Game 6: East Carolina Thoughts

[bac2therac]

Overall it was a slow funky first 10 minutes to the game but the team kept doing what it does which is grind away on defense and totally blew the game open. Not worried about the final score as ECU just hit some 3s and RU was just trying to run the clock down on offense.

Very very impressed with the RU defense. There were big stretches were offense was futile for ECU. ECU took an earlier 13-7 league as RU obviously was not ready to play after Turkey Day while ECU was agressive and very energetic. ECU went about 8 minutes without a fg at one point and then after that almost another 6 minutes without one...from the 14:35 mark to the :56 second mark....RU outscored ECU an amazing 24-4 run...almost 14 minutes. It was a slow and methodical beatdown. The game was essentially over at halftime as ECU was plagued with foul trouble and RU had broken their spirit. RU would go on a 22-6 run during a 10 minute stretch in the 2nd half to build a huge lead.

What I am so impressed about the coaching staff is that it instills sticking to the game plan during adversity which relies on strong defense and teamwork. I saw this last year as well as the team tended to struggle in first halves but then would break out. However these 6 opponents have been terrible. RU schedule strength was 346 coming into this game..out of 351...that is awful...this is a historically bad schedule. Can we extrapolate our defense in these games to other game..well we will find out on Tuesday against FSU. Certainly I think RU will be more juiced to play better competition. However the offense is struggling mightily. So many missed chip shots, layups and foul shots. I think there is enough sample to see this will not be a good offensive team. There may be nights where they shoot well but by and large its going to be ugly.

32% shooting against a poor ECU is frightening. Sanders just a brutally bad shooting night....2-15...so after such a great answer to Pike's challenge, he laid a big egg. Freeman ended up with a double double so obviously thats great...but 5-16 fg shooting and 5-11 at the line is not good. Lots of easy missed shots and the free throws are a big concern and I think his form is terrible. Freeman gave his usually warrior effort and find ways to chip in but he is just not a good shooter plain and simple, he is not going to turn into one. Baker after a huge 29 point outing struggled as well with just a 1-8 shooting night...thats okay he is a frosh, that will happen. More concerned about the upperclassmen struggling. Thiam and Eugene had decent games but I would have liked to see a more concerted effort to get them the ball. Doorson solid minutes, his only offense will be dunks but just being on the court should help his confidence

So going into FSU, I see major red flags with shooting so we will see if that gets exposed. Pike can mask it all he wants against the sisters of the poor by playing great defense but with FSU, Minnesota, and Michigan State up next we will learn for sure what we have. We can hope this team can perform in the fire, what we at least should be happy with is that team is going to show fight.

One note, biggest crowd of the year today...4336, not sure if other games were announced higher but it was the biggest actual. Hopefully we can get over 5K for FSU but not so sure. We need to get the students there for MSU

 

[winfield102]

Love the intensity on defense and really like the improvement of Eugene.

Don't understand why we don't have MD touch the ball more on offense. Has shown a nice stroke and looks good at the foul line when shooting FT's.

Too many bad shots by freeman and Sanders. Each probably should have ended up with 10 shots. Freeman's pass to Baker for a 3 pointer was his best play.

We are a terrible shooting team and we take too many poor quality shots. Why is Sanders taking a Pull up 17-18 footer early in the shot clock in the 2nd half?? If we are a poor shooting team who cant hit 3's, there needs to be a premium on the quality of our shots.

Finally, I really hope we get away from draining the shot clock to 8-9 seconds and then having Sanders try to make something happen. It's clear that we definitely can't do it with Geo ay the top. Run the freaking offense and work for a quality shot. Put them in a position to be successful offensively.

 

[DHajekRC84]

The shooting is clearly an issue but I like so many things about the team and the coaching.

Again I saw Corey doing other things to contribute.
I think the chemistry is great.
I love seeing the coaches coaching the bigs and guard on timeouts and walk backs to the bench.
I loved watching the D step up and change the early game flow.
I do believe these guys are just getting better and will continue to develop. When was the last time we saw that....

The fans need to catch up. They are missing some good respectable play they can be proud of. Hope they come and fill the RAC and get it it to where it will feed the players, scare the crap out of the visitors, and become the home court it can be.

