finished the game 3/17 from 3 but more than anything that game I would say…got away weirdly. I’m not sure if people agree with that assertion but it wasn’t like that helpless here go the Zags again but they methodically scooted away. At one point they were 23/29 from 2
Honestly not really sure what the plan of attack was other than wanting to hoist from the perimeter because once it got put in check, it was all out of sync on both ends
I saw very little of the game. Unfortunately had a work event that I could not exit until I could find a bar and a dirty martini after the second half was well underway.
Haven’t looked at the stats or read the board, but IMO this team lives by the three and dies by it. Everything else is secondary or is a result of it.
Santa Clara shot 44% from three and made 11. That’s a “live by the three” game if you play good interior defense. SCU also did a great job neutralizing the Gonzaga bigs with fouls and had Ike sitting for long stretches. They got lucky with Battle also having to leave for most of the second half.
This game was all about interior defense, in my opinion. There wasn’t any. Sure the offense stalled out a bit, but 76 points against Gonzaga is respectable. You can’t give up 91, especially with the Zags working almost entirely from the paint. The Zags went 31 out of 42 inside. That’s an interior crumble. The Broncos only 11 of 30 inside.
It’s certainly not all on Tilly, but with only 14 minutes and very few contributions, I have to think that his knee is still a major issue. He played poorly against Wazzu as well but was hidden by the three point barrage.
I’ll reiterate we lost it at the rim.
Zags 25/30, 81% at the rim according to Torvik including 6 dunks.
Broncos 10/25, 40% and zero dunks.
So they outscored us by 30pts at the rim and that’s not counting all the times we fouled them at the rim and resulting FT’s.
Even early in the game when the Broncos 3’s were falling and we were up, Ike was having his way in the post, no one could stop him.
And Zags finished through contact, must have had 5+ And1’s. We had zero to 1.
And we may have witnessed the coming out party for true frosh Diagne. Was dinged up w/ multiple injuries mid season and has mostly only played mop up duty minutes, but he clearly can contribute and gives them a true rim protector, rebounder and interior defender.
We’ll see if Few has the good sense to continue to play him and get him 10–15mins. Few usually favors the polished offensive players over raw athletes/defender/rebounder types but Diagne is the type of player they could use in the tourney against more athletic teams particularly if Ike is in foul trouble which is often the case.
With The Zags and St. Mary’s we just don’t have winnable matchups, so we have to play our best as a team to contend like we did up in Spokane. Few exploits this advantage.
Had Ike go right at Tilly and he picked up foul # 2 in 2:30 seconds. Cam is capable but undersized to stop them down low. Nemhard was in total control of the flow vs Carlos or BK. Their high pick and roll produced dunk after dunk or kick out to a three or open two; a play we’ve seen hundreds of times this season and still can’t defend it. Battle is too physical for Bal, Bryan, Mahi. When the Zags changed up their press with better traps by Hickman, Gregg, Ayayi at midcourt our offense collapsed.
Knowing this they pushed the ball up court and got everything they wanted.
We couldn’t adjust and played soft.
Disappointing to say the least…. Ergo still mired in 4th….
Spot on ‘musings.
While fans may enjoy the 3pt shooting, the finesse approach with mostly finesse players (Cam’s an exception) rarely wins out vs. physical, strong teams when those teams are at least above avg in skill.
You saw it the 2nd game vs. SMC, played fairly well just not enough to deal w/ SMC’s physical play. And it took a lights out shooting night to beat GU in Spokane and did so barely and gave up over 100pts. Shoot, even Oregon State beat us up inside with Fallah and Ratij.
The finesse approach is fun and entertaining when it works but isn’t sustainable and reliable against better teams.
Just my opinion.
And this is another game where zone of some sort would have been valuable. It would negate or diminish the Nembhard pick/roll action and allowed us to help and collapse on Ike. And GU doesn’t rely heavily on the 3 or shoot it exceptionally well so you can afford to sag and help on drives and in the post.
But alas….Sendek seems dead set on playing vanilla man D 99% of the time.
Played well for 15 minutes, then pretty much fell apart. Can’t really say anything about the game that hasn’t already been pointed out, so I’m gonna focus on something else:
It’s Senior Night; we’re honoring four players for the hard work, dedication, and commitment to SCU. It’s great to recognize these players and their families, and the idea of a ceremony is wonderful, but….what the hell were they thinking when they continued to play background music while the PA announcer was speaking?!?
I couldn’t make out a single word. Honestly, 99% of the time I couldn’t care less what the PA guy says— the various plugs for the sponsors and the gimmicks during media timeouts— but this was the one time when it really would have been nice to hear the program. They might as well have held it at SJ international airport during takeoff.
Blockquote And this is another game where zone of some sort would have been valuable. It would negate or diminish the Nembhard pick/roll action and allowed us to help and collapse on Ike.
Exactly this! . . .
I chatted with Cam about this game afterward. Our bigs were not getting beat underneath guys. Cam never even got dunked on. (Yes. He’s small for his roll. But he’s fast and physical and not once did Ike or Diange best him). In fact, Cam did a great job pulling two quick fouls against Ike and neutralized him for a stretch as he had to take a seat.
Those lob assists were a complete collapse of the defense. He said the big is supposed to hedge at the top, and drop back down to the post. The WINGS are supposed to BUMP the guy in the post and keep him off the block. The wings failed to do this all night. So it’s the WINGS that were beaten up by Gonzaga bigs all night. Those lobs/dunk occurred BEFORE our bigs could even get to the spot.
Sendek should change the defense LIVE to adjust for the type of game? Maybe keep your bigs on the post and not allow Ike and Diange to get there in the first place?
If we face them again at the tourney - I hope we make a defensive adjustment for this.
100% interior defense because that hedge and drop for the bigs is bizarre - and our guards couldn’t fight through the screen - made for perfect storm at the block with a wing failing to stop the cutter (Ike/Diange).
Leave our bigs on the post and don’t allow that back door. Have the wing hedge with the guard - not our bigs.
Tilly’s leg too banged up for that maneuver. Cam has the quickness and strength but not the height.
If we play them at the tourney - we need to swap up the D.
+1 For this Femme.
I think what I saw was on the defensive end, their bigs were impacting all of our players inside the paint. The FG numbers would confirm this.
Ahhhhh. I misunderstood. Yes! On their defensive end for sure. Need more back cuts and dish down to beat a lengthy team like that. Or get to the big to kick out when they collapse. Instead we dribbled right into it.
Defensively - we need to switch out our strategy because we got killed on the alley oop to their big. Shut that down at both the top and bottom and it’s a closer/winnable game.