The Good (most of it great):
1- We shot he hell out of the ball from 3. Even in the 2nd half we shot 50% from 3 (more on that later in the bad).
2- Defense- This is a constant but we were all over the place. Especially in the 1st half. The one constant is defense with this team. We can count on one finger the amount of games when we didn't play really well on that end
3- Our guards (including JJJ) shot 18-36 overall, 12-18 from 3. They carried the team as they have all year. Our bigs were non- existent (again, more on that later)
4- JJJ. Hit a really big pull up jumper followed by a 3. When he goes straight up without floating or leaning, he makes shots. He has played two really, really good games in a row.
5- The crowd. Sounded awesome on tv
6- Finishing (likely) #2 in the SEC with one of the losses being without KC and Fulky on the road
The Bad
1- Our bigs. We don't need them to be great. We don't even need them to be good. We just need them to catch and make layups, screen, rebound and help defend. I guess they defended today. But they let us down on the glass in the 2nd half. BHH screwed the pooch on 2 straight wide open lanes early in the 2nd half. Uros is just Uros. Aidoo just isn't strong enough to finish right now.
2- Rebounding in the 2nd half. Arky made their first run on the backs of offensive rebounds. They made their 2nd run with 2 3pters on the backs of offensive rebounds. And it was our bigs getting beat for rebounds.
3- We only shot 6 3pters in the 2nd half. That goes along with the ugly part coming up. That's who we are. I know Arky was working to take away 3s but they were in the beginning of the game. We have to run our offense
The Ugly
1- This game should have been over 3 different times. I can't help but think that our mentality to try to get the game over with as quickly as possible contributes to it. No doubt Arky had a part as well. But we have to take responsibility for some of that. Running offense to run clock kills us. It's a race that we have towards the end of the game by limiting possessions. I would love to see some analytics as to which has more value. Running 28 seconds off the clock to take a low percentage shot/turnover vs taking an open shot 10-15 seconds into the shot clock.
2- This goes back to stomping on teams when you have a chance. We sat KC for almost the entirety of the last 5 mins of the 1st half with 1 foul. Presumably to protect him from foul trouble. Would you ever sit a guy with 1 foul to protect him in a tie or close game? Then KC has 4. You're up about 10 with 5. He has to be back in the game. Would you ever sit a guy with 4 fouls to start overtime? (Trick question). I would rather have KC sitting on the bench with 5 fouls up 13 with 3 to go than have him available up 3 with 2 to go.
3- KC's free throws. (you could add some others to this as we didn't shoot them well as a team down the stretch). One barely grazed the rim and then an air ball. Obviously it's mental and I think it changed the way we approached our last couple of possessions.
1- We shot he hell out of the ball from 3. Even in the 2nd half we shot 50% from 3 (more on that later in the bad).
2- Defense- This is a constant but we were all over the place. Especially in the 1st half. The one constant is defense with this team. We can count on one finger the amount of games when we didn't play really well on that end
3- Our guards (including JJJ) shot 18-36 overall, 12-18 from 3. They carried the team as they have all year. Our bigs were non- existent (again, more on that later)
4- JJJ. Hit a really big pull up jumper followed by a 3. When he goes straight up without floating or leaning, he makes shots. He has played two really, really good games in a row.
5- The crowd. Sounded awesome on tv
6- Finishing (likely) #2 in the SEC with one of the losses being without KC and Fulky on the road
The Bad
1- Our bigs. We don't need them to be great. We don't even need them to be good. We just need them to catch and make layups, screen, rebound and help defend. I guess they defended today. But they let us down on the glass in the 2nd half. BHH screwed the pooch on 2 straight wide open lanes early in the 2nd half. Uros is just Uros. Aidoo just isn't strong enough to finish right now.
2- Rebounding in the 2nd half. Arky made their first run on the backs of offensive rebounds. They made their 2nd run with 2 3pters on the backs of offensive rebounds. And it was our bigs getting beat for rebounds.
3- We only shot 6 3pters in the 2nd half. That goes along with the ugly part coming up. That's who we are. I know Arky was working to take away 3s but they were in the beginning of the game. We have to run our offense
The Ugly
1- This game should have been over 3 different times. I can't help but think that our mentality to try to get the game over with as quickly as possible contributes to it. No doubt Arky had a part as well. But we have to take responsibility for some of that. Running offense to run clock kills us. It's a race that we have towards the end of the game by limiting possessions. I would love to see some analytics as to which has more value. Running 28 seconds off the clock to take a low percentage shot/turnover vs taking an open shot 10-15 seconds into the shot clock.
2- This goes back to stomping on teams when you have a chance. We sat KC for almost the entirety of the last 5 mins of the 1st half with 1 foul. Presumably to protect him from foul trouble. Would you ever sit a guy with 1 foul to protect him in a tie or close game? Then KC has 4. You're up about 10 with 5. He has to be back in the game. Would you ever sit a guy with 4 fouls to start overtime? (Trick question). I would rather have KC sitting on the bench with 5 fouls up 13 with 3 to go than have him available up 3 with 2 to go.
3- KC's free throws. (you could add some others to this as we didn't shoot them well as a team down the stretch). One barely grazed the rim and then an air ball. Obviously it's mental and I think it changed the way we approached our last couple of possessions.
