Sioux and Shox - Postgame

[Snapshot9]

Seems like we start off good for 3-4 minutes, the other team adjusts, and then catches up with us. I sense a little bit of defensive letdown about halfway thru the first half.

We better have better first halves in conference play.

And why were so many open looks for North Dakota last night on the wing.
They didn't screen or break open, they just passed around the key, and shot the 3 ball without them being contested.

Hawkins is finally making an impact in games now. Have you noticed that Hatch didn't take any shots last night? Kyles can be an impact player like Chamberlain has been if he will just get started. Glad to see Gris get a basket last night, he has a pretty good shot when he gets it off. Ellis is an unknown. Toure has been quiet the last 2 games. Stutz is okay, but could use a little more activity and being more aggressive. JT gets kudos, he is playing harder, and helping the team more. Ramon, though, is the anchor man for the team, and team leader.

We jumping right into the fire playing Creighton as a conference opener.

They could do nothing better than beating Creighton in their own house.

[Shocker85]

Sure seems this team has been shooting bad for a while now, ... oh wait, they have.. all year. Maybe we just aren't a good shooting team. The FT stats also seem to back up this.

FT, yes (mostly). But the FG% and 3-point FG% has been pretty decent in many games prior to the last 3.

Maybe they can't shoot in CKA?

Ellis isn't having fun at all right now and if he doesn't snap out of it soon, he will be having even less fun. The rotation is already overloaded. I found myself wanting Ramon and Clevin back in the game and a couple other guys on the bench who were giving token effort. Hatch is another one that needs to get with the program. He has to shoot when open and has to start guarding better. He gets beat way too often and if he can't guard, his minutes will disappear, too.

--'85.

[RoyalShock]

And why were so many open looks for North Dakota last night on the wing.
They didn't screen or break open, they just passed around the key, and shot the 3 ball without them being contested.

Of the three Sioux that shot most of their treys, two of them (Harkins, Harrison), shoot less than 33%. So the defense on them could have been intentional. If it was, they complied nicely by shooting a combined 3-14.

The other guy, Mitchell, is a 54% 3FG shooter. But he went 2-8.

Their top 3-pt shooter, Bledsoe (22-41, 54%) only played 2 minutes. Did he get hurt early? I was only able to listen to bits and pieces of the game.

[Kung Wu]

Early in the game, when someone gets fouled shooting they need to drop to the floor and flop like a fish so that we can sub in Toure' to take the freethrows. If Toure' is already in then we sub in Kyles.

I'm getting desperate for freethrow shooting. We HAVE to be hot at the line at Creighton to have a decent chance -- those gimme's are critical up there.

[shockar25]

The free throw shooting has to improve, and it will I'm sure. Remember one game this season we shot over 75%, and if memory serves it was right after a night like last night, where we shot TERRIBLY from the line (perhaps the game after the UMKC game?).

Bottom line is, our defense has proven, game in and game out (TCU might be the only exception) that no matter who we play, we pretty much hold them to a lower shooting percentage than they are averaging. Out rebounding them will tighten it up even more. Now, if we shoot a respectable free-throw percentage and KEEP WORKING AT GETTING THE BALL INSIDE for those higher percentage shots (AJ is really working on this, and as others have said, small steps are being made by Garrett and JT) we could very well win the game.

Watching the improvements with this team at times is like trying to 'watch' the earth turn--it happens, but at such a slow speed if you're not extremely patient and observant, you'll never see it. Again, I do think it is happening. They're smart guys--they're learning with every game, just not as fast as many fans would like to see.

I'm looking forward to the Creighton game. The Valley isn't near as strong as it's been in the past, and to me it's a lot more wide open than we might have thought going in to the season. With that said, one game in Omaha, is only that--one game. A loss just means we go 6-6, not 1-11. That's not to say I wouldn't love to see us pull an upset!

[1979Shocker]

The free throw shooting has to improve, and it will I'm sure. Remember one game this season we shot over 75%, and if memory serves it was right after a night like last night, where we shot TERRIBLY from the line (perhaps the game after the UMKC game?).

We were 100% against Centenary (8-8) and 92.3% against Michigan State (12-13).

[shockar25]

The free throw shooting has to improve, and it will I'm sure. Remember one game this season we shot over 75%, and if memory serves it was right after a night like last night, where we shot TERRIBLY from the line (perhaps the game after the UMKC game?).

We were 100% against Centenary (8-8) and 92.3% against Michigan State (12-13).

There you go. Thanks 1979.

[WstateU]

The free throw shooting has to improve, and it will I'm sure. Remember one game this season we shot over 75%, and if memory serves it was right after a night like last night, where we shot TERRIBLY from the line (perhaps the game after the UMKC game?).

We were 100% against Centenary (8-8) and 92.3% against Michigan State (12-13).

There you go. Thanks 1979.

Please don't post facts... we don't like them here! :good: