03-14-2014, 12:29 AM
Nice game for most, nice half for Powell - the two fouls he committed in the first 7 minutes had the potential to make him a goat. Especially because they were both SO dumb - jumping into a shooter coming off a pick and a couple of minutes later trying to slap the ball away from ASU's center as he held the ball well out of Powell's reach.
Biggest thing was (1) keeping Carson out of the lane, dropping off him outside and draping a longer defender (Brown or Huestis, most often) over him to deny him easy looks, and (2) scrambling and helping, which was helped by the Sun Devils missing a lot of shots early.
That said, what the heck was Bachynski doing sitting on the bench most of the second half? He'd missed some easy shots, sure, but he'd also pretty much gotten our top three inside players in foul trouble. I think the ASU guards were too used to him being back there late in the game; lots of overplaying on the perimeter led to some really easy drives inside in his absence. And on offense, he was drawing a lot of attention, even if he was being single covered; early on, Brown got burned on backdoor cuts twice as he was watching to see if he had to help on Bachynski in the high post. That attention led to a lot of the scrambling that got good looks in the first half.
And given that Bachynski was sitting, WHY WASN'T POWELL CAMPED IN THE POST? He had Gilling on him, who he has at least 3 inches on and a big speed/power advantage. Instead, he was camping out at the three point line, while Huestis was trying to set up inside. The late run (and ASU folding the tent with about 5 minutes left) disguised it, but there was a stretch midway through the second half when ASU's tallest player on the floor was maybe 6'7" or 6'8", and we were hoisting up contested outside jumpers.
In any case, happy that the good guys win. Hope they can play a complete game tomorrow - they can't have their normal 3-4 minute lapses against UCLA.
VG
Biggest thing was (1) keeping Carson out of the lane, dropping off him outside and draping a longer defender (Brown or Huestis, most often) over him to deny him easy looks, and (2) scrambling and helping, which was helped by the Sun Devils missing a lot of shots early.
That said, what the heck was Bachynski doing sitting on the bench most of the second half? He'd missed some easy shots, sure, but he'd also pretty much gotten our top three inside players in foul trouble. I think the ASU guards were too used to him being back there late in the game; lots of overplaying on the perimeter led to some really easy drives inside in his absence. And on offense, he was drawing a lot of attention, even if he was being single covered; early on, Brown got burned on backdoor cuts twice as he was watching to see if he had to help on Bachynski in the high post. That attention led to a lot of the scrambling that got good looks in the first half.
And given that Bachynski was sitting, WHY WASN'T POWELL CAMPED IN THE POST? He had Gilling on him, who he has at least 3 inches on and a big speed/power advantage. Instead, he was camping out at the three point line, while Huestis was trying to set up inside. The late run (and ASU folding the tent with about 5 minutes left) disguised it, but there was a stretch midway through the second half when ASU's tallest player on the floor was maybe 6'7" or 6'8", and we were hoisting up contested outside jumpers.
In any case, happy that the good guys win. Hope they can play a complete game tomorrow - they can't have their normal 3-4 minute lapses against UCLA.
VG