RE: Official Game Thread: UT-Martin
UT Martin was a hustling, athletic team. But sloppy, undisciplined and, except for Preston Parks, poor shooting. It seems like everybody has the green light to toss up anything they like at any time. They are the kind of team that will beat themselves if you stay disciplined and give them half a chance to blow it. In the first half though, the Bucs didn't do that. It seemed like too many players took a look at the Skyhawks and thought, well, if you want to play that way, we can do that better than you. And just played their undisciplined way. Their team really just seems to beg you to try that. The Bucs took the bait.
- first several times down the floor the Bucs made it clear that UT-Martin had no answer to our inside game. So we promptly committed several dumb fouls and would up with our bigs (Armus, Rodriguez and Hodges) on the bench most of the first half in foul trouble. We even had to risk playing Rodriguez with 2 fouls in the first half, which, fortunately, he's smart enough to do;
- Daivian Williamson decided to show them that he was a better athlete than they were, and tried to dribble single handed through double teams on the press, resulting in several turnovers;
- Patrick Good made repeated slow, telegraphed passes for easy interceptions. These guys are quick enough and experienced enough to spot and grab the lazy pass. Altogether we made 10 first half turnovers
- they flat outhustled us down the floor several times for easy baskets
- they outhustled us on the boards, going toe to toe with 21 apiece
- their zone gave us trouble - it was a good call against our offense and we did not solve it till half time adjustments, the second half return of our bigs and better shooting
So a VERY frustrating first half against a team that was not really good enough to be 5 points up, 33-38.
And then the Bucs decided to play like they can the second half.
We kicked the defense up a gear, did not allow easy cuts to the basket, and let them fire away from 3, which nobody on their team except Preston Parks can hit at an acceptable rate. But which no one on their team can resist firing up. Resulting in holding them to 24 points (compared to 38 in the first half) on 30.8% shooting. With the Bucs knocking down 47 points instead of 33. Instead of playing them even on the boards, we got 24 to their 8. In short, we played like we should, and the result was what it should have been.
Lots of nice second half performances. 5 second half assists and 6 rebounds from Armus, with a great steal, length of the Court dribble and slam. 9 second half points from Good on 3-7 from 3, with the dagger go-ahead 3 - he loves the big shot. A nice turn on the floor from Bernard who had a key three and a tremendous tip in after a missed free throw. Hope he continues to get confident. Tray Boyd had 12 second half points Bo has missed a lot of time and continues to struggle to find his way. The Bucs should really look a lot better once he does.
Preston Parks just looks out of place on the Skyhawks. He's a really fine offensive player, knocking down 20 points on 2-4 from 3 and 8-8 from the line, with 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. At least basketball wise, The Citadel was a much better fit for him. Imagine what a threat the Bulldogs would be if they had still him on their team.
(This post was last modified: 12-09-2018 11:58 AM by swvabucsfan.)
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