12/7 - MBB @ North Carolina

[Root4GT]

Yeah, our turnovers turned into fast break layups. BTW UNC is not that good. I expect Davis to be gone next year.

Davis seat is warm now. If they do not go deep into the NCAAT this or next year he will be gone. I think UNC then would go outside the "family" and pay what is needed to get the best coach available. They can afford it in basketball.

 

[SecretAgentBuzz]

I agree with those who say that UNC is not a great team, but they were also at home and desperate for a win. We played pretty well, but not well enough to win. I liked our effort and we were still in the game with 3 minutes to go. In the end, it was (again) our poor shooting that came back to hurt us...and it wasn't because UNC played great defense. It was because we miss too many makable shots.

What I liked:
-Baye being Baye. Slicing to the basket, looking more aggressive, playing smart. 19 points, 12 rebounds, 1 block, 2 fouls, and only 1 TO. We need this version of Ndongo every game.
-Lance Terry getting more and more confident. That step-back 3 was so pretty, as was the highlight dunk. He also defended well and he was, again, our best player on the floor.
-15 second chance points. One positive to missing the mark is the chance to grab it and put it back. We are pretty good at that.

What I didn't like:
-Not taking more full advantage of the size we had. D.O only played 19 minutes and I thought we should have kept him in for as many as he could give us (he was +5 on the court). It looked to me that we got scared of their guards and forfeited our advantage.
-14 TOs is too many.
-31% from the floor and 29% from 3s. That has to improve if we are to have any chance at a winning record.

4-5 is not at all what I hoped for this far into the season, but there are still plenty of games left and I will keep watching and cheering. Go Jackets!

 

[57jacket]

I agree with those who say that UNC is not a great team, but they were also at home and desperate for a win. We played pretty well, but not well enough to win. I liked our effort and we were still in the game with 3 minutes to go. In the end, it was (again) our poor shooting that came back to hurt us...and it wasn't because UNC played great defense. It was because we miss too many makable shots.

What I liked:
-Baye being Baye. Slicing to the basket, looking more aggressive, playing smart. 19 points, 12 rebounds, 1 block, 2 fouls, and only 1 TO. We need this version of Ndongo every game.
-Lance Terry getting more and more confident. That step-back 3 was so pretty, as was the highlight dunk. He also defended well and he was, again, our best player on the floor.
-15 second chance points. One positive to missing the mark is the chance to grab it and put it back. We are pretty good at that.

What I didn't like:
-Not taking more full advantage of the size we had. D.O only played 19 minutes and I thought we should have kept him in for as many as he could give us (he was +5 on the court). It looked to me that we got scared of their guards and forfeited our advantage.
-14 TOs is too many.
-31% from the floor and 29% from 3s. That has to improve if we are to have any chance at a winning record.

4-5 is not at all what I hoped for this far into the season, but there are still plenty of games left and I will keep watching and cheering. Go Jackets!

Board game was, as you stated, excellent. I like Powell's effort.

 

[gte447f]

I agree with those who say that UNC is not a great team, but they were also at home and desperate for a win. We played pretty well, but not well enough to win. I liked our effort and we were still in the game with 3 minutes to go. In the end, it was (again) our poor shooting that came back to hurt us...and it wasn't because UNC played great defense. It was because we miss too many makable shots.

What I liked:
-Baye being Baye. Slicing to the basket, looking more aggressive, playing smart. 19 points, 12 rebounds, 1 block, 2 fouls, and only 1 TO. We need this version of Ndongo every game.
-Lance Terry getting more and more confident. That step-back 3 was so pretty, as was the highlight dunk. He also defended well and he was, again, our best player on the floor.
-15 second chance points. One positive to missing the mark is the chance to grab it and put it back. We are pretty good at that.

What I didn't like:
-Not taking more full advantage of the size we had. D.O only played 19 minutes and I thought we should have kept him in for as many as he could give us (he was +5 on the court). It looked to me that we got scared of their guards and forfeited our advantage.
-14 TOs is too many.
-31% from the floor and 29% from 3s. That has to improve if we are to have any chance at a winning record.

4-5 is not at all what I hoped for this far into the season, but there are still plenty of games left and I will keep watching and cheering. Go Jackets!

I believe that Terry’s highlight dunk that you are thinking of was in the previous game. In this game against unc Terry actually missed 2 dunks in route to shooting 0-6 on two point shots. He did shoot well from 3 (5-13, 38%), and he was our best player on the day, but 22 points on 19 shots is pretty poor from an efficiency standpoint, and most opposing teams would be happy with that stat line for the other side’s best player. Also, 13 three pointers, unless you are Steph Curry or Dennis Scott, is too many, and in this case is symptom of our team’s ineffective offensive strategy.

