I feel so much better after finally seeing our guys play at a high level again. Didn’t know if we would see it again this season
Defend like we did tonight and take care of the ball we win this game. Can’t let them get in transition too much. And can’t be lazy with the ball. We didn’t see much of it tonight. They’re definitely more athletic than St Mary’s would’ve been but they also are going to want to play our style rather than slowing everything down and making us limit possessions. Going to need a lot more from Nelson. Wague and Pringle keep bringing it. Catch a few of those drop offs for dunks. They’ve got length and alter/block shots. Going to need our guys ready for the drop offs under the rim when they jump for blocks on the drive.
i would love to see how often oats gets an open shot off an inbounds play. many itt complain about his calls there but idk guys, i think thats one of the things he does the best.
Nelson played 15 minutes last night and had 1 rebound. Wague played 15 and had 4. Nelson also went 1-4 at the Ft line which is a spot he’s usually money from. Hoping he’s much more active and engaged Sunday.
The toughest part about the Grand Canyon matchup is they feast off going to the line and we foul like idiots.
3 sweet 16s in 4 years would be a helluva accomplishment (especially when combined with regular season championships). Tomorrow is a huge game.
They're like a solid mid-2000s SEC team. Long, athletic, draw fouls, block shots at the rim on the one hand. Take dumb shots, take overly aggressive angles on defense, don't play with a ton of discipline on the other. Don't love it defensively for us, think we'll feast offensively if the guards make good reads on drives. It's gonna be a frantic game. If we make open shots I think we win. But they're gonna shoot 40 free throws. Honestly, I'd love to see us throw some sagging man to man/zone stuff at them and bait them into shooting outside shots. But I'm guessing we play how we play.
Other than Ohio State, who is 48th in KenPom, we've only lost to good teams (Florida is 2nd worst at 29). GCU is 50th. This is the tournament, so all bets are off, but we should win this game.
As Joey Freshwater pointed out, they don't play a ton of guys. So if we can keep them off the foul line & keep the pace up, they will be tired late in the 2nd.
Yeah seems like they go about 7. At most 8 deep. If we can force tempo, get them into a few fouls we can really cause issues for them and their style of defense. And I’d imagine the disparity in the talent level between their starters and bench players is bigger than ours.