UTEP thoughts

[brewcity77]

Take the result and run. Seems like there's always one inexplicably bad non-con result. Eastern Illinois, IUPUI, Nebraska-Omaha. This reminded me of the Fresno State game, probably because Rodney Terry was coaching them too.

That team is going to be really good in CUSA in a year or two. Lathon is a beast. 8 of their top 9 including Gilyard are freshmen or sophomores & they have a number of quality transfers sitting out. MTSU, WKU, & Marshall are going to have some serious competition very soon.

[ski44]

Drop 6 spots in Kenpom from 29 to 35. This qualifies as a bad win.

[JakeBarnes]

Drop 6 spots in Kenpom from 29 to 35. This qualifies as a bad win.

This is gonna hurt more than the scrimmage against Northwestern.

[JakeBarnes]

Take the result and run. Seems like there's always one inexplicably bad non-con result. Eastern Illinois, IUPUI, Nebraska-Omaha. This reminded me of the Fresno State game, probably because Rodney Terry was coaching them too.

That team is going to be really good in CUSA in a year or two. Lathon is a beast. 8 of their top 9 including Gilyard are freshmen or sophomores & they have a number of quality transfers sitting out. MTSU, WKU, & Marshall are going to have some serious competition very soon.

Agree.

Lathon looked great. Think Northwestern missed his talents tonight?

[1SE]

Avoided the trap.  7-2.

This. Could have been very easy to lay an egg here. Take the W and move on. Saturday is huge.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

This. Was at the game and my impression that the ball was moving and finding the open shooter. Just couldn't hit the shots tonight. Will need to watch to confirm

Went back and watched. Here's the breakdown on wide open jumpshots:

Joey: 2/2 1/1 3P
Markus 3/8 2/6 3P
Joe 0/4
Bailey 0/1 (was open but it was rushed in transition)
Sacar 1/2
Sam 0/5

So that's 6/22 (.272) on wide open jumpshots tonight including 4/19 (.211) from three. Combine that with an uncharacteristic 66% FT shooting performance and you have yourself a bad shooting night.

We shot 68% on 2P FGAs, with most of those coming very close to the rim. Theo needs to work on his hook shot. 3/7 is not going to cut it. He needs to get deeper before he tries that move. Granted that's hard to do when you are going against Davante's cousin.

Someone else pointed it out but turnovers after forcing a turnover was a major issue tonight. This game it happened four times. Team needs to settle down. As Wojo put it, its okay to settle for singles, you don't always have to go for the home run. On the flip side, with 4 turnovers coming in transition and three coming on offensive fouls, that means only 6 were committed in the half court.....3 of those 6 were by Joey. He was brilliant at times but sometimes it looks like he's holding a ball coated in vaseline.

Offensive rebounding was the other problem. They didn't give up a ton (7) but almost all of them seemed to results in easy points for the Miners. Odigie is a unique player but they had to find a way to box him out.

I amend my earlier statement about Cain. He did blow one assignment right as he got out there but the next one was not his fault. Made a great steal and move to keep the ball, but forced the issue a little too much on the pass. Singles are okay.

I wonder if Sam needs to get going early or it just won't happen. UTEP hounded him in the first half and he got 0 open looks. All 5 of his open looks came in the second half and he couldn't get any to fall. I have faith that he will get that fixed over the next few practices.

Defense was good again but not great this time. Sacar did an excellent job on Gilyard but wonder if it would have made sense to move him to Lathon given the night he was having. In the few minutes Bailey had, he was successful at slowing down Lathon.

Loved what Morrow brought to the floor on offense tonight.  He got lost a few times on defense though which I think limited his minutes. He's finding his place, slowly.

All in all, would rather have the cold shooting happen tonight then on Saturday. Hopefully that is out of their system and are now ready to cull some Badgers.

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

What is this, a football game? Vanilla offense? We ran the same offense we always run - I don't expect any "trick plays" (flea flicker, fumbleruski, fake punts, end arounds, etc.) on Saturday. LOL, where do you get this stuff?

