Game 17, UMass, Jan 15th, 7 PM, MASN

[sigmanorm]

2 for 1 dude! The new announcer was sooo much better than the old. This guy may actually be a professional!

Hopefully it just wasnt because the older one was sick or something. Hope its a permanent change.

I think it was the same guy that used to do the on floor games.

 

[Five Two]

I think it was the same guy that used to do the on floor games.

Correct. same guy. He's also done some Georgetown and American games.

 

[Cool Disco Dan]

I think in games when the drive is working, PH will use Holloway to spread the defense and open up the lane. Doesn't explain why they couldn't run screens for him once UMass went zone, but I think a lot of times he's out there to circle the perimeter and drag some defenders around.

At least I hope it is. If this is Hewitt's method of getting open looks for his 3 point ace then we're doomed.

I didn't think Pat played a poor game, despite his line. As Jim hit on, we established no rhythm in terms of moving the ball against the zone...BA got across halfcourt and didn't want to get within 15 feet of Putney (somewhat understandable at first) so he ended up dribbling towards the bench and waiting for someone to come get the ball - that usually took about half of the shot clock. We just didn't get Pat anything close to an open look against the zone.

It could've been very helpful to get Jalen the ball at the FT line - no idea if he could knock down the open jumper, but he certainly could put his head down and attack one of their bigs. His only shot of the 2nd half was off an offensive rebound. If you factor in how good and versatile Jalen is defensively, I won't be surprised if he ends up being our best player over the course of the in-conference season.

 

[Five Two]

We keep banging on BA, but he is playing out of position. That's no excuse for dribbling the ball off his foot on the last play, but more as it relates to setting up the offense against their zone. Moore is still learning and Edwards didn't even play last night so BA has to run the point. At some point, I'd prefer to just leave Moore in and live with it.

 

[gmujim92]

I think several of these posts once again highlight what we've been talking about recently -- the need for Hewitt to add an X's and O's assistant to help with game-planning and in-game strategic adjustments.

It just seems like in every game, our opponents do something defensively that we have no answer for. UMass doesn't play that zone often, so it's understandable that the staff wouldn't have a lot of film on it, but once you recognize what they're doing and where the weaknesses are , you should be able to figure out how to attack it.

I don't expect the HC to be able to think of everything on the fly, in an emotional and fast-paced game. But it seems like every game, Hewitt does a handful of things that leave me scratching my head -- from sticking a non-shooter (Copes) in the soft spot of a zone we were struggling to break, to putting the 6-8 Okoloji in a position to have to stop penetration from one of the quickest guards on the planet in the final 2 minutes.

I have to believe that these mistakes can be corrected if Hewitt has a veteran assistant on the bench with the balls to say, "Uh, Coach, you sure you wanna do that?"

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Really though, how many players aren't going to turn that ball over?

Just a couple seconds left and not really time to pass, a full court press, having to go the length of the court, and it's score or lose. Anyone else on the team you'd rather get the ball in that scenario?

 

[gmujim92]

Really though, how many players aren't going to turn that ball over?

Just a couple seconds left and not really time to pass, a full court press, having to go the length of the court, and it's score or lose. Anyone else on the team you'd rather get the ball in that scenario?

It's strange since he's a freshman, but I feel most confident when the ball is in Moore's hands.

Not that I wanted him taking the last shot -- unless it was a layup or a floater, that's a non-starter. But he had time to get the ball upcourt quickly and find an open shooter.

I can't recall him ever dribbling the ball off his own foot, so that's an excellent start.

 

[Washingtonian]

One of the inbounds in the last minute, Johnny was wide open in the front court and no one saw it. I do not know who was inbounding the ball (it was underneath the UMass basket) but how was this not seen. He was throwing his arms up as well.

Granted, the pass may have been picked off anyway, but UMass was double teaming someone trying to get the inbounds pass anyway, so that leaves someone open.

 

[expendable smurf]

Patrick is one of my favorite players, but I for the life of me can't figure out why he just stands around on the perimeter. And it's not just our offense play-calling, because I saw Sherrod twice yelling to Patrick to cut through the lane so he could set a screen for him.

It's definitely on the coaches to create more plays for him, but he also can't just stand around for entire possessions because that turns one of our great weapons into an asset for the other team. Patrick's too talented to have the game he has last night, so hopefully he bounces back Saturday.

He doesn't seem to have a good understanding of spacing and anticipating passing lanes. So often all he needs to do is move a couple feet one one way or the other and he'd open the offense up completely. Right now he seems to stay glued to spots that both keep his defender involved in the play and also put him in a position where a guard driving to the basket can't kick the ball out. Moving without the ball is definitely something for him to work on.

 

[dr. gunnie]

I think several of these posts once again highlight what we've been talking about recently -- the need for Hewitt to add an X's and O's assistant to help with game-planning and in-game strategic adjustments.

It just seems like in every game, our opponents do something defensively that we have no answer for. UMass doesn't play that zone often, so it's understandable that the staff wouldn't have a lot of film on it, but once you recognize what they're doing and where the weaknesses are , you should be able to figure out how to attack it.

