1. Slow start. It does get tiring, but it appears to be this team's identity
2. Rebounding. We missed CO and DG yesterday.
3. Unable to contain dribble penetration by Cinci's guards. This was the big one for me. In the second half, when they quit trying to pass the ball and instead just decided to take it to the rack, MU seemed powerless to stop them. Yes, foul trouble limited the help that Jae and JWilson could give. But none of our guards could stop their drives for about a 10 minute stretch. That is something within Buzz's ability to control that needs to be addressed.
So much good stuff, though. Ball movement, smart shots, forcing turnovers. Fun to watch.
Regarding #3, lost in all of the noise about how well we played yesterday, MU gave up 43 points in the second half, and almost all of that was in the half-court. We need to get DG back...hopefully in a week.
Containing the dribble drive - Jae and Jamil only have 8 fouls to give. They used up all 8 last night and one more close call, they were done.
Quote from: The Sultan of South Wayne on February 12, 2012, 09:37:16 AM
Regarding #3, lost in all of the noise about how well we played yesterday, MU gave up 43 points in the second half, and almost all of that was in the half-court. We need to get DG back...hopefully in a week.
We did give up 43 in the second half but how much of that was from us scoring so quickly on the other end.
Quote from: mufanatic on February 12, 2012, 11:21:32 AM
We did give up 43 in the second half but how much of that was from us scoring so quickly on the other end.
Exactly. Cincinnati shot 45 percent in the second half and a lot of those points came late in the game when Marquette was just trying to keep the clock moving.
I will add one more.
Laziness/lack of focus on inbounding the ball. Twice we were careless on entry passes thinking there was no opponent there. Led to 5 points for UC.
Also, Jamil made a lazy pass early on when UC was pressing that led to an easy layup.
This happened as well in the ND game. Can't lose focus on very easy and simple plays.
What's interesting is just the results of our different defensive schemes. The sit back, half court defense of the first five minutes and much of the second half was bad. Not enough pressure to force turnovers, missing assignments, not able to rebound well enough. The pressure defense, whether it was full or 3/4 court was just the opposite - forcing turnovers, making them work to get the ball into the half court so if they did get in the offense their shooting goes cold, spaces the floor allowing our guards to be able to rebound, and it's the best way to utilize our guards and Jae - they're much more effective pressuring in the full court. Not sure we can do it for 40 minutes with a 7 1/2 man rotation, but the more the better.
#3 was a big result of Jae and Jamil not being able to always help properly when guards drive because of fouls. So, yes we need Davante back for that reason but not exactly because we were bad at it.