Shocks 61 - Nicholls State 51

[1972Shocker]

Shocks took care of business winning a game they should win.

Hard to say how the Shocks played without being there, but 23 turnovers is still too many (Daria Frazier with 7 turnovers).

Whitney Rice apparently still unable to play.

Kiki Stephens with a good game.

Again with the weak home schedule and tough away schedule in the pre-conference season it is tough to get a good feel for this team.

Defense seems improved. Offense is struggling. Turnovers still to high.

[small tyme baller]

They did not take care of business... other team was just that bad. How do you not dominate a team with an average height under 5ft 9in.? Poor shot selection for most the game, didn't try to fastbreak at all, and let them have too many open shots.

With that being said, it looked like they knew they were going to win and didnt put forth 100% for the whole game... somewhat understandable but no excuse for the poor play.

Taylor Steven played the best defense and knocked down the open shots

Kiki finally got settled in and made the shots she's suppose to make

FT percentage was horrible

Bunton and Smith played well off the bench in the post

And can anyone throw a lob pass?! or look for it? They could/should have made a killing and didnt. They shouldnt take many positives from this game.

[wxkid23]

23 TO's against poor competition does not cut it.

I still believe this team finishes near the bottom of the MVC and Jane is history.

[ictshockolate]

Can you believe they won by just ten to this pitiful team. Maybe Jane can put a spin on it and make it seem very positive. Keep the faith.....

[tgcshock]

Actually they dominated the game until the five minute mark and then went into the tank and stopped playing. The overall performance itself was not bad at all but on a team given to mental lapses and scoring dry spells all of last season the last five minutes was concerning.

[small tyme baller]

So them being up by 15 or so for 1/3 of the game against a team of that quality is good? They should have blown them outta the water. The fact that they only one by 10 and got outscored in the 2nd half is bad.

[tgcshock]

So them being up by 15 or so for 1/3 of the game against a team of that quality is good? They should have blown them outta the water. The fact that they only one by 10 and got outscored in the 2nd half is bad.

Actually they were up by as much as 20 with 15-17 being the norm for a long stretch. The ball movement was good and the offense produced good looks. They got the ball inside to Kiki frequently and they recognized what the defense was giving. (You had commented earlier about the lack of lob passes inside but the truth was that the defense was doubling down on the inside and leaving the wing free which the shockers correctly exploited for a number of three point baskets from the corner rather than lobbing it inside for the turnover which they would have done last year). I have no complaints at all about how WSU played for 30 minutes. The problem was a slow start (5 minutes) and a horrible finish (5 minutes). As I said before, given our history that does concern me but for 30 minutes they played well and built a twenty point lead. No, I don't have a problem with that.

[small tyme baller]

You're right about the lob passes for the first half... but in the 2nd half when they had a lot of offensive movement around the perimeter and only one post on the block, they def could have made a few lob passes.

example: bunton working hard to post up and jacie up at the top of the key... alex is working so hard to post she couldnt go get the ball when the bounce entry pass was delivered. what should have happened is when the defensive post player is really fighting with her to reverse pivot and seal the defender off and jacie lays it up to her and there's an easy two points. but you are right about nicholls' help defense in the 1st half

Then when they were up by 20 why didnt they increase or at lease maintain that lead? When they do actually play a better quality of team what are they going to do?... well against UTSA, Indiana, and Wake when they got a lead they relenquished it back and lost all three games.. they need to learn how to just crush a team and quit playing so sloppy. We had 23 TO's opposed to their 12... that is not what you want to see in the box score after you play a team you are def 25 pts better than. They do have the talent to be a decent basketball team, but they just havent got it together as a whole this year and its frustrating... granted its still early.

I will disagree with you on the ball movement part however. The first half was ugly. It was mostly whoever got the first pass try to drive or look for their shot. I can't remember 3 times they got out on the fastbreak. They did get Kiki involved more in the 2nd half... But they should have pounded it to Kiki and Marcy from the first play til the last play of the game. Then if they would double or triple we kick it out for a shot or kick it out and repost. That just seems like common basketball knowledge that we really didnt exercise last night. If they continue this play it will be another long season that wont produce much. That is my opinion and i agree with most of the points you bring up but i just expect a little more out of them i guess.

[tgcshock]

We had 23 TO's opposed to their 12... that is not what you want to see in the box score after you play a team you are def 25 pts better than. They do have the talent to be a decent basketball team, but they just havent got it together as a whole this year and its frustrating... granted its still early. .

I agree that the TO ratio is undoubtedly the single most worrisome statistic especially in light of last years struggles.

[small tyme baller]

very much so... what are you thinking about tomorrow? another cupcake? I just want to see them play smart and cut those TO's down. For a D-1 team they just don't seem to play with a good basketball IQ all the time. Hopefully they'll put a solid full game together.

[tgcshock]

I think a "solid full game" is what we should be looking for. Against Nicholls State, for example, we had a positive assist to turnover ratio in the first half and then made silly turnovers in the second half, especially late. That has, unfortunately, been our mode of operation for several years; i.e, stretches of really great basketball combined with stretches of really bad basketball. I have felt that there has been some improvement this year but consistency is what I am always looking for. I don't really care so much about margin of victory but I do want us to run our offense and produce solid looks with a reasonable amount of turnovers for an entire game. Jacie is the key to this. Hopefully she will not pick up early fouls as she did last game (she was admittedly a bit unlucky).

I also want to see the freshman continue to develop. Smith has looked surprisingly comfortable for a freshman "big." She seems to be right on pace (given that we are not expect much offensively from her this year). Kerr comes in with great intensity and usually provides a defensive lift even in limited minutes. Pointer seems comfortable when she comes in and has the potential to have a breakout offensive performance but it hasn't happened yet. DeGarmo is the freshman that was most expected to provide an impact right away. You can see the potential she has but you can also see how much different the pace of the game is for her from high school. If she can continue to adjust and provide consistent scoring and defense, we will become a much better team. I like her length and the match-up problems she causes on both ends of the floor when she is playing well.