Agree with much of what has already been said. Fantastic game from McPhee, who really exploited her defensive assignments. To me, the critical sequence of events was this: Williams had a great dribble into traffic while Johnson set a screen for McPhee and then Williams had a quick pass out to McPhee for a three from outside. That built her confidence, and when she hit another one later in the quarter, Oregon seemed to switch from zone to man defense for a few possessions, presumably afraid it was going to start raining threes. But that opened things up for McPhee to go on her 19-point spree. Sabally really seemed to struggle covering her, and then they switched back to zone and got burned again from outside, and then swapped back to man with Ionescu on McPhee, who I think was already getting tired and then also had to chase McPhee around the court. That then allowed McPhee to either outrun her cut all the way to the basket for a layup, or more often, stop and take (and make) a jumper. As I said in the other thread on our improvement, taking (and making) those mid-range jumpers was so critical. That, coupled with their need to switch from zone to man when we started draining threes, is part of why she had such a gonzo fourth quarter that we haven't seen in quite a while - she's a nightmare to guard in a man defense, but we haven't faced many lately. But it all starts from setting screens and making threes to challenge the zone. If we can keep doing that effectively over the course of the season, we will be a far scarier offensive team.
I don't blame them for trying to go to man given our scoring barrage against the zone, but the Oregon tactic I do question a bit was that they didn't try to press more in the last three minutes when they had already switched to man. That two-minute possession where Marta twice ran down the clock, we twice missed, and we twice got the o-board, was a textbook example of when a defense needs to press and be aggressive even if it risks a foul. They tried it once unsuccessfully around the 9 minute mark in the fourth and Marta handled the trap brilliantly, and then they seemed to back away from it. I don't understand why they just sat and let Marta run the time off the clock when they still, theoretically, could have gotten back into it, esp. since we're not the best free throw shooting team.
Also, our screens were amazing this game. Johnson was fantastic at getting McPhee open, and on a few occasions Williams dribbled into traffic and then passed out for a nifty inside outside three pointer. We really got to see the Princeton working in the second half, especially late when they went to man. Johnson really is a glue player, and because we didn't need much scoring from our bigs inside, every other aspect of her game has been top notch lately.
Also: agreed about our ball control and fewer turnovers. Part of that, I think, is that once they went to man we didn't need to try to pass inside as much. I think our achilles heel has been trying to get the ball inside a zone, and it's where we commit so many of our turnovers. We didn't see that as much in the second half, because we either dribbled in and then passed out, set a screen to get space inside, or shot a three. I'm not sure how to find out, but I suspect we had only a few layups in the second half because we stopped trying to go inside after they smothered Johnson and Smith with their zone early on. They also weren't terribly aggressive in their defense, which also helped. I'm not sure if they were tired or flustered or we just wanted it more, but in the fourth quarter they were pretty flaccid in pressuring the ball handler.
I don't blame them for trying to go to man given our scoring barrage against the zone, but the Oregon tactic I do question a bit was that they didn't try to press more in the last three minutes when they had already switched to man. That two-minute possession where Marta twice ran down the clock, we twice missed, and we twice got the o-board, was a textbook example of when a defense needs to press and be aggressive even if it risks a foul. They tried it once unsuccessfully around the 9 minute mark in the fourth and Marta handled the trap brilliantly, and then they seemed to back away from it. I don't understand why they just sat and let Marta run the time off the clock when they still, theoretically, could have gotten back into it, esp. since we're not the best free throw shooting team.
Also, our screens were amazing this game. Johnson was fantastic at getting McPhee open, and on a few occasions Williams dribbled into traffic and then passed out for a nifty inside outside three pointer. We really got to see the Princeton working in the second half, especially late when they went to man. Johnson really is a glue player, and because we didn't need much scoring from our bigs inside, every other aspect of her game has been top notch lately.
Also: agreed about our ball control and fewer turnovers. Part of that, I think, is that once they went to man we didn't need to try to pass inside as much. I think our achilles heel has been trying to get the ball inside a zone, and it's where we commit so many of our turnovers. We didn't see that as much in the second half, because we either dribbled in and then passed out, set a screen to get space inside, or shot a three. I'm not sure how to find out, but I suspect we had only a few layups in the second half because we stopped trying to go inside after they smothered Johnson and Smith with their zone early on. They also weren't terribly aggressive in their defense, which also helped. I'm not sure if they were tired or flustered or we just wanted it more, but in the fourth quarter they were pretty flaccid in pressuring the ball handler.