Official Shockers vs. Golden Hurricane Game Thread

[1972Shocker]

Exciting win - I still say Tulsa was our best home game :D .

No doubt about it. Tulsa played lights out tonight. Shocks had to play a very good game to win this one.

Good thing we held Hurtt to his average over his last three games. Tulsa wasn't just hitting threes they were hitting NBA+ bombs.

Shocks showed a great deal of maturity and poise in withstanding the onslaught although Toure had a real bad Hero to Goat to Thank Goodness moment at the end of the game.

[JaminShock]

Stutz was great tonight. Tulsa couldn't stop him.

I'm still wondering why he got so few 2nd half minutes.

I was wondering the same thing during the game, when we badly needed his scoring.

I wondered it too- best guess I could come up with was that Tulsa went 4 guards at times because of foul trouble, so Ellis had to be in there to guard one of them.

[1972Shocker]

The Graham Hatch Warrior award tonight goes to Ben Smith. He battled the big boys and more than held his own tonight. Ben deserves more than 9 minutes after the effort he gave tonight.

Graham himself had a so-so game at best, but the drive across the lane for two in the latter part of the game was a really tough and really big shot.

[ShockTalk]

Got back home from the game and scanned the thread.

Our D was a little soft at times in the first half, but not in the second. Hurtt and Haralson were plain unconscious. I think Tulsa played as well as it could play. Obviously, the Shocks scoring 82 points meant more consistency on offense. We stumbled a little when we stopped working it inside with our best lead fairly late in the game. Just looking at the final score, I can see why some might be disappointed with the closeness of the game at home. But watching the game in person, I'm not. Generally, the Shocks played very well.

Garrett, DK, and Aaron had great games, although I'd still like to see more "and ones" from GS. The time he went up the strongest, he got the bucket + one. Graham had a rough first 2/3 of the game and Ben was more than able to take more pressure off GH had he played more. Couldn't believe Ben played only 9 minutes. I wonder how many rebounds a game Gabe would have averaged had we needed him to play 30 minutes a game this year (and if he was healthy enough).

[Aargh]

The Shox really played pretty good D tonight. Tulsa was just hitting everything they put up at a lot of significant times in the game.

This is the kind of game where the post-game comments generally include "when someone shoots like that - you're going to get beat". Tulsa shot that well. Guarded, open, 3's when not set, 3's while moving. Tulsa was playing the screens really well. If a player got 1' of separation, he was putting it up and it was going in.

Durley and Hatch didn't have good games.

Stutz is now "the man" for 2 games in a row.

[ShockTalk]

Stutz was great tonight. Tulsa couldn't stop him.

I'm still wondering why he got so few 2nd half minutes.

I was wondering the same thing during the game, when we badly needed his scoring.

I wondered it too- best guess I could come up with was that Tulsa went 4 guards at times because of foul trouble, so Ellis had to be in there to guard one of them.

You are correct.

[Shocker85]

What a great basketball game.

Tulsa shoots 14-27 from 3-pt range.. basically the game of their lives, and they still lose. That hast to Hurrrrrtttttttt.

Considering we withstood another "Game of their lives" from the opponent, I'm quite happy we held on. We played a pretty good brand of ball on offense. In the second half, our D picked up a bit. Hurtt and the other guy were just stroking it like they were in the League. You can't stop some of that. They were burying contested shots.

Great atmosphere. We need a game or two a year there. Great environment for a big time college basketball.

Props to all for making it loud in the second half.

Garrett Stutz???!! WOW.

Aaron Ellis????! WOW.

Ben Smith lookin' good.

And DK. Wow. Stud Central.

Fever,

You must be inside my brain. I left IBA with exactly the same "WOW" feelings. I thought virtually everyone on the court made a valuable contribution tonight. I was getting down on Hatch, but he kept some balls alive and hit the shot where he hit the deck and a couple big 'throws that kept the Shocks in the lead. Toure' didn't score to his potential, but was all over the court and got the ball where it needed to be all night.

