Positives:
1. We had only 8 turnovers for the game--which I believe is far and away our best of the year.
2. Jones got back on track. Her mid range jumper was dropping and that seems to energize the rest of her performance. 6/11 for 14 points was a nice game after a number of sub-par performances by her standards. And 11 rebounds gives her another double/double.
3. Even scoring. We had 5 players in double digits. That is a sign of excellence that rarely happens.
4. Lepolo, playing 39 minutes, had 6 assists to 2 turnovers. She continues to be our answer at point guard.
5. Bosgana showed she can play terrific defense on Santa Clara's best player, #34 Tess Heal. While Heal was able to pivot and go around virtually everyone else--including taller players--Bosgana stopped her several times and blocked her once.
6. The scouting report worked. Heal who was averaging 17 points was held to 6 on 3/11 shooting. #3 Basallo who had been shooting 42% from three was 0/6 from three with 0 points in the game.
7. Belibi had her best game so far this year. 12 points and 8 rebounds in only 13 minutes. Throw in a block, two steals, and 0 turnovers. Imagine tripling those totals if she had played the whole game.
8. Iriafan got her mid to long range jumper to drop, repeatedly. Thank goodness we have finally seen it in a game. If she can do that consistently she will be one of the best forwards in the Pac 12.
9. Oh, we won.
Negatives:
1. Santa Clara essentially played us even in quarters 1, 3, and 4.
2. We had no answer to Olivia Pollard, normally their 3rd scorer (now their 2nd), who went 5/11 from three point range and scored 19 on us.
3. While our offense was adequate, our defense struggled with the effective, quality screens (they were good ones, no moving screens) that Santa Clara set to generate open shots, and on 3-4 occasions we let open Santa Clara players come right up the middle down the paint for open layups while we were racing around trying to guard the jump shooters. In short, our defense looked somewhat discombobulated against this style of offense, and we have to know that other teams will use a similar style against us.
4. Brink collected 4 fouls and played only 19 minutes. The broken record just keeps repeating. Her first foul was a pretty egregious lack of judgment--reaching in against a smaller player on the perimeter for no particularly good reason. One of her later fouls she tried to block from way behind a player who had beaten her. While it is possible that one or two of her fouls might have been bad calls or close calls, those two were poor judgment, pure and simple--impulse control. We can only imagine how great she would be if she could stay on the floor for 40 minutes every game. Her presence on the floor counts for more than just the points she scores--she makes it easier for everyone else to score. She had 4 assists and a trey--both of which loosen things up for her teammates. We will not win a natty, and perhaps not get close, unless she can figure out how to stay on the floor for 30 minutes a game.
5. Our rebounding was lackluster at times. At the chalk talk we were told that our team was going to make this an emphasis, and while we had 5 more O-boards, our defensive rebounding was not particularly domineering--against a shorter team.
6. The "deepest team in the country" to quote the chalk talk did not seem very deep today. Only 7 players got double digit minutes, although Demetre at 9 almost did. Betts came in briefly and could not guard the line, Prechtel who got a lot of minutes in 2 of the games in Hawaii did not get much time, but for the most part it was the starters, Belibi, and Bosgana.
Conclusion:
The offense looked disjointed at times but it was more than adequate. I'll not criticize an offense that averages more than 20 points a quarter. The problem with this game was our defense, and it was probably very healthy that our trouble against a good screening offense was exposed against Santa Clara rather than against an elite team. In this game it only made it uncomfortably close--but if our defense does not improve it will cost us in future tournaments.
I think it is probable that our defensive problems were because we had very little time to prepare for this team--we got home on Monday, so basically one day. Given that no one else we have played screens so well or employs the pick and roll so well, one day was not adequate time to be ready for this. We know from the chalk talk that the coaches knew what was coming and had tried to prepare the team--but one day is not a lot of time to work with.
I think the answer to everyone's questions about why Tara used the players she did and didn't use other players is entirely related to our defense. One way or the other we were going to scratch out points, pretty or ugly. But it was not at all clear that our players had figured out how to prevent giving Santa Clara open looks. The substitutions we saw were defense-first substitutions. Hence no Betts. That is also why Bosgana got 17 minutes even though her shot was off. I'm sure that is why Tara felt she could not take Lepolo out--although she had Jones bring the ball up some to give Lepolo a sort of a rest at times.
Santa Clara did look like the team that had recently beaten Washington and South Dakota. It is learning how to run its offense very well, and I expect they are going to have a lot of success this year. We won, and we learned something important about what we need to improve. Not a bad outcome.
