Another close one, huh? At one point, the Zags built a 20
point lead and I mentally checked out. OK, that’s not true. I was still
worried. “Checked out” in this case means “started thinking about what I’ll
talk about in the recap.” Before Saint Mary’s mounted their furious rally the
storyline would have been Olynyk, Bell’s defense, and Dower’s potential
reemergence on offense. All of that disappeared, however, when the Gael’s began
to claw back in the game early in the 2nd half without any help from their star, Matthew Dellavedova.
If you had given me Dellavedova’s shooting line from
this game (17 points on 5/16 shooting, 3/10 from three) I would have assumed
that we won going away. Making him work that hard to get his average, keeping
him from getting on a roll from three, and hounding him into 4 turnovers… that’s
a good sign, right? It’s a great sign for Gary Bell, who has proven to be an
excellent on ball defender, and a decent sign for the coaching staff as well. We've had trouble corralling individual stars in recent years (see: Paul, Brandon), and
it looks like Few decided to do something about it. Hard doubles on ball
screens, big men hedging towards “Delly” when he drove, funky rotations, etc. Few
basically told Randy Bennett to find someone else to score. Unfortunately, he
managed to do just that.
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| AP Photo/Jed Conklin |
The big run for SMC started, according to my notes, around
the 12 minute mark of the second half. Dellavedova was on the bench and players
like Stephen Holt (who looked mediocre during the first half) and Beau Levesque
started to scrap together easy buckets. Holt scored 20, on 8/13 shooting, and
Levesque added 14, but the story of this game isn’t really any individual
player. Simply put, the Gaels crashed the offensive glass, and they crashed it hard. Saint Mary’s had 15 offensive boards.
According to the box score, Gonzaga only had 23 rebounds total. That’s a big deal. The Zags would play average to good
defense for 25 seconds, force someone into an awkward shot, and then give up an
offensive rebound that would lead to a bunny or another offensive set. It was
infuriating to watch, and it would have been our undoing if Saint Mary’s hadn’t
gifted us with some terrible free throw shooting.
Both teams made 15 free throws, with Saint Mary’s taking 23
and Gonzaga taking 18. The stats don’t tell you how many times Brad Waldow, for
example, missed the front end of a one-and-one. That stuff adds up, and we’re
lucky to have pulled this thing out. If we had been able to secure more
defensive boards, we might not have needed that luck, but a wins a win, and a
rivalry game like this leads to some crazy stuff happening.
Positive(s):
Olynyk. He carried this team (again) and
probably could have had 40 if he didn’t go on a short slump midway through the
2nd, missing 3 or 4 relatively easy shots. His offensive game is
diverse and he’s been nailing his free throws. Turnovers are still a problem,
but he’s a high usage guy, so it’s to be expected.
Pangos. He had 22, but they all seemed to come in really
huge spots. One huge three to stop the initial bleeding and put us up nine with
8 to go. A runner to answer a tough Dellavedova shot. Etc. He played under
control all game.
Dower? He hit 4 shots and ended up with 8 points, which is a
positive! Right? He was more aggressive than he has been lately, though he disappeared in the second half. It's a little depressing that I'm considering this a step forward for him.
Gary Bell’s Defense. Great D all game. Stuck on Dellavedova
so tight he could probably tell you what he had for lunch. I bet it was kale.
Aggressive without fouling… great stuff.
Negative(s):
Rebounding. Gotta believe Few will spend a couple days
shouting about that, which he totally should. Really awful. Gave SMC new life
when our offense had been clicking all game. That won’t fly in March, and the
staff knows it. Can you imagine a Tom Izzo team playing against us tonight?
Everyone’s offense outside of the “big three.” Olynyk,
Pangos, and Harris have been carrying the load these past few games, but as we’ve
seen, Pangos is prone to the occasional multi-game slump. We need Bell to step
up (though obviously his focus tonight was on D, which I understand) and we
need Karnowski and Dower to look for their shot more. I always get a little
nervous when any post-Morrison team begins to rely on one scorer for a stretch, and for all our vaunted depth, 3 players did the lion's share of the scoring.