 

[78pike]

I believe that Terry’s highlight dunk that you are thinking of was in the previous game. In this game against unc Terry actually missed 2 dunks in route to shooting 0-6 on two point shots. He did shoot well from 3 (5-13, 38%), and he was our best player on the day, but 22 points on 19 shots is pretty poor from an efficiency standpoint, and most opposing teams would be happy with that stat line for the other side’s best player. Also, 13 three pointers, unless you are Steph Curry or Dennis Scott, is too many, and in this case is symptom of our team’s ineffective offensive strategy.

I think Lance feels like he needs to be more of a scorer with both Reeves and McCollum out and with George shooting so poorly of late. If and when those guys get back Lance won't have to put so much of the offensive load on his shoulders. If we had both of those guys in the lineup I'm pretty sure we would have won today.

 

[gte447f]

I think Lance feels like he needs to be more of a scorer with both Reeves and McCollum out and with George shooting so poorly of late. If and when those guys get back Lance won't have to put so much of the offensive load on his shoulders. If we had both of those guys in the lineup I'm pretty sure we would have won today.

I agree completely. Without McCollum, there is a lot of pressure on Terry to create offense. However, I think the problem of creating offense is more systematic. I don’t think we have enough individual athleticism, talent, and skill on this roster, even when fully healthy, to rely primarily on dribble penetration to initiate or create offensive opportunities. I think a motion based offense would be more effective. Also, this is not a criticism of the players. I am not saying our players aren’t good enough to beat their defenders, so we have to rely on schemes until we can recruit better players. No, I personally prefer more creative offensive schemes, even if you have five 5-stars on the court.

 

[MtnWasp]

I thought that GT built off a solid defensive effort against Oklahoma and showed an even more consistent defensive effort against Carolina. So this might be a glimpse of the identity that Stoudamire is trying to build a program around: a gritty, dig-in man to man defense.

Painful offensive lapses aside, the team was close to UNC the entire game, holding them to 39% from the floor and 21% from three.

I actually think we took the L because of rebounding lapses late in the game. I know the mantra against UNC is to get back on D to prevent their secondary break, but I think we needed to send at least one guard to the boards on our shots.

On offense, the team lacks mojo. Most of the guys are tentative and still trying to find their roles. I am still uncertain whether this NBA-lite offense is going to work in college. Not all the players look like they fit the scheme. But we'll have to give it more time.

Carolina's previous 4 losses were against top teams. The basketball last night was not pretty but Carolina has a lot of talent. Gt's effort was good in the last two games despite them being losses, and represented progress for the program. Most of that is on the defensive end which doesn't excite fans, but defense is vital and it travels.

 

[MtnWasp]

Another observation from the game, at the end of the first half our guys were clearly gassed and Stoudamire did not use a timeout until Carolina ripped off three strait buckets and THEN Stoudamire called a timeout.

Since he often talks about the importance of fighting through fatigue, I'm guessing that Stoudamire is trying to get his team to develop toughness and play through fatigue. But it was clear to me that Carolina played through fatigue and our players did not. I guess it raises the question of how well our guys are conditioned relative to the competition?

The failure of Stoudamire to call a time out at the end of the first half really cost Gt. Using tight ACC game for "teaching moments" is not such a good idea.

 

[CEB]

Only saw the highlights--it sure looked like the points they got were a lot less difficult than the pts we got. Too bad this is not horseshoes.

This seems accurate to me.
We seem to be getting (settling?) tough looks offensively. Guys who can create their own shot are great, but usually better shots come from creating for someone else.
30% from the floor won’t win many games.

 

[Richland County]

Nate dribbling the air out of the ball right now.

He left craters in the gym. It looks like he is trying to dribble the air out of the ball.

 

[Richland County]

This seems accurate to me.
We seem to be getting (settling?) tough looks offensively. Guys who can create their own shot are great, but usually better shots come from creating for someone else.
30% from the floor won’t win many games.

Zero fast break points in the first 30 minutes of the game. It's like the teams biggest opponent is itself.

 

[Peacone36]

Davis seat is warm now. If they do not go deep into the NCAAT this or next year he will be gone. I think UNC then would go outside the "family" and pay what is needed to get the best coach available. They can afford it in basketball.

They still have a tremendous coach in their family tree.

Wes Miller would/should be the first call.

