KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

I sort of disagree 15, not to be an excuse guy, but the refs do more game management for St.Joes than any other team, I swear and that's including PC games.

The old two possession loss at St Joes. I don't know how a team beats them there.

The two Brown 3's were the difference. But those were the difference after they put the whole team in foul trouble.

Ref's can really screw with your game plan when they suck or just plain ref with bias.

Never like to lose, but I thought the guys showed a lot of grit coming back from that deficit midway through the second half. Ultimately they just made too many mistakes down the stretch and w/ Four having a stinker of a game, couldn't get it done. Surprisingly, I thought the refs were okay after a first half with a lot of bad calls.

Even so, we have the ball down four after a timeout and look absolutely clueless and get a five second call. Then we give up a three and we go down by 7. That was the turning point of the game.

Inexcusesable to not get the ball in.

We shot the ball well, the 16 turnovers and late game cluelessness did us in.

I thought it was more rebounding than anything that did us in. They outrebounded us 11-6 on the offensive glass. Seemed like every time we got a big stop, one of our guys would miss on a box-out and they got another possession (and usually points).

I didn't get to see any of this game, but I was able to listen to Steve and Don from my spot on the beach in St. John. The Brown threes were huge, the officiating didn't help, but the big thing is that we are playing with 8 guys now and two of them are freshmen. Those guys have really come on recently, but this is the toughest environment they've played in and it showed. We are relying too much on them now for them to combine for 3 points against a good team. Not blaming them, they have been pleasant surprises, but the reality is that our fate really depends in large part on their continued development, and I think this game highlighted that fact. The game seemed like it may have been a bit too big for Akele in particular. Hopefully this will be a good learning experience.

Akele cannot guard many post players. He's just too small and get bodied. Happened in the Richmond game and happened today.

TruePoint wrote:I didn't get to see any of this game[...]the officiating didn't help.

Huh?

Optimistic wrote:

TruePoint wrote:I didn't get to see any of this game[...]the officiating didn't help.

Huh?

Can you elaborate on your question? Don't really get what the confusion is.

Not to pick on him at all as he still is not 100% healthy but Hassan never moved on the 5 second call. He stood at the top of the key and never looked at who was inbounding the ball. Crucial turnover at the time.

I thought the team played pretty well on the road today, but St. Joes shot the ball very well and
hit big threes when they needed to do it. Brown came up big for them. St. Joes looked much better
than usual today, unfortunately. Regarding the officiating, I would say tat they were better than
they usually are at St. Joes. The only questionable stretch was the opening two minutes of the
second half where it seemed there were a couple quick phantom fouls called. It took Iverson out
of the game and the Rams seemed to have been taken out of their rhythm just enough for St.
Joes to build a qucik eight point advantage. I am disappointed, but at least they continued to
shoot pretty well and played a decent road game in a place that always seems to be difficult to
play well for the whole league. Playing as they did would net them a win at St. Louis, Fordham, Lasalle
and maybe St. Bonaventure.

Sixteen TO's didn't help.

- I didn't think the refs were a factor.
- 5 second call throwing ball in was brutal - have to throw the ball
- Good game by Martin overall except for his turnovers. He had 7 and dome bad passes.
- St Joe defense out at 3 point line was tough. We could get very few 3 point looks.
- Defense of Bembry on Four shut him down so no offense from Four and his defense was exploited many times. I would start Thompson.
- Good floor game from Garrett
- Bembry's passing hurt us
- Miles was not as effective as expected

I didn't think we would win this game if we did I would have been pleasantly surprised. I wanted to go 1-1 on this road trip and that can still happen. I thought the refs obviously had some bad calls but it wasn't as bad as past years we just didn't hit some shots we needed and they did. That 5 seconds call followed by a 3 was the turning point.. Akele had a bad game defensively if Iverson wasn't in foul trouble I think this game would've been ours.

I completely missed the game today. I knew of the game and it was televised but got doing other things and was preoccupied. Seems to have played out as expected. Close but not good enough. Will be a big test at undefeated in the conference (3-0) St. Bonaventure this week. Bonnies already have two league road wins. It is unfortunately most likely to be another close loss on the road.

Question on scouting, but it seems the Hawks left the left side of the court wide open when Garrett had the ball and JG never drove to the basket once that way. He always dribbled to the top of the key or started the dreaded weave. Is he not strong with his left?

The refs in the first minute of the second half changed the complexion of the game, but it's on Rhody after taking the lead late in the half. Leaving Brown open in the corner twice, not finishing with numbers and not fouling the right players or not fouling at all at the close of the game.

Hassan has become the Biggie Minnis of lazy passes in the halfcourt. He's awesome, but that needs to stop.

Not saying you can't win in spite of biased reffing, just that you have very little room for error when its 5 on 8.