All in all, tough game that we should have put away early in
the 2nd half. We haven’t seen a true “killer instinct” in Spokane
for several years now, and I can’t help but worry about that. The truly great
teams don’t coast when they get up 20, they smell blood in the water and finish
the game strong. When Calipari was at Memphis, that’s what his teams did to us.
UNC with Ty Lawson or Kendall Marshall. You get it. I don’t think this is the
start of a downward slide or anything, just a reminder that no matter how deep
or talented your team is, the second you lose focus a determined opponent can
bring you down to Earth.
22 comments:
I disagree again with Dower being a positive.
Dower has a pretty shot, we know he has the potential to be an offensive machine...but Dower is a liability.
His offensive production is negated by the fact that he constantly loses his man on defense and can't seem to hold on to the ball under the basket. We lose more points than we gain with him on the floor. Until he can start putting the ball up, under the basket instead of from 5 - 30 feet away from it, he does not deserve a lot of minutes. He was unable to handle a few passes and more than once his man was left WIDE open for a 3. It was glaringly bad and hard to watch.
I thought Dower was great in his role tonight... which is a backup center and nothing more. Hart was terrible this time and his desire to make the big play allowed for a lot of really bad plays on his part. KO is getting more exciting to watch every game.
Once again SMC got a lot of offensive rebounds because they throw up terrible shots from all over the court. We are going to have to find a way to solve this problem or they will continue to beat us 1-2 times a season.
I would rather see Karnowski ahead of Dower in the lineup.
I agree...rebounding is a huge issue.
Anyone know what happened with Edi? He played so little and then never came back in.
Would also have liked to see stockton get a few less minutes and see KD come out and get a few more.
Interesting analysis. I think the only reason the Zags didn't win in blowout fashion is because they showed some immaturity and got complacent. This is a lesson i hope they learn by tourney time. You should never relax with a lead. If you smell blood in the water, keep churning, go for the jugular and get the kill. Saint Mary's is a team we should have beat by 20 points in Spokane this year.
One other piece of the puzzle is the coaching staffs late reaction to runs, we have seen it a few times this year. They seem to have a delay in making wholesale defensive and offensive adjustments when a team puts together a run. That cant happen against teams that have weapons like Dellevadova or Holt. You have to be able to react quickly and stop the bleeding. Slap your players out of their sleep walking state and get them to go at the opposition harder.
In the second half, GU needed Harris to be a stud on the glass and make all those bunnies he missed. I have said it over and over...to my TV. Go up and grab the ball with BOTH hands. Stop this tipping the ball out crap. SMC came up with most of those and got another shot they really did not deserve.
KD could have made a difference in the second half and so could have Landry...put them both on Holt and get physical with him...they had the fouls to give and it would have taken him out of his rhythm.
Totally agree with you Josh on the slow reaction to the run by the staff and I agree with the Brianna on how Dower hurt GU last night. Lost his guy all the time as did Harris in the second half...
Not a blame the ref type but they def were trying to make it "fair" instead of just making the calls as part of the flow....lots of weird no calls and then weird calls...like Olynyk trying to set a screen with the SMC defender trying to front him as he moves 15+ feet from the rim....idiotic....but par for the course in WCC.
in the end they won.... and could have won by 15+ but they gave SMC too many second chance shots.
Yeah Dower's defense is awful, but he has never been better than an average defender, so I think my brain just accepts that from him. I mean, it's unacceptable, but his offensive collapse has left me grasping for any sort of positive trends out of him. I think Few knows that we might need him in March and he's trying to work out the kinks now, but if that's the case, why didn't we see Dranginis or Edi more?
Thanks for the comments guys! I agree with just about everything you guys have been saying... the rebounding fiasco will probably be the team's takeaway from last night and hopefully we see a commitment to stronger rebounding in the future. Harris had been rebounding so aggressively this year! We need more of that and soon. KO, for all of his offensive magic, has been a pretty soft rebounder who lets smaller players get inside him in the post. That can't keep happening, and the staff knows it.
I can never understand how we have such a HUGE, DOMINATING, FORMIDABLE frontcourt...and yet we are horrible on rebounding and blocked shots...