Let me add:

Free Throws - WOW

Rebounds - WOW

The biggest question was perhaps the defensive result (I thought the effort was great). If we assume 50/50 Tulsa was hot and the Shocks defense was not, then some work on working off screens and denying jump shooters the ball and things are rosy.

Thanks for the early Christmas gift, Shocks.

--'85.

[WuDrWu]

If you would have told me that Tulsa was going to shoot 51% from the field, 52% from 3 and 84% from the line and only turn the ball over 9 times......


I don't know exactly what I would have said but I'm sure I would have gotten around to "Was that the biggest margin of defeat in the history of the series" at some point.

I have to say, I didn't think our defense was terrible. I will say there was one particular play that Tulsa ran where they had a double screen on the weak side that we refused to get through on about 7 different occasions that more than annoyed me.

At some point though we are going to have to do something differently on defense as it can't always be a career night for the other team, even though it sure seems like it.

Was it just me, or is Tulsa TALL TALLER TALLEST?

How in the world has THAT team lost 6 times already?

I have to think Doug is going to turn them into a formidable team before it's all said and done.

[ShockTalk]

The Graham Hatch Warrior award tonight goes to Ben Smith. He battled the big boys and more than held his own tonight. Ben deserves more than 9 minutes after the effort he gave tonight.

Graham himself had a so-so game at best, but the drive across the lane for two in the latter part of the game was a really tough and really big shot.

That's the kind of shot a coach is yelling no, no, no, yes, yes, yes.

[Shocker85]

Was it just me, or is Tulsa TALL TALLER TALLEST?

Holy cow - they've got some trees on that team. Sitting two rows behind their bench I was constantly in awe of their height. I will say, though, that some strength and conditioning would be time well spent for a bunch of those guys. Tall, taller, and tallest ... and skinny

--'85.

[ISASO]

Is it true that Toure' led the team in rebounding and had as many offensive rebounds than the entire Tulsa team?

[JaminShock]

Was it just me, or is Tulsa TALL TALLER TALLEST?

Holy cow - they've got some trees on that team. Sitting two rows behind their bench I was constantly in awe of their height. I will say, though, that some strength and conditioning would be time well spent for a bunch of those guys. Tall, taller, and tallest ... and skinny

--'85.

Using Pomeroy's 'Effective Height' statistic, we are significantly taller. It takes into account height and playing time. We are 12th, they are 75th.

[1972Shocker]

Is it true that Toure' led the team in rebounding and had as many offensive rebounds than the entire Tulsa team?

Almost. Toure' was the games leading rebounder with 9. He had 5 offensvie rebounds vs 7 offensive boards for Tulsa (2 of which were team rebounds).

This was a game where we needed Toure' at the point because Tulsa's primary guards have good size. Pope, Hurtt and Haralson go 6'6", 6'4" and 6'4" respectively. These 3 combined for 61 points. Pope scored a career high 16.

[wufan]

Great to see Aaron and Garrett play so well!! DK, my goodness!!! Also, did anyone else see Hatch over-hustle for a ball and get totally out of position? It was the second half. DK grabbed his arm and threw him back at his man. I was glad to see Kyles take on that type of responsability!

Of course it may have been two different Shocker players as it was difficult to distinguish who was who on my TV.

[WuDrWu]

All this and yet there is still PLENTY of room for improvement.

JT.... 2-4 from 3 and 0-0 from inside 3 isn't going to get it done. In case you haven't been paying attention, we have a couple of guys that can hit 3s.

A really good FT shooter should maybe go to the line a little bit here and there. The 5-1 assist to turnover ratio is nails, but again, we have some guards that aren't 6'7" 235. We could use some points in the paint.

Still plenty of work to do at PG which is going to be a problem in the Valley if we don't get better, although I am not sure who is going to look like Tulsa......

Defense wins championships.....see UNI. If these guys will buy in defensively and play hard like the last 3 seasons under HCGM then we'll be fine. But there is a long way to go right now.

By the way, Doc's favorite stat last 4 games:

Opponents Free Throws Attempted: 72

Shocker Free Throws MADE: 86


The ball is getting to the post, which is a good thing. Glad someone is paying attention to this board and taking my comments to heart.