Fouls killed us

[NotAnAlum]

Crowder sitting for long periods got out of the flow.  Having to play without Junior.  MU is a hard working team that exceeds what you would expect but when you go up against these power house programs you can see where we are lacking.  Not enough depth, not enough options.  I think in a lot of cases we're trying too hard and playing wildly.  Oh well it was a good season.

[CTWarrior]

Cadougan isn't John Stockton or anything, but when he goes to the bench we do not have anyone who can run the offense.  His foul trouble killed us.  I understand why Buzz sat Crowder so much, even though he ended up not being in foul trouble,  When Crowder plays timid to avoid fouls. he's not so good.

[madtownwarrior]

good summary - can't play with JR, can play without JR...

Cadougan isn't John Stockton or anything, but when he goes to the bench we do not have anyone who can run the offense.  His foul trouble killed us.  I understand why Buzz sat Crowder so much, even though he ended up not being in foul trouble,  When Crowder plays timid to avoid fouls. he's not so good.

[NickelDimer]

Without question fouls killed us.  We had nice control early on until the refs took over.  Killed our flow on offense.  Jae couldn't be himself. 

[77fan88warrior]

Fouls killed Crowder's offense and they were Junior's fouls. Jae is an inside out threat but his inside game relies on cutting to the hoop and Junior getting him the ball. Junior was out way too much and it hurt our offense when he was out.

[slingkong]

can't play with JR, can play without JR...

This is a perfect summary of Junior Cadougan. He simply has to learn how to cut out the truly stupid errors. Hopefully we'll see next fall what a summer of intense film study and practice can achieve for him.

[mu_hilltopper]

Um .. Jae played 32 minutes.   He usually plays about 38, so we're talking about 6 minutes of not playing due to fouls.

While one could suggest our defense suffered in those 6 minutes, he was 5-15 shooting.   I can't imagine him shooting better than 33% during those 6 extra minutes, taking 1 shot per 2 minutes, so we're talking 6-18.   That would not have helped. -- And besides Mayo, all other players were shooting terrible, so whoever absorbed those 6 minutes didn't shoot substantially worse than him.

One might argue that his offense was reduced because he didn't want to pick up an offensive foul .. yeah, maybe.

Our foul trouble didn't help, but the elephant in the room was that we had a terrible shooting night.

[NotAnAlum]

Players in foul trouble play differently.  Look at how often the we've benefited by getting the other teams leader in foul trouble.  Jae is as important on defense as he is on offense.  So all thru the first half he being very careful not to foul.  He doesn't go for steals, he doesn't help as much.  Then even into the 2nd half he doesn't want the get the 3rd foul early or he is back in the same situation.
With he and Junior saddled Buzz doesn't press as much or trap. 
It also really exposes our lack of quality depth.

[BrewCity83]

Fouls killed Crowder's offense and they were Junior's fouls. Jae is an inside out threat but his inside game relies on cutting to the hoop and Junior getting him the ball. Junior was out way too much and it hurt our offense when he was out.

This is key.  Jae needs Junior in there to get him the ball where he can get open good shots.  Junior was on the bench for about half the game.