We win tonight with Tolu
- Thread starter 57stratdawg
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and without DJ Jefferies. he is the reason for the loss in my incredibly intelligent opinion. stupid fouls, stupid shots, and just all around stupid play. he shouldn't see the court except for clean up duty. he just looks lost
That air balled 3-pointer in OT was the dagger. He’s not a good 3-point shooter anyway, and once the defender flew by, his feet weren’t even set, but he was like “17 it. I’m gonna be the hero” and promptly shot an air ball. Such a selfish play.
Lot of what ifs or if we just had a certain player in our basketball history. We didn't. And still came out like we always do against Kentucky. It probably wouldn't have mattered.
Yea well Kentucky invests about 20x more money and energy into having a dominant basketball program than us and they had a cheating basketball player on their team. That dude from the Congo isn't a day younger than 28 and he's built like a ten year NBA vet. If it ain't cheating to have that guy on your team in college idk what is.
Jefferies is way too inconsistent. He doesn't keep his composure. That three attempt in OT is a great example of that. They went up three and he felt like he needed to knock down a three in response. Not to be ignored - Matthews took an incredibly stupid three right before that, too. We can criticize that shot selection all day - but it goes back to coaching. Those guys should know what they are expected to do, and they should know what they're not supposed to do in those moments.
Also, Davis is terrible defensively. He's absolutely lost in there. His footwork on both ends of the floor is absolutely atrocious. He gave up too many offensive rebounds and too many easy scores around the basket. Offensively, he also made some really stupid decisions.
We also don't have a true point guard and that shows up in close and late situations. Kentucky was able to deny the ball and push us back in our offensive sets when they locked down late in the game and in OT. It doesn't help that our offensive "sets" don't do a lot to generate what we really need - drives to the basket and rhythm jumpshots from Iverson and Moore.
This team could be really good defensively if they locked in. Problem is they lock in for 20 seconds then give up something easy late in the shot clock. Matthews is a difference maker defensively, but he gets caught asleep sometimes and gets taken off the dribble too easily.
This team could be really good. Our problem is the bald guy on the bench padding his retirement fund.
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Here are some numbers to chew on:
DJ commits a turnover every 15 minutes of game action. For reference, Molinar is at about 18-19, Shakeel is over 20, and Brooks and Matthews over 21. Davis and Garcia are our worst in this area, committing one every 12-13 minutes of game action. Tolu and DJ are about similar. Tolu fumbles too many passes. Needs to work on his hands.
As you might expect, Molinar leads us in shots taken and in shot frequency. He gets a shot off every 2.5 minutes. Brooks shoots it every 3.15 minutes, then DJ at 3.25. The problem is he isn't making shots. Molinar is sitting at basically 50% on the nose and Garrison is 47.7%. DJ is only at 41.7%. Tolu and Moore are behind him in shot frequency (3.3 minutes between shots) but ahead of him in shooting percentage. Of our regular rotation players, he has the worst shooting percentage but shoots it the third most frequently. Matthews shoots it only about every 9 minutes, but he's hitting 64% of those shots. DJ has to either got to stop shooting so much or make more, preferably the latter.
Steals are not the only measure of defense, but in 530 minutes of game action, DJ has nine steals. NINE. Tolu has 11 in 208 minutes. Matthews has 32 in 393 minutes.
DJ and Molinar are killing us from three. Iverson is 21-72 for 29.2%. DJ is 21-66 for 31.8%. Even Brooks is better than Molinar and DJ, at 32.6%. Moore is our only legitimate threat from three at 37.8%.
Howland is not a coach who appears to like to change things very much, but I would advocate for Matthews and Fountain to get more minutes and scale DJ back. DJ is getting 28 minutes right now, maybe more over the next two weeks with Tolu out. I'd like to see that pulled back to about 22 and give both Matthews and Fountain a little more run. I mean at this point it can't hurt to try it. Just don't let me look up and see a lineup on the floor of Rocket, Garcia, Matthews, Fountain and Davis. Between Molinar, Brooks, Moore and Tolu we should probably have at least two of them on the court at all times. Obviously with Tolu out we might not be able to do that.
DJ commits a turnover every 15 minutes of game action. For reference, Molinar is at about 18-19, Shakeel is over 20, and Brooks and Matthews over 21. Davis and Garcia are our worst in this area, committing one every 12-13 minutes of game action. Tolu and DJ are about similar. Tolu fumbles too many passes. Needs to work on his hands.
As you might expect, Molinar leads us in shots taken and in shot frequency. He gets a shot off every 2.5 minutes. Brooks shoots it every 3.15 minutes, then DJ at 3.25. The problem is he isn't making shots. Molinar is sitting at basically 50% on the nose and Garrison is 47.7%. DJ is only at 41.7%. Tolu and Moore are behind him in shot frequency (3.3 minutes between shots) but ahead of him in shooting percentage. Of our regular rotation players, he has the worst shooting percentage but shoots it the third most frequently. Matthews shoots it only about every 9 minutes, but he's hitting 64% of those shots. DJ has to either got to stop shooting so much or make more, preferably the latter.
Steals are not the only measure of defense, but in 530 minutes of game action, DJ has nine steals. NINE. Tolu has 11 in 208 minutes. Matthews has 32 in 393 minutes.
DJ and Molinar are killing us from three. Iverson is 21-72 for 29.2%. DJ is 21-66 for 31.8%. Even Brooks is better than Molinar and DJ, at 32.6%. Moore is our only legitimate threat from three at 37.8%.
Howland is not a coach who appears to like to change things very much, but I would advocate for Matthews and Fountain to get more minutes and scale DJ back. DJ is getting 28 minutes right now, maybe more over the next two weeks with Tolu out. I'd like to see that pulled back to about 22 and give both Matthews and Fountain a little more run. I mean at this point it can't hurt to try it. Just don't let me look up and see a lineup on the floor of Rocket, Garcia, Matthews, Fountain and Davis. Between Molinar, Brooks, Moore and Tolu we should probably have at least two of them on the court at all times. Obviously with Tolu out we might not be able to do that.
With his girlfriend leaving (I'm assuming they still talk) how's that going to affect him for next year?
I think Rocket being healthy will really help us - but he looks for his shot too much. This team is in dire need of a playmaking point guard - not an offense-first point guard.
At the end of regulation I REALLY wanted us to take a 3 pointer to try and win it. We sent Molinar driving to the basket instead and he got the 2 free throws to tie but that left us with KY with the ball holding for the last shot to either win or go to OT. Just didn't see us winning in OT so I wanted to try and get the lead while we had the chance. Oh well, we probably would have missed it anyway.
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He got so open he panicked and rushed a shot.
Didn't get his feet remotely set. Had no business taking the shot either way, but I could sympathize with how it happened.
Didn't get his feet remotely set. Had no business taking the shot either way, but I could sympathize with how it happened.
If we win, Iverson's performance would have gone down as one of the greatest in school history (it probably was regardless of result but it will be forgotten)
This is a basic assumption like the past 6 years. We are on the verge of having a decade long coach close to a decade and never win a tournament game. LSU and Bama are having fun while our fans have Lunardit bookmarked on all devices.
We score 2 points in a 5min OT. It’s pitiful that we have no offense or know how to create contact and get the foul line...or maybe just maybe....get an opponents best player in foul trouble. We let one man get over 20 rebounds.
In case it isn't obvious, Molinar is that guy. Enjoy it, he's gone after this season.
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