What happened in the Second Half?

by Fightfightfight on Feb 1, 2010 12:12 AM PST

How did a 4pt lead turn into a 28pt deficit?

We lost our bigs to foul trouble early in the second half. James Watson picked up his fourth foul at the 14:05 mark. Casto picked up his third at the 18:00 mark, and played hesitantly and cautiously until picking up his 4th at 12:00 to go. The loss of Watson and Casto severely weakened our interior defense, and the huskies got to the rim at will. Brock Motum logged 7 minutes from roughly 10:30 to 3:30, from where Casto finished the game. Motum entered the game down 13, and left the game down 27. During that time the Huskies made 8 layups/dunks and hit 8 freethrows. 24 points from the paint. If you were watching the game it was sickening to see just how easy they got to the bucket. This was because of Casto/Watson being off the floor and Motum being our big.

My question is where did Charlie Enquist go? He saw time in the first half and played fairly well, scoring 2 pts and grabbing 3 boards in just 4 minutes. He also picked up one foul. It was odd to see our #2/3 center (he and Watson appear to be about level on the depth chart) not see time in the second half with only one foul.

That's what happened defensively. Offensively, we just could not put the brown thing in the round thing. 24 pts in the second half won't cut it against anybody, especially the huskies.

Some bright spots that I noticed:

Xavier Thames: Before we landed Reggie I was really stoked on this kid. It looks like the game is slowing down and he is turning into our best mid-range shooter. 15 points and a couple steals.

Nikola Koprivica: Shot 50%, 3 assists and no turnovers. He is truly being the senior leader we need.

Klay Thompson: What the? Who the? Yeah, he couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. But that game was just truly an off game, which hasn't been his problem in conference play. His issues were forcing the issue, jacking 3's over double teams and taking poor quality shots. He still hit his open shots, however. Against UW he took open shots and passed when he was covered. He just simply couldn't find the bucket, which happens to all shooters. Even though he sucked yesterday, he sucked in a way that we know was an anomaly.

The fact of the matter is that we are going to see plenty of games like this over the next season or two. WE have great talent that hasn't learned how to put it all together yet, but will. Until then, we just have to be content to see the flashes of greatness that this team has in it's future.

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Comments

"But that game was just truly an off game, which hasn't been his problem in conference play. "

Um, what? In nine games, his effective FG% is 42.1 and his offensive rating is 97.4. He’s shooting 24.2 percent from 3-point range, despite taking the fourth-most 3s in conference play.

Sure Saturday was really terrible, but it’s not far enough out to call it an anomaly at this point.

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Feb 1, 2010 8:54 AM PST reply actions

agree

the most disapointing thing about this team is if Klay and D were playing close to expectations we’d be having a great season. At the start of the season if someone told you Nik would lead the conference in 3 point shooting and Klay would be shooting 24.2% you would have punched that person in the mouth. What about Reggie Moore being a frosh all american canidate and Casto having scored something like 6 points in pac-10 play when he has to create in the post. that is the worst part about whats going on. everyone is playing great but our so called stars (great considering that expectations for most of them)

by donkeyjon12 on Feb 1, 2010 12:19 PM PST up reply actions

but the two issues could be related.

Klay and D are getting constant pressure and double teams, which naturally frees up guys like Nic and Moore. Once our “so called stars” figure out how to create when the defense keys on them, we will be a scary team.

by displacedcoug on Feb 1, 2010 10:58 PM PST up reply actions

Some of that falls on the other guys, too

I see a lot of stagnation when Klay catches the ball. It’s like guys know it’s not worth it to move because he’s either going to shoot or put the ball on the floor.

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Feb 1, 2010 11:38 PM PST up reply actions

I was trying to say

that most of his struggles this season had come from poor shot selection and forcing the issue every time he touched the ball. This led to him trying to beat double teams and shooting low-percentage shots. In these games he still made his open looks. Against UW, however, he took quality shots for the most part and just missed. Perhaps anomaly was a bit strong. I should have said he played a “different kind of bad,” or something along those lines.

by Fightfightfight on Feb 1, 2010 11:07 AM PST reply actions