Teams like TCU and others appear to shoot well beyond the arc against Texas. The post defense was atrocious in the Wisconsin game with defenders leaving their feet and being out of position. WInn from SI sees Texas as potentially flaming out due to its defense.
I wouldn't say the defense is all THAT terrible. UCLA scored 61 points Tennessee 78pts (low for a run & gun team) Oral Roberts 56pts Wisconsin 67 TCU 59 pts Those are all relatively good defensive scores for us. Seems like our biggest problems are playing down to the competition; making key mental mistakes and not taking advantage of key opportunities during the appropriate times. This could all come back to lack of depth and the starters playing too many minutes. Fatigue will make even good players play average.
I thought the defense was pretty good yesterday. Some of the threes were really long. Barnes is always going to give up the arc to prevent something much closer. Just about any coach would. Somewhat remarkable stats: James played 39 minutes, had five blocks and two steals, and committed no fouls. I thought this team would make up for defensive liabilities with some great shooting. That's not working out. So, yeah, they are going to be in trouble when they can't score, and yesterday it was really hard for them to score.
Our post defense was really good when GJ was in. GJ denied the pass to the TCU center very well. He did miss some defensive moves covering the three on his side. Damion was a beast all over the court, that is the way that GJ played in HS but it was his first game in college BB. What has happened to Conner, 4-5 shoots this game and what 6 shoots last game??? Ca is playing good defense and blocking shots but his screens are getting soft and he is not popping out after the screen at the top of the key for an open 3. Ca needs more shots about 10-11 per game to be more effective. Moody played good D when he was in, belly to belly defense in the low blocks and he has quick hands yesterday knocking several balls away from TCU.... Does anybody know how many 3's we have taken in the last 3-4 games? Seems we are taking half as many as we have been taking. Augustin seems to be trying to do it all and not taking what the defense is giving up. The defense is laying in wait for DJ to drive the ball, DJ always gets by the first man but he has 2-3 guys waiting in the lane, a 8-10 foot jump shot is just as good as two free throws. I would hope his assists get back to 8-9 per game as his other players will be more involved. Our transition game was bad yesterday, we looked slow and they had little energy on the court,Damion was the only one hustling all 39 minutes that he was in there. Does it look like we are getting tired by the half?
we're always going to run into that problem when we play longer teams with big guards. We really don't have a guard over 6' and when you're playing teams in the tournament with 2 guards 6'3" and up, you're in trouble. When Mason is our tallest guard, that's not good. Other than Ivey, I don't remember the last big guard Barnes had in here at the 1 or 2. Durant doesn't count.