Lol i thought the exact same thing!!  Haha some things never change with chico.  His insecurity is only matched by his lack of basketball accumen.

[muwarrior69]

Was this a "buy" game? UTEP is too good a team to be a buy game. Just asking.

[Galway Eagle]

Was this a "buy" game? UTEP is too good a team to be a buy game. Just asking.

Of course it was. I mean Buffalos' ranked in the top 20 and is a buy game.

[warriorchick]

Anyone else get Davante flashbacks with that Odigie kid? I was impressed by some of his moves under the bucket.

Yep.  I was saying to Glow last night at the game that he is a Davante wannabe.

He can't hit the short jumper (or should I say, heel-rocker) like Davante, though.

[Goose]

Not pretty, but a W. Not every win needs to have style points. I'd gladly take an ugly win again on Saturday.

[Lighthouse 84]

Well, at least we didn't lose by 20....

[muwarrior69]

Of course it was. I mean Buffalos' ranked in the top 20 and is a buy game.

Buffalo should pay us.

[tower912]

There was a moment in the first half where they showed Wojo and he was almost smirking.  Probably thinking 'Good.  Now maybe they will listen.'

[noblewarrior]

I've never seen a case of the yips effect two players as bad as they did Sam & Joe ever.... I hope in this case the yips are shaken off quickly and we see the Sam we all know and expect.... and count on when on the court.   I had thought of Chuck Knoblock (sp) throwing to first every time either Sam or Joe would shoot ... not only did they miss, the shots were not close, ugly even. 

Can the players get access to the FF court outside of games?  I mean shooting back grounds and all, need to get acclimated.

#uck the yips, kill a badger!

[GGGG]

Chartouney's usage is really starting to confuse me. If he's going to be on the floor at the same time as Markus, but not handle the ball, then what purpose does he really serve? Couple of times tonight where Markus created a wide open 3 that he bricked. Why not get Markus off the ball to catch and shoot?

Because it is very obvious that Wojo wants his PG to be a threat to score and break down a defense.  The problem has been Markus has to be better at understanding when something isn't there or from taking bad shots.  I would say that he has improved this year from year's past.  At one point he chucked a bad three in the second half, but the next two times down the court, he initiated the offense nicely and got the ball moving. 

JC can defend.  He's nice and long up top which is helpful.  Can rebound well too.  His scoring is inconsistent so hopefully it can come around.  He also does well initiating the offense when Markus is not on the floor and when the offense needs to be reset. 

[cheebs09]

I've never seen a case of the yips effect two players as bad as they did Sam & Joe ever.... I hope in this case the yips are shaken off quickly and we see the Sam we all know and expect.... and count on when on the court.   I had thought of Chuck Knoblock (sp) throwing to first every time either Sam or Joe would shoot ... not only did they miss, the shots were not close, ugly even. 

Can the players get access to the FF court outside of games?  I mean shooting back grounds and all, need to get acclimated.

#uck the yips, kill a badger!

To me it seems like Sam has been short on a lot of threes. He overcompensated on one in the second half that was off the back iron shortly after he came up short. There were a few that didn't miss by much.

If it's conference season and he's still shooting poorly, I'll be worried. Hoping he breaks out in the UW game.

[warriorchick]

To me it seems like Sam has been short on a lot of threes. He overcompensated on one in the second half that was off the back iron shortly after he came up short. There were a few that didn't miss by much.

If it's conference season and he's still shooting poorly, I'll be worried. Hoping he breaks out in the UW game.

Sam definitely had the yips last night.  He's ripe for a monster game on Saturday.

[Mike Deane's Seat Belt]

Am I the only one that thinks tooney is the most freshman looking grad transfer ever?  He looks clueless with the ball.  Has made lots of top of the key turnovers and his scoring ability / shot is very questionable. 

I am failing to see the talent here at all.  Very disappointed.

Ill take the W but this weekend is gonna make or break the season. 

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Am I the only one that thinks tooney is the most freshman looking grad transfer ever?  He looks clueless with the ball.  Has made lots of top of the key turnovers and his scoring ability / shot is very questionable. 