1. We had only 8 turnovers for the game--which I believe is far and away our best of the year.
2. Jones got back on track. Her mid range jumper was dropping and that seems to energize the rest of her performance. 6/11 for 14 points was a nice game after a number of sub-par performances by her standards. And 11 rebounds gives her another double/double.
3. Even scoring. We had 5 players in double digits. That is a sign of excellence that rarely happens.
4. Lepolo, playing 39 minutes, had 6 assists to 2 turnovers. She continues to be our answer at point guard.
5. Bosgana showed she can play terrific defense on Santa Clara's best player, #34 Tess Heal. While Heal was able to pivot and go around virtually everyone else--including taller players--Bosgana stopped her several times and blocked her once.
6. The scouting report worked. Heal who was averaging 17 points was held to 6 on 3/11 shooting. #3 Basallo who had been shooting 42% from three was 0/6 from three with 0 points in the game.
7. Belibi had her best game so far this year. 12 points and 8 rebounds in only 13 minutes. Throw in a block, two steals, and 0 turnovers. Imagine tripling those totals if she had played the whole game.
8. Iriafan got her mid to long range jumper to drop, repeatedly. Thank goodness we have finally seen it in a game. If she can do that consistently she will be one of the best forwards in the Pac 12.
9. Oh, we won.
Negatives:
1. Santa Clara essentially played us even in quarters 1, 3, and 4.
2. We had no answer to Olivia Pollard, normally their 3rd scorer (now their 2nd), who went 5/11 from three point range and scored 19 on us.
3. While our offense was adequate, our defense struggled with the effective, quality screens (they were good ones, no moving screens) that Santa Clara set to generate open shots, and on 3-4 occasions we let open Santa Clara players come right up the middle down the paint for open layups while we were racing around trying to guard the jump shooters. In short, our defense looked somewhat discombobulated against this style of offense, and we have to know that other teams will use a similar style against us.
4. Brink collected 4 fouls and played only 19 minutes. The broken record just keeps repeating. Her first foul was a pretty egregious lack of judgment--reaching in against a smaller player on the perimeter for no particularly good reason. One of her later fouls she tried to block from way behind a player who had beaten her. While it is possible that one or two of her fouls might have been bad calls or close calls, those two were poor judgment, pure and simple--impulse control. We can only imagine how great she would be if she could stay on the floor for 40 minutes every game. Her presence on the floor counts for more than just the points she scores--she makes it easier for everyone else to score. She had 4 assists and a trey--both of which loosen things up for her teammates. We will not win a natty, and perhaps not get close, unless she can figure out how to stay on the floor for 30 minutes a game.
5. Our rebounding was lackluster at times. At the chalk talk we were told that our team was going to make this an emphasis, and while we had 5 more O-boards, our defensive rebounding was not particularly domineering--against a shorter team.
6. The "deepest team in the country" to quote the chalk talk did not seem very deep today. Only 7 players got double digit minutes, although Demetre at 9 almost did. Betts came in briefly and could not guard the line, Prechtel who got a lot of minutes in 2 of the games in Hawaii did not get much time, but for the most part it was the starters, Belibi, and Bosgana.
Conclusion:
The offense looked disjointed at times but it was more than adequate. I'll not criticize an offense that averages more than 20 points a quarter. The problem with this game was our defense, and it was probably very healthy that our trouble against a good screening offense was exposed against Santa Clara rather than against an elite team. In this game it only made it uncomfortably close--but if our defense does not improve it will cost us in future tournaments.
I think it is probable that our defensive problems were because we had very little time to prepare for this team--we got home on Monday, so basically one day. Given that no one else we have played screens so well or employs the pick and roll so well, one day was not adequate time to be ready for this. We know from the chalk talk that the coaches knew what was coming and had tried to prepare the team--but one day is not a lot of time to work with.
I think the answer to everyone's questions about why Tara used the players she did and didn't use other players is entirely related to our defense. One way or the other we were going to scratch out points, pretty or ugly. But it was not at all clear that our players had figured out how to prevent giving Santa Clara open looks. The substitutions we saw were defense-first substitutions. Hence no Betts. That is also why Bosgana got 17 minutes even though her shot was off. I'm sure that is why Tara felt she could not take Lepolo out--although she had Jones bring the ball up some to give Lepolo a sort of a rest at times.
Santa Clara did look like the team that had recently beaten Washington and South Dakota. It is learning how to run its offense very well, and I expect they are going to have a lot of success this year. We won, and we learned something important about what we need to improve. Not a bad outcome.