 

[RUinFla]

Corey and Geo were a combined 3 or 23. If you had told me beforehand that was going to happen, would say we might not win, let alone cover the spread. Other guys stepped up.
TL

 

[zebnatto]

1) Corey certainly does good things on the court, but there is a minus to his game that I pray he corrects: careless passes, fored shots, and driving into trouble;
2) Mike Williams finds ways to contribute and seems always under control;
3) DeShawn is DeShawn.
4) One of Shaq's best games. It dawned on him that at his size he can just go up and jam it--and I think he can do that or get fouled in trying against B10 competition;
5) Like what I see from Issa--but, Issa, if there's a loose ball get on the floor and fight for it;
6) Immensely impressed with Geo's court presence;
7) Douc as others have said is a real player and has upside is huge; let's hope he uses that bit of a nasty edge to his advantage;
8) Nothing to say about Souf, certainly nothing good.

There was a five minute stretch around the ten minute mark of the second half where we were playing tremendous ball. Overall, our defense was excellent--props to coach--with great intensity, nice rotation, aggressive trapping. Offense too had its moment but was hurt by missed shots and the fact that "in your face energy" works better on D than O.

 

[BillyC80]

Looked like ECU scouted Geo as a shooter and clamped down on him, with help at times. That seemed to open things up a bit for Corey but he could not take advantage.

Corey is in love with that one leg fade-away jump shot, even when he's wide open. Most times he leaves it short.

OTOH, Corey locked down the opposing top scorer, so he contributed to the win as much as anyone.

 

[Eagleton96]

Love the intensity on defense and really like the improvement of Eugene.

Don't understand why we don't have MD touch the ball more on offense. Has shown a nice stroke and looks good at the foul line when shooting FT's.

Too many bad shots by freeman and Sanders. Each probably should have ended up with 10 shots. Freeman's pass to Baker for a 3 pointer was his best play.

We are a terrible shooting team and we take too many poor quality shots. Why is Sanders taking a Pull up 17-18 footer early in the shot clock in the 2nd half?? If we are a poor shooting team who cant hit 3's, there needs to be a premium on the quality of our shots.

Finally, I really hope we get away from draining the shot clock to 8-9 seconds and then having Sanders try to make something happen. It's clear that we definitely can't do it with Geo ay the top. Run the freaking offense and work for a quality shot. Put them in a position to be successful offensively.

I don't think we took a lot of poor quality shots today. We missed a lot of good quality shots. Not sure one is worse than the other though.

 

[RU-Choppin-Ohio]

Defense was great...even in transition and even when the refs make a Bad Call on a Block.....This block by Eugene sort of looks like a LeBron James type block

 

[RUonBrain]

I also hate when we run the shot clock down just for Corey to throw up some junk.

I listened on the radio today, and he did that after a TO. (Right before the half? I can't remember.).

I was thinking Coach must hate that, too.

 

[zebnatto]

I think the only bad shots were taken by Corey. He was trying to do too much, or maybe he was coached in that direction.

 

[BigEastPhil]

What I liked about today:

- Freeman came out possessed. He's been quiet the past few games and he was the man today.
- Doorson had a breakout game and hopefully this will be a game changer for him.
- Baker; Sanders and Williams did not have superb games and yet we still won quite comfortably.
- Defense was good as ECU's 2 main guys were realitively quiet
- Eugene is getting under opponents' skin
- Issa hit some 3's showing a better consistency trend.

 

[willisneverrana43]

I also hate when we run the shot clock down just for Corey to throw up some junk.

I listened on the radio today, and he did that after a TO. (Right before the half? I can't remember.).

I was thinking Coach must hate that, too.

To the contrary, with this team’s offensve ability, I suspect Pikiell wants the team to run clock. It’s a good tactic, particularly once RU starts playing real teams.

 

[RUBigFrank]

We wear teams down - no drop off with our substitutions.

Also - have not seen as much yet this season - but our "half Press" wears down the other teams guards bringing up the ball, this also shortens the shot clock (this may be a good situation for Souf and a given rest for our guards). Expect more of this strategy as the competition amps up.

 

[zebnatto]

To the contrary, with this team’s offensve ability, I suspect Pikiell wants the team to run clock. It’s a good tactic, particularly once RU starts playing real teams.

No problem with getting deep in the clock, but don't like the option they set up.

 

[winfield102]

We have a quality defense and we rebound very well. Run the offense and work for a quality look. It's a better option now than having Sanders go ISO from the top.

 

[RUChow]

I also hate when we run the shot clock down just for Corey to throw up some junk.

I listened on the radio today, and he did that after a TO. (Right before the half? I can't remember.).

I was thinking Coach must hate that, too.

If he did it right out of a timeout Pikiel probably called for it.