So What's with Pryor?

[drquigley]

I was at the game yesterday and watched Rodney Pryor have the worst game of his Hoya career. Obviously played a huge roll in our loss. But more important was the apparent conflict (?) between Pryor and JT3. Sits him for large portions of the game. Doesn't insert him at key points of the game. At least one come to Jesus moment at the bench. JT3 said after the game, according to the Washington Post, that he would have to talk to Pryor after the game. So what's going on?

[hoyalove4ever]

No idea...but I hope it is resolved soon.

[rockhoya]

It seems Pryor actually cares about winning - and winning at all costs

[hoyazeke]

Rodney has no self-awareness and very little if any bball IQ. I told my sons during the 1st half of the Oregon game when Rodney was shooting lights out that he would shoot Oregon back into the game in the second half. Rodney can only dribble to clear space for a shot. If you pressure his handle he will just give it to you with little resistance. His first shot after not playing for the majority of the 2nd half was a step back 3. He did the same thing in the 2nd when briefly got in, shooting a contested turn around jumper. Two fastbreaks that I remember he put his head down and dribbled into three defenders (losing the ball) and on the other kicked the ball to Jagan when LJ was wide open on the opposite wing. Pryor is a flawed player that cant accept that he has flaws.

[drquigley]

Jan 8, 2017 15:14:08 GMT -5 hoyazeke said:

Rodney has no self-awareness and very little if any bball IQ. I told my sons during the 1st half of the Oregon game when Rodney was shooting lights out that he would shoot Oregon back into the game in the second half. Rodney can only dribble to clear space for a shot. If you pressure his handle he will just give it to you with little resistance. His first shot after not playing for the majority of the 2nd half was a step back 3. He did the same thing in the 2nd when briefly got in, shooting a contested turn around jumper. Two fastbreaks that I remember he put his head down and dribbled into three defenders (losing the ball) and on the other kicked the ball to Jagan when LJ was wide open on the opposite wing. Pryor is a flawed player that cant accept that he has flaws.

I'm thinking that that was the message that JT3 was trying to nicely convey. Not so much on the shooting since most of his shots were good but just not accurate but he has to learn to give the ball up on breaks. That early break against Xavier where LJ fed him the ball for an ally oop was an example of how much better the break works when he isn't leading it.

[FrazierFanatic]

Jan 8, 2017 15:14:08 GMT -5 hoyazeke said:

Rodney has no self-awareness and very little if any bball IQ. I told my sons during the 1st half of the Oregon game when Rodney was shooting lights out that he would shoot Oregon back into the game in the second half. Rodney can only dribble to clear space for a shot. If you pressure his handle he will just give it to you with little resistance. His first shot after not playing for the majority of the 2nd half was a step back 3. He did the same thing in the 2nd when briefly got in, shooting a contested turn around jumper. Two fastbreaks that I remember he put his head down and dribbled into three defenders (losing the ball) and on the other kicked the ball to Jagan when LJ was wide open on the opposite wing. Pryor is a flawed player that cant accept that he has flaws.

Pretty much spot on. Add in the fact that he shows little interest in playing defense, and you have pretty much what I described in another thread ( which DFW was kind enough to quote on the front page); the volume shooter at the Y who can catapult you to a lead, then clank you to the end of the line waiting for "next game".

[HoyaFanNY]

Jan 8, 2017 15:33:17 GMT -5 drquigley said:

Jan 8, 2017 15:14:08 GMT -5 hoyazeke said:

Rodney has no self-awareness and very little if any bball IQ. I told my sons during the 1st half of the Oregon game when Rodney was shooting lights out that he would shoot Oregon back into the game in the second half. Rodney can only dribble to clear space for a shot. If you pressure his handle he will just give it to you with little resistance. His first shot after not playing for the majority of the 2nd half was a step back 3. He did the same thing in the 2nd when briefly got in, shooting a contested turn around jumper. Two fastbreaks that I remember he put his head down and dribbled into three defenders (losing the ball) and on the other kicked the ball to Jagan when LJ was wide open on the opposite wing. Pryor is a flawed player that cant accept that he has flaws.

I'm thinking that that was the message that JT3 was trying to nicely convey. Not so much on the shooting since most of his shots were good but just not accurate but he has to learn to give the ball up on breaks. That early break against Xavier where LJ fed him the ball for an ally oop was an example of how much better the break works when he isn't leading it.

+1000

i have never watched a player that goes 1 on 3 on the break more than he does. he never looks to get his teammates involved and he constantly leaves his man on defense. he needs to adjust his game now that teams are playing him differently but i'm not sure he is willing to do that after seeing the decisions he made when he came back in yesterday in OT. the way the season is going it does the team no good having him out there playing hero ball.

[hoyalove4ever]

Look, I like Pryor and am not ready to dump on him after one miserable game, but does need to make better choices. I hope that he comes back strong on Monday.

[lichoya68]

dah didnt anyone but me notice every time he came out the trainer was looking at and maybe treating his arm right arm but thats the one hes gotta dribble with just saying this board always jumps to conclusions.. go hoyas MUST BEAT ST JOHNS NOW MUST .

