Well, this is a much happier post mortem than the last couple of games, eh?
First, though on the road, and NW being 10-1 at home this year coming into this game (including home wins over Illinois, Maryland and Indiana), this was a game RU had a chance to win on the road, coming onto the game - like at Penn St. And ... despite the NET ranking s(NW at 48 pre-game - now 55), and RU at 82 (now 72), RU played like the better team most of the game - and pretty much controlled the game for the final 32 minutes or so of the game. RU fell behind 4-13 ... and then Bailey got cooking ... RU outscored NW 39-23 the rest of the half, and at one point by 63-39 to take a 15 point lead at 67-52 (maybe 8 minutes left?).
Second, RU significant positive contributions from most players (not necessarily high point totals, but materially positive contributions. The exceptions were Derkack (who was simply poor this game), Martini (meh defense, 1 rebound, missed a wide open 3 - though he did have 2 assists), and Williams (maybe we should give him a pass becasue he was literally in bed with the flu until the morning of the game). I would point out particularly important secondary contributions without a ton of stats by Grant and Dortch. Grant did have more stats - 3-5 FG (though 0-2 FT), 6 points and 5 rebounds - including 2 important offensive rebounds) ... but his best contribution was his defense on Martinelli. Yes, Martinelli scored 16 points, and yes others also covered him at times. But when Grant was in, he was the primary defender ... and Martinelli was an inefficient 5-16 FG with 3 turnovers - very few easy shots, often having to force his shot OVER Grant. And Dortch ... okay, I was wrong - maybe his redshirt being burned will help the team. It did in this game ... just 2 rebounds, 0-2 FT, a stupid foul 40 feet from the basket ... but also 1 steal, 1 great blocked shot - and HUGE energy, and mostly solid defense, holding his own, giving RU very important minutes to rest Sommerville (and even Bailey). He is a legitimate 6'10", and plays defense like he is that height. Of course, Acuff was crucial in this game, and Sommerville - more on him later (yes, 9 points 6 reb ... but ...), and also J. Davis all had moments or more than moments.
Third, obviously RU's offense was very efficient. It helps a LOT when Bailey goes 9-10 FG in the 1st half and 13-20 on the game (including 4-4 3 point in the 1st half and 5-8 overall) ... and Bailey going 6-6 FT helps offensive efficiency. But as pointed out by the post game commentators , other than Bailey RU was 15-29 FG, over 50%. And when you make shots, often assists show up. RU had 16 assists on 28 made FG - Bailey and Grant going a combined 18-25 will help that. I would also point out that RU only turned the ball over 8 times all game ... and NW averages forcing 14 turnovers per game. RU shot 57% from the field - but over 50% even without including Bailey's shots - against a team that averaged just 43% FG to their opponents. NW had allowed 79 or more points just 5 times in 20 games prior to the RU game (and NONE at home) - losses in all those games ... if you include at MSU, NW is now 0-7 in games allowing 78 points or more (including RU, now). There were 2 flies in the ointment on offense, as a team: FT shooting (just 15-25 ... 6-16 other than the 9-9 from Bailey and Sommerville), and offensive rebounding (RU did fine in the 1st half with 4 offensive rebounds on 8 missed FG), but had just 1 offensive rebound in the 2nd half, on 13 missed shots). Still, a good offensive game. Acuff REALLY helped, as a complimentary scorer to the monster game Bailey had. And Bailey was ... ridiculously good offensively.
