FYI, game today at ODU moved to 2pm due to weather. Will be on ESPN+.

Jackson, Swayze, Bokunewicz, Austin, and Gooden are the starting 5.

Interesting that Fisher isn't starting. She's definitely struggled a bit recently, but no more so than Gooden.

And immediately, within the first couple of minutes, Gooden is down with an injury. If it's serious, that leaves us with 7 players, including McCurry who has still really struggled this year.

Good start. Edmonds going with a zone early, I assume because of the issues we've had as games wear on and because of foul concerns. 8-0 Rice, but Gooden's injury looked serious and if she's out, we have literally 0 guards on the bench. Just Bellamy and McCurry. Beyond the issues with stamina/energy, that's going to completely alter how we play. Impossible to play with great aggressiveness on either end when you're this short on bodies. Also means that Jackson has to basically play like a turnstile on defense. She likes to hound opponents, which causes her to accumulate fouls, which she can't do because she basically has to play all 40 minutes.

It could just be selective memory, but Swayze has seemed short on a ton of shots over the last few games. Her first two shots have been an airball and a 3 that barely got the front rim. No clue if it's shot-related, injury-related, or if she's just tired.

Looking at the volleyball roster..

Tia Grippo was her HS basketball team MVP. Maybe could help us at guard.

18-12 Rice end of 1Q. Generally a good first quarter, but I can't imagine it's going to last. We're already defending like we're tired. Bunch of shots that I wouldn't expect ODU to miss in the next three quarters. Bunch of open layups and 3s that we got away giving. I know Edmonds doesn't have any faith in her, but McCurry is going to have to play. It's a must to give everybody at the very least a couple of minutes of rest, even if it means we sacrifice a few points her and there.

McCurry into the game for Bellamy and immediately gets a BLOB bucket. All we need to do here is try to steal some minutes.

29-19 Rice at the U5. Have really liked the execution on offense. Defensively, the 1-3-1 zone, which seems to be the zone of choice today, has been pretty soft. We've been helped by the fact that nobody on ODU seems to want to shoot from outside, but there are still noticeable holes. Fisher still struggling a bit. You can see that she's still a freshman by her footwork. She's travelled a bunch of times this year by making the correct read - pump fake and drive - but shuffling her feet prior to the drive. And you can see on defense she'll sometimes have good guarding position but unnecessarily reach in (while other times she looks too rigid and not in a proper defensive stance).

Man, it feels like we get to within a couple minutes of the half and forget how to play basketball. 29-19 lead with 3 minutes left quickly creeping towards a one possession game.

Meanwhile, Gooden is back on the bench without crutches. That's a positive.

31-28 at the half. Austin has been on the bench for a while with 2 fouls.

31-28 Rice at the half. ODU with a 9-2 run to close the half and it wasn't pretty. Thought Jackson, Swayze, and Fisher all made questionable decisions down the stretch. Bellamy the player of the half for me. Has looked really fluid offensively, including a couple of really nice drives, and has competed well on the defensive end despite giving up a bit of size. All of Swayze, Bokunewicz, and Jackson have played 20 minutes. I really hope Edmonds give them a few minutes rest in the second half (would require toying with lineups a bit). I don't like the idea of the 4th quarter when all of your guards have played the entire game. Both Fisher and Austin have 2 fouls, which is something to watch considering ODU's paint-focused personnel. Have liked the balanced scoring attack and Jackson's facilitation (5 assists).

(01-20-2022 03:42 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  31-28 at the half. Austin has been on the bench for a while with 2 fouls.

Awhile? She played jut 5 minutes in the first half. Getting killed on the boards. ODU already has 9 offensive boards. We need Fisher in not for her offense, but for her defense and rebounding.

Gooden with crutches, FYI.

(01-20-2022 03:59 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  Gooden with crutches, FYI.

Essentially necessitates that Bokunewicz, who missed the entire last year with a knee injury, play 35+ minutes per game for the foreseeable future. That's, uh, not good (and quite unfair to her when you think about it).

34-33 Rice at the U5. Very sloppy 3rd quarter so far for both teams. Foul trouble for Rice has stabilized, which is good. But we've wasted some decent defense in this quarter, which could come back and bite us.

Rice gets 4 cracks at it on one possession (I guess technically two possessions) and comes up with 0 points and 0 quality shots.

In a one possession game, Jackson forgets about the clock and gets called for a 10-second violation. Leads to an ODU 3. She's been good today, but that's inexcusable. A circus shot by Bellamy at the buzzer makes it a 40-40 game at the end of the 3rd quarter.

ODU starting to look more and more like a top-100 team in the 4th quarter. Some good shot making. 47-43 ODU.

Good resiliency. ODU keeps throwing punches and Rice keeps responding. Bokunewicz with a 3, Fisher with two buckets. ODU 53-51. But on the flip side, this is another game where we're losing 60+% of 50/50 balls. There have been 2-3 in the last 3-4 minutes, all of which have lead to ODU baskets.