Literally, we have big guys and they barely average over 6 rebounds per game, they should easily be getting at least 8 to 9 and we are super weak on blocked shots. I just don't understand...I mean KD does a better job of blocking and half the times our guards jump higher and grab rebounds with TWO HANDS and bring it down. That is my main frustration with our bigs.
size is not necessarily a good indicator for solid rebounding. Rebounding is a skill that takes a long time to develop. You have to understand angles and positioning. Its why guys like Rajon Rondo in the NBA are really, really good rebounders despite their size disadvantage. You also have to have heart and hustle. There were numerous times last night when i watched harris let the ball go instead of challenging for it. He has a tendency of disappearing at times and rarely hustles for more than he has to.
I know size isn't...but they have such an advantage! I am not talking about the ones that bounce 10 feet out...I mean the ones that literally fall off the rim, we should have those hands down, every time! We just stand there half the time with one arm up, sometimes none. It is like we are still putting our hands up from a defensive stand point, and aren't reacting quickly enough to realize the ball missed, and they need to grab it.
Rebounding...the best there ever was, Bill Russell (Wilt got more but he towered over his opponents) watch the video and notice how all the work is BEFORE you go up to get the ball!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKFRS7CBTUc
The bigs, KO, Dower and PK do NO WORK when the ball is in the air! Watch them, they just stand there, don't make themselves wide, find a body, and go up strong with TWO hands....they stand in the same spot, take no angle and reach out with their long wingspan...and do what? Tip the ball. Nothing drives me more crazy!
MF needs to sit his front line down and watch this then spend hours and hours on rebounding drills, fighting through screens and FINISHING at the rim like men.
EXACTLY!
Awesome video! Russell makes it look so easy... And yes, our bigs clearly don't work hard at rebounding like they should. Harris had some potential, especially late last season, but his effort hasn't been consistent in this area. This is the sort of thing that Few should sit karnowski and dower down specifically. They want minutes, and they aren't going to beat out KO or Harris on the offensive end anytime soon... so work on rebounding! Make that a skill that the coach can bank on so he'll put you in when the team is getting beat on the boards.
The only thing stopping our bigs from averaging 10+ rebounds a game is because they have to share minutes. KO has steadily been increasing his minutes this season and so by March he should be averaging 20 ppg 10 reb for the season. It won't be because he is playing better but simply because he is sharing less and less minutes with his teammates (deservedly so).
OK, I'll say it.
This game was nothing short of a travesty. The Ref's sucked.
Gonzaga didn't win the game, the Refs gave the game to Gonzaga. Since when does a blatant Mike Hart foul translate into a jump ball??
Randy Bennett and St. Marys have every right to feel like they got homered like no tomorrow in the first half.
I have heard of make-up calls but make-up halfs????
I haven't seen a more poorly called game above the AAU level EVER!!!
Mark Few has every right to be unhappy with the way the game was called as well.
Don't tell me it 'evened out' -- it didn't.
Basketball is supposed to be about players performing on the floor -- not refs trying to be as inconsistent as possible, making calls when they cannot see what is happening and ultimately deciding the game!!!!
End of Rant!
Yeah, it's nice Gonzaga won. Would have been better if they had won a basketball game. I don't think either team can take away much of anything from this game.
Quid... you're totally right. I try not to bring up referees too much in my recaps because I don't want to get in the habit of blaming or crediting them with wins and losses, but last night was awful. WCC refs were in rare form last night, calling random ticky tack fouls and essentially giving us the game with that Harris jump ball (I'm not sure if that's the one you're referring to? I thought it was Harris). The problem, to me, isn't even that they are necessarily biased... it's that they call so many fouls that it disrupts the flow of the game.
Gonzaga didn't win the game, the Refs gave the game to Gonzaga. Since when does a blatant Mike Hart foul translate into a jump ball??
what are you talking about???
SMC had 23 attempts to 18 for GU, they both made 15. that is a wash and not giving the game to GU. SMC had 18 PF and GU had 17 PF that is almost a wash and not giving it to GU. SMC took 61 shots and made 28, GU took 59 and made 32, that is GU shooting better. Period.
