Game #14: @ Duquesne - Saturday @ 1pm

[ramster]

OK, back from watching the Pats great win.
Now, Garrett was very prominent in getting us back to striking distance.
Terrell was clutch with those two winning free throws, which I would not have bet a dime
on him making both.
EC was good in the second half.
TJ got beat more times than I recall, by his man. Still imprtant overall.
Hassan is THE MAN! Always shows up, always plays well. Double-double with nobody looking
for him most of the time.
Biggie only played 14 minutes and had 2 points and 3 turnovers and only one assist.
Just when we thought he was what we were told he was, he regresses.
Gil stinks. Like him as a person, very much. He has bad hands, and is one of the least
physical big men in the A-10.
Reischel and Butler need to be "counseled off the program."
We need to not spend 15 minutes looking as if we've never played against a zone defense.
I'm not going to take the chicken little angle some here are.
I feel today, this team showed a lot of heart and fight, to pull out this win.
When you win close games you shouldn't, that's always a good sign.
Beats the hell out of always losing those games, as we have so often, prior
to this year.
Put your heads up! We're 11-3! We have a chance to put a stamp on this season
Tuesday night.
GO,RHODY!

Rod,
I agree,
I wouldn't have thought Terrell would have made both FTs, for that matter I wouldn't have thought any player on URI would have made both FTs.............I was simply hoping that he would make one. Making two put more pressure on Duquesne as well to HAVE to make a basket whereas if the score had remained tied then it is a less pressure "nothing to lose" environment for that last 8.3 seconds.
Very impressive that Terrell took the FTs as quickly as he did too, he looked confident on both. Reminds me of the clutch 3 pointers that he made against Nebraska.

I am sure that if we all went back to the beginning of November and were asked "would you take 11-3 going into the VCU Game?" that all of us including Coaches and Players would say "Hell yeah"!!
So I'm with you, bring on the VCU Rams

[rambone 78]

Well, the way we've won the last 2 games, more than cancels out the GT loss.

11-3 is great. I'm sure the energy level will be sky high for VCU. I think we will give them all they want too.

Should be fun. No @#&% zones either!

[gorhody89]

I still can't believe we won this game...it's a good reminder that no road conference game is an easy win

[Iggy1979]

I'm surprised Terrell was on the floor at that point. Thought Dan would go offense/defense on the lineup. If that foul didn't occur wouldn't we be questioning why Terrell took last shot?
Love his energy and defense but he needs to start hitting some open looks.

[bigappleram]

After EC in terms of our back court the next guy i want taking a last shot is Terrell...regardless of current percentages, he has ice in his veins, has now won 2 games for us (Nebraska and Duquesne) and has the spring to get off his shot with someone in his face. Who do you want taking it besides EC, Biggie? TJ?

[rodfromcranston]

Exactly.

[Iggy1979]

Terrell has the worst shooting percentage on the team and you want him taking the last shot? Good luck with that.

[rambone 78]

Hassan, 15 ft. or closer.

He could also draw a foul too.

Of course, would he make them [ft's]?

[gorhody89]

After EC in terms of our back court the next guy i want taking a last shot is Terrell...regardless of current percentages, he has ice in his veins, has now won 2 games for us (Nebraska and Duquesne) and has the spring to get off his shot with someone in his face. Who do you want taking it besides EC, Biggie? TJ?

Definitely agree...I've seen enough good flashes from Garrett as well to think at some point he will be a good option in clutch situations as well

[Iggy1979]

I would go with EC, Hassan, Garrett with Terrell and TJ a pick em for fourth option.

[bigappleram]

Hassan either cannot or is not given the ability to create his own shot. So in a last shot situation he is out. Most end of shot clock or end of game situations are dictated by a guard anyhow. Would I love a Hassan dunk to be our last second shot of course, but not realistic. Unless you see us throwing the ball to Hass at top of key and allowing him to take his man then not sure he is even an option. So you are back to guards...again after EC its Terrell. Garrett can be in the convo. But Garrett cannot create his own shot as well as JT for size reasons. I dont care about percentages, JT is clear and away the best 2nd option in that scenario.

[rodfromcranston]

I still think Garrett will be a teror for opponents, in time.
He's so quick and can get into the lane.
His shot is beginning to come around, too.

[rambone 78]

JG had better be able to create his own shot down the road.

Or else what was all the hype about?

Teams live and die by their PG. You don't win games against good opponents without a good one, who can get their shot especially in crunch time.

See Cotton, Bryce, or Napier, Shabazz. Or even Chaz, all 5'7" of him. He could get his own shot almost any time he wanted. Garrett is 4 inches taller.

Jarvis may never be as good as they were, that's asking a lot, but he better be a reasonable facsimile at some point. I think he will. He's a good passer, has a good handle, is very quick, defends well, and has good court vision.

If he turns out to not be the real deal, we aren't going to be as good as we need to be.

