Games 5, 6 & 7- The Paradise Jam

[clarkwgriswold]

13 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

 

They played really well, but I agree with Groce that the defense wasn't good enough. Part of that was gameplan (doubling Townsend didn't work), but we gave up a ton of open shots, especially in crunch time. We tied it with 5:02 to go and proceeded to give up wide open 3s on the next 4 possessions (they hit 3/4). Yes, they had to knock them down, but we absolutely could have made it more difficult on them to do so. 

They also lost a lot of guys on cuts to the basket.

[kreed5120]

When Yale took their big off the floor and moved Townsend to the 5 I felt we actually did better defensively with Lyles on Townsend. Yale still scored, but at least the shots they were taking were more challenging. We made it too easy for them in the 1st half.

 

In hindsight we probably should have mixed up the defense more frequently. Throw zone a few possessions, play some man, and sprinkle in some hard double teams here or there. Running the same defensive set for long stretches made it too easy for Townsend to disect the defense.

Edited 2 hours ago by kreed5120

[Illini Zip]

22 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

I know Yale played a perfect game but I'm sure their fans are saying the same about us. We had an answer for just about everything they had. Just one bucket short 

One Tavari bucket that almost went down too. 

[Reslife4Life]

Yale basically played like how we always wanted us to play in 24 with Enrique except we could never hit as many of those kick outs 

[clarkwgriswold]

I'd sure like to play Yale every year.  Hopefully the last two years have planted a seed.

[Reslife4Life]

Just now, clarkwgriswold said:

I'd sure like to play Yale every year.  Hopefully the last two years have planted a seed.

Home and home would be great since we did 2 years with princeton already. Their next game is @ vermont so I don't think they'd be appalled to travel to akron

[Reslife4Life]

I normally don't watch the replay of a loss but today might have to be an exception

[clarkwgriswold]

Just now, Reslife4Life said:

I normally don't watch the replay of a loss but today might have to be an exception

 

Plus, they'd get to play in the JAR.  That's like playing in the Palestra, Madison Square Garden  or Cameron Indoor.

[Illini Zip]

I liked this tournament as well. I wonder how you get invited back, etc. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

53 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

 

They played really well, but I agree with Groce that the defense wasn't good enough. Part of that was gameplan (doubling Townsend didn't work), but we gave up a ton of open shots, especially in crunch time. We tied it with 5:02 to go and proceeded to give up wide open 3s on the next 4 possessions (they hit 3/4). Yes, they had to knock them down, but we absolutely could have made it more difficult on them to do so. 

 

We gave up the wide open 3s because the game plan was to go with a zone that especially focused on doubling Townsend. Yale was smart enough to go baseline and find the open man in the corner. They made 75% of those 3s as a result which is absurd. 

 

Virtually the only fault of Groce this offseason was not finding a true big to backfill Okonkwo's spot. We will essentially always have matchup problems in the paint with teams that have athletic bigs and/or can drive to the basket. Yale was flawless in exploiting the matchup down low and always having a guy slashing to the basket when the double came on Townsend. The defensive game plan and execution gave up 97 points, but I'm really not sure there was a legitimate solution. We needed Yale to shoot 55% from the field instead of 63% or shoot 42% from 3 instead of 47% or make 80% of their free throws instead of 100% or turn it over a couple more times like we did; they didn't do any of those things. 

 

Groce, as a coach, has to harp on the defense - I get it - but his failure to bring in a legit big for games like this is why we ultimately had to rely on Yale to be imperfect. He didn't have the right game plan or the right pieces to truly stop Yale defensively. Credit to Yale for essentially getting a basketball 4.0 - nerds. 

 

Akron proved yesterday that no matter the interior matchup advantage an opponent may have (aside from Purdue who builds their entire front court with fully grown redwood trees they chopped down themselves in California and hauled to West Lafayette, IN), the opponent still has to be nearly perfect to beat Akron (as long as Akron doesn't have a historically bad shooting night). Our system works. This team has an incredibly high ceiling. I've never felt this good after a loss to an unranked team. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Let'sGoZips94

[Illini Zip]

It will be interesting to look back on this game at the end of the year.

[1981 grad]

"Virtually the only fault of Groce this offseason was not finding a true big to backfill Okonkwo's spot."  I had the same thought last night in that we really needed somebody to match up with Towsend.  However, we gave up speed with Okonkwo on the court.   If we had a better science program we could have cloned Freeman when we had the chance.

