RE: Let's talk about UTSA!
I disagree that Frazier had a bad game. He did not shoot it well, did not score a lot of points and did not get to the free throw line, which are things he normally does exceptionally well for us. However, he shot 11-14 from the field at MTSU, and his only misses in that game were 3 pointers. So he had two back to back "outlier" shooting games in my opinion. It'll even out throughout the season and as soon as this Saturday I hope. (Note: I did not do my due diligence, so it's possible that he shoots a mediocre percentage from the field and gets his points on the line or he shoots a phenomenal percentage from the field. Feel free to refute my outlier hypothesis if it needs to be refuted).
But he had ZERO turnovers, four assists (and when he didn't get assists, I thought he "hockey assisted" or helped moved the ball for other people to get assists), and two blocks. He did a good job of managing the game while he was in the game I thought. He did get into foul trouble, and of the 3 of his 4 I can remember, one was a dumb, ticky-tack hand-check foul, another was from playing really aggressive defense going for a steal (which I can live with), and another one was when UTSA guy took a wild shot and leaned into Frazier to draw the foul (I thought it was a bad call). Actually, I think I remember his other foul was on a transition drive from a UTSA player, and he hit the player from behind, but I thought the foul on that play should've been called on Foz or whoever the other guy who was there contesting the drive if there was even a foul there. But it was hard for me to see exactly what was going on.
Chad could've been more aggressive and driven more instead of settling for threes, albeit fairly open threes and ones he has proven he can knock down. But overall, I thought he played well despite not scoring as much as we're accustomed to. The good news is that Watts played really well for the 2nd game in a row, and we'll need him to continue to do so down the stretch.
I also wouldn't necessarily say we played down to the competition either. We had 23 assists on 28 made shots to 9 turnovers. We were out-rebounded but not by a lot and we still weren't that far below our rebounding average. We shot okay, but we held them to a really low percentage shooting. We did a really good job of challenging shots at the rim and blocking shots. We didn't shoot free throws well. It seemed like every time we had a chance to blow the game open, they would hit a decently contested (in my opinion) 3 pt shot or a long two late in the shot clock, which are the shots we want them to take, even if they make them. (The long 2s, not the 3s). We did not shoot free throws well this game, but we've been a decent free throw shooting team most of the season. We also missed a lot of good looks at the rim that were rushed by our guys and often went in-and-out. So I wouldn't call that play down the competition.
But even if I did, I'm not sure why we're so high and mighty to think that we should dominate conference teams. Yes, we have a better record than most conference teams, a better win (on paper) than most conference teams, and none of our losses are as bad as some of the losses that other teams in our conference have. And there's the RPI discrepancy too. But for the most part, we're a team that finds ways to win--we haven't really crushed teams, except for some of the really bad teams we played. And as bad as the perception of UTSA might be based on some of their bad losses in the season, they are a conference team and one that started 2-0 at that. There are no easy conference games- even if UTSA loses the rest of their conference games by double digits, they will still be a tough out. And while we are an experienced, senior-laden team, those seniors have not accomplished much in their career, so it's not like they're world-beaters, despite their experience. So if the thought is that this team, which has not really blown anyone out this year for the most part, can beat a conference team by double digits and play down to the competition, I disagree with that thought.
|
/
Let's talk about UTSA!
