Game 1- Louisiana

[csims0917]

Sloppy game but a good win to get. I could’ve easily seen us have a messy game and lose late so I’ll gladly take this result 

[Illini Zip]

Harris with zero points? How did he ever play for West Virginia?

[csims0917]

I don’t think the broadcast mentioned once he went to Akron at one point 

[Zips1991]

3 minutes ago, csims0917 said:

I don’t think the broadcast mentioned once he went to Akron at one point 

Well, they probably didn't know. They got basically every fact wrong the entire night 🤣 

[Illini Zip]

Do we have different radio guys on WHLO 640?

[kreed5120]

10 minutes ago, csims0917 said:

I don’t think the broadcast mentioned once he went to Akron at one point 

 

I heard it at least once. Might have been during the pregame discussion.

[kreed5120]

Looking ahead Tulane is tied 91-91 in OT with UT-Martin

[ewbrooman1]

4 minutes ago, Illini Zip said:

Do we have different radio guys on WHLO 640?

Dunn and Skozen stayed in town for football game tomorrow. Jim Clark is on a Zips broadcast odyssey the next few days.

[Zippy87]

Some thoughts:

 

- We really struggled with turnovers tonight. 16 total, and Louisiana scored 22 of their 61 points off of them. 

- Ty Pence was fantastic tonight. You can see why so many around the program are excited about him. 

- Staveskie hit some big threes, but didn't play as well tonight as he did in the exhibition. I was hoping he would create a bit more for teammates. 

- Hopefully Max Burton is back soon, because we are going to need him. I think Barre is fine as a rotational big, but I feel his inability to stay out of foul trouble is going to limit him to 10-15 minutes a night. 

- Hammer Jr. is fun to watch. Motor just never stops. 

- Disappointed to see Oriol only play 16 minutes and shoot just once. He averaged 20 PPG on .480/.402 shooting last season. If we are going to have a chance at being special, he'll need yo be a big part of it IMO. 

- I hate sounded like a hater because I really like him as a cultural driver of the team, but I hope Halligan isn't playing the 4th most minutes as the season progresses. I'm guessing it's more Ford trusting one of the players he knows well. He's just so limited offensively that I'm not sure the defense makes up for it. 

- Mahaffey is going to be 1st Tram All-MAC. 

[Illini Zip]

3 minutes ago, ewbrooman1 said:

Dunn and Skozen stayed in town for football game tomorrow. Jim Clark is on a Zips broadcast odyssey the next few days.

Thanks. 👍

[Let'sGoZips94]

14 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

Some thoughts:

 

- We really struggled with turnovers tonight. 16 total, and Louisiana scored 22 of their 61 points off of them. 

- Staveskie hit some big threes, but didn't play as well tonight as he did in the exhibition. I was hoping he would create a bit more for teammates.  

- Disappointed to see Oriol only play 16 minutes and shoot just once. He averaged 20 PPG on .480/.402 shooting last season. If we are going to have a chance at being special, he'll need yo be a big part of it IMO. 

 

These were largely a result of Louisiana's defensive game plan and effort and adjusting to said game plan/effort will be something we can focus on improving. Oriol had 18(?) in the game vs. YSU - not worried about him. Staveskie will be fine as well. The turnovers are troublesome, but I'm glad they came in game 1 during a double digit victory.

 

This was nearly a perfect game 1. Did we play anywhere near perfect? No, but we won by double digits and will be able to work on the flaws, most of which are under our control. 

 

- I thought our off-the-ball movement lacked a bit on offense.

- 45-29 rebounding advantage is huge, and we didn't even have our main center. 

- Decent shooting night, which means there's certainly room for improvement.

- Lots of flexibility in this offense; can go inside and out. 

- Defense is going to be a nightmare for opponents; we are so long at nearly every position. 

- I'm glad we have Muskingum next before Tulane; ironing out the rotations and lengthening the rotation a bit will be key

[Let'sGoZips94]

 

This is incredibly open and insightful from Coach Ford. Not sure I've ever heard a coach put so much on himself to be better in a double digit win haha. 

[ZipForNow]

[Blue & Gold]

6 hours ago, Zippy87 said:

Some thoughts:

...

- Hopefully Max Burton is back soon, because we are going to need him. I think Barre is fine as a rotational big, but I feel his inability to stay out of foul trouble is going to limit him to 10-15 minutes a night. 

...

- Disappointed to see Oriol only play 16 minutes and shoot just once. He averaged 20 PPG on .480/.402 shooting last season. If we are going to have a chance at being special, he'll need yo be a big part of it IMO. 

 

I'm thinking these could be two related issues? When Barre was out & 6'7" Hammer was playing C (instead of Max Burton) I think Ford felt to make up for size disadvantage in the post our wings had to be bigger? So Halligan saw more minutes than if we had a healthy Burton, while Oriol saw fewer.  Thoughts?

[kreed5120]

7 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

- I'm glad we have Muskingum next before Tulane; ironing out the rotations and lengthening the rotation a bit will be key

Tulane needed 2 OT and for UT Martin to miss key free throws down the stretch to win. That was with UT Martin having their leading scorer and 2 other starters foul out before I turned the game on in the first OT. I don't think Tulane is better than Louisiana.

[Zippy87]

3 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

I'm thinking these could be two related issues? When Barre was out & 6'7" Hammer was playing C (instead of Max Burton) I think Ford felt to make up for size disadvantage in the post our wings had to be bigger? So Halligan saw more minutes than if we had a healthy Burton, while Oriol saw fewer.  Thoughts?

 

Could be. Another reason we need Burton back ASAP. 

[kreed5120]

I feel it probably has more to do with trust. I imagine as the season progresses his minutes will go down some and others will increase as Ford grows more confident in their abilities.

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

Tulane needed 2 OT and for UT Martin to miss key free throws down the stretch to win. That was with UT Martin having their leading scorer and 2 other starters foul out before I turned the game on in the first OT. I don't think Tulane is better than Louisiana.

 

Maybe. KenPom has them in the 160s after their win, for whatever that's worth this early in the season. I would like to think we wouldn't have trouble with Tulane at home, but nonetheless, having Muskingum in between will be nice to iron out some kinks that were exposed in the game last night. Last night was only the second actual game experience that Oriol & Mahaffey have had with this group. Since both have such prominent roles, I'm sure there is a pretty sizeable adjustment period for the team to figure out what works best with the whole group.

[Zips1991]

As a few have said already, I was surprised by the limited minutes Oriol played. Especially since he seemed to do fine while out there. And he looked good against YSU also, from what I remember. Hopefully, it's just an adjustment period, as I think we'll need his scoring at times this year.

[Zippy87]

38 minutes ago, Zips1991 said:

As a few have said already, I was surprised by the limited minutes Oriol played. Especially since he seemed to do fine while out there. And he looked good against YSU also, from what I remember. Hopefully, it's just an adjustment period, as I think we'll need his scoring at times this year.

 

The more I think about it, the more I think it is just needing time. He didn't play in either "secret scrimmage", so YSU was the first time he shared a court with the other players in real game action. He also just commited September 3rd, so he hasn't been with us long. The talent is clearly there. I think his role will continue to grow more and more over time. Hopefully he gets a lot of minutes Monday.