Huge win. Potentially a season-changing win for the Dawgs who know now that, at their best, they can beat anybody.
Scroll down for our game story, but here’s some more thoughts and observations on Saturday’s big win:
Not to start off on a negative, but Venoy had zero steals again against Cal… He’s only got two in his last five games, and seems generally less active on the defensive end. Not sure if this is the result of more focus on playing under control or what. But, I miss the peskiness a bit.
Also, Venoy almost got Quincy killed when he overthrew him on an alley-oop that (thankfully) turned out fine, especially since Quincy got the foul call. Quincy’s dad did not look thrilled at the play either — an interesting reminder of how much trust is put in the passer on a play like that to lead his man to the hoop safely.
It’s so easy to take Isaiah for granted — he piles up 18- and 20-point games like they’re nothing — but when he plays defense the way he did this week, there isn’t a better guard in the league.
I don’t mind 29 fouls in a game like this. The Huskies are committing themselves to a “no easy baskets” approach, which I like. They’re working hard, and if it’s going to mean more fouls, fine. I just wish we had another reliable post player so we don’t wind up with Clarence Trent, who’s just not ready yet, on the court at crunchtime of a big game.
That said, the Pac-10 refs have been atrocious so far. One example: Scott Suggs got called for an intentional foul with the team up more than 20 in the second half. Call it a flagrant if you must (which it wasn’t), but when there’s absolutely NO reason for an intentional foul, nor had the game gotten chippy, you can’t call that.
Gaddy and Overton combined Saturday for a nice point guard performance: eight points (four each), eight assists (five for Gaddy, three for Venoy), two turnovers (both by Gaddy).
Matthew Bryan-Amaning had a bit of a bounce-back game with 10 points and seven rebounds. But a lot of his production was against beanpole Max Zhang. I want to see MBA do it against a tough opponent, when the chance to get hit in the post actually exists. I’ll take what I can get from Matthew, but felt like he was taking advantage of a terrible defender more than really changing his game.
The lineup looks set for now, and Coach said he didn’t see any reason to tinker at this point: Gaddy, Isaiah, Holiday, Quincy and Tyreese start. MBA, Suggs and Venoy are the key reserves. And Darnell Gant, Elston Turner and Clarence Trent seem destined to see ten or less minutes per game for the time being unless a specific situation calls for them to see more.
Coach Romar mentioned after the game that he didn’t really think UW matched up well with Cal, and it’s true. Our starting five against their big scorers is a big minefield of defensive mismatches, but today only one of Cal’s big guns ever got going.
This could easily go the other way when we go down to Cal, but if the Huskies play with this much emphasis on defense the rest of the way, they’ll win the conference — no question.
Tags: Cal, Post-game story
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“Not to start off on a negative, but Venoy had zero steals again against Cal”
This is a positive for me. Venoy gets into trouble when he reaches and tries to get steals by himself – sure he may get a couple but he also picks up fouls and gets beat when he goes for the steal and isn’t successful. In this game he didn’t try to reach or anything and instead just tried to stay in front of his man, be it Randle or whoever. No steals, but he definitely forced a few turnovers and made it tough for guys to score.
Anyways, outstanding win. The defensive effort is just incredible. Now they just have to bring that kind of intensity on the road.
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I disagree about Overton. He’s played great the last 2 games. Yes, no steals.. but he is playing way more under control (WAY less turnovers and MORE assists –11 assists, 1 TO in the last 2 games). He is still playing great defense.. he and Holiday forced a couple of turnovers when Cal threw the ball out of bounds. And he got an offensive foul called against his man, and forced his guy to go out of bounds from cutting him off on the sideline. Those are basically steals.
Also, I have a feeling coaches have him scaling back his pressure just a little bit because although he was getting so many steals in the beginning of the season, he was getting beat off the dribble constantly. Now he’s still putting pressure on the ball, but is not getting beat; thus the big men don’t have to help on the drive and opponents don’t get easy lay-ups on us.
So I really think VO is playing great ball right now.
