Offense against the zone

[NotAnAlum]

I had hoped that Buzz's new offense had finally solved our scoring problems.  Unfortunately I'm afraid that was just because we hadn't seen a zone yet.  But tonight it was back again.  The same standing around dribbling, staring at the defense like "what are we supposed to do against this".  The passes around the perimeter with no particular purpose, ultimately someone throwing up a 3 and missing.  It was well past the 10 minute mark before someone, I think it was Lazar, finally flashed in the lane at the free throw line and caught a pass but he just threw it back out again.  There was no coordinated effort to penetrate the zone.  The only thing different about the second half was that the 3s started to fall.  I don't think Burke or Hazel caught a pass in the post the whole night.  Buzz didn't seem real concerned about the play against the zone based on his post game comments.  I, for one am very concerned.  This team can not depend on outside shooting to break a zone.  They must have another strategy.     

[muwarrior87]

you do realize that you can't run your same offense against a zone as you do against man defense.  We don't have the size or shooters to match up well against a zone, which was seen in the first half.  However, when we attacked the rim and then kicked it back out, we did a little better, and this mainly occurred in the second half.  That's the biggest thing that we have to do with this team. Drive to the hole whatever the opposition's defense is.   

And in regards to the threes starting to fall in the second half, we are a very streaky outside shooting team. Just about everyone on this board understands that. That means they may not start off well but eventually, they'll sink some shots.

[MR.HAYWARD]

the reason teams zone us is becuase it puts us at our weakestthe strenghts a team needs to consisntently beat a zone we lack.  However i thought we played pretty darn well against the zone in the second half.  we did have a ton of flashers in the second half.  our problem and the reason we did not score 100 points was becuase we missed baout 20 bunnies from in the lane right in fornt of the basket off of flashes.  Lazar missed 3-4 in a short stretch jerel and Wess missed them too.  Look at the box score aprt from the threes most of our shots were from in the lane 10 feet and in.

[avid1010]

the reason teams zone us is becuase it puts us at our weakestthe strenghts a team needs to consisntently beat a zone we lack.  However i thought we played pretty darn well against the zone in the second half.  we did have a ton of flashers in the second half.  our problem and the reason we did not score 100 points was becuase we missed baout 20 bunnies from in the lane right in fornt of the basket off of flashes.  Lazar missed 3-4 in a short stretch jerel and Wess missed them too.  Look at the box score aprt from the threes most of our shots were from in the lane 10 feet and in.

+1

With our inside game, against a zone, we're going to have to drive - attack gaps - and hit some open shots.  That's why we saw a 3-2 zone.  I have a hunch that Buzz is expecting to see some zone, and he's clearly seen what not to do

[MU gimp ONE]

all i can say is great job putting this team on the schedule... and that is me being serious.  every other cupcake team we play always plays man-to-man and we blow the doors off them.  here comes texas southern with a quick rotating zone to knock us on our heals.  this game couldn't have meant more for the development of this team.  we looked a lot better in the second half after making some adjustments.  i suspect that next time we face a zone we will be even more prepared.  atleast we got to work on some things against a texas southern, so that when that first big east team throws zone, we won't be speechless.

also a great job by that TSU coach to get his ready to play and bringing something different to the table.  they will do alright in the SWAC... hahah swac, atleast they don't play in the swass

[mosarsour]

The offense was solid in the 2nd half, but the defense in that half was non existent. There's no reason a team like Texas Southern should score 43 points and and shoot over 60% from the field. If we didn't catch fire from beyond the arc, it couls have turned into a completely different ball game. Other than that, I'll take the win against a team that clearly came in to play and were not intimidated at all.

[MR.HAYWARD]

mosaur i acnnot disagree on the shooting percenatge it is what it is.  but boy they threw in some really tough high degree of difficulty shot.  point taken it still would have been about 5-% if those did not fall I think they were 100% from 3.

[Daniel]

Half one, we stunk it up.  But once again, I think Buzz has demonstrated that he makes goo dhalf time adjustments - half 2 we were much better slashing to the rim, scoring inside, and hitting some outside shots probably a little becuase of the inside scoring.

Defense tho..... yeah.  Way too many points under the rim for Southern Texas - way too many.

[Murffieus]

actually Texas Southern started out with a very effective zone in the first half. They moved very well within it as they consistently maintained 5 guys hovering a line between the ball and the hoop, which is what you strive for if using a zone. However as the game went on, they didn't move nearly as well, which gave us openings.

We're at our best against a zone with Hayward at the high post as when he has the ball there it creates a 2 on 1 situation in the paint. Instead of flashing him in and out of there-----I would station him there vs a 2-3 or 3-2 zone so that he's always there-----all to often he's elsewhere on the floor where he isn't as effective.