Excellent entertaining game and a great broadcast. The broadcast team did a nice job and was very well prepared.

Priceless game tape for Hurley to use for teaching.... Multiple plays he can point to that if executed/ defended properly could have won the game. Example: a baseline skip pass should NEVER get thru-and that 3 pt field goal was a dagger.

Beat these guys at home and the damage from this loss will be negligible.

Ramster -"[FM]'s defense was exploited many times. I would start Thompson." Couldn't agree more. Said that before the Stl game. Good coaches like Martelli will have a field day with FM. Plus CT is not bad on offense. When FM got his 4th foul, we went on a run. No coincidence there.

On offense, we're at our best when we're penetrating and looking to kick out for 3s. We were 1-2 from three during the first 9 minutes of the second half [our cold streak]. If we go on a cold streak, I'd much rather it be because we're ice cold from 3. Not from trying to score inside and all the turnovers that come with it.

The three man weave made an ugly return in Philly. Ball movement was bad, thus we didn't get any good looks at threes.

16 games in and we are 2 games above .500. Yay us.

theblueram wrote:16 games in and we are 2 games above .500. Yay us.

we're 10-6......

Joe wrote:

theblueram wrote:16 games in and we are 2 games above .500. Yay us.

we're 10-6......

yup. 2 games above .500

I thought the officiating was fine. I think it's more so us fouling way too much than bad refs in the majority of our games. Especially against athletic teams. We'll need to hold guys to play our aggressive defense and we pick up a lot of fouls.

My thoughts....

If we could have keep our core players on the floor (Iverson, Terell), I think we might have pulled this one out. Iverson has great intentions on defense but commits way too many ticky tack over the back type fouls. He was playing fantastic offensively and could probably have had a career day. Nebraska game all over again for him. He needs to play smarter. Calls were tight and he needs to play smarter on D and not foul, especially so early in the game. Again his intentions are great but his D skills need work. Terrel was badly needed to shut down Bembry in this game and his fouls messed up that plan completely. Instead we had a freshman playing D on the best player in our conference. Hurley didn't have much choice but again Terell needs to play smarter D knowing how important it is for him to stay in the game to slow down Bembry. I thought the team played very well and would have won if we could have had Iverson and Terell in there more. Akele is not ready for the minutes he is getting either. The effort is there but he is not polished enough yet.

Well, we should just mail in the games at Hagan.
Same old same old.
They go wild shooting threes near the end.
Foul trouble definitely impacted the game for us.
Iverson, hot and confident, gets yanked with 14 minutes
left in the first half and plays on eggshells the rest of the way.
Terrell, Four and Akele had four fouls each.
Iverson played all of 16 minutes and Terrell 18 minutes.
Damned right the refs hurt us.
Also hurting us was Hassan's EC like 7 turnovers.
That's plenty for a center, who doesn't handle the ball.
Akele played 21 minutes and was a total non factor, as
was Thompson in the 2nd half.
NINE points from the bench, when two guys played more than the
two starters they replaced.
Six of those points were from Watson.
Four is too unreliable to count on, beyond the rare game vesus
slow,small competition.
It still was a winnable game, but we were bad coming down the stretch
as usual.
On the plus side, our PG had ZERO turnovers, 6 assisits and was
our 2nd leading rebounder with 5.
Guess he needs to not start anymore, right?
The Bonnie are going to be tough.
I watched them against Davidson and they have some nice players.
We could be hard pressed to go .500 in A-10.
Sorry Koolaide drinkers.
Too many inconsistencies and flaws.
It is what it is.

On a side note: ShawnDre' Jones of Richmond, had 35 points today.
He was held to ZERO by Jarvis Garrett this week.
You know, the same Garrett who should be benched,
according to some.

Just back from Hagan, was able to experience the misery with Roady Jay.

Early whistles in both halves cost Terrell and Iverson the most -- they both played 15 minutes and collectively had 20 points. I thought Dan was way too conservative with their time, neither of them fouled out but we lost. I would rather go down fighting and at least have no bullets left what are we saving them for -- when we made our 2nd half run they were in the game, they both got 4 and were yanked until under 4 minutes and our offense completely stalled. Game was pretty much over at that point. Akele and Thompson are progressing, but asking 2 Freshmen to handle crunch time in their first conference road game might be too much.
Team played tough, Garrett was very good again. Would have given Earl a bit more time, Hassan is still playing through some rust.

bigappleram wrote:Just back from Hagan, was able to experience the misery with Roady Jay.

Early whistles in both halves cost Terrell and Iverson the most -- they both played 15 minutes and collectively had 20 points. I thought Dan was way too conservative with their time, neither of them fouled out but we lost. I would rather go down fighting and at least have no bullets left what are we saving them for -- when we made our 2nd half run they were in the game, they both got 4 and were yanked until under 4 minutes and our offense completely stalled. Game was pretty much over at that point. Akele and Thompson are progressing, but asking 2 Freshmen to handle crunch time in their first conference road game might be too much.
Team played tough, Garrett was very good again. Would have given Earl a bit more time, Hassan is still playing through some rust.

