First road game of conference play. Game should be on ESPN+

FAU pressing us heavily and it's working. Any CUSA coach that doesn't press us isn't good at his/her job. Defense is poor like it was in the first half against WKU.

11-9 FAU at the first media TO

FAU adding another wrinkle by blitzing some ball screens and not others. Kind of love their defensive strategy so far. 13-11 Rice. And I love their tempo on offense. Everything is quick with FAU today. They know we struggle when the game is sped up and they're taking advantage of it. We're just not prepared for their traps.

Rice 19
FAU 15
End of 1st

Doesn't appear that Chrisman traveled with the team.

On the one hand, FAU's defense created 7 first half TOs. One the other, they can't stop us when we actually get a shot off. 10 pts, 6 reb already for Erica.

This is a game straight out of the beginning of the season. Defense struggling a bit, offensive turning the ball over like it's made of soap. 25-22 Rice.

Feels like all of FAU's points have come off the pick and pop. We're consistently late to shooters tonight. They ran the same simple screen and pass back at Elig twice in a row and she was way late both times. And Mulkey's struggles continue. Just had a wide open layup that was bricked.

(01-09-2020 07:40 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  Feels like all of FAU's points have come off the pick and pop. We're consistently late to shooters tonight. They ran the same simple screen and pass back at Elig twice in a row and she was way late both times. And Mulkey's struggles continue. Just had a wide open layup that was bricked.

I just don't get Nancy. 12 minutes and 4 points (all from FT line), 0 boards, 0 blocks, 0 assists

And the 3-pointer is keeping FAU in the game. They're 6 - 14 from 3.

36-31 Rice at the half. FAU is feasting on our interior players. Challenging Mulkey and Elig to guard the perimeter. 15 and 7 for Ogwumike at the half. 9 for Schwartz (she might legitimately be our second best offensive player at this point). Only one turnover in the second quarter so improvement there (*actually we had 6...don't know what was up with the game tracker). Like Walt said, the 3 ball is keeping FAU in this one. They've only made 3 2s.

FAU's final 4 buckets of the half-- admittedly over the final 3.50-- were 3-pointers. Their 7 3's have kept them close. Rice leads at half 36 - 31.

Erica with 15 points (7-11 FG) and 7 boards.
Shwartz and Smith with 9 points and 6 points, respectively, but 3 TOs each.
After her strong last game Syndi took just one shot in 18 first half minutes. Somewhat inexplicable.

Dont understand why McCurry or even Chrisman do not get any minutes. What you have to loose? Mulkey is hurting us.

(01-09-2020 07:54 PM)OldOwl Wrote:  Dont understand why McCurry or even Chrisman do not get any minutes. What you have to loose? Mulkey is hurting us.

It appears Ellig has beaten out Chrisman as our backup center. McCurry isn't playing because Tina obviously has determined she 's #4 on the depth chart. I think she'd be in a better position than us to know.

Other final conference scores

MTSU (2-1) 75
Marshall (1-2) 55

North Texas (1-2) 56
FIU (1-2) 58

UAB (1-2) 65
WKU (1-2) 69

(01-09-2020 07:58 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(01-09-2020 07:54 PM)OldOwl Wrote:  Dont understand why McCurry or even Chrisman do not get any minutes. What you have to loose? Mulkey is hurting us.

It appears Ellig has beaten out Chrisman as our backup center. McCurry isn't playing because Tina obviously has determined she 's #4 on the depth chart. I think she'd be in a better position than us to know.

McCurry also has the same mobility issues that Mulkey has. I think a few minutes against WKU's talented center would have been a good experiment, but today would definitely not be the game to give her a few minutes if the first half is any indication.

Let's see what adjustments Tina makes to put greater perimeter pressure on FAU's 3-point shooting. They're 7-19 from long range, but only 3-11 from inside.

Difference between last year's team and this year's team are stark, but a prime example there. Up 9 and then: FAU made 3, Rice TO inbounding the ball, FAU missed shot, Rice TO after a trap, FAU made 3. And all of a sudden it's back to a four point game.

Started 3Q strong, building lead to 10 points on 3-pointers by Wiggins, Smith and Schwartz (with ERica feeding assists), but FAU storms right back. 49 - 45 at 4:11, with ERica picking up her 3rd personal.

This is probably the best game plan I've seen from an opposing conference coach over the past year and a half. If you have the bodies to do so, making us play as fast as possible on both ends is about as good a strategy as there is. They're working us with their offensive sets and they're completely in our head when we'er on offense.