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Agree with Stevie T re Overton. IMO he has been a train wreck up to the last few games. Most people raving about his ‘on ball’ defense are really just chiming in to let others know they are great basketball minds because they can use a phrase like ‘on ball’ defense. Never mind that Overton often allowed the better guards penetration, committed many fouls(see Purdue line), and just as often turned it over milleseconds after most steals.
With that said Overton is a huge plus under control.
I see IT as being the power behind the Pondexter throne on this team. He’s actually improving as his scoring is diminishing slightly. His defense is tough, a lot less driving into a gauntlet, he’s looking to pass, and his rebounding is really spectacular considering his size.
Holiday was the missing link in the desert(see the mod’s column). Cal had 22 points late in the first half on truly spirited Husky defense led by Holiday and Thomas.
Suggs is displaying a pull-up jumper to go along with his catch and shoot 3s. Once he has the toughness to finish at the hoop he will be complete and a tremendous offensive player. I look for at least one twenty point game from him before the season is over. His height allows him to get off his three from anywhere and his smooth release hints he may have even greater range than he’s shown so far. Doesn’t turn it over much, hustles, and looks to be improving. It looked like we might have even run a play for him in the Stanford game as he curled off a high screen and hit a jumper.
If we can show this intensity on defense and the boards when we are on the road then we might have something.
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I was glad to see the comments by the others on Overton as I agree disagree with you Josh and second their remarks completely. Fewer steals by Overton, yes, but far fewer times are the guards burning VO to the paint. Keep it up Overton!
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But you’re spot on regarding I.T. Well said.
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I too agree with everyone on overton. No official steals, but quite a few forced turnovers while not allowing the defense to break down by allowing penetration and easy buckets as Stevie pointed out. I’ve often thought that turnovers forced is a more telling statistic than steals and I wonder why it isn’t used more.
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I love Quincy at the 4, let me just say that first. Why pretend to be something we are not, and we are NOT a low post team. Get four guards out there, let them pressure and run off rebounds and steals and that is our team – glad Romar figured that out.
Anyway, I still don’t quite get the Suggs thing. I like Suggs, don’t get me wrong, but I just don’t get why he has earned so much more playing time than Elston. Wasn’t it just after the Arizona game (a week ago) that Romar was quoted saying that ET could/should be the third scorer? I know Suggs has been hitting a bit, but it is no secret that ET is the best shooter on the team (Wilcox excluded). Romar said that he needed more time on the court to get into a flow and it would help his shooting, which I completely agree with. However, two games later he is expelled to the end of the bench…I don’t get it. If you ever want him to be a consisten shooter for this team you need to get him out there and allow him to get a part of the offense, otherwise he is going to feel like he needs to force it in the few minutes that he gets.
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The whole team is playing better. Its flip flopped for the better. It used to be everyone for himself and Pondexter for the team. He would pass up shots and not be selfish ever. VO would try to get his steals and he would, but he’d get a lot of fouls and get burned a lot as well. IT would jack up horrible shots and not play D. Now everyone is playing for the team and Pondexter is the one being a little selfish, in a good way. I love what they’re doing. Most good teams can only have one selfish player and it has to be Pondexter on this team.
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I say fire Romar for coaching Overton to 0 steals the last two games.
The one thing that I don’t like is it seems that too many guys have been blowing past VO this season causing a major breakdown in our defense. That is from overplaying a bit but we don’t rotate quick enough which results in an open 3 or layup. The Texas coaching staff have said they love Romar and his program but don’t like the way we play defense. Having said all that, they looked very good this past weekend and Venoy didn’t let anyone do that to him. I hope this carries over to LA.
I saw Quincy’s dad after that alley oop too. He didn’t look happy but most of the time he doesn’t look happy.
I just made reservations for Vegas for the first and second rounds of March Madness. It’s absolute heaven for college basketball fans. I will be watching the games at Blondies in Planet Hollywood at tables 1 and 2. This is our 15th year and is way way better than Super Bowl weekend.
By the way, Connecticut and North Carolina both have 6 losses.
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Josh you should pick the opposing team to win more often. Just sayin.
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Agreed that the passer on an ali-oop needs accuracy to limit risk to the dunker, however the dunks are all the more spectacular when the dunker has to stretch to get ball……I was disappointed that Trent missed his as the pass looked within his range – maybe his vert is less than advertised.
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