11-07-2017, 06:34 AM
Preliminary:
We take on what could be the highest powered offensive team we have faced in years, led by redshirt junior guard Chelsea Mitchell and redshirt senior forward Stephani Mavunga. TOSU scored 110 and 135 in their exhibition games. Mitchell was 9th nationally in scoring last year at 22.6 and is a Kelsey Plum like player. We take on this experienced team with a very young squad that is in the midst of installing a new offense and managed to score only 60 points against UCSD in our exhibition. This is what Vanderveer calls "throwing them in the deep end of the pool."
[i][i]Overview after the game:[/i][/i]
A stellar performance by McPhee could not overcome Stanford's inability to rebound or shoot treys. TOSU had 28 O-boards to our 9. Mavunga set a TOSU record with 26 rebounds, and Mitchell scored 30.
Flow of the Game:
Vanderveer started our upperclassmen: Smith, McPhee, Sniezek, Romano, and Johnson, but Johnson and Romano exited early and got minimal playtime. Johnson picked up a foul every time she came in. I did not see what happened to Romano.Â
We held our own through the first quarter and a half of play, leading for the first and last time 33-32 with 6:48 in the second quarter. We had problems rebounding from the start, but were making up for it by fast breaks led by McPhee.Â
TOSU adjusted, used several strategies to slow us down, and our half court offense stagnated. Meanwhile they launched treys that either went into the basket or were rebounded by Mavunga. Our starting bigs were completely stymied by Mavunga, Johnson was 0/2, Smith was 3/11. Our bench bigs did somewhat better--Dodson was 3/6 and Fingall was 2/4. Every so often McPhee would make a highlight-reel play, and our offense looked slightly improved over the dreadful UCSD showing.
However, on the defensive end, we could barely slow down Mitchell who scored 30 , and the two other starting guards for TOSU also had 15 points each. Mavunga was dominant both defensively and with O-boards, and no one seemed to be able to get around her. We needed more accurate and prolific jump shooting, but we kept taking awkward shots around the rim that she altered. Smith needed to get her jumpshot going but never did.
The game felt out of reach early--by half way through the third quarter it was clear that no adjustments were going to be able to make us rebound the ball. Part of that seems to have been scheme. I noticed that when we launched treys, the team would start running back on defense while the ball was in the air, as opposed to trying to track down a possible o-board.
A particularly interesting stat--we shot 48% in the first half but only 25% in the second half, a direct result of the TOSU adjustment.
Performances:
Team: The "Warriorization" led to us scoring 12 fast break points--much more than happened in most of last year's games. But we had only 2 second chance points, compared to TOSU with 32. While 12 fast break points is good to have, it can't overcome a 30 point deficit in second chance points. Oh, and TOSU had 10 fast break points :( We held TOSU to 34% shooting, which is not bad, except 5% shooting works just fine if you get 20 rebounds per possession.
McPhee was beautiful to watch and the game of movement was fun for the first 15 minutes of the game. 24 points on 11/22 shooting, however, won't be enough without a supporting cast.
Sniezek shows no signs of improving her offense over the last two years. She had 5 assists but also 5 turnovers--she makes spectacular assists sometimes but also throws possessions away. That was the opposite of Roberson, who seldom had her assist numbers but seemed to seldom turn it over. I think there is room for Williams to become a starting point guard if she can learn the offense before the end of the season. We need a point guard who is possibly a bit more conservative with the ball but who can regularly contribute points as well.
Smith did not have the moves to get around Mavunga, and she missed her three point shot as well. She did have three blocks, but merely 5 rebounds in a whole lot of minutes.Â
Johnson had just 6 minutes. She picked up 2 early fouls trying to contain Mavunga and missed both her shots. A common story with our bigs--many layups that were just too hard as they careened around Mavunga on exaggerated pivots.Â
Romano had almost an empty stat line, and had only 3 minutes. I did not see an injury, but she disappeared early. I'd like to know why.
