Geoffrey McCallister / AP
Tough game. If the Huskies had come out and laid an egg, it’d almost be easier to let go. But, this one was right. . . there. They just couldn’t grab it. Some more thoughts:
The Dawgs got beat on backdoor passes a handful of times last night. It’s one of the team’s trademarks to play that aggressive, gamble defense, and it’s part of what makes the Huskies so dangerous. But, we’ve got to keep a man back or something. There’s got to be a way to minimize the times when an opposing player finds himself all alone under the basket.
I like the Elston Turner starting lineup. I still think Coach is going to be shuffling things around for a while, and basing his lineups on the opponent. But, a shooter needs to shoot, and it’s no wonder that Elston’s looked better in these last two games when he’s gotten time on the floor to get himself going.
Even when he dunks, MBA is shying away from contact. It’s frustrating to watch. He’s a very large kid, and could be an imposing presence. The Huskies would be a better team if he would make his presence felt in the paint more, both on the boards and by taking it hard to the rim. Percy Allen mentioned in his live chat yesterday that he’s not confident with his free throw shooting (just under 50%), so MBA may not be so eager to get to the line. Methinks Percy is right.
I feel like the more people talk about Abdul Gaddy struggling, the more he struggles. It must be hard to be so young, so much in the spotlight, and struggling to make an impression.
If you taped the game last night, go back and look at Justin Holiday’s face on the bench right after the three-pointer by Mike Singletary at the end of regulation (which didn’t end up counting). As the Tech fans storm the court, Holiday’s look of shock and disappointment was a great example of why it’s so much easier to root for college ball than pro ball. Say what you want about these kids, but never say that they don’t care.
I can deal with the missed shots, but Isaiah needs to stop pouting when they’re not falling. He just looked pissed off in the second half.
There’s zero reason to panic. The Dawgs got beat by a decent team on the road in a game that they just as well could’ve won. They didn’t, and it stinks. But, the Dawgs didn’t come out flat. They didn’t implode in the face of adversity. They can’t win them all, and I’d rather see a game like this than, say, a home loss to mid-major conference team.
Because they play in a power conference Texas Tech will have a lot of opportunity to win some games and really improve their stock this season, which would make this loss for the Huskies start to look more reasonable. For the rest of the season, it’s Go Red Raiders!
Thanks for coming!
Tags: Post-game story, Texas Tech
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I am here to say that CJ Wilcox will sorely missed this year. I watched him in some practices and he the most fundamental player on the team. He goes right, left, mid-range game, three ball, he defends, he is quick, he is long, he is athletic… I question every time I see him in practice and say ‘why in the world is he red shirting?’ I am not saying that he dominates but he is definitely a top seven player. Yes, he is better than Gaddy at this point!
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I agree that we are going to be fine. I hope this is a wakeup call to Romar and his team.
*Coach Romar: Pick nine guys and lets start the season.
*Team: Its great to run and play fast, but stay in control and committ to defense!Four observations from the game:
1) Venoy is playing too fast. At times, he is just plain out of control. In a critical second half sequence, instead of picking up a loose ball and controllig it, he tries to tip it ahead in miraculous fashion to IT. Turnover. Again and again I find myself yelling at the TV…hold up! Slow down just a touch, Venoy, and we can play fast, but not in a rush.
2) The baseline is never covered on defense. It seems that the Red Raiders got nearly half their points by passing to a player on the baseline who had a “barely” contested layup every time. Singletary must have scored 16 points this way alone. Somebody has to cut off that baseline 5-7 feet from the basket and at least make them work to get in there.
3) Unless he gets into the weight room and puts on twenty pounds immediatley, Scott Suggs should not be in the game in critical situations. It is 5 on 4 when he plays right now. He can shoot, but he doesn’t compete defensively and looks like a meak kitten playing against hungry lions.
4) Holiday needs to see more minutes. He is the best defender on this team (sorry Venoy). He does it with fundamentals and arms that seem to stretch to the rafters. No Suggs, more Holiday. Yes, he is challenged offensively, but scoring is not the issue for the Huskies right now — defense is!
Go Huskies.
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Good points all.
This team is a typical Husky squad at this point in the year: oozing talent but maddeningly undisciplined and lacking identity. Hopefully things will start to gel as the season progresses. This game was probably pretty important in there development and the comeback after halftime was pretty encouraging. Wish that old free throw bugaboo hadn’t reared its ugly head, though. What’s up with Turner being such a poor FT shooter?
The MBA remarks are spot on. Sometimes I just want that guy to get angry and stay angry for 40 minutes. Its frustrating to watch a guy who doesn’t have the mindset to go with his physical talents. In that sense, he reminds me of Pondexter, so there’s hope yet I guess.