I thought he did a decent job last night of addressing it. We called a time out, we started passing the ball to a forward at the free throw line, and we got them out of it. Now, I will agree that the player at the free throw line probably was our best option to hit that shot, that probably could have been changed.

But for all the people that are blaming the loss on their zone, we were up by 5 when they went to it, and we were still up by 5 at the end of the game. It's not the reason why we lost.

 

[gmuEX]

I woke up feeling like a stallion just donkey kicked me in the balls. I'm a walking zombie at work. Everyone that has walked by my office today has asked if I'm ok, my only response, "Just Hewitt". Mason basketball better cover my insurance premium for my health insurance, or I might have to destroy everything Kellogg has ever cherished in his life. Let's just say I'm glad I don't have a window office.

 

[EXpatriot13]

But for all the people that are blaming the loss on their zone, we were up by 5 when they went to it, and we were still up by 5 at the end of the game. It's not the reason why we lost.

I think it's one of the reasons we lost the game. Not scoring a FG for a six minute stretch is a pretty big deal and had we scored a few FG's in those six minutes it could have afforded us a wider margin towards the end of the game. Why not be up 11 or 12? Sure, being up 5 is great and all but why not be up more when you can be? Not scoring a basket for six minutes is pretty pathetic.

Obviously there were other reasons why we lost the game as well, not going to dwell on those any further than they already have been.

 

[gmutom]

Their length and athleticism obviously presented problems for us when they went to the zone. It's one thing to say we needed to attack it, but they have the record and ranking they do for a reason. Although we fell apart the last 40 seconds, it was nice to see us weather that drought.

We did some very good things last night and stayed closer than many people predicted we would, but I love that Hewitt refused to find positives in the loss despite a reporter's softball question giving him an opportunity to do so. That press conference was about as pissed as I can ever recall him getting.

We've made some strides the last three games, but learning to close out games is something these players and coaches need to learn to do. Not searching for silver linings in a game we could have won is the first step.

 

[dr. gunnie]

I don't care if they held us scoreless for 38 minutes, and we got all 86 points right at the end of the game. You're playing the #16 team in the country, there are going to be runs during the game.

Point is you had a 5 point lead with under a minute left and you lost - what you did in that last minute is the reason you lost the game.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

But for all the people that are blaming the loss on their zone, we were up by 5 when they went to it, and we were still up by 5 at the end of the game. It's not the reason why we lost.

Exactly, we were up five going into it, same coming out of it. Now, while it was happening, I was scared to death we'd lose because of it, but we didn't.

Talking about playing out of position we're just in a tough spot with our essentially top three scorers all being shooting guards. Wright can play small forward in the CAA a lot easier than in the A-10, and we all know Allen and Holloway aren't true points.

Allen and Wright have to continue to be fearless attacking the rim, however. Nice having our guards get to the line...makes a big difference.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

It's strange since he's a freshman, but I feel most confident when the ball is in Moore's hands.

Not that I wanted him taking the last shot -- unless it was a layup or a floater, that's a non-starter. But he had time to get the ball upcourt quickly and find an open shooter.

I can't recall him ever dribbling the ball off his own foot, so that's an excellent start.

To your point though, he is a Freshman. One if the reasons you can't remember him making a mistake in this scenario is that he's not the guy you're going to in this scenario (yet).

Bryon plays his heart every game and while he didn't make that last play, it wasn't a mental breakdown or lack of effort. Those other guys on our scholarship too.

To Gunnie's point, up 5 with under 40 seconds left, the TEAM should be prepared to execute the way Umass' TEAM executed on defense (on offense I grant you it was the Chaz Williams show). Having the team prepared is the responsibility of the guy getting paid to do it.

 

[PDGL Hoops]

Watching this game unravel last night made me wish I wouldn't have expelled my wife to the other room to watch American Idol. Give me a 10 point loss as opposed to an epic collapse due to the inability to hold on to a few time outs and inbound the ball. I am not sure if my head hurts from the drinks or thinking about this game!

 

[Patriotfan49]

Is it crazy, or does anybody think that maybe Hewitt should have called us to press in the last minute?

Just spitballing here, but not allowing them to roll the ball up to half court and making it somewhat difficult to go coast to coast could have helped. Or at worst was no different than letting them go coast to coast for a uncontested layup 4 times....

 

[gmutom]

I'm all for Moore getting as much experience as possible, but I understand being selective about when he gets that experience. There will be some games when he is playing well and warrants being on the court at the end, but last night was not one of those nights. He had three turnovers in 18 minutes, and I believe all of them were caused by trying to dribble into traffic.

 

[Washingtonian]

Is it crazy, or does anybody think that maybe Hewitt should have called us to press in the last minute?

Just spitballing here, but not allowing them to roll the ball up to half court and making it somewhat difficult to go coast to coast could have helped.

Allen "faked" like he was going to pull a Briante Weber and then backed off when UMass was rolling the ball up the court.