Now, from the bench:
Jerome did herself a world of good and was rewarded with 17 minutes. She shot confidently and was 3/3, including 2/2 from three point range. She is going to win us a game or two this year. I could not tell how competent her defense was, but we won't face TOSU every game, and she will get better with experience. If she can be our next Bonnie/Karlie then perhaps we have found an outside threat.
Dodson played competently and got 26 minutes--effectively a starter's time. She managed 3/6 even while going head to head with Mavunga. She also had 2 blocks and 7 badly needed rebounds. I frankly think she is already one of our best two bigs and should start, although her 4 fouls show that common failing of young posts--Chiney had that problem too. Her defense needs to come along, but this kid will be starting before the year is over.
Fingall was 2/4 in 11 minutes. She looked like the Fingall of last year--competent at times and yet not that fluid under the basket.
Carrington played 23 minutes, and while she was 2/8 which looks bad, but I thought she hustled better than the rest of the bench, and she was rewarded with 5 rebounds.
I expected to see more of Williams and Wilson, but neither put much on the stat line--they had 8 minutes each.Â
Conclusion:
As with the exhibition, we suffered from poor rebounding but this time it cost us the game. We need bigs who can compete against other elite bigs--and not just dominate weak opposition. I think Dodson may be able to grow into that role. I don't think Smith can do it consistently inside. She is going to need her face-up shot and it was not in evidence today.
We also suffered from poor three point shooting at a time when we desperately needed to be able to shoot over the top of the Mavunga monster. I think Jerome may be able to help us do that in the future.Â
I continue to be concerned about point guard play, and was surprised not to see Williams getting some more experience. My guess is that she might be tried out and worked into the lineup beginning with weaker opposition next weekend.
By the time the NCAAs come around, we could see a starting lineup with several freshmen and sophomores. I think it is clear now that a number of them have more raw talent than the upper class, but are simply too inexperienced and raw to help us in the first couple of games of the year.
We take on what could be the highest powered offensive team we have faced in years, led by redshirt junior guard Chelsea Mitchell and redshirt senior forward Stephani Mavunga. TOSU scored 110 and 135 in their exhibition games. Mitchell was 9th nationally in scoring last year at 22.6 and is a Kelsey Plum like player. We take on this experienced team with a very young squad that is in the midst of installing a new offense and managed to score only 60 points against UCSD in our exhibition. This is what Vanderveer calls "throwing them in the deep end of the pool."
[i][i]Overview after the game:[/i][/i]
A stellar performance by McPhee could not overcome Stanford's inability to rebound or shoot treys. TOSU had 28 O-boards to our 9. Mavunga set a TOSU record with 26 rebounds, and Mitchell scored 30.
Flow of the Game:
Vanderveer started our upperclassmen: Smith, McPhee, Sniezek, Romano, and Johnson, but Johnson and Romano exited early and got minimal playtime. Johnson picked up a foul every time she came in. I did not see what happened to Romano.Â
We held our own through the first quarter and a half of play, leading for the first and last time 33-32 with 6:48 in the second quarter. We had problems rebounding from the start, but were making up for it by fast breaks led by McPhee.Â
TOSU adjusted, used several strategies to slow us down, and our half court offense stagnated. Meanwhile they launched treys that either went into the basket or were rebounded by Mavunga. Our starting bigs were completely stymied by Mavunga, Johnson was 0/2, Smith was 3/11. Our bench bigs did somewhat better--Dodson was 3/6 and Fingall was 2/4. Every so often McPhee would make a highlight-reel play, and our offense looked slightly improved over the dreadful UCSD showing.
However, on the defensive end, we could barely slow down Mitchell who scored 30 , and the two other starting guards for TOSU also had 15 points each. Mavunga was dominant both defensively and with O-boards, and no one seemed to be able to get around her. We needed more accurate and prolific jump shooting, but we kept taking awkward shots around the rim that she altered. Smith needed to get her jumpshot going but never did.
