11-21-2022, 08:36 PM
14, 23, 23, 18, 44
That's the number of minutes that Jones played in each of our five games; one game is not like the others. Is it any wonder she had nothing left in the tank at the end?
It was tough to watch her struggle towards the end, but that happens, especially against a top flight team like South Carolina. The Gamecocks had a say too. I think our visiting South Carolina fan is right; we shortened our bench, which may have been how we managed to build the lead through the first three quarters, but we tired out at the end, especially given that we went from four laughers where nobody averaged more than 20 minutes to a really tough, physical game.
Lepolo played 41 minutes, so for the vast majority of the game, ball handling responsibilities did not fall solely on Jones. Jones brought it up some, but for the most part, she had support when she needed it, and doing so was not the reason for her ineffectiveness. Jones had six assists and 4 turnovers; Lepolo had 6 assists and 3 turnovers.
If you look at the still frames, it looks like every defender is sagging off their shooter. Jump is in the exact same relative position to her shooter as Jones, but on the other side; Prechtel is on the elbow. The shooter was also a foot behind the three point line, which made the shot harder, but also harder for Jones to get out to. For the game, South Carolina shot 5/17, so it is really hard to fault our three point defense, as a whole. That being said, situationally, it probably called for defending the three point shot a bit better.
Losses are always tough, and a loss where your team was leading by 10 points going into the fourth quarter is especially tough. But South Carolina is an elite team, perhaps the best we will face this year, and we were 3 seconds from beating them (but that's why it's a 40 minute game, not a 39:57 game). Non-Stanford fans who vote in the AP poll still think we are the second best team in the country, despite the loss. I doubt this will be our last loss of the year (remember in our national title year, we lost back to back games against UCLA and Colorado (and then got taken to overtime again by Colorado). But we are a damned good team; on Sunday, South Carolina was just a little bit better. The important thing will be to learn our lessons from this game, and improve.
BC
That's the number of minutes that Jones played in each of our five games; one game is not like the others. Is it any wonder she had nothing left in the tank at the end?
It was tough to watch her struggle towards the end, but that happens, especially against a top flight team like South Carolina. The Gamecocks had a say too. I think our visiting South Carolina fan is right; we shortened our bench, which may have been how we managed to build the lead through the first three quarters, but we tired out at the end, especially given that we went from four laughers where nobody averaged more than 20 minutes to a really tough, physical game.
Lepolo played 41 minutes, so for the vast majority of the game, ball handling responsibilities did not fall solely on Jones. Jones brought it up some, but for the most part, she had support when she needed it, and doing so was not the reason for her ineffectiveness. Jones had six assists and 4 turnovers; Lepolo had 6 assists and 3 turnovers.
If you look at the still frames, it looks like every defender is sagging off their shooter. Jump is in the exact same relative position to her shooter as Jones, but on the other side; Prechtel is on the elbow. The shooter was also a foot behind the three point line, which made the shot harder, but also harder for Jones to get out to. For the game, South Carolina shot 5/17, so it is really hard to fault our three point defense, as a whole. That being said, situationally, it probably called for defending the three point shot a bit better.
Losses are always tough, and a loss where your team was leading by 10 points going into the fourth quarter is especially tough. But South Carolina is an elite team, perhaps the best we will face this year, and we were 3 seconds from beating them (but that's why it's a 40 minute game, not a 39:57 game). Non-Stanford fans who vote in the AP poll still think we are the second best team in the country, despite the loss. I doubt this will be our last loss of the year (remember in our national title year, we lost back to back games against UCLA and Colorado (and then got taken to overtime again by Colorado). But we are a damned good team; on Sunday, South Carolina was just a little bit better. The important thing will be to learn our lessons from this game, and improve.
BC