What did you think of the building renovation BAR?

Looks pretty decent on TV tho lack of crash space at the baselines is a bit scary......

Also looked like quite a bit of Rhode Island attire from what I could see on TV.....appears we had a good turnout?

theblueram wrote:

Joe wrote:

theblueram wrote:16 games in and we are 2 games above .500. Yay us.

we're 10-6......

yup. 2 games above .500

That's not at all how it works. With 6 losses, to be 500 we could only have 6 wins. We have 10. 10 minus 6 is 4. We're 4 games over 500.

Hass was doubled virtually every time he got the ball down low. We need to have him do a better job passing out of the double team which should result in some easy shots. When not doubled he made what looked like a lazy pass to Four which was intercepted. Of course, that was one of the few times Four was wide open for a 3. Way too many turnovers with 7.

theblueram wrote:

Joe wrote:

theblueram wrote:16 games in and we are 2 games above .500. Yay us.

we're 10-6......

yup. 2 games above .500

2 games above .500 would be 10-8, not 10-6 ... ?

TruePoint wrote:

Optimistic wrote:

TruePoint wrote:I didn't get to see any of this game[...]the officiating didn't help.

Huh?

Can you elaborate on your question? Don't really get what the confusion is.

Looking at foul or free throw discrepancy won't always tell the story of how the refs were. Nevermind getting Steve and Don's take on it. I just find it crazy that you're criticizing the refs and you saw 0 minutes of the game.

rodfromcranston wrote: We could be hard pressed to go .500 in A-10.

Doubt it

Joe wrote:

rodfromcranston wrote: We could be hard pressed to go .500 in A-10.

Doubt it

I doubt it also as we beat St Louis and Richmond handily shooting very well. Today we lost by about the point spread. We did not play our best game but remained close. This team is considerably better than .500 even without EC.

eli#10 wrote:Hass was doubled virtually every time he got the ball down low. We need to have him do a better job passing out of the double team which should result in some easy shots. When not doubled he made what looked like a lazy pass to Four which was intercepted. Of course, that was one of the few times Four was wide open for a 3. Way too many turnovers with 7.

I agree Hass can do a better job reading the double team and making a good pass out. But as team, I think our permitter players can do a better job of creating the right angles to receive a pass. Same on fast breaks and broken plays. Four should always be looking for a spot along the 3 point line on fast breaks and broken plays. For example, that play where Bembry threw it up for grabs, Four was in the paint with Hass and Watson. Not saying our bigs would've found him, but if Four finds a spot thats an open 3 with our best offensive rebounders down low instead of a Watson going 1 on 1 in a tough spot.

We beat SLU and Richmond at home. Games we are supposed to win.
Let me know when we beat someone we're not supposed to beat.

Foul trouble killed us as previously stated as we had to play our frosh too much in a very tough setting. CT has a great 3 point shot but I would like to also see him shoot a mid range jumper. He only took 2 shots in 27 minutes. I think we need to get more shots for him to help open up the floor for the others.
KI seems to get too many fouls away from the ball or setting a moving screen. These types of fouls would seem to be correctible. We need him to play at least 30 minutes against the better teams in the league.

rodfromcranston wrote:We beat SLU and Richmond at home. Games we are supposed to win.
Let me know when we beat someone we're not supposed to beat.

Fair enough.
My point was that we beat SLU and Richmond by more than we were predicted to.
Also, if you look at RPI and point spreads we will be predicted to win more than half our games which will result in a greater than .500 record
Let's see how it plays out but I'll be shocked if we finish below .500 in A10 conference play.

eli#10 wrote:Foul trouble killed us as previously stated as we had to play our frosh too much in a very tough setting. CT has a great 3 point shot but I would like to also see him shoot a mid range jumper. He only took 2 shots in 27 minutes. I think we need to get more shots for him to help open up the floor for the others.
KI seems to get too many fouls away from the ball or setting a moving screen. These types of fouls would seem to be correctible. We need him to play at least 30 minutes against the better teams in the league.

Iverson also gets called for over the back rebounding fouls that refs are very often going to call. He needs to improve on gaining inside position vs trying to use his height and reach to go over the back. He looked great during his minutes, just need more minutes.

Fouls and Turnovers killed us. We went back to a strictly power game-- pounding the ball inside instead of how we played the last 4 or so games. It was a competitive game but we played to St Joes strength which is halfcourt.

Optimistic wrote:

TruePoint wrote:

Optimistic wrote:
Can you elaborate on your question? Don't really get what the confusion is.

