Official #19 WSU vs Temple Game Thread

[ShockAzs]

Wow. WHAT. A. GAME!

Some notably huge plays that really stuck out to me.

1. The mad scramble by shockers and Temple that ended up as Frankamp layup.

2. Stone Cold Austin tipping the ball away from Temple that resulted in a turnover. Can't even remember the time, but it was crunch time, and we badly needed a stop

3. ZB's MAN offensive rebound on the missed FT.

4. Frankamp's cold as ICE drive to the mid range, pump fake step back mid range jumper.

5. Anything with Willis and Shaq

That was simply a phenomenal game. Stone Cold Reeves continues to impress me with his tenacity and competitiveness.

Did anybody else notice that it looks like ZB had more pep in his step this game? Looked quicker to me, and a better bounce in his step.

Shaq's best game as a Shocker. I've never seen him bring that kind of intensity. Amazing when he does!

[shock-it-to-me]

Our perimeter D is a major concern. Teams get so many wide open looks early in the game that build their confidence, and then they end up hitting guarded, NBA range threes in the second half because the rim is looking huge to them due to knocking down so many wide open ones early on.

[rZ]

If anyone comes across a replay available on the interwebs, please post a link. Couldn't watch last night and I'm a cord-cutter, so don't have any of the ESPNs.

[FlyingWheat]

Even if you don’t have a cable subscription, some ISPs have an agreement that lets you watch full game reaplays on ESPN3.com or the WatchESPN app. Last I knew, a couple years ago, we could do that with Cox.

[60Shock]

This was a game that will be remembered for the ages. It had it all. Started off with despair as we fell behind by 15 and Temple couldn't miss a three. Then joy as we caught them, only to then fall back deep in the hole again. But Shaq and crew caught fire and evened it up again. We had more heroes this game with everyone standing up and producing.

Hats off to Temple as well. Their players gave it their all and they also deserved to win, but thankfully didn't.

This looks like it is going to be a great rivalry as Temple is a pretty young team who will only get better. Just hoping we don't have to play them again in the conference tournament.

[pinstripers]

1. Temple has a damn smart coach.

2. What was the deal with five of their kids wearing hoodies up during warmups?

3. Loudest crowd I've ever been a part of. Won the game.

4. I'm not sure this conference has anybody Conner can guard.

5. Duff not getting any minutes. Has to eat at him.

6. We gonna have zero inside presence next year. Ugg.

7. Temple shoulda been called for many more fouls.

8. Interaction on the bench appeared different, and better.

9. Temple is not gonna finish 4th in the conference, but they might be the 4th team in the dance.

10. Probably the most fun I've ever had at a Shocker game.

11. Ted and Jeff on the Locker Room show is not as good as Ted and Bob. Bob is funny.

[1979Shocker]

It’s one thing to be a dual fan and not a sunshine pumper, and a completely different thing to just straight up talk crap and make stupid comments about mid-major talent.

Some teams do it the right way and don’t have the luxury of having Adidas luring in 5* players by hooking them up with Audis.

In the first half, the Shockers were playing soft and acting like a mid-major team, but the second half was completely different and the way they should be playing. In the first half, there were some posters on here ready to give up and saying a lot worse than what N Crestway was saying.

[FlyingWheat]

The most promising thing about this game for me is that we won without shooting it great from 3. We’ve had a hard time winning big games without it, but it’s something we’ll need going forward.

[Shockm]

My take on our defense last night. We came out soft, played with low energy, and always seemed to
be a step behind. Temple took advantage with some outstanding shooting. The second half we came
out with much better energy / intensity. We have to start doing that from the opening tip and sustain it
throughout the game. We have the depth to do it for 40 minutes. We might have been looking towards
Sunday a little bit and they were playing for their season.

Yes, that is some of what happened. We played a step off and trying to get a hand in their face (evidently according to Marshall to stop their drive to the basket which our scouting report said was our bigger problem) and then when Temple got hot from 3, we tried to crowd them, and we fouled them twice and they scored 6 free throw points. But there also was some of "this was their night". There are some times, when everything goes in. When that BANKED IN 3 went in during the first half, I thought the curse was on.