 

[YlJacket]

I agree completely. Without McCollum, there is a lot of pressure on Terry to create offense. However, I think the problem of creating offense is more systematic. I don’t think we have enough individual athleticism, talent, and skill on this roster, even when fully healthy, to rely primarily on dribble penetration to initiate or create offensive opportunities. I think a motion based offense would be more effective. Also, this is not a criticism of the players. I am not saying our players aren’t good enough to beat their defenders, so we have to rely on schemes until we can recruit better players. No, I personally prefer more creative offensive schemes, even if you have five 5-stars on the court.

I agree with you both that specifically there was a lot/too much pressure on Terry to create offense at UNC and in general it would be good to introduce at least some motion concepts in the offense beyond the ball screen/dribble penetration look we have now.

For the UNC game, when you know that your primary bucket getter is out for the game, then put some extra motion in to take the pressure off the players who are left. Doesn't have to be all Mike Young motion offense but move the ball and set more off ball screens to help the whole team step up a level with scoring. You spoke to the pressure on Terry which I agree with but IMHO it also went to George pounding the ball trying to find the single pass that would get a hoop. We ran some flair screen action to get the ball to Terry on the wing - instead of Nate going off the high screen - which worked reasonably well but still only had a couple of passes or less before a shot went up.

I am hard pressed to remember a time downcourt where we passed the ball more than 5 times in a single possession. And basic analytics tells you that the % scoring goes way up when you reverse the ball across court at least once (and preferably more than once) which we really don't do except for the skip pass after the high screen. Throw in that George doesn't really look to score and teams know that now and play to that now - and it all leads to a position that we would likely be a better/more efficient offensive team with at least some motion concepts that would move the ball/reverse the ball across the court and make the defense adjust multiple times instead of just once. At the core I agree with you that our guys are good but not good enough to routinely depend on dribble drive/breaking down their defender to start the offense.

 

[jbix80]

We’ve got 20+ ppg sitting the bench with injury. Missing those two is really hurting us right now, but you can clearly see the guys getting better.

Great defensive effort from our guys today. Knock down a few more threes and this is a dub. For a while there in the second half, I thought they were gonna give us another great GT basketball memory.

Still a great trip to the Dean Dome. They had more students at the game an hour before tip, than we have total fans for a game. Insanity!

I agree completely. That’s what so frustrating. I know injuries are part of the game, but I hate that it happened against UNC.

 

[Jack]

I agree with you both that specifically there was a lot/too much pressure on Terry to create offense at UNC and in general it would be good to introduce at least some motion concepts in the offense beyond the ball screen/dribble penetration look we have now.

For the UNC game, when you know that your primary bucket getter is out for the game, then put some extra motion in to take the pressure off the players who are left. Doesn't have to be all Mike Young motion offense but move the ball and set more off ball screens to help the whole team step up a level with scoring. You spoke to the pressure on Terry which I agree with but IMHO it also went to George pounding the ball trying to find the single pass that would get a hoop. We ran some flair screen action to get the ball to Terry on the wing - instead of Nate going off the high screen - which worked reasonably well but still only had a couple of passes or less before a shot went up.

I am hard pressed to remember a time downcourt where we passed the ball more than 5 times in a single possession. And basic analytics tells you that the % scoring goes way up when you reverse the ball across court at least once (and preferably more than once) which we really don't do except for the skip pass after the high screen. Throw in that George doesn't really look to score and teams know that now and play to that now - and it all leads to a position that we would likely be a better/more efficient offensive team with at least some motion concepts that would move the ball/reverse the ball across the court and make the defense adjust multiple times instead of just once. At the core I agree with you that our guys are good but not good enough to routinely depend on dribble drive/breaking down their defender to start the offense.

Best GT guard at breaking down the defense was Jarret Jack.
He often drove straight at the rim, and made a bucket, drew a foul, or got an assist. Mustaf has the mentality and the muscle, to do that, but not quite enough speed and control but I bet he will improve greatly as the season goes along. He is raw but has a high ceiling.

 

[Connell62]

Those missing 20+ppg also add 3-5 more lineup rotations. Nait & Lance having to play 38/39 out of 40 minutes makes them easier to defend & hampers defense at crunch time. Not giving anyone credit for a loss, but 40, not 30 minutes of toughness & a #11 that resembles last year’s Baye Ndongo was nice to see. O’Brien not looking like a fit yet. Different role than at Colorado, partially because of injuries to others. Getting McCollum back can fix a number of problems. But getting him back & having him ready to play are two different things. Nait, Baye, Terry, Jaeden & Powell play together like a team should. That encouraging enough to get my NY-Atlanta flight for 5 games in 4 days:
Dec 18- GTW v Rice
GTM v UMBC
Dec 20- OTE Cold Hearts w Akai Fleming
Dec 21- GTM v Duke
GTW v Nebraska

Sounds like a hellva trip! I look forward to saying hello at the UMBC game!