Obviously a bad 1st half (33-19, Bpt), and a good second half (35-19, Fairfield). and Team stats reflected that. But the 2 stats that stood out is that we had 20 turnovers, but only 6 in 2nd half. And Bridgeport had 16 O-boards.... thats go to get better. Our FT shooting was 1-4 in 1st half and 9-10 in 2nd half...... a real key in a close game.
So which team are we..... Half 1 or Half 2?
Matthews really turned it around in 2nd half, as Barrow was on bench with 3 PF. Gilbert had 6 points and 4 rebs in oly 18 min, and he hit both 3's. Needham was 3-13 from the field, but he was 3-8 from the arc and 6-6 from FT line, and all of those were clutch. And Sidibe scores 7 points in only 13 min, but has no rebs..... who would have predicted that. Mikulic filled the stat sheet in 18 minutes: 4pts, 8rebs, 4 blocks, 6 turnovers
Wade hits the Biggest shot, but only 2 assists and 3 turnovers.... unlike him
Down the stretch the play-by-play showed that Sydney went offense/defense platoon with Wade for Offense, and Nickerson for defense. With every player having some good and bad stats, Live Stats had an "Efficiency" stat which sounds like a macro stat of all stats. Here is how each player rated:
Really a tale of two halves...intensity, effort, concentration was terrible in first half...lazy passing, terrible defense and poor shooting. Second half defense was much better and that was really the story of comeback.
Poor game by Needham and Wade. Derek did not shoot well, despite the big 3 at the end; and Wade just didn't shoot at all until the NBA 3 in the closing seconds. Right now, until some others step up, we need scoring from both. Derek, 16-20 points, and Wade, at least 10. Colin was Colin, flashes on defense and some poor decisions on offense.
Barrow looked good as always but had foul trouble. He has to emerge as a consistent scorer as wel and make his foul shots. Matthews also played excellent defense but didn't seem to get many looks on offense.
The biggest story, though, imo is Mikulic. He will be a star for us. He has a beautiful touch, is athletic on the floor, skilled around the basket and will block shots and rebound. He missed a couple of 2-footers and had turned the ball over too easily. But that's freshman stuff that will resolve itself this season. What a pickup.
Gilbert also looks like a future star. He's got a quick release on his 3-point shot and it looks great coming out of his hands. After he missed a rebound in the first half and got taken out for it, he was very aggressive on the boards. He turned the ball over down the stretch, just doesn't have good handle yet. But he can play.
Jenkins certainly is more of a work in progress player. He made a stunning pass on a breakaway but took some ill-advised shots and seems a bit lost for now.
Post by nashvillestag on Nov 3, 2012 9:23:33 GMT -5
Thankfully just got my computer power back on last night, and also thankfully the Stags found some late power in the second half to pull out a hard fought and entertaining win at AHY. To everyone there I think it was obvious that the first half miseries were based on the almost complete breakdown of offensive execution in the form of poor shooting, dribbling, passing, etc., and although this aspect of the game did improve in the second half, it nevertheless has to be a point of emphasis to be worked on before the opener against Central. And quite frankly in the initial half it was the very poor play of the players expected to lead the way such as Needham, Nickerson, Wade, Barrow, etc. that were the main culprits. Obviously they picked up their games in the second half, but against better teams a start like this will be fatal. On the other hand the defense was good all night (the effort was tremendous), and indeed it was the spark that turned the contest around. But I do have to give the the upper classmen credit for coming through with the big plays needed when the game was on the line. So hopefully this will be a good learning experience for how to handle the final important minutes and seconds that are sure to come about in future games. As far as the four freshmen who played I thought that all other than maybe Jenkins distinguished themselves at some point in the game for doing some positive things. I was particularly impressed with the defense that Mikulic played in the first half in defending the lane by blocking and altering shots. And he seemed very adept at holding his ground on pump fakes and not being juked out of position. With Sidibi, he made a couple of nice baskets by catching the ball in traffic and finishing at the rim effectively. And Gilbert was getting high in the air for rebounds, and he also made a couple of long shots (something he was not noted for in high school), so that was good. Of course they all had some normal freshmen mistakes, but all in alll I think they did a good job as a group, so I am encouraged. Final summation about the whole night is that right now this is a work in process, but on the other hand I know that many other teams might be in the same boat at this time (remember three years ago we had a 23 win team that LOST to UB), so I left the arena with about the same opinion about the team that I did before the game, that being that the beginning of the season (based on opponents and location of games) will be very tough, yet I do think there is the potential for them to become one of the best in the league as the season progresses. Let's go Stags!
JS, Nashville &79 thanks for the reports. I know it's a first game "exhibition", but if we have to hit an "NBA" three at the buzzer to close out Bridgeport, we are in trouble. And considering our brutal early season schedule, this is not looking like a promising start to the season. It certainly appears that we are going to take our lumps against the likes of Virginia, Providence, St. Joseph's, etc. Lets hope we get it going by the time the conference schedule rolls around. GO STAGS!
Also thought the offense we ran last night was more complex than what we ran last year. Wade's postgame quote seemed to allude to that. But I really don't know a thing about the Princeton offense, so maybe Nashville or someone else at the game can comment.
The sets I saw ran the most were a traditional pick and Roll with Josip, which worked really well. He was open each time and took the shot. Each shot was good just a touch off, those will go in with more frequency. I LOVE this set. The other was the high post with Barrow dishing back to wade who feeds an open Needham on the wing (after moving around from the paint to perimiter) or a cutting forward, worked well 3 times in a row before defense adjusted.
First half was a joke, i hated watching it. Second half was more of what I expected this year. Freshman mistakes layered in with senior leadership. Josip looked pretty good, I think we are going to like him alot. He needs to play a little tougher in the paint, ditch that Euro game and mix it up down there. Needs to go harder to the rim He has a nice touch and like I said before, pick and rolls (more like pick and pops) with him are going to be flawless.
LIked what i saw from Gilbert, he wants the ball in his hands and wants to make things happen. Made a really bad play at the end of the game turning the ball over when we were down to give UB a chance to break open the lead. Luckily Barrow bailed him out with a big block and rebound. But as expected GIlbert can sky and i really think will be a special player.
Amadou is Anthony Johnson. This is good, dont think I really need to say anything more.
I have no problem with jenkins spelling wade and needham. He brings a nice added height at guard.
I think last night was a rough one but you have to remember that we lost our go to scorer and our experienced Big Man. Our team will not be good over night and will need patience by all the Stags fans. We have the right pieces but i think Coach will be putting more of his offense in and build his players around it so it is new for not just the freshman but everyone. I think we will see by Mid-January the chemistry and everything come together more. We have young talent which looks promising for the next few years but we have to remember that it still comes down to 3-4 games in March.
Look for Des, Derek, Keith, Mo and Josip to start opening night. Not very sold on Colins development yet, still very careless with the ball and also on defense with reaching. I think we will see Amadu come in to match up against other teams post players because he is the only one besides Mo right now with the size and strength to do so. I really like Marcus too but I am just not sure what position he fits into most right now.
Our defense seemed to have communication problems in the first half but as you could see we seemed to work things out together by the second half with switching to the 2-3 zone. Look for us to play the 2-3 zone against smaller(non-3 point shooting) teams with our bigger lineup.