Solid win, if not as great as Saturday. We showed a lot of offensive firepower, but the defense certainly leaves some questions. I mentioned in the preview that St. Francis would not be a very good three point shooting team, but they really came through, going 13-19. Lots of open looks from beyond the arc.
Tory Jackson showed why I believe he will finish with a triple double at some point this year. 9 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds. Really good all-around game.
Ben Hansbrough had 18 and 7. I mentioned at halftime how he looks like a better point guard than Peoples and the stats seems to showcase his ability to distribute. I love how we now have a shooting guard who can take it into the paint.
Peoples was pretty depressing. Only 4 points in 24 minutes. With Abromaitis looking so good, it's only a matter of time before he loses his starting spot.
Ty Nash lost more minutes than Peoples to Abro tonight, which is surprising. Tim looks much more like a small forward and I would hate to take our rotation's one true post presence away from teaming with Harangody. Just 18 minutes for Ty, but he took advantage and scored 11.
Harangody finished with 27 and 9. A very good game to be sure, but once again the offense performed really well without having to rely too much on Luke. We'll need that against better teams.
Off the bench, Abro scored 17 with 5 boards in 27 minutes. Starter-like playing time, if not actually getting to take warmups off before the tip. He could be our second best player by the end of the year. 5 points, 4 rebounds for a solid Carleton Scott. Garbage time for Brooks, Cooley, and Broghammer. A seven man rotation scares me, so I really hope that Coach Brey is just waiting for one of the freshmen to earn 8-10 a game. Wishful thinking, perhaps.
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6 comments:
Peoples was horrible. He would not have started for St. Francis. # 20 hit 4 shots in a row over him and Jackson and they still didn't get out on him. We need work on close out defense and defending off the dribble. We were very pedestrian on defense. I don't see Hansbrough keeping up with the jets in the Big East and he seems to drive the middle and leave his feet without a plan - bailed out by the refs a couple of times last night.
Think we could have used Abro last year? I believe he would have made a difference.
It appears that Brey is doing it again - going to live with a short bench. I just don't get it. Throw the freshmen into the fray and see what you have. I believe that a couple of them could help. It is a long season that takes many twists and turns. Brey should know better after 10 years.
Early thoughts - Harangody's jump hook is still short - just like the end of last year. Last year I attributed it to the fact that his legs were gone through Brey's continued minutes mismanagement. Unfortunately it looks like he's short arming it at times. This is tougher to correct than you might think as muscle memory plays a factor. Hopefully Swanagan can help get it straightened out. Always makes me laugh when coaches who never played inside think they can help a big man out. Do you really think Brey has these conversations with Luke?
This is also an issue with having only one other veteran post player on the team. Even Ty Nash isn't that great for bouncing ideas off of. He's a different type of player. Hopefully Luke can learn a bit from Swanagan, as you mentioned.
You said Ty Nash lost more minutes than Peoples to Abro and you were suprised. Did you watch the game? Nash was in foul trouble early, thats why he lost minutes.
Brey plays scared and thats why he will always have a short bench!
I will give this years team credit, they seem to be much tougher than last year. I think that will show up big time when we start playing in the conference. Thursday nights game will not be a cake walk, they have four seniors and are picked to win their conference. Could be interesting?
Obviously Nash picked up four fouls, leading to his limited minutes, but I think this is just another issue with the short bench. Abromaitis' style of play is suited for the perimeter. We have three freshmen who can eat up minutes in the paint. Let's see one or two of them out there before we start forcing square pegs into round holes.
Long Beach State will indeed be a very interesting opponent. This is more along the lines of what I'd like to see our non-conference scheduling look like: a solid, veteran program who can make us work but should still be very beatable. Of course, it is pretty rare for a small-conference team to call us to set up a game at the JACC.
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