I have some questions about our offense for sure. But here are some interesting stats that reflect on Tara's scouting report defense.
Duke's points leader, Reigen Richardson, was held to 3 points in an extended game.
Their go-to post, Kennedy Brown, had only 1 basket in the game.
What went wrong, then, when we were so wildly successful with our defensive plan? Ashlon Jackson is what went wrong. She was 6/10 from three point range. She was 0/4 against Davidson and 0/4 against Columbia. Her unexpected 18 points turned what would have been a blowout into a nail biter.
Yes, our three point defense is not good. It was not good against Indiana, either, although Indiana missed some open shots. Even Cal Poly managed to get some open three point shots. Late in the game Tara sent Clardy in to guard Jackson and it seemed to work.
I am more concerned about our offense. Duke's defense will be studied and replicated by many other teams that will face us in the future. The physicality is similar to what we saw last year from Colorado, USC, etc. I worry that our continuity offenses (triangle, Princeton) work best when the game is called tightly and there is freedom of movement. But in the mugging that was this game, pretty offense didn't work.
But one thing did work: getting the ball inside to Iriafen and Brink. 27 and 29 points oh my. I can't remember a game I've seen with two such high scorers. They are each going to have a lot of bruises tomorrow, but this was "smash-mouth basketball" and Duke's two bigs could not stop our two bigs when either of them got the ball down low.
Jump was Jump, but it is concerning that the rest of the offense went missing--everyone beyond those three were 3/17. Note that Agara had 4 assists, however. Demetre had the one trey at an absolutely critical time. Let's hope that gets her started out of her slump.
It was nice to see Erica "Bird" McCall at the chalk talk, to meet the freshmen at the behind-the-bench, and to hear from the Hulls and Alyssa Jerome also at the behind-the-bench. Tara was optimistic that playing in this kind of game will help our team get better. At a minimum, it tells us some important things we need to work on.
At the chalk-talk McCall seemed to indicate that we have a variety of offenses we can call on depending on the opponent. It did not sound as if we were locked into one system for the whole season, but rather that there were elements of various offenses that all would play a role depending on the situation.
At the behind-the-bench, Tara noted that we had a terrific play to end the game, before overtime. She did not say it was mis-called by the refs, but I certainly thought so from my seat and the fact that Tara brought it up makes me think that she saw it that way too. It was similar to the play we ran a number of years ago to tie Colorado at the last second and make it into overtime--Prechtel got the layup on a long pass from the out of bounds play.
Duke's points leader, Reigen Richardson, was held to 3 points in an extended game.
Their go-to post, Kennedy Brown, had only 1 basket in the game.
What went wrong, then, when we were so wildly successful with our defensive plan? Ashlon Jackson is what went wrong. She was 6/10 from three point range. She was 0/4 against Davidson and 0/4 against Columbia. Her unexpected 18 points turned what would have been a blowout into a nail biter.
Yes, our three point defense is not good. It was not good against Indiana, either, although Indiana missed some open shots. Even Cal Poly managed to get some open three point shots. Late in the game Tara sent Clardy in to guard Jackson and it seemed to work.
I am more concerned about our offense. Duke's defense will be studied and replicated by many other teams that will face us in the future. The physicality is similar to what we saw last year from Colorado, USC, etc. I worry that our continuity offenses (triangle, Princeton) work best when the game is called tightly and there is freedom of movement. But in the mugging that was this game, pretty offense didn't work.
But one thing did work: getting the ball inside to Iriafen and Brink. 27 and 29 points oh my. I can't remember a game I've seen with two such high scorers. They are each going to have a lot of bruises tomorrow, but this was "smash-mouth basketball" and Duke's two bigs could not stop our two bigs when either of them got the ball down low.
Jump was Jump, but it is concerning that the rest of the offense went missing--everyone beyond those three were 3/17. Note that Agara had 4 assists, however. Demetre had the one trey at an absolutely critical time. Let's hope that gets her started out of her slump.
It was nice to see Erica "Bird" McCall at the chalk talk, to meet the freshmen at the behind-the-bench, and to hear from the Hulls and Alyssa Jerome also at the behind-the-bench. Tara was optimistic that playing in this kind of game will help our team get better. At a minimum, it tells us some important things we need to work on.
At the chalk-talk McCall seemed to indicate that we have a variety of offenses we can call on depending on the opponent. It did not sound as if we were locked into one system for the whole season, but rather that there were elements of various offenses that all would play a role depending on the situation.
At the behind-the-bench, Tara noted that we had a terrific play to end the game, before overtime. She did not say it was mis-called by the refs, but I certainly thought so from my seat and the fact that Tara brought it up makes me think that she saw it that way too. It was similar to the play we ran a number of years ago to tie Colorado at the last second and make it into overtime--Prechtel got the layup on a long pass from the out of bounds play.