Shocks 40 - Texas Pan Am 34

[1972Shocker]

I think the score, Shocks 40 - TPA 34, pretty much says it all about this game. Shocks come back after trailing 25-12 before Frannie Vathauer hit the Shocks only 3-pointer of the game to finish off the 1st half scoring.

I suppose you could say the Shocks defense was very good, especially in the second half holding Texas Pan Am to 9 points. Texas Pan Am did not score for the first 10:30 of the second half.

Samantha Smith with a very nice rebounding effort off the bench.

However, the Shocks struggling to get to 40 points for the second game in a row (and this time against a mush lesser opponent) does not give Shocker fans a real warm and fuzzy feeling.

This was a game the Shocks should have won and they did, but it was certainly not a very impressive win.

[tgcshock]

Really a mixed performance tonight.

The bad: Long stretches of offensive stagnation. Jacie waiting too long to get the offense started when the first look was not there. Missed three pointers from people who should make them. Giving up fastbreak points.

The good: Continuing a trend of making good halftime adjustments. The defense. Not only did we hold them under 40 points (and just nine in the second half), a number of there points were scored off transition buckets rather than the half-court defense. This may not be the best offensive team but what the defense did was impressive against anybody. The belief that the game was winnable after a very tough first half performance.

The ugly: Officials allowing a lot of bumping and hacking in the first half which led to an ugly offensive game and eventually led to a near fight at the end of the game. (Kudos to Kiki for keeping her cool under duress). I have certainly seen worse officiated games (unfortunately) but it drives players crazy when substantial contact is repeatedly not a foul and then a touch foul is thrown in to keep the game "under control." And there were an unusual number of three second calls when it did not appear that there was much there to call. The officiating was not biased and I am not sure that it actually helped either team but it certainly helped make it a very ugly offensive night for both squads.

[ShockerFever]

I doubt I'd attribute the 9 points scored by UTPA in the second half to any type of good WSU defense, but rather that UTPA must have just been beyond bad.. I mean like West High could honestly give them a game.

15 at the half? 40 for the game? Against Texas-Pan American? :roll:

It's a win and everything, but seriously, this is gonna be a very long and ugly year.

[trufan]

Give me a break!
Granted, it wasn't pretty, and granted, the offense is anemic.
But for goodness sake---give credit where credit is due!
UTPA is not the top 25 team that OSU was, but:
1) Shocks held them to 34 points for a game
HALF their usual 68 points per game.
2) Shocks held them to 3 treys
less than ONE-THIRD of their usual 9.5 per game
3) Shocks held them to 28% field goal shooting
just over HALF of their usual 44.2%
This defense is for REAL!
Defensive basketball is not as much "fun" for fans to watch as fast-paced offensive ball, but if it produces wins, that's the chief concern.
Now, that said--I sure wish Popeye and a can of spinach would show up for the offense!!

[SubGod22]

As Gillespie said on the Shocker Report, for this team to have success this year they're going to have to do it on the defensive side of the ball like SIU has done on the mens side. The staff knows they don't have an offensive power house here and have to rely on D to get the job done. The D has been much better than last year.

[tgcshock]

I doubt I'd attribute the 9 points scored by UTPA in the second half to any type of good WSU defense, but rather that UTPA must have just been beyond bad.. I mean like West High could honestly give them a game.

15 at the half? 40 for the game? Against Texas-Pan American? :roll:

It's a win and everything, but seriously, this is gonna be a very long and ugly year.

According to the Wichita Eagle before the game, "Texas-Pan American ranks fourth nationally in both three-pointers per game (9.5) and three-point percentage (41 percent)."

This was not a bad offense and the defensive effort was very sound.

[The Mad Hatter]

I doubt I'd attribute the 9 points scored by UTPA in the second half to any type of good WSU defense, but rather that UTPA must have just been beyond bad.. I mean like West High could honestly give them a game.

15 at the half? 40 for the game? Against Texas-Pan American? :roll:

It's a win and everything, but seriously, this is gonna be a very long and ugly year.

Just out of curiosity, were you at the game? What I saw was a UTPA team that wanted to get the ball into the post to start their offense. All of their drills centered on doing this, and early in the game they tried multiple times to get the ball to the low post. Our defense smothered the entry pass and doubled well on the post, forcing bad shots and turnovers.

I have no problem with criticism of the offense, because we went long stretches where we looked bad and missed a lot of open looks, but the defensive was outstanding, and has been most of the year.

Just as a side note, the offense was actually probably hurt by the fact that the defense was so good. UTPA was forced to use the entire shot clock on most possessions which, along with the huge amount of contact allowed by the refs, destroyed any offensive flow the game could have had.

[molly jabali]

a win is a win, and it appears that the defense WAS good....anytime you hold anyone to under 40 points, something has been done correctly.

[1972Shocker]

a win is a win, and it appears that the defense WAS good....anytime you hold anyone to under 40 points, something has been done correctly.

I have to agree. Especially when you hold a team to 9 points in a half you have to be doing something right.

The worrisome thing is that we HAD to hold UTPA under 40 to win this game.

As improved as the defense is, I don't think we can count on that kind of effort in too many of our remaining games.

Hopefully, we won't HAVE to hold teams below 40 points to win in our remaining games either.

[The Mad Hatter]

Right now, Kyrie and Taylor are really struggling to hit their 3-pointers, which is surprising since their career averages are near the top 10 in Shocker history. Taylor in particular has missed a lot of open looks. We really need those two to give us something on offense. If they can start hitting, it should open up a lot of things for Kiki, Marcy, and Jacie on the drive. If they keep missing, it will be easy for teams to pack it in against us.