The game felt out of reach early--by half way through the third quarter it was clear that no adjustments were going to be able to make us rebound the ball. Part of that seems to have been scheme. I noticed that when we launched treys, the team would start running back on defense while the ball was in the air, as opposed to trying to track down a possible o-board.
A particularly interesting stat--we shot 48% in the first half but only 25% in the second half, a direct result of the TOSU adjustment.
Performances:
Team: The "Warriorization" led to us scoring 12 fast break points--much more than happened in most of last year's games. But we had only 2 second chance points, compared to TOSU with 32. While 12 fast break points is good to have, it can't overcome a 30 point deficit in second chance points. Oh, and TOSU had 10 fast break points :( We held TOSU to 34% shooting, which is not bad, except 5% shooting works just fine if you get 20 rebounds per possession.
McPhee was beautiful to watch and the game of movement was fun for the first 15 minutes of the game. 24 points on 11/22 shooting, however, won't be enough without a supporting cast.
Sniezek shows no signs of improving her offense over the last two years. She had 5 assists but also 5 turnovers--she makes spectacular assists sometimes but also throws possessions away. That was the opposite of Roberson, who seldom had her assist numbers but seemed to seldom turn it over. I think there is room for Williams to become a starting point guard if she can learn the offense before the end of the season. We need a point guard who is possibly a bit more conservative with the ball but who can regularly contribute points as well.
Smith did not have the moves to get around Mavunga, and she missed her three point shot as well. She did have three blocks, but merely 5 rebounds in a whole lot of minutes.Â
Johnson had just 6 minutes. She picked up 2 early fouls trying to contain Mavunga and missed both her shots. A common story with our bigs--many layups that were just too hard as they careened around Mavunga on exaggerated pivots.Â
Romano had almost an empty stat line, and had only 3 minutes. I did not see an injury, but she disappeared early. I'd like to know why.
Now, from the bench:
Jerome did herself a world of good and was rewarded with 17 minutes. She shot confidently and was 3/3, including 2/2 from three point range. She is going to win us a game or two this year. I could not tell how competent her defense was, but we won't face TOSU every game, and she will get better with experience. If she can be our next Bonnie/Karlie then perhaps we have found an outside threat.
Dodson played competently and got 26 minutes--effectively a starter's time. She managed 3/6 even while going head to head with Mavunga. She also had 2 blocks and 7 badly needed rebounds. I frankly think she is already one of our best two bigs and should start, although her 4 fouls show that common failing of young posts--Chiney had that problem too. Her defense needs to come along, but this kid will be starting before the year is over.
Fingall was 2/4 in 11 minutes. She looked like the Fingall of last year--competent at times and yet not that fluid under the basket.
Carrington played 23 minutes, and while she was 2/8 which looks bad, but I thought she hustled better than the rest of the bench, and she was rewarded with 5 rebounds.
I expected to see more of Williams and Wilson, but neither put much on the stat line--they had 8 minutes each.Â
Conclusion:
As with the exhibition, we suffered from poor rebounding but this time it cost us the game. We need bigs who can compete against other elite bigs--and not just dominate weak opposition. I think Dodson may be able to grow into that role. I don't think Smith can do it consistently inside. She is going to need her face-up shot and it was not in evidence today.
We also suffered from poor three point shooting at a time when we desperately needed to be able to shoot over the top of the Mavunga monster. I think Jerome may be able to help us do that in the future.Â
I continue to be concerned about point guard play, and was surprised not to see Williams getting some more experience. My guess is that she might be tried out and worked into the lineup beginning with weaker opposition next weekend.
By the time the NCAAs come around, we could see a starting lineup with several freshmen and sophomores. I think it is clear now that a number of them have more raw talent than the upper class, but are simply too inexperienced and raw to help us in the first couple of games of the year.
