Sorry, late to the party on this one, with youth sports and a Giants watch party also on the agenda yesterday.
Before I give a few observations, I want to start with expectations. Deep down I am just as guilty of this as anyone else. The analytics tell you we aren’t a good offensive team and that if a team can score north of 70 we really don’t stand a chance (now 0-8 for the season), but we don’t go into a game rooting based on analytics. We root with our hearts and with our emotions on our sleeve. And those feelings were overflowing after the win on Wednesday vs UCONN. Tournament aspirations could be realistic with a win, the team was making progress, the coach was coming into his own, we could feel the positive direction the ship was headed. So, I get that this one hurts.
But I take a step back and say fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I sat down later that evening knowing the Giants were a flawed 9-7-1 in the regular season and that with a healthy Hurts the Eagles were a juggernaut that had only lost once. So, I let an exciting and satisfying WC win vs a suspect Vikings team, make me believe with my heart that maybe another upset was possible. Well…0-2 on the day, and then it all comes crashing back to reality that the other team was just better.
It stinks, but our futility combined with excellent offensive execution for the opponent will normally lead to lopsided defeats, especially when you go up against a top 20 team that is now 16-5 overall and 8-2 in the BE standings.
Turnovers
26 for the game!!!
How bad could the final outcome have been if Marquette didn’t have 17? Bottomline you aren’t going to win many games (if any) with a number like that. The real difference is what you do with those turnovers yourself and how bad your opponent punishes you with yours. 34-6 in points off turnovers. GAME OVER.
They need to control the pace of play, but struggle to put up points, so I understand the value in trying to score in transition. However, it can’t be a forced 3 without numbers, or an inefficient baseball home run pass, or a wild out of control attack at the rim. If the “easy” basket doesn’t present itself they need to have the awareness and disciple to pull the ball back out and run clock within an organized half court set.
The Big 3 Need to Score
There will be the occasional night where KC and Femi score the ball well like they did against DePaul (28 points combined), but I wouldn’t hold my breath. They average just around 14 ppg combined for a reason. They do the little things and get you that hard earned garbage points. But on a nightly basis this teams needs Richmond, Dawes, and Samuel to be at their best. The bench is not giving you consistency with scoring, so the reliance needs to be on the big 3. Kadary unfortunately got a head injury but was scoring the ball (team high 10 points in 24 minutes). Dawes couldn’t get his shot to fall (3-10) and Samuel just got taken to the cleaners by Ighodaro. Side note, Ighodaro is now 15-16 from the floor against the Hall in two games. Maybe Sha needed a different defensive matchup there.
Bad Match Up
Sometimes an opponent just has your number. This team is going to have to put you in the meat grinder defensively and win ugly. However, they haven’t been able to force a very good offensive team in Marquette to do that. Kam Jones is an outstanding shot maker who needs to be getting some more notoriety around the league. Ighodaro has taken a massive jump in his junior year and his athleticism is creating nightmares around the rim. Lastly, Tyler Kolek might not scare you, but he runs as smooth a pick and roll as you will see and had Samuel on skates all day.
We will find ways to win games against better teams, but if those teams are playing well, the Hall will not be winning in a shootout.
Outlook
I agree that 12-8 is the magic number that needs to be obtained in conference play. And part of the path to getting there is winning games @Butler, @St John’s, and vs DePaul. But none of those games should be taken for granted.
Before I give a few observations, I want to start with expectations. Deep down I am just as guilty of this as anyone else. The analytics tell you we aren’t a good offensive team and that if a team can score north of 70 we really don’t stand a chance (now 0-8 for the season), but we don’t go into a game rooting based on analytics. We root with our hearts and with our emotions on our sleeve. And those feelings were overflowing after the win on Wednesday vs UCONN. Tournament aspirations could be realistic with a win, the team was making progress, the coach was coming into his own, we could feel the positive direction the ship was headed. So, I get that this one hurts.
But I take a step back and say fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I sat down later that evening knowing the Giants were a flawed 9-7-1 in the regular season and that with a healthy Hurts the Eagles were a juggernaut that had only lost once. So, I let an exciting and satisfying WC win vs a suspect Vikings team, make me believe with my heart that maybe another upset was possible. Well…0-2 on the day, and then it all comes crashing back to reality that the other team was just better.
It stinks, but our futility combined with excellent offensive execution for the opponent will normally lead to lopsided defeats, especially when you go up against a top 20 team that is now 16-5 overall and 8-2 in the BE standings.
Turnovers
26 for the game!!!
How bad could the final outcome have been if Marquette didn’t have 17? Bottomline you aren’t going to win many games (if any) with a number like that. The real difference is what you do with those turnovers yourself and how bad your opponent punishes you with yours. 34-6 in points off turnovers. GAME OVER.
They need to control the pace of play, but struggle to put up points, so I understand the value in trying to score in transition. However, it can’t be a forced 3 without numbers, or an inefficient baseball home run pass, or a wild out of control attack at the rim. If the “easy” basket doesn’t present itself they need to have the awareness and disciple to pull the ball back out and run clock within an organized half court set.
The Big 3 Need to Score
There will be the occasional night where KC and Femi score the ball well like they did against DePaul (28 points combined), but I wouldn’t hold my breath. They average just around 14 ppg combined for a reason. They do the little things and get you that hard earned garbage points. But on a nightly basis this teams needs Richmond, Dawes, and Samuel to be at their best. The bench is not giving you consistency with scoring, so the reliance needs to be on the big 3. Kadary unfortunately got a head injury but was scoring the ball (team high 10 points in 24 minutes). Dawes couldn’t get his shot to fall (3-10) and Samuel just got taken to the cleaners by Ighodaro. Side note, Ighodaro is now 15-16 from the floor against the Hall in two games. Maybe Sha needed a different defensive matchup there.
Bad Match Up
Sometimes an opponent just has your number. This team is going to have to put you in the meat grinder defensively and win ugly. However, they haven’t been able to force a very good offensive team in Marquette to do that. Kam Jones is an outstanding shot maker who needs to be getting some more notoriety around the league. Ighodaro has taken a massive jump in his junior year and his athleticism is creating nightmares around the rim. Lastly, Tyler Kolek might not scare you, but he runs as smooth a pick and roll as you will see and had Samuel on skates all day.
We will find ways to win games against better teams, but if those teams are playing well, the Hall will not be winning in a shootout.
Outlook
I agree that 12-8 is the magic number that needs to be obtained in conference play. And part of the path to getting there is winning games @Butler, @St John’s, and vs DePaul. But none of those games should be taken for granted.
