UCF game thread
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Then sub Early and ? when in Igbanu and Joiner get in foul trouble.
As ctt would say, keep them in and trust your best players to play defense without fouling. SMU had a tournament team a couple years ago that only played 7 players
Earley and Korita. I’m not saying Korita should never play, but he should not start or get double digit minutes.
I really expected to win these last two games. Two hot shooting teams and no Rachal...really sucks. We’re not out of the race but we’re dropping back. We need to get Brandon back and see if we can get a top 4 seed in the conference tournament.
Rachal is (or should be) first team all conference. It’s like taking Cumberland away from Cincy. Really tough break for us
Unfortunately on defense we gave up wide open threes to more than make up for those.
When Igbanu plays lights out on offense it is usually when there aren't other options. That is proven by the fact that we've lost four of his best games. I realize that defense in this match complicates matters, but his best four games says that complication does not disprove that proof.
What happened to our best defense in the conference. It's a completely different effort I've seen these last 2 games.
Incorrect. Haith refuses to adjust out of the zone. Wainwright finally got him to start switching, something no one could get him to do last year, with the three quarters trap and alternating zone and man in the half court. Tulsa makes a come back, too late though as we should have been doing it the entire second half not just the last 5 mins.
Haith is in love with his zone, which is a decade behind. This year the three point line moving back has helped as did the slide/chase versions we use depending on the other teams shooting strength.
UConn ripped us by down and high post screening the guards cutting the baseline to the corner or the wing. We had chasers in the zone but no help rotation to the top, so the defender was late and burned.
UCF we were in slide, we struggled to recognize the shooters on the floor, had poor rotation, poorer communication, and got beat on overloads where they swung the ball from one side to the other. It was very reminiscent of the Wichita game here last year.
On offense Haith has them scared to take open shots (something that has been an issue in previous years) I repeatedly hear him talk about no early shots or quick threes pregame and if he is emphasizing it that much to radio I can only imagine how much he is pushing it to the team. If he continues this we will end up with a 2017-18 type season. As an opposing coach I would let Igbanu score over 20 every game, Tulsa will likely lose by not taking the open shots (in particular 3s) and creating balance.
Also we have no sense of game situations and score/time. Igbanu's 30th point is a perfect example, we needed a three desperately and dumped it inside because Igbanu was open. That's essentially a synopsis of our offense since WSU game. I keep wanting Jackson and Joiner to be more aggressive in scoring, Haith keeps wanting them to pass more. One of us incorrect, I don't make a million+ so I will assume its me.
I mean the zone had been working perfectly before these last two games. The real reason why our defense has gotten so much worse is because we lost Rachal who is by far our best defender.
The color guy said several times he wanted to see Hill and Joiner on the court more often to free Joiner up offensively. I can't argue with him. And Hill's man to man defense isn't awful and he can move his feet quick enough to stay in front.
And I'm pretty sure I know who Haith was referring to when he talked about being selfish.
I think that for these last two, it's all between the ears. It's like someone flipped a switch after the WSU win. Yeah, losing Brandon sucked but that game was pretty much lost anyway. For 6 games in a row, it was all Defense, all the time. Which, of course led to enough O to win. How in the bloody bleep can we all of a sudden revert back to the first month of the season if it ain't mental state & attitude?
Missed open shots are not the same as defended missed shots, or limiting 3pt shooting.
Our defense has been solid, but even before yesterday it was only at 28% against the 3. Considering the overall percentage drop from the line moving back it wasn't all that much. I am sure there is a stat showing the number of open threes we give up (defender further than three ft away) and I don't think we look very good in that stat. UCF just made theirs, which is likely in their gym. This also explains why our defense is so much better at home than on the road, the shooters are very comfortable at home.
Where Rachal missing is hurting us the most on defense is in our pressures and in rebounding. We have given up a lot of rebounds that he would outright get, get a tip, or block out the offensive player on. All of our replacements for him are considerably weaker rebounders offensive (easy/more points) and defensive (end possessions/start breaks)
Our defense has been solid, but even before yesterday it was only at 28% against the 3. Considering the overall percentage drop from the line moving back it wasn't all that much. I am sure there is a stat showing the number of open threes we give up (defender further than three ft away) and I don't think we look very good in that stat. UCF just made theirs, which is likely in their gym. This also explains why our defense is so much better at home than on the road, the shooters are very comfortable at home.
Where Rachal missing is hurting us the most on defense is in our pressures and in rebounding. We have given up a lot of rebounds that he would outright get, get a tip, or block out the offensive player on. All of our replacements for him are considerably weaker rebounders offensive (easy/more points) and defensive (end possessions/start breaks)
It was 3 I think, but anyway, slow rotations in man to man, no close outs on their 3-pt shooters( & they rarely missed)-just no energy on D unlike the last 6 games. If not for Igbanu playing out of his mind, it would have been more than 16 at the end.
Honestly, I don't think Igbanu has been playing out of his mind. I think he has been playing the way we all expected him to play but we're making a more concerted effort to feed him. There is not single player in the league that can guard him 1v1 in the post. His feet are too good. More recently when he gets doubled he gets rid of the ball and finds a nice pass. He had 2 especially good ones against UCONN that resulted in easy buckets. His shooting percentage in the last few games is 60%+. The only team that really seemed to solve him was Cincinnati.
Igbanu avg. 29 pts per game last week. Anyone else in the country anything close to that?
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