Both teams had terrible calls on them and both teams had terrible no calls. Harris and Delly jump ball, terrible, the following play Mike Hart knocked to the ground by Holt AND the ball given to SMC, terrible no call. A wash.
Don't pretend for one minute that the make up attempt by the refs did not help SMC get back into the game...it did but in the end it was KP and Olynyk that thwarted their comeback and hit shots when it really counted.
what is a travesty is your statement asserting the ref's gave the game to GU! terrible call.
I'm usually of the persuasion that you have to play through the referee whistles. Good teams manage to win and not so great teams sometimes get caught in the blaming the ref mode.
However, another disturbing non-call came in the last 13 seconds. Dellevedova brought the ball down the court as we all knew he would. Gary was hacking away at his arms like crazy trying to foul him so he would only have two foul shots and not a chance to make the three. However, the refs chose to ignore that and let Dellevedova get free and shoot the 3. Fortunately, his shot missed, took a wild bounce and ended behind the backboard, possession GU. It just blows me away that the refs chose to ignore those fouls and allow one of the best three point shooters the opportunity to shoot and perhaps tie the game. If the efforts to foul weren't so blatant by Gary I would normally say let the players play and the ball bounce however it is going to bounce, but....
What happened to the balance and depth we were all so excited about early this year? I’m not seeing or hearing too many people commenting about those are our strengths anymore.
I am hearing a lot of talk about Kelly. Don’t get me wrong, I think he is doing amazing. However, as dependent upon him as we have been I think may lead to an early exit in the tournament unless we return to our balance and depth.
I’m not concerned that St. Mary’s came back from a 20 point deficit; that happens a couple a times a week to the better teams and because they are the better team they end up with the win, just like we did. We have even done it a time or two. Let’s face it, St. Mary’s is a pretty good team and I think we were all holding our breath and crossing our fingers that they wouldn’t come in the second half and do just what they did. We have experienced that a time or two also. They may not be as good as they have been, but they are still good. I think we will still win in Moraga.
However, I am concerned with the manner in which St. Mary’s managed to climb back into the game. Kelly started missing some of his shots, we had big defensive lapses, and we let St. Mary’s be the playground bully and rip the rebounds away from us.
This brings me back to my concern about balance and depth. Watching many, many games this year, including St. Mary’s and BYU, most seem to have one main scorer and then on any given night a different player who might have what is considered a great night and support the scorer. When the main scorer is off, or there is no support, then the team loses or barely wins if they truly are a better team. If we continue to have all the offense go through Kelly, then we aren’t going to see the consistent production out of Harris, Pangos and Bell that we need to see to make an Elite Eight or Final Four run. Especially if Kelly ends up having one or two off nights and we don’t have any solid contingency game plan with depth and balance in place.
How could you miss Mike Hart grabbing Dellie's arm at the end of the game and the ref calls a "jump ball" -- Hart didn't touch the ball -- he had "all arm". The 'jump ball' went to GU IIRC. Didn't hurt our chances a bit.
If you missed that one, I'll forgive you. If you saw that one and thought it was a good call, I certainly won't argue with you until you get your glasses checked.
mjc
No, I definitely know that jump ball was a bad call that went in our favor. (perhaps Karma for that millisecond jump ball that St. Mary's got ahainst Harvard) However, I thought it was Harris that had his arms everywhere but on the ball so maybe I do need my eyes checked.
As I said, I seldom complain about the refs. They make calls that happen at warp speed and throughout any given game, incorrect calls go against both teams. That's just the way the game is.
My only issue was with the blatant efforts Bell made to foul Delly all the way down the court that wasn't called. The refs had plenty of time to make that call. It was not a foul that happened quickly. Perhaps they decided to let the guys play and see how the game ended. I dunno.
While i agree it was a bad call and should have been a foul on Harris (it was Harris not Hart, although is the type of move Hart would do) it didn't decide the game. One play doesn't decide the game. Dellavedova should have already been pushing the ball or called s timeout. No one but himself to blame. Much like the Batista play we all try to forget. The ref was in a bad position to make the call, but I think from his angle it looked legitimate. Overall I thought the refs were inconsistent, but needn't play favorites one way or the other.
You are right, it was Harris, not Hart.
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