 7, 2021 17:16:32 GMT -5
We had half a Bile, and hung tough with them for 37 minutes Teams are going to starting targeting Bile like Villanova did to get him off the floor. A win would have been nice but we played hard and given the refs and the foul trouble with Bile and Q felt like we could have stolen this one. Bileās fouls had nothing to do with Nova, but everything to do with him leaving his feet or being too aggressive. If he stays in control, then he doesnāt foul out.
|
|
hoyazeke
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,818
|
Post by hoyazeke on Feb 7, 2021 17:23:11 GMT -5
By a player that will never get close to that again. Is that a GTown centric issue? It seems like it happens at least 5-6 times a season. Honestly I donāt get this critique. You canāt take everything away and if you are going to pick a player on Nova you want to force to beat you, itās Samuels. I agree. I just find it odd that it seems to happen to us more than we ever do it to other teams. I remember Dante this year and Tre against Butler or Xavier a few years back. Most times when we win it's because our leaders lead.... Samuels always plays well against us. I bet he's back to 10pts and 8rebs their next game....
|
|
vv83
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,329
|
Post by vv83 on Feb 7, 2021 17:25:31 GMT -5
By a player that will never get close to that again. Is that a GTown centric issue? It seems like it happens at least 5-6 times a season. Honestly I donāt get this critique. You canāt take everything away and if you are going to pick a player on Nova you want to force to beat you, itās Samuels. In the first game against Nova - we built the 18 point lead using the same strategy. We had Q playing off Samuel to protect the lane and to keep Samuel from driving past him. Samuel could not hit anything. He missed a whole bunch of open 3s as we built the big lead. We took everything else away and dared them to beat us with Samuel shooting wide open 3s. It worked because Samuel usually is not a very good 3 point shooter (8-26 going into the game today!) Nova did not start their comeback in that first game until they took out Samuel for Swider - who we had to defend more honestly, because he can shoot. Once Nova made this switch late in the first half, they began to get their offense going. Swider did not kill us, but he scored a few points. The big impact was that we had to pull a big out of the lane because you can't leave Swider wide open. This unlocked Nova's offense - it allowed them to spread the court with an open lane - and they diced us up from there. Today - Samuel hit all the open 3s that he missed in the first game. If we play a traditional big, we don't have a lot of other options for defending Villanova. The question is - do we gain enough with Q offensively to make up for the issues we'll have defensively with Q on the court against Nova (or any team that can play 5-out offense). I think Ewing figured out fairly quickly the Tim and Wilson were not going to work either. Tim only got a second stint in the game when Dixon (who is a more traditional low post big) came into the game. In the second half, we played small any time Q needed a rest. It is tough for any team with a good traditional big to defend a talented 5-out offense. You either play the big and hope he can outscore the problems he creates defensively. Or you go small, but in doing so put one of your top players on the bench for much of the game. There simply are not many bigs that can defend effectively against a good 5-out offense. This dynamic is one of the main reasons for Villanova's success in their current run as a perennial championship contender.
|
|
hoyazeke
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,818
|
Post by hoyazeke on Feb 7, 2021 17:29:13 GMT -5
Honestly I donāt get this critique. You canāt take everything away and if you are going to pick a player on Nova you want to force to beat you, itās Samuels. Whenever a player is red hot, like Samuels, the opposition has to adjust. No way around it. Deny him the ball on the perimeter, play extra close to him... This game reminded me of the S. Bey game when he made 8 of 10 3s and we couldnāt stop him from getting the ball on the perimeter. Pat didnāt adjust and he had a career day. I know he was shooting over shorter players, but the defense in that situation has to start by getting close to him and denying him the comfortable pass. But, we were helping somewhere else and getting to him late... The difference is Bey did that to multiple teams. Bey is in the NBA. The closest Samuels will get to the NBA is maybe the GLeague.....
|
|