Fourth, RU did mostly fine defensively. There were some communications problems, especially in the 1st half. and RU gave up way too many offensive rebounds to NW (not a great rebounding team) - by my count 9 in the 2nd half). And Martini failed to stay up on Leach several times. Still .., some real positives (though let's be honest: NW is not a great offensive team, averaging just 44% FG and 33% 3-point FG). Even so ... RU held NW's top 2 scorers to 9-28 FG (Martinelli and Barnhizer), though Leach was terrific - 23 points, on 8-12 FG. Also, one thing RU did a GREAT job of was pressuring NW, causing NW to hurry a lot of their shots (hurting their FG%, especially in the 2nd half) - AND turning the ball over with both steals, but also travel's (mostly due to excellent wall-up on ball defense) and wild passes. I know NW only turned the ball over 10 times - but many were at crucial moments. While NW outscored RU 7-2 to begin the 2nd half, at one point in the 2nd half NW was 4-23 FG and 1-10 3-point FG - RU used that clamp-down to gain a 15 point lead at 67-52 ... I think NW went over 6 minutes without scoring and longer without a FG.
Players:
1) Bailey: Wow. And wow. 9-10 FG in the 1st half, less efficient in the 2nd half, but still 13 2nd half points. When Bailey is hot, no one can stop him: He will hit form all angles and any angles. The BTN commentators in the studio pointed out Bailey maybe took ONE "bad" shot, of his 20. NW was a particularly good match-up for Bailey: He had to be covered by Barnhizer or a 6'4" guard most of the night ... no match for his length. Bailey showed every aspect of his ability to find and make shots - including adding a new move. He hit face-up jab-step and step back 3's, catch and shoot 3's, dunks on cuts and fast breaks, drive and pull-up, catch and shoot mid-range, back-down post-up and turnaround elevated shots ... and a new move: a back-down jump hook at the baseline. And was 6-6 FT. Bailey is now 26-29 FT his last 6 games, FYI. Bailey also had 3 blocked shots, and played defense with energy - though a couple of lapses. Again, he mainly covered guards (Leach, Ciaravino, Mullins. I think Leach scored more of his points when someone other than Bailey was covering him, though don't hold me to that. He only had 6 rebounds - but part of that I think is covering gauirds out at the perimetewr, like in the last game, rather than PF's and WF's. And he did have 0 assists - but again, not because he was not passing. Rather, when he DID pass his teammates missed (Martini and Davis both missed wide open shots created by Bailey passes - and Sommerville missed at least 2 wide open in-the-lane shots after very good Bailey passes. RU needed Bailey to be good, and he was.
2) Acuff: 2nd billing in this post mortem. Coming off the bench this game he had an decent but not noisy 1st half - he was fine in the 1st half. But he made a huge offensive impact in the 2nd half - when he was most needed to pick up the slack when Bailey went to the bench, and when Bailey missed some shots. Very important 13 points, 4 assists, 0 turnovers, 5-7 FG, 3 rebounds and made 2-2 FT.
3) Sommerville: You might looks at his stats and say ... well he was okay, maybe even better than okay: 9 points, 6 rebounds, 3-3 FT, though 3-7 FG. And he did mostly okay on defense (though several times he still played the high screen poorly, a recurring theme). My biggest problem with Sommerville in this game was he had MANY opportunities to score, yet failed, because he insisted on taking several dribbles after receiving the ball, even when wide open. As a DIRECT result he turned the ball over twice doing that, and missed at least 2 shots after passing up wide open 6' - 8' jumpers in the lane for more difficult double-teamed contested shots closer in - dribbling into the defensive coverage.
4) Grant: I thought Grant played very well. He did miss his sole 3, but overall was 3-5 FG, 6 points, 5 rebounds and generally solid defense, a key factor in limiting Martinelli to 5-16 FG and 3 turnovers. I tell you, he is a candidate for breakout player as a sophomore next season.
5) Davis: So ... I actually think, that though he did a lot of good things, he also did not play as well overall as the commentators - on the BTN and this Board - state. First, 2 of his made FG's were a bit lucky - one a huge 3 at the shot-clock buzzer - a little hurried (but he DID make it), and his attempted alley-oop pass to Grant or Dortch that hit the rim and rolled around into the basket for a made FG. Plus he drive right into the 7'0" NW defender on a drive - FG swatted away easily. And, he ended up covering Leach a fair bit in the latter part of the 2nd half when Leach scored a lot. And, he got yanked towards the end of the game after a turnover (though not sure he was so bad, more that the NW player made a good play in transition). On the other hand, really tough to complain when he gets 3 steals, was 3-6 FG, 7 points and 8 (!!!) assists to just the 1 turnover. Overall, a lot of good stuff.