[kreed5120]

7 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Virtually the only fault of Groce this offseason was not finding a true big to backfill Okonkwo's spot.

 

I actually thought earlier this morning having Okonkwo might have been nice. He's not as offensively gifted as Lyles, but defensively he plays much bigger than Lyles. He might have done a better job at disrupting the shots near the basket while still being athletic enough to get up and down the court. I also think with Lyles developing more of a perimeter game they could both be on the court for stretches together if you needed to throw a different look in certain situations.

 

Looking at his numbers in Utah through 3 games they have been underwhelming. I haven't watched Utah, but I wonder if they have buyers remorse.

[zippy5]

One last thought - the score was high in numbers, but it wasn't fast paced. I was worried if Yale slowed us down, we'd have issues scoring in a half court offense if we weren't running. Our half court offense was great actually, so that is good to see we have a variety of ways to score going forward. Just need a way to at least slow down post scorers going forward

[Let'sGoZips94]

2 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

One last thought - the score was high in numbers, but it wasn't fast paced. I was worried if Yale slowed us down, we'd have issues scoring in a half court offense if we weren't running. Our half court offense was great actually, so that is good to see we have a variety of ways to score going forward. Just need a way to at least slow down post scorers going forward

 

Oddly enough, the half court adjustment is what cost us the game. It took us most of the first half to figure out how to play in a half court offense, and that's where we saw the 4 turnover differential decide the game. We ultimately could never fully recover, although a large part of all of this is Yale never missing to allow for Akron runouts. Ce la vie. Just an incredible basketball game.

[Illini Zip]

Besides Barre, I’m hoping to see Oggie take a big step forward on the defensive end this year. His size and athleticism could have been a help to us if he was more experienced. 

[Reslife4Life]

Does anyone know if any of our guys made the all tournament team?

[kreed5120]

33 minutes ago, Reslife4Life said:

Does anyone know if any of our guys made the all tournament team?

 

I didn't stick around to listen and find out. Tavari was pretty much guaranteed to make it by half-time. I'm not sure of any others.

[zippy5]

11 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I didn't stick around to listen and find out. Tavari was pretty much guaranteed to make it by half-time. I'm not sure of any others.

Tavari and Eric Mahaffey made it. Townsend was the MVP unsurprisingly 

[Captain Kangaroo]

1 hour ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I'd sure like to play Yale every year. 

It could be like VCU in the old Bracket Buster. We could play them tight every year, and lose.

 

Maddening to see us leave sharpshooters wide open for corner for 3's down the stretch. But the play that killed me the most was the inbounds play towards the end with only 4 seconds on the clock. The pass pulled the Yale player away from the hoop, so he's down to 3 seconds. He nonchalantly drives baseline and banks in a 2 footer. Soft D and no backside help, even though everyone in the building knew he had to shoot.

 

How many bunnies did Eric Mahaffey smoke? Just as I talk the guy up, he has his most underwhelming showing of the young season. 

 

Scott and Tavari were absolutely awesome. Cheese/Banks, LCJ/Castenada, Buford/McLaughlin great. All-time Zips offensive performances.

 

Yale played fantastic. Sliced and diced us all night long. Kudos to them. We definitely need to get better if we're to win anything beyond the MAC this year. Kenpom, SchmenPom.

[kreed5120]

2 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

 But the play that killed me the most was the inbounds play towards the end with only 4 seconds on the clock. The pass pulled the Yale player away from the hoop, so he's down to 3 seconds. He nonchalantly drives baseline and banks in a 2 footer. Soft D and no backside help, even though everyone in the building knew he had to shoot.

 

I would say that play and Barre fouling Townsend with .6 seconds left before the half-time buzzer. I'm almost certain Barre never saw the floor the rest of the night, deservingly so. 

[kreed5120]

16 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

Tavari and Eric Mahaffey made it. Townsend was the MVP unsurprisingly 

 

I assume the Yale player that was the beneficiary to all the cuts to the basket also made it. His ability to finish at the rim was almost as vital as Townsend having the ability to always make the right basketball decision.

Edited 24 minutes ago by kreed5120

[1981 grad]

Just saw the ABJ article about the game.  Adds absolutley nothing about the game.  Not even a quote from Groce.  Just a narrative of the game that could have been phoned in from any of us that watched the game.  Shameful to not cover a great game.