I am failing to see the talent here at all.  Very disappointed.

Ill take the W but this weekend is gonna make or break the season.

You're not the only one but that doesn't make you right. I think he goes for the home run pass when doesn't need to sometimes but I wouldn't describe him as clueless with the ball. He doesn't get stripped, he usually finds the open man on his passes and while he had a bad night last night, he can shoot it. He also plays very good defense. He's been one of the keys to our improvement on that side.

[jsglow]

Both Sammy and Joseph were trying too hard last night and both had the yips.  S=L=O=W down and let the ball find the easy way to the basket.  The good news is that other aspects of their game remained solid (rebounding and D).

Oh, and when a big has the ball in a scattered back court I can practically hear coach yelling 'find a guard'.

[wadesworld]

Am I the only one that thinks tooney is the most freshman looking grad transfer ever?  He looks clueless with the ball.  Has made lots of top of the key turnovers and his scoring ability / shot is very questionable. 

I am failing to see the talent here at all.  Very disappointed.

Ill take the W but this weekend is gonna make or break the season.

Huh?

[MU82]

Went back and watched. Here's the breakdown on wide open jumpshots:

Joey: 2/2 1/1 3P
Markus 3/8 2/6 3P
Joe 0/4
Bailey 0/1 (was open but it was rushed in transition)
Sacar 1/2
Sam 0/5

So that's 6/22 (.272) on wide open jumpshots tonight including 4/19 (.211) from three. Combine that with an uncharacteristic 66% FT shooting performance and you have yourself a bad shooting night.

We shot 68% on 2P FGAs, with most of those coming very close to the rim. Theo needs to work on his hook shot. 3/7 is not going to cut it. He needs to get deeper before he tries that move. Granted that's hard to do when you are going against Davante's cousin.

Someone else pointed it out but turnovers after forcing a turnover was a major issue tonight. This game it happened four times. Team needs to settle down. As Wojo put it, its okay to settle for singles, you don't always have to go for the home run. On the flip side, with 4 turnovers coming in transition and three coming on offensive fouls, that means only 6 were committed in the half court.....3 of those 6 were by Joey. He was brilliant at times but sometimes it looks like he's holding a ball coated in vaseline.

Offensive rebounding was the other problem. They didn't give up a ton (7) but almost all of them seemed to results in easy points for the Miners. Odigie is a unique player but they had to find a way to box him out.

I amend my earlier statement about Cain. He did blow one assignment right as he got out there but the next one was not his fault. Made a great steal and move to keep the ball, but forced the issue a little too much on the pass. Singles are okay.

I wonder if Sam needs to get going early or it just won't happen. UTEP hounded him in the first half and he got 0 open looks. All 5 of his open looks came in the second half and he couldn't get any to fall. I have faith that he will get that fixed over the next few practices.

Defense was good again but not great this time. Sacar did an excellent job on Gilyard but wonder if it would have made sense to move him to Lathon given the night he was having. In the few minutes Bailey had, he was successful at slowing down Lathon.

Loved what Morrow brought to the floor on offense tonight.  He got lost a few times on defense though which I think limited his minutes. He's finding his place, slowly.

All in all, would rather have the cold shooting happen tonight then on Saturday. Hopefully that is out of their system and are now ready to cull some Badgers.

First, thanks for this very detailed analysis. Quite illuminating. I come away from reading this very optimistic about the rest of the season, starting with Saturday's win over F%cky that gets us into the top 20.

Second, you have waaaaaaay too much time on your hands, my friend!

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Second, you have waaaaaaay too much time on your hands, my friend!

Definitely this week. Took a week's vacation to visit the family around the holidays. Should really find a better way to channel my excess energy.

[Shooter McGavin]

Huh?
[/quote
Will go a long way regarding our perception nationally and recruiting wise locally.  Just seems like a turning point in the early season and a chance to double down on the momentum of the k-state win.

It will not make or break the season however.  It will just be a great indicator of how this season will go.