6) Dortch: Deserves his own paragraph for his high energy 13 minutes, 1 block, 1 steal, 2 rebounds ... though 0-2 FT. he was very helpful to the team, with 2 important rebounds, but more importantly, very, very solid use of his height, length and athleticism to effectively defend. Really important 13 minutes.
7) Martini, Derkack and Williams: In a group, none were effective. I'd give Williams a pass because of the flu he had - so sick he was still bed-ridden the morning of the game and hadn't practiced in a couple of days. Mrtini was not bad, per se, just not particularly helpful ... a couple of poor closes on the perimeter, missed his only 3 ,,, just meh. Derkack, though, had a bad game. Out of control, turnovers, refusal to take open pull-up jumpers, 1-4 FT, not great defense. Pikiell reduces each of these 3 players' minutes, accordingly, giving the minutes ot Davis, Acuff and Dortch.
So ... an important win ... and one to the 2-game home stand against very good teams.
First, though on the road, and NW being 10-1 at home this year coming into this game (including home wins over Illinois, Maryland and Indiana), this was a game RU had a chance to win on the road, coming onto the game - like at Penn St. And ... despite the NET ranking s(NW at 48 pre-game - now 55), and RU at 82 (now 72), RU played like the better team most of the game - and pretty much controlled the game for the final 32 minutes or so of the game. RU fell behind 4-13 ... and then Bailey got cooking ... RU outscored NW 39-23 the rest of the half, and at one point by 63-39 to take a 15 point lead at 67-52 (maybe 8 minutes left?).
Second, RU significant positive contributions from most players (not necessarily high point totals, but materially positive contributions. The exceptions were Derkack (who was simply poor this game), Martini (meh defense, 1 rebound, missed a wide open 3 - though he did have 2 assists), and Williams (maybe we should give him a pass becasue he was literally in bed with the flu until the morning of the game). I would point out particularly important secondary contributions without a ton of stats by Grant and Dortch. Grant did have more stats - 3-5 FG (though 0-2 FT), 6 points and 5 rebounds - including 2 important offensive rebounds) ... but his best contribution was his defense on Martinelli. Yes, Martinelli scored 16 points, and yes others also covered him at times. But when Grant was in, he was the primary defender ... and Martinelli was an inefficient 5-16 FG with 3 turnovers - very few easy shots, often having to force his shot OVER Grant. And Dortch ... okay, I was wrong - maybe his redshirt being burned will help the team. It did in this game ... just 2 rebounds, 0-2 FT, a stupid foul 40 feet from the basket ... but also 1 steal, 1 great blocked shot - and HUGE energy, and mostly solid defense, holding his own, giving RU very important minutes to rest Sommerville (and even Bailey). He is a legitimate 6'10", and plays defense like he is that height. Of course, Acuff was crucial in this game, and Sommerville - more on him later (yes, 9 points 6 reb ... but ...), and also J. Davis all had moments or more than moments.
