Just home from the game. My impressions:
1) I don't know if Portland usually plays this way. I suspect their coach put in a super aggressive game plan after seeing the Texas game. And it largely worked. They committed 23 fouls (that were called) and probably 123 that were not. They pressed, trapped, pushed and hacked, and it succeeded in limiting our offense, but of course at a cost to them in foul trouble and giving up free throws. We must shoot FTs better if we are to punish that kind of play. 13/26 might get it done against Portland, but it won't work against Indiana or Maryland.
2) I suspect that Tara just told the team not to settle for three point shots. We took only 6 the whole game, and they did not look particularly good. Eventually Portland figured that out and shifted into its swarming, trapping zone to clog the inside, and we persisted.
3) Brink and Jones were brilliant on offense, and with 10 assists to 5 turnovers Jones looked better than earlier this year. But I thought the very best offense against this defense was when Demetre was in and nailing 10 foot jumper after 10 foot jumper. Those were open because they were collapsing on our posts, and Demetre is nails from midrange. That bodes well for breaking zones, since she was shooting from the weak spot of the zone.
4) At the start of the game our turnovers were much reduced, but they crept up to 15. Still better than against Texas, but not good enough.
5) Our defense was very effective in some ways. We had 19 steals! I have NEVER seen that many in a game before. Portland had 32 turnovers. That made their FG% artificially high. They seldom missed--they either got a layup or lost the ball trying.
6) Lexie seems to be in a shooting slump, Lacie did not attempt a shot, and Wilson's early season promise on offense is not materializing. That makes us very dependent on Jones and Brink, so it was very good to see Demetre and Iriafan getting some time. Belibi and Prechtel seemed solid to me, but they did not get a lot of minutes to establish themselves in rhythm--6 and 7 minutes, respectively. Iriafan keeps missing that dunk in practice, and now she has missed it in game. Perhaps she should stick to layups for a while.
7) As I said earlier, I am mystified about Van Gytenbeek. I remember hearing one of the coaches describing her as "very good on offense." Her three point shots in practice the last couple of games have gone in more than others on the team. So it is either her defense, or her ball handling, or some unknown discipline issue or unknown injury that must be at work.
8) Lacie's ball handling is not bad. She has that reverse dribble that helps to fend people off. But she reminds me a lot of Pohlen bringing the ball up. Good skills, but she is too tall and when she dribbles the ball comes up too high off the floor. This will leave her vulnerable to shorter, quicker guards to pick her pocket. I don't see her being the point guard to take us to a national championship, although perhaps she is our best point guard at the moment. But she needs to take more than 0 shots a game, and make them, if we are going to loosen up packed-in zones. 0 shots = 0 credibility as a threat.
9) I was disappointed in the number of times we successfully got the ball up the court against the press but that Portland seldom was forced to pay a price for it. Rather than breaking the press for an easy layup, we would fight to bring the ball up and then enter into our half court. We need to make teams pay for that pressure--Kate has told us in the past that Tara regards the press as "fool's gold" since it yields more layups than it does steals. Well, not tonight.
10) Lexie may be in a slump, but give her credit for 6 steals!
11) When Portland closed it to 10 points late in the third quarter, I thought we entered a danger zone, in which the wheels could come off. They outscored us 22-18 in that quarter and it could have been worse. It was Brink who reversed this, by taking trips to the free throw line and making a layup, to extend the lead back to 15.
1) I don't know if Portland usually plays this way. I suspect their coach put in a super aggressive game plan after seeing the Texas game. And it largely worked. They committed 23 fouls (that were called) and probably 123 that were not. They pressed, trapped, pushed and hacked, and it succeeded in limiting our offense, but of course at a cost to them in foul trouble and giving up free throws. We must shoot FTs better if we are to punish that kind of play. 13/26 might get it done against Portland, but it won't work against Indiana or Maryland.
2) I suspect that Tara just told the team not to settle for three point shots. We took only 6 the whole game, and they did not look particularly good. Eventually Portland figured that out and shifted into its swarming, trapping zone to clog the inside, and we persisted.
3) Brink and Jones were brilliant on offense, and with 10 assists to 5 turnovers Jones looked better than earlier this year. But I thought the very best offense against this defense was when Demetre was in and nailing 10 foot jumper after 10 foot jumper. Those were open because they were collapsing on our posts, and Demetre is nails from midrange. That bodes well for breaking zones, since she was shooting from the weak spot of the zone.
4) At the start of the game our turnovers were much reduced, but they crept up to 15. Still better than against Texas, but not good enough.
5) Our defense was very effective in some ways. We had 19 steals! I have NEVER seen that many in a game before. Portland had 32 turnovers. That made their FG% artificially high. They seldom missed--they either got a layup or lost the ball trying.
6) Lexie seems to be in a shooting slump, Lacie did not attempt a shot, and Wilson's early season promise on offense is not materializing. That makes us very dependent on Jones and Brink, so it was very good to see Demetre and Iriafan getting some time. Belibi and Prechtel seemed solid to me, but they did not get a lot of minutes to establish themselves in rhythm--6 and 7 minutes, respectively. Iriafan keeps missing that dunk in practice, and now she has missed it in game. Perhaps she should stick to layups for a while.
7) As I said earlier, I am mystified about Van Gytenbeek. I remember hearing one of the coaches describing her as "very good on offense." Her three point shots in practice the last couple of games have gone in more than others on the team. So it is either her defense, or her ball handling, or some unknown discipline issue or unknown injury that must be at work.
8) Lacie's ball handling is not bad. She has that reverse dribble that helps to fend people off. But she reminds me a lot of Pohlen bringing the ball up. Good skills, but she is too tall and when she dribbles the ball comes up too high off the floor. This will leave her vulnerable to shorter, quicker guards to pick her pocket. I don't see her being the point guard to take us to a national championship, although perhaps she is our best point guard at the moment. But she needs to take more than 0 shots a game, and make them, if we are going to loosen up packed-in zones. 0 shots = 0 credibility as a threat.
9) I was disappointed in the number of times we successfully got the ball up the court against the press but that Portland seldom was forced to pay a price for it. Rather than breaking the press for an easy layup, we would fight to bring the ball up and then enter into our half court. We need to make teams pay for that pressure--Kate has told us in the past that Tara regards the press as "fool's gold" since it yields more layups than it does steals. Well, not tonight.
10) Lexie may be in a slump, but give her credit for 6 steals!
11) When Portland closed it to 10 points late in the third quarter, I thought we entered a danger zone, in which the wheels could come off. They outscored us 22-18 in that quarter and it could have been worse. It was Brink who reversed this, by taking trips to the free throw line and making a layup, to extend the lead back to 15.