Klay goes for 43 as Cougs win Great Alaska Shootout
by Grady Clapp on Nov 29, 2009 1:11 PM PST
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UPDATE: I thought I'd throw in a couple of thoughts now that I've had time to actually see the game (Thanks to FSN for a replay this afternoon).
A lot of you might be wondering how Klay did it. Simply, he shot the lights out. He made shots when he was open, and he made shots when he wasn't so open. San Diego's defense was faulty at times, leaving Klay wide open on a couple of occasions. That was an especially egregious offense late in the second half, when everyone in the arena knew who the hottest man on the floor was. Nevertheless, this performance had more to do with Klay playing a spectacular game than the Toreros playing poor defense. Remember, San Diego is a team that prides itself on solid defense, and has had some tough battles with Gonzaga since Bill Grier left the Zags to become their head coach.
Most of Klay's damage was done on jump shots. 24 of the points came from threes, but Klay also displayed a turnaround jumper inside the arc that is virtually indefensible. He didn't have to be overly aggressive getting to the rim; he was shooting so well that he just didn't have to do it. Or get to the foul line for that matter, where he only had three points.
Klay's 43 sets the record for a single game in the Great Alaska Shootout, of which he was named the MOP. It was also the Cougars' first tournament win as a team in the G.A.S.
One of the things the Cougars had trouble with, at least in the first two games of the shootout, was burying their opponents with a prolonged scoring run. Tonight, it wasn't an issue, and I believe it had a lot to do with the Cougars locking the game down on defense. With 17:12 left, this was a close game, with WSU leading 43-41. By the time the clock hit 2:24, the Cougars went on, if you can believe it, a 43-10 run to blow the game wide open. A lot of it had to do with tough interior defense. Almost nothing underneath the basket was getting by DeAngelo Casto, Abe Lodwick and the Cougars' taller guards. The Toreros had some open perimeter shots, but they were few and far between, and when they did they couldn't capitalize.
And, of course, the Cougars had Klay Thompson.
Player of the Game: Klay. Thompson. 43 points on 16/24 shooting (8/13 3pt, 3/4 FTs), 5 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals.
Unsung Hero: Reggie Moore. The only other Coug in double figures had 16 points on 5 of 6 shooting. He also contributed 5 assists, 2 boards and 6 steals.
Play of the Game: Klay came off a screen to bury a three with 2:58 to play, giving him the single-game scoring record in the Great Alaska Shootout. It also put the Cougars up 84-51.
It was over when... With 7:40 left, Reggie Moore poked the ball free from San Diego's De'Jon Jackson and into the arms of Xavier Thames. Thames returned the favor by firing an outlet pass to the streaking Moore, who took it the distance for a dunk. The Cougs led 72-49 and erased any USD hopes for a comeback.
Stat of the Game: The Cougs' offensive efficiency rating of 137.6 is the highest its been in a single game since kenpom.com started cataloging the stat in 2003. Oh, and San Diego is only the 58th best team in the nation for defensive efficiency this season.
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The Apple Cup post was at the top of the page for 29 minutes too long
Klay is kinda good and the team played amazing last night. Solid D and great offense. Finally put together what we were looking for.
Still curious about the percentages for "lead safeness"
Surely it can’t mean that we only have a 9.3% chance to win when leading by 16 with 8:00 left in the first half—seems like it should be higher than that. Does anyone have more information on this statistic?
This explains how the come up with 100% lead safeness
http://statsheet.com/blog/when-is-a-basketball-game-statistically-over
Not sure how they determine the “percentage” of lead safeness though…
Its about keeping the lead
I’ve always understood that the 9.3% would mean the chance that they hold the lead for the rest of the game. It seems a little low, but there was still almost 3/4 of the game left to play. Its not saying a 9.3% chance of winning, because it’s obviously very possible to give up a 16 point lead and still end up winning the game. In fact, the Cougs almost did this when they let San Diego back to within two in the second half. The fact that they almost gave up the lead shows that a 16 point lead after 12 minutes isn’t as strong as we may think it is.
(We are) Klaynation!
YES! The team looks good. I am looking forward to the contest with the Zags on Wednesday! Go Cougs!
Team's ranked 7th in the nation in terms of FG%
Hope we can keep this up for Gonzaga!
by crimson coug on Nov 29, 2009 5:51 PM PST up reply actions
I had hoped that the USD game would have improved our defensive efficiency rating a bit, which it seems to have done, but it’s still pretty atrocious.
by Eramm on Nov 29, 2009 7:14 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
It is interesting that
Seattle U’s Charles Garcia, the ex-husky recruit is 5th at 26.1 ppg and is also avergaging 9.4 rebounds. The husky’s lost a good one in him :).
Klay is also 6th in the nation in 3 pt shooting @ 56.8% is 8th in 3 pt made with 21.
Still overrated
That game was ugly as heck and the shot he blocked was ill-advised. I could tell he was gonna shoot it when he crossed half court.
I was at the game.
My notes from seeing the Huskies first hand. Up to this point, it had looked like Pondexter had finally turned a corner and wasn’t taking games off. Well, forget that. He flat out was not a presence in this game. He made a few plays in the 2nd half, but a few times UW turned to him and he simply gave up the ball or put up a weak shot. The most telling moment was with 4 or so minutes I think, when he got a mismatch and had Montana’s center (41 I think) on him with four fouls. Pondexter took two dribbles at the three point line and tossed a weak jump pass. He should know to drive and try and draw the fifth foul.
UW can be dominated on the boards. But so can we, so that’s a push and they are very athletic. I’m sure the final rebound total won’t show it, but for much of the game the physical inside guys for Montana simply pushed UW around and got second chances.
Bottom line, like a lot of the teams in the Pac 10 UW has vulnerabilities. If Pondexter doesn’t show up, they are a very different team and seem lost. Overton tries to be a leader, but his type of play is more a spark and not a consistent leadership. IT and Gaddy need someone to calm them down when things aren’t going great, and they are likely to rely on jumpshots which might be inconsistent.
But at the end of the day, they pulled the game out. And that’s probably more telling about the team then anything else.
Pondexter just disappeared
I saw just a crap effort from him. He drove to the bucket at one point late in the second and airballed a finger roll. That’s a shot he usually makes. Thomas was MIA as well. They’re lucky they had guys on the bench that stepped up and a HUGE foul differential and FT differential.
What have we learned from the last two games they played? Run a zone and make them shoot. Also, they, like every other pac-10 team, have a deficiency in the bigs department.
They need IT and Pondexter like we need Klay and Casto
He sure was for most of the game
30% shooting and 13 points is an off night for him. He did hit 2 (I think) 3’s down the stretch
Thomas was trying to make plays
Which isn’t being MIA, it’s working and failing to do something. He was taking shots in the first half and missing. Pondexter wasn’t even getting touches and seemed lost against the zone. I’m guessing this is thecassino’s point, IT was working at making plays but was missing shots (as was everyone on UW) while Pondexter was simply no where to be found in that first half.
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