12/18 - MBB vs. UMBC

[AUFC]

Time to bounce back against the #1-seed-slaying UMBC Good Boys of the America East Conference.

These guys will be one of the smallest teams we've faced so far this season and they rebound like it. I would expect 6'8 forward Louie Jordan to match up with DO and Prince George's County's own 6'6 forward Josh Odunowo to line up with Baye. They could have a big night as UMBC doesn't even try to rebound the ball on the offensive end, with an ORB% at 350/364 in Division 1. They don't rebound particularly well on the defensive glass either, giving up ORBs on 34% of misses which is good for 306/364. One thing to note however is that teams love to chuck against them on the perimeter, which likely leads to lots of offensive rebounds for their opponents. This could be in part to their breakneck pace on offense as the 22nd fastest team in Division 1. I hope to see some growth in the transition and fast break game tomorrow, but I will hesitate to take much away from it knowing what style of ball the Retrivers play. All things considered, they have not beaten anybody impressive this season and lost to their two power conference opponents by 49 and 24.

I am unfortunately out of town for this one and will be tuning in via ESPN+ but go spend a lovely evening in Midtown and give a warm, Atlanta welcome to our friend @spdrama who has traveled down from New York for our women's games against Rice and Nebraska and men's games against UMBC and Duke.

 

[YlJacket]

UMBC shoots 40% from 3 and plays at a fast pace. Gives you a high ceiling if you play fast and make your shots but a really low floor/chance to get blown out if the shots don’t fall and the other team runs it back hard.

I hope this is a chance for us to learn to push the ball and run it down their throat

 

[AUFC]

UMBC shoots 40% from 3 and plays at a fast pace. Gives you a high ceiling if you play fast and make your shots but a really low floor/chance to get blown out if the shots don’t fall and the other team runs it back hard.

I hope this is a chance for us to learn to push the ball and run it down their throat

They do shoot the 3 well but they take a low number of threes. They also don’t really take it to the rack a whole lot - we might see something similar to what we saw from Northwestern with a whole lot of mid-ranges except far earlier in the shot clock.

 

[spdrama]

 

[Ramble1885]

 

[57jacket]

Good grief!! The only consistantly good player we have. Play Mustaf. At least he drives to the basket.

 

[Techwood Relict]

Here's hoping that young Mr. Mustaf seizes this opportunity. We need a playmaker on the ball to open up our offense.

 

[MtnWasp]

Wacie is a good player and his ability to hit the corner three helps us on offense. But he is not a program saver.

I expect us to win this game. And we better. Stubbing our toe against another small school will certainly add to the flock of circling buzzards.

 

[Connell62]

Any interested in tickets for tonight's game? My youth basketball team has practice tonight, and I'm unable to make it down.

Have four together in Section 104 + ER66 Parking Pass. Shoot me a note if you are interested. No charge.

 

[Root4GT]

Any interested in tickets for tonight's game? My youth basketball team has practice tonight, and I'm unable to make it down.

Have four together in Section 104 + ER66 Parking Pass. Shoot me a note if you are interested. No charge.

Wish I lived in the area! Your support for GTBB and our fans is great!

 

[Golden Tornadoes]

What to watch for tonight:

Will the offense have ball movement and player movement?
How many contested vs open shots will we take?
Will CDS finally run some action for Baye?
Can our guards stay in front of their guards on defense?
How many turnovers will we commit?
How many fastbreak points will we score?


Someone please keep count how many times we shoot a contested 3 with less than 5 seconds on the shot clock after our guards dribble around for 25 seconds!

 

[MidtownJacket]

Any interested in tickets for tonight's game? My youth basketball team has practice tonight, and I'm unable to make it down.

Have four together in Section 104 + ER66 Parking Pass. Shoot me a note if you are interested. No charge.

hahah, just saw the sig line here, and I am all for it! Love this kind of thing for a good cause!

 

[awbuzz]

We go from being down 11-2, to building a 22 point lead, to hanging on to get the W.

Last 6 or so minutes was closer than we should have let it be.

Never should have been close enough for them to send us to the foul line a hundred times (okay wasn't really that many) in the last 2 minutes of game time.

 

[awbuzz]

An ugly W beats a moral victory loss.

 

[awbuzz]

Too close, the free-throw parade at the end help us seal the victory.

 

[reckrider]

It’s good to have players that can hit FT’s. Maybe the new starting lineup with Mutumbo, Ndongo, Nait, Lance and Mustaf can gel quickly.

 

[AUFC]

It's a win against a mid-major. Those aren't guaranteed at this program.

Please come out to McCamish this Saturday. The reality of this program is that when the home crowd is excited and brings energy once or twice per season, the team has responded with superhero-esque efforts. They need our help on Saturday to generate adrenaline for defensive effort and force Duke's offense into some emotional decision making and shot selection. Rip a couple $1 airplane bottles of bourbon from Mac's pre-game if that's what it takes and let's stand and bring the noise to will our guys to a win.

 

[Golden Tornadoes]

Too close, the free-throw parade at the end help us seal the victory.
View attachment 17473

There are a few numbers that pop out to me:

1. I didn’t watch a single second of this game, but 16 3 point attempts feels like a healthy number for this squad. Good balance and glad that they attacked the paint.

2. How in the world are we still so bad at the free throw line? 65.5%?!? Are you actually kidding me?!?

3. One of the things I wanted to know about was if our guards could guard their guards. Don’t know how that specifically went, but the fact that they shot over 50% from the field and 40% from behind the arc tells me we played pretty bad defense. 32 points in the paint for a team that’s widely known to be small isn’t helping either.

4. YAYY ONLY 14 TURNOVERS!!!

5. Did we really just let UMBC beat us by 20 in the fast break points category even though we had 5 blocks and 7 steals?!?!

Again, I haven’t even watched the highlights yet, but this game gives me no reason to expect a sudden turnaround in ACC play. Highly disappointing considering the supposed talent on the squad.

If you went to the game, please feel free to tell me what I missed or misinterpreted.

 

[Golden Tornadoes]

It's a win against a mid-major. Those aren't guaranteed at this program.

Please come out to McCamish this Saturday. The reality of this program is that when the home crowd is excited and brings energy once or twice per season, the team has responded with superhero-esque efforts. They need our help on Saturday to generate adrenaline for defensive effort and force Duke's offense into some emotional decision making and shot selection. Rip a couple $1 airplane bottles of bourbon from Mac's pre-game if that's what it takes and let's stand and bring the noise to will our guys to a win.

The fact that a win against a mid-major isn’t guaranteed at GT anymore speaks volumes as to how far this program has fallen from its heyday. Used to be THE game to be at in town. Now we can’t even beg people to come anymore.

 

[Techwood Relict]

I didn't get to watch. Happy for a W. Box score looks good aside from free throws. Glad to see McCollum get some minutes. We'll need him sooner rather than later. Shooting and assists by Mustaf. Hope that keeps up.