Looking at foul or free throw discrepancy won't always tell the story of how the refs were. Nevermind getting Steve and Don's take on it. I just find it crazy that you're criticizing the refs and you saw 0 minutes of the game.

I didn't actually criticize anything, though. I said it didn't help. Getting killed in foul calls and free throw attempts plus Steve and Don giving their perspective (plus knowing how these games always go down there) is certainly enough to know that we weren't done any favors. My point was actually that the officiating wasn't the most important factor.

I also didn't think the refs were bad. It's easy to always blame the refs. Dan should never expect the benefit of the doubt anyway in how he argues everything. It probably takes a lot of restraint for a ref to even remain partial and not let it effect how they ref. Great first half. Bembry is just on another level. That's what an NBA player looks like. First half looked great with everybody involved. But too many points off our turnovers and they didn't have any. This season can go any way right now. We are over th grief stage and look like a real team again. Just have to win the next few.

Tom98 wrote:My thoughts....

If we could have keep our core players on the floor (Iverson, Terell), I think we might have pulled this one out. Iverson has great intentions on defense but commits way too many ticky tack over the back type fouls. He was playing fantastic offensively and could probably have had a career day. Nebraska game all over again for him. He needs to play smarter. Calls were tight and he needs to play smarter on D and not foul, especially so early in the game. Again his intentions are great but his D skills need work. Terrel was badly needed to shut down Bembry in this game and his fouls messed up that plan completely. Instead we had a freshman playing D on the best player in our conference. Hurley didn't have much choice but again Terell needs to play smarter D knowing how important it is for him to stay in the game to slow down Bembry. I thought the team played very well and would have won if we could have had Iverson and Terell in there more. Akele is not ready for the minutes he is getting either. The effort is there but he is not polished enough yet.

Bembry was by far the best player on the court. With the free 'arm bar push off' that the refs give him every time he has the ball, plus his ability to elevate...hang...and then shoot, there was no one on URI that was going shut him down. JT played him well enough, but the skill level he has (plus the arm-bar freebie - like he's James Harden or something) was just bound to accrue fouls. Other than that, the refs were fine.

All in all, pretty good game and worth the drive. A tough environment, but I think the URI crowd at Brown was almost as loud as the St. Joe's crown in Philly...would have been a much tougher environment if classes were in session.

How the hell are we two games above .500? We are 10-6
Rod is right we need to actually win some games we aren't favored or our record isn't going to be anything but average. Wednesday is another chance to do that. We need to go 1-1 on this trip.

I'd bet money we'll beat these guys when they come over to the RC

Had a bball game and couldn't watch live, but looking at the box score I think its interesting to note that Bembry played for all 40 minutes. Every single second of the game he was out there playing. Takes a lot of stamina. Also a lot of criticism for Hass' 7 turnovers, but he dropped 20 points for us. Seemed to be what kept us in the game.

Joe wrote:I'd bet money we'll beat these guys when they come over to the RC

Agree but...they need to run multiple guys/fouls out there at Bembry...
And, kudos to the fan that screamed "Miss!" at the top of his lungs in a quiet gym that got Bembry to miss FT with about 7:30 left to play. Good effort.

Well, worked all day but kept up with the score.

About what I expected. We're not bad, just not good enough yet.

Just like Rod said, too many flaws, but there are certainly some positives.

We might be good enough to upset a couple of the top teams later in the season, but we're going to stumble too often to be in the NCAA tourney conversation.

The quality depth isn't there yet. CT and Akele are a work in progress.

It would be nice to beat St. Bonaventure Wednesday. Possible.

I do think we'll go no worse than 7-2 at home.

Games like this are a reality check. 11-7 or 12-6 conference record. I'll stick by that.

The spinzone scenario where we go and become an at large team is pretty much dead, thanks to GW and Dayton falling and failing to stay as top 25 opportunities. Either way, a loss on the road to a top 50 team doesn't necessarily "hurt" but it definitely doesn't help, and we still don't have a game that will. Missed opportunity for sure.

That said, thanks to the "anyone can win anywhere in the A10" factor, a top 4 seed and double bye to Brooklyn is certainly a reality.

I honestly didn't expect a win here, but was encouraged by a lot of what we saw.

We never win in Philly unless that's at La Salle, and we still made it close despite showing up about 8 minutes late for the second half. There's positives there.

This team, Akele and Thompson especially, need to gel and get more minutes going into Brooklyn.

The more Jarvis has with a consistent line up, the more consistent he plays. His shooting has definitely improved, which will help in March.

I'm numb at this point thanks to everything that happened in the OOC, so I'm just looking for us to beat up on the bottom of the conference, and split games with the top so that we can have a shot in Brooklyn, which is our only realistic chance of dancing.*

*Reel off 5 straight and my tone will completely change. This is the life of a manic URI fan.