[Dan]

The most promising thing about this game for me is that we won without shooting it great from 3. We’ve had a hard time winning big games without it, but it’s something we’ll need going forward.

we only made 8 threes out of 22 attempts. The scary part is that 4 of those threes came from Zach, Shaq and Darral. Definitely need better performances in this aspect of our game.

[Cdizzle]

The defense was not as bad as people think. It wasn't amazing, but it was really pretty good, even in the first half, aside from the failed zone experiment the last 3 minutes.

They had a dude shooting 20% that hadn't scored in 2 games go 5-7 from 3. The next time Rashard Kelly goes 5-7 from 3, that team's fans will probably think they were playing crappy defense too, regardless of reality.

[jdshock]

Beat me to it.

[Mr. Pickle]

Took the words right out of my mouth.

[jdshock]

Our perimeter defense can still use work, but Enechionyia, Alston, and Perry got really hot and would've been hard for anyone to stop.

Going into last night, they averaged a combined four 3pm per night and a little less than 12 attempts per night. As a group, they were shooting around 34% from long range.

Last night, they were 13/20, which was good for 65%. That's an extra 27 points over what you'd expect to get. Tough to win games when the opponent is that hot.

[Cdizzle]

Our perimeter defense can still use work, but Enechionyia, Alston, and Perry got really hot and would've been hard for anyone to stop.

Going into last night, they averaged a combined four 3pm per night and a little less than 12 attempts per night. As a group, they were shooting around 34% from long range.

Last night, they were 13/20, which was good for 65%. That's an extra 27 points over what you'd expect to get. Tough to win games when the opponent is that hot.

I would like to add to this great info, that upon watching live and then again on replay, this wasn't a case of us leaving people open for their first 4 shots and then being unable to stop a hot shooter. When I watch a replay, I usually find that there was a little more space than I thought when watching live. The opposite was true last night.

Quite frankly, last night was just a baller game with two baller teams balling out for two baller coaches in front of a baller crowd.

[pogo]

Watched the game live and then read the game thread this morning. My thoughts last night were "Wow Temple is really shooting it like there is no tomorrow". Didn't think the defense was all that bad because we were keeping it out of the paint and not giving up any bunnies. After reading peoples concerns about D I decided to watch it again. I'm glad several others here didn't think we were playing soft because what I saw was Temple unable to force it inside resorted to shooting 3's and hitting them. Enough that this will probably make each of their Senior Night DVD spectacular. The second half showed Temple more worn than the first even though their bench subbed liberally when the two big guys got in foul trouble. Shaq played 30 minutes. Think about that. There have been multiple games that if you added together didn't equal 30 minutes. Defense might have picked it up a bit after the half but it wasn't like we were abysmal the first half.

[Topshock]

There is a little bit of pick your poison going on here. We decided to concentrate on not letting T drive like they did the first game and that resulted in close outs on 3 point shooters being a half step slow. Couple that with our intensity not being what it needed to be in the first half and it gives the opposing team a chance to get hot from three which they did.

On the other hand Temple decided to not let our shooters get open 3's which allowed us to be more successful going inside.

[proshox]

Every three shot in the second half by a Temple big was wide open. Not all of them went in, but DW and RN aren’t guarding to the thre point line and nobody should expect them to do so.

[AndShock]

It’s probably already been mentioned but the crew completely bumped every single under 12 promotion to the next timeout. Zero promotions at the under 12. We might have won the SMU game if they would have done that during that game.

[Cdizzle]

Major props to Temple. Players and coaches. I didn't feel like they were SuperBowlin'. It just felt like they were playing really well. And they just kept playing. There wasn't a lot of screaming and staring at the bench and yelling at the crowd....they just played. I'm sure my perspective is helped by the fact that we ended up winning, but I thought it was very nice to see.

Also, really, really, really nice to play a team in the middle of the league pack, at home, and have BOTH of our RPIs improve.

[kcshocker11]

COACHING VOICE

Dunphy has been to more than his share of arenas, but Thursday was his first game at Koch Arena.

“You hear a lot about it, and it’s a special place,” Dunphy said. “Late in the game, we were trying to get our guys to come off the center line to press. We had no chance of them hearing us.”

Marshall said it was “the loudest Koch Arena has been in many a year.”

http://sports.usatoday.com/2018/02/15/morris-leads-no-19-wichita-state-past-temple-9386/