90-79 Loss to the Ducks. At Home.
by thecassino on Jan 3, 2010 11:36 AM PST
15 comments
Record:
10-3 (1-1)
Four Factors:
The Huskies got out shot, out rebounded, and turned the ball over more than Oregon did. Game, set and match.
Summary:
Either the Huskies played their worst defense of the year, or the Ducks just shot the lights out. Chicken or egg? Probably a little of both, because yes, the Ducks were hot, but there's no excuse for EVER allowing a team to post a 124.8 Offensive Rating.
Player of the Game:
Venoy Overton had a pretty good effort. 14 points on 7 shots, and tried his best to bring the Huskies back into the game, but it just wasn't enough.
It Was Over When:
The Huskies were never really in the game at any point after halftime.
Stat of the Game:
The Ducks' 124.8 ORating sounds good.
Other Observations:
Say what you will about Abdul Gaddy, but last night he had as many assists as the rest of the team combined. If he could hit a three he'd be the second best guard on the team.
Scott Suggs hit two early threes, then pretty much stopped shooting. He needs to be getting more than 11 minutes, and more than 4 shots. There's no reason that Justin Holiday and Clarence Trent are combining for 26 minutes, while Suggs and Elston Turner are combining for 15.
Conference play is a marathon, not a sprint. You always want to win at home, but there are a lot of reactionary things being said about this team after one loss. Relax. Oregon can do this to teams, they have a ton of shooters and may be the most talented team in the conference.
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Ugh
Romar again went away from Gant and Suggs and I think that was a mistake. I like Trent, but he can’t be the other forward with MBA. Gant provides a defensive presence at the rim and has the quickness to guard on the perimeter, so there’s no reason he shouldn’t be logging major minutes.
by Spider Jerusalem on Jan 3, 2010 11:56 AM PST reply actions
I've hated on Pondexter plenty before thinking he was too cocky
But I respect this:
“Maybe we got a little bit ahead of ourselves in the cocky standpoint. We need to be a lot better on the court before we try to have a flamboyant style.”
He’s being a leader like he should be. That’s going to go a long way with this team.
Team plays sloppy
Right now the team plays to sloppy to be a good team. We got up on Oregon and gave them about 4-5 easy buckets before half off of sloppy turnovers. We do not have a guard that can provide a calming presense yet. Venoy is a good guard only when he brings the ball up court at frantic pace, gaddy is getting there but can’t shoot yet, and Thomas is more of the 2 guard.
Maybe it is the youth on this team, but they seem to panic when things start going bad. It happened against Oregon State and happened again last night. It looks like to me, the team needs to set more picks when you get teams defending the guards like they were last night. That is the easy way to free up a Thomas or Venoy in space.
Really, we got outcoached and outhustled. Hopefully, we can learn from that disaster of a game.
The thing is...
Gaddy doesn’t need to shoot to be effective. He’s just fine as a point guard, especially with the talent around him. If he can do nothing else but dish to the ball to the scorers and get the flow of the offense going, it will be a success. You’ve got to get away from the Gaddy has to score to be effective mentality. That’s not what he’s there for.
Gaddy doesn’t have to be a scorer, but he does have to make defenses respect his shooting and he can’t be another non-factor as a shooter on this team – we have too many of those already. If Gaddy can start knocking down open jumpers, it will open up more offense for this team, as defenses will have to pay attention to him when rotating. That will open up opportunities for Gaddy to drive and find open teammates in the paint.
I saw more glimpses that Gaddy is starting to get it vs. Oregon – he was being more aggressive on his dribbles, and showed his outstanding passing and court vision, but he also is obviously completely lacking in confidence in his shot. I was hoping that jumper he nailed would get him going, but no dice.
I still feel like that not the game he needs right now
In my opinion, Gaddy needs to be a threat to drive and dish. He’s got a low post presence in MBA, a great scorer in Pondexter, a shooter/driver in IT, and, if they use Suggs, a spot up shooter around him. Gaddy doesn’t need to bury an outside shot, but should be able hit 15 footers and in.
What he more should be looking for is getting into the lane and drawing contact, as well as dishing the open man. In that respect, I think an outside shot is just a bonus at this point. He’s there to create and he’s talented enough to do so without having the ability to hit the long jumper.
Yes, but in order for Gaddy to become a bigger threat to drive and dish, he needs to make defenses respect his jumper. Right now he’s reluctant to drive, rarely advancing the ball forward in the half court and more often retreating and moving the ball around the perimeter. Defenses are sagging on him and he doesn’t yet have the confidence he can get past them into the lane.
No, Gaddy doesn’t have to be a spot up shooting threat like a Suggs or Isaiah, but improving his jumper will open up the driving lanes more for him.
I agree with that
So, is it confidence or does he just not have the range? I feel like when I was watching him in high school I thought of him more as a pass first PG who didn’t have a ton of range, but I can’t remember. Has he been able to hit that shot, or is it something that is going to take quite a bit of time.
I think he needs a midrange game at the furthest to help him out and a little more authority going to the rim. You can’t deny that he helps the offensive efficiency already and can probably only get better
I don’t think he was a consistent 3-point threat, but I’m pretty sure his mid-range jumper was more consistent than he’s shown at the UW.
And yes, he’s already a benefit to the UW half-court offense with his court vision and passing, but he can get a lot better when he starts penetrating to the hoop more and becoming a more reliable jump shooter.
While I’m disappointed in the loss, let’s not forget the fact that the Ducks are very talented. Last year’s mess of a season was mostly about the youth of that squad and Kent’s deficiencies as a coach, but they were clearly talented and they appear to be “getting it” in the last few games.
I figured them for a dark horse this season in the Pac-10, and they showed why yesterday.
The conference is wide-open this year, and the Huskies aren’t talented enough to coast to a repeat – if they don’t bring great effort and court smarts, they’re going to lose. This isn’t the pre-season schedule – they can’t out-talent their opponents any more.
Really disappointing game for MBA. He’s made some improvements this year, but he still is highly flawed on offense – he just doesn’t have enough touch to be a finesse shooter and clearly lacks the instincts and mentality to go hard to the basket. What was even more disappointing is his defense on Dunigan and lack of rebounding.
Suggs was a bright spot as a shooter, but he clearly couldn’t keep up with Porter on defense and was hurting the team in that matchup.
Overton had a bad game defensively, letting Armstead consistently drive around him to the hoop.
Turner is just lost out there – his shot isn’t dropping and he’s not good enough defensively to be a help when his shot isn’t falling.
Holliday is a great role player – good energy on the glass, good defender, very good passer, but man it would be nice if he could hit more open jumpers.
Too quiet of a game for Pondexter, but give Oregon’s defense credit for denying him the ball.
I wish Romar would play Gant more – good defense, is consistently nailing that baseline jumper. I guess Romar wants more rebounding, but I think he’s one of our better players right now.
Not sure why Trent was getting important minutes last night – I suppose Romar wants to know if he can count on him as an option, but right now I think Trent is too raw.
Overton is what he is, a good news/bad news player. He did well late in the game pushing the pace and keeping the Huskies within reach, but he’s still maddening. I wish he didn’t always insist on fast breaks to go coast to coast and never look for a late pass to an open teammate. And his carelessness with the ball near the end of the 1st half when we had the big run of turnovers was a killer.
Seems like Trent gets minutes when Romar isn't happy with how the team is playing
Ad he goes to Trent to try and get a spark
by thecassino on Jan 3, 2010 1:58 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
I think you are overestimating the effect of one player on the floor for a few minutes per game.
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Elston Turner
Is Turner actually a good 3 point shooter who is struggling lately or is just just over hyped?
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