[hoyazeke]

I want to add that I like Pryor and I wanted III to put him in for the last 5sec of regulation but if he can't learn to stay in his lane then he needs to be on the bench. His lane is to give the ball to better dribblers and fill the wings, shoot the ball in the O and play halfway decent D. Pryor is actually one of our better rebounding guards and he can really shoot the ball but he has no idea of what is a good shot.

[iheartdurenbros]

I've thought Pryor has been off since the beginning of BE play. When he is open and gets his shots, they are just not going in at the same clip as earlier in the season. I have wondered if he had a bug and I didn't notice his checking in with the trainer during the game.

I take it as a positive that III didn't leave him in the game, even during crunch time. You have to go with who is playing well. And, since he does not really create for others, as LJ does, it makes sense to leave him out. And, he hopefully will get the message.

FWIW, I still like Pryor plenty. So does III, I'm certain. He said he needed to talk to him to find out what was wrong. That's an important conversation to have. And, I think Pryor will take responsibility for himself.

[MCIGuy]

Jan 8, 2017 16:32:15 GMT -5 hoyazeke said:

I want to add that I like Pryor and I wanted III to put him in for the last 5sec of regulation but if he can't learn to stay in his lane then he needs to be on the bench. His lane is to give the ball to better dribblers and fill the wings, shoot the ball in the O and play halfway decent D. Pryor is actually one of our better rebounding guards and he can really shoot the ball but he has no idea of what is a good shot.

The instructing of Pryor on these points should be done IN BETWEEN games in actual practices. I'm not sure III should be sacrificing possible wins by keeping him on the bench for such extended periods just to teach a lesson. Granted I'm not against him being pulled once or twice in order to get him on the same page and all, but if Pryor missed such large stretches of the game for that reason then that's where I would object. But perhaps an injury problem kept him on the bench.

[FrazierFanatic]

I will say that we need Rodney's offensive contributions to win some games - I just wish he would show mote interest in the other aspects of the game.

[EasyEd]

Maybe JT3 kept Rodney on the bench because the team was playing better with Kaleb in there.

[hoyainspirit]

Rodney had his chances last game. He played 24 minutes. Unfortunately, he was off in almost every respect. Not only was he not contributing, his play hurt us. He had a bad game. We've seen that Rodney can play, so I expect to see much better games moving forward.

[KHoyaNYC]

One bad game and we're killing the guy! Even with the clunker against Butler he is shooting 51% FG, 45% 3-pt FG, and 80% FT on the season, all while averaging 18.6 points and 5 rebounds per game while only committing 2 turnovers a game. Yes, he makes bad decisions here and there, but he is our best scoring weapon and shoots at a high percentage to boot. He needs to play and play a lot every game if we have any chance of turning the season around.

[EtomicB]

Jan 8, 2017 22:21:23 GMT -5 KHoyaNYC said:

One bad game and we're killing the guy! Even with the clunker against Butler he is shooting 51% FG, 45% 3-pt FG, and 80% FT on the season, all while averaging 18.6 points and 5 rebounds per game while only committing 2 turnovers a game. Yes, he makes bad decisions here and there, but he is our best scoring weapon and shoots at a high percentage to boot. He needs to play and play a lot every game if we have any chance of turning the season around.

He hasn't played nearly as well since the conference season started..

In 4 games he's scoring 14.8 per game while shooting 37.9% from the floor, 30% from 3 & 54.5% from the line..

To get those points he's taking over 14 shots per game..

www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/georgetown/2017.html

[hoyainspirit]

Jan 8, 2017 22:40:11 GMT -5 EtomicB said:

Jan 8, 2017 22:21:23 GMT -5 KHoyaNYC said:

One bad game and we're killing the guy! Even with the clunker against Butler he is shooting 51% FG, 45% 3-pt FG, and 80% FT on the season, all while averaging 18.6 points and 5 rebounds per game while only committing 2 turnovers a game. Yes, he makes bad decisions here and there, but he is our best scoring weapon and shoots at a high percentage to boot. He needs to play and play a lot every game if we have any chance of turning the season around.

He hasn't played nearly as well since the conference season started..

In 4 games he's scoring 14.8 per game while shooting 37.9% from the floor, 30% from 3 & 54.5% from the line..

To get those points he's taking over 14 shots per game..

www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/georgetown/2017.html

Bad time for him to hit a slump. I sure hope he comes out of it.

[blueandgray]

Clearly Pryor's worst game...but let's not kid, we'd be 4 and 12 without him.

[JohnnyJones]

Jan 8, 2017 13:56:36 GMT -5 drquigley said:

I was at the game yesterday and watched Rodney Pryor have the worst game of his Hoya career. Obviously played a huge roll in our loss. But more important was the apparent conflict (?) between Pryor and JT3. Sits him for large portions of the game. Doesn't insert him at key points of the game. At least one come to Jesus moment at the bench. JT3 said after the game, according to the Washington Post, that he would have to talk to Pryor after the game. So what's going on?

I am not sure what conflict you are referring to, but in case everyone is not aware of this, when Pryor is taken out of the game he goes to the scorers table and then sprints full speed from there down the bench slapping everyone five until he gets to the water at the end of the bench. There have been several times this year when III has literally had to lunge at him and/or wrap him up to get a few words in. And then Rodney continues on in his sprint.