Speaking of looks on players’ faces, did anyone catch the “oh, God what have I done” look of sheer terror on Gaddy’s face after the hard foul on the Tech player (who was actually smaller than him) when the guy got in his grill? I thought he was going to cry. I felt bad for him.
If we could take some of the spirit out of Overton and Thomas and put it into MBA and Gaddy, we might be better for it.
Agree with Turner in the starting lineup. He needs to score for us to be a complete team. If we can’t get that from him then the decision to RS Wilcox becomes almost indefensible.
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BRETT,
Typically I would agree with you on Holiday. His defense, especially on big 2s and 3s is huge, and he typically passes the ball and rebounds well. However, last night he looked uncomfortable and sloppy. He had one nice block, and a fundamentally sound blockout for a rebound, but then he started dribbling too much and turning the ball over. He lucked out when a TT player grabbed the ball right out of his hands. What should have been a jump ball and a TO was instead called a foul by the ref. Holiday lucked out. But the main thing is why was he being so weak with the ball to begin with?
Ike,
The decision to redshirt Wilcox has been made. People calling for him to play are over reacting to our first loss. He’s a good shooter, and a solid player, but he is also a freshman. I doubt he would play better defense than Holiday, Trent, Turner or Suggs, and scoring is not really a problem for this team, so redshirting Wilcox is the best decision for the long term benefit of this team/program. Our rotation is already overcrowded, what good would it do to waste a year for Wilcox so he could play sparingly? This team needs to refocus and commit to defense and rebounding, the trademarks of good Romar teams. I know TOs and FTs cost us this game, but if we had not been out rebounded or had played better defense for just one extra possession we would have won despite those other mistakes.
Gaddy…I don’t know. I’ve seen the kid play before and he looked sharp. Not sure why he is struggling with his shot now. What he needs to realize is that we just need him to contribute. He doesn’t have to score like IT or defend like Venoy or shoot like ET, he just needs to be a solid contributor. Just take care of the ball, run the offense, and hit open shots when they’re there. This team is deep enough that Gaddy doesn’t need to take over, he just needs to be solid.
Overall I am disappointed with the loss, but unconcerned long term…Bad teams would have let the early struggles turn the game into a blowout, but this team came back and almost won despite their poor defense.
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Brett is spot on wrt both Venoy and Holiday and a good case could be made that just switching minutes for the two of them would make us better. Absolutely love Venoy’s intensity but he goes from bullet train to train wreck in nanoseconds. Imo Holiday is a fundamentally superior defender that can pass and rebound. His lack of shooting may be a product of not enough minutes or may be just missing. Makes no never mind.
With respect to defense I would like to see us deploy some zone. Not as a trademark defense but a change up and especially so when we give up more than one back door hoop which is often just a cost of aggressive man defense. Tough to maintain 40 minutes of intensity man defense and two or three minute intervals of zone would help. Learning a credible zone defense is not that tough.
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Does anyone know Romar’s career OT record? Or his record when games are within 3 points or less? He just doesn’t seem to have the X’s and O’s needed in these types of games but that could just be my perception. The Dawgs looked sloppy in OT and that seems like a coaching flaw. Lord knows the man can recruit though.
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I realize the Wilcox RS decision is a done deal, and I’m not advocating taking it off. Just saying that we need SOMEBODY to hit shots consistently from outside because otherwise opponents can defend against our strengths, concede the perimeter and we’re toast. Turner was that somebody last night but hasn’t been other times this year. I think he can get the job done. But, if it turned out he couldn’t, it would be especially frustrating to think that the missing piece was sitting on our own bench.
As long as Turner gives us what he gave us last night (excepting the missed FTs), then we can comfortably defer the enjoyment of Wilcox’s talents.
I don’t think Gaddy’s problem is that he’s trying to take over. I think it’s a combination of 1) still got the freshman jitters, which come through in his body language at times and 2) a guy with his skill set needs to be able to anticipate what his teammates will do and this team hasn’t really settled into roles–or even a set rotation–yet. The chemistry will come with time and Gaddy will benefit when it does.
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I don’t think I agree with red-shirting Wilcox. I think it would have been better to red-shirt Suggs, to give him a year to get bigger and more prepared to compete for minutes post-Pondexter.
Maybe he can red-shirt next year along with Simmons, allowing most of those minutes to Holiday, Wilcox and Turner (perhaps Terrence Jones), but you rarely see a kid red-shirt in his junior year.
If he does though he could be a very important veteran in a year where Holiday and Venoy will be gone and even if they get Jones he could be gone too.
I think Scott is a great prospect and will mean a lot for Romar and the program long term, but right now UW needs zone busting outside shooting. In my opinion Turner and Wilcox gives you more of that than Scott and Elston.
The only reason that red-shirting C.J. makes sense is if you think that he needs less pressure to adjust academically or if you think he might get homesick and transfer and sitting out a year would definitely make it harder for him to do that.
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