Third, obviously RU's offense was very efficient. It helps a LOT when Bailey goes 9-10 FG in the 1st half and 13-20 on the game (including 4-4 3 point in the 1st half and 5-8 overall) ... and Bailey going 6-6 FT helps offensive efficiency. But as pointed out by the post game commentators , other than Bailey RU was 15-29 FG, over 50%. And when you make shots, often assists show up. RU had 16 assists on 28 made FG - Bailey and Grant going a combined 18-25 will help that. I would also point out that RU only turned the ball over 8 times all game ... and NW averages forcing 14 turnovers per game. RU shot 57% from the field - but over 50% even without including Bailey's shots - against a team that averaged just 43% FG to their opponents. NW had allowed 79 or more points just 5 times in 20 games prior to the RU game (and NONE at home) - losses in all those games ... if you include at MSU, NW is now 0-7 in games allowing 78 points or more (including RU, now). There were 2 flies in the ointment on offense, as a team: FT shooting (just 15-25 ... 6-16 other than the 9-9 from Bailey and Sommerville), and offensive rebounding (RU did fine in the 1st half with 4 offensive rebounds on 8 missed FG), but had just 1 offensive rebound in the 2nd half, on 13 missed shots). Still, a good offensive game. Acuff REALLY helped, as a complimentary scorer to the monster game Bailey had. And Bailey was ... ridiculously good offensively.
Fourth, RU did mostly fine defensively. There were some communications problems, especially in the 1st half. and RU gave up way too many offensive rebounds to NW (not a great rebounding team) - by my count 9 in the 2nd half). And Martini failed to stay up on Leach several times. Still .., some real positives (though let's be honest: NW is not a great offensive team, averaging just 44% FG and 33% 3-point FG). Even so ... RU held NW's top 2 scorers to 9-28 FG (Martinelli and Barnhizer), though Leach was terrific - 23 points, on 8-12 FG. Also, one thing RU did a GREAT job of was pressuring NW, causing NW to hurry a lot of their shots (hurting their FG%, especially in the 2nd half) - AND turning the ball over with both steals, but also travel's (mostly due to excellent wall-up on ball defense) and wild passes. I know NW only turned the ball over 10 times - but many were at crucial moments. While NW outscored RU 7-2 to begin the 2nd half, at one point in the 2nd half NW was 4-23 FG and 1-10 3-point FG - RU used that clamp-down to gain a 15 point lead at 67-52 ... I think NW went over 6 minutes without scoring and longer without a FG.
Players:
1) Bailey: Wow. And wow. 9-10 FG in the 1st half, less efficient in the 2nd half, but still 13 2nd half points. When Bailey is hot, no one can stop him: He will hit form all angles and any angles. The BTN commentators in the studio pointed out Bailey maybe took ONE "bad" shot, of his 20. NW was a particularly good match-up for Bailey: He had to be covered by Barnhizer or a 6'4" guard most of the night ... no match for his length. Bailey showed every aspect of his ability to find and make shots - including adding a new move. He hit face-up jab-step and step back 3's, catch and shoot 3's, dunks on cuts and fast breaks, drive and pull-up, catch and shoot mid-range, back-down post-up and turnaround elevated shots ... and a new move: a back-down jump hook at the baseline. And was 6-6 FT. Bailey is now 26-29 FT his last 6 games, FYI. Bailey also had 3 blocked shots, and played defense with energy - though a couple of lapses. Again, he mainly covered guards (Leach, Ciaravino, Mullins. I think Leach scored more of his points when someone other than Bailey was covering him, though don't hold me to that. He only had 6 rebounds - but part of that I think is covering gauirds out at the perimetewr, like in the last game, rather than PF's and WF's. And he did have 0 assists - but again, not because he was not passing. Rather, when he DID pass his teammates missed (Martini and Davis both missed wide open shots created by Bailey passes - and Sommerville missed at least 2 wide open in-the-lane shots after very good Bailey passes. RU needed Bailey to be good, and he was.
2) Acuff: 2nd billing in this post mortem. Coming off the bench this game he had an decent but not noisy 1st half - he was fine in the 1st half. But he made a huge offensive impact in the 2nd half - when he was most needed to pick up the slack when Bailey went to the bench, and when Bailey missed some shots. Very important 13 points, 4 assists, 0 turnovers, 5-7 FG, 3 rebounds and made 2-2 FT.
3) Sommerville: You might looks at his stats and say ... well he was okay, maybe even better than okay: 9 points, 6 rebounds, 3-3 FT, though 3-7 FG. And he did mostly okay