[bigappleram]

Agree Rod, definitely talking more about present day conditions....

[adam914]

I was actually really happy to see Terrell take the last shot. They were clearly going to be all over EC, and they used him as a decoy to help get Terrell a pretty decent look. All in all I think it was a pretty smart play really. At some point we need to be able to rely on these guys. We're all clamoring for that second or third scoring option to count on, and Dan gave him the shot.

Very similar to PC last year actually where they used X as a decoy and let EC take it and at the time EC wasn't quite the scoring option that he is now or was later in the season last year.

[adam914]

I still think Garrett will be a teror for opponents, in time.
He's so quick and can get into the lane.
His shot is beginning to come around, too.

Garrett seems to be finding his way with that little floater/pull up in the lane lately a bit more. Going to be a crucial part of his game at this level given his size.

[TruePoint]

Hassan's gaudy shooting percentage is mostly a function of so many of his baskets coming on dunks. I don't think you can just look at shooting percentages to decide the pecking order for game-end situations.

[rambone 78]

Adam, true. JG will have a hard time going thru the trees to the hoop. He needs that shot, plus he has the ability to see the open man on the wing. The problem is, that open man misses the shot too many times.

PG's who put their head down and drive to the hoop like a bull in a china shop, and ignore or don't see open teammates, aren't the answer.

We've had too many of those for 15 years.

[rodfromcranston]

Look, Chas Williams never had trouble getting his shots off,
and he was even smaller than Jarvis.
His size also lets him get very close to his opponent while on
defense.
I think he's going to be a real gem. Let's not put labels on
kids who have played in 14 college games, as though they are
frozen in time.
Cat Mobley was a 37% shooter as a freshman and a 30% shooter from 3.
Those numbers went to 48% and 41,6% in his final season.
You can't fully project what a player will do, based on half a freshman season.
Nobody would have projected Cat's long NBA career based on that.

[rambone 78]

Totally agree, Rod.

Hey, good PG's make their teammates better. Even shaky ones like we're got [the transfers I mean].

It's going to be a struggle for stretches this season. We've already seen it. It's not over by a long shot.

As our young players develop and learn [again, sometimes the hard way] things will get better.

Games against the likes of LaSalle, UMass, Bonnies, and Richmond aren't going to be easy games. They are better than the 3 we just played. We are assuming we should win those games. I'm not so sure after this last week.

Just being real here. The "eye test" don't lie. It is what it is. This team has some serious talent, but only in spots. I would love to see a complete team, but we just don't have that yet.

[luke]

Yeah, Garrett looks very confident now and he hit two big jumpers including a three in the second half to help sustain the comeback. I think his percentage will get better game by game and by season's end no one will question his shooting ability or ability to get his own shot.

[Obadiah]

The focus on progress of JT and JG is a correct one because their contributions are a big part of what makes this team different than last year's team with Munford.

I know that stats don't tell the complete story, but we do know what we had with Mike Powell, so a look at a comparison so far is in order:

Code: Select all

        Powell #1   Powell #2   Terrell   Garett

FG         .273        .299      .350      .368   
3FG        .357        .307      .317      .267
FT         .708        .726      .622      .586
PPG         9.0         8.9       8.8       5.4
A/TO      109/97      113/76     18/23     25/16
 Ratio      1.1         1.5       .8        1.6

[bigappleram]

Totally agree, Rod.

Hey, good PG's make their teammates better. Even shaky ones like we're got [the transfers I mean].

It's going to be a struggle for stretches this season. We've already seen it. It's not over by a long shot.

As our young players develop and learn [again, sometimes the hard way] things will get better.

Games against the likes of LaSalle, UMass, Bonnies, and Richmond aren't going to be easy games. They are better than the 3 we just played. We are assuming we should win those games. I'm not so sure after this last week.

Just being real here. The "eye test" don't lie. It is what it is. This team has some serious talent, but only in spots. I would love to see a complete team, but we just don't have that yet.

Agree with all of this Bone, except the end...this team has talent, its just young. Our core 4 is plenty talented enough to take us to the promised land, with the addition of 1-2 solid role players. We just need them to get more experience. I dont think we need more stars. Even in our best years not sure we ever had 2 Top 100 kids and 2 Top 150 kids in the same lineup.

[rambone 78]

Those 4 teams I just mentioned: UMass, Richmond, Bonnies, and LaSalle.

We play them a total of 6 games. I will take 4-2. In a heartbeat. With some improvement, we should be able to do that.

I'm back to predicting we go 12-6. Not ready to win 13-15 games. Not this year.

Obie, that doesn't look good right now, but we know JG and JT have a much higher ceiling than Mike did.

That's a big part of our struggles right now. We want them to be REALLY good, like they will be. But they aren't there yet.

BAR, thanks, I just think we might need more than 1 or 2 more. As in a couple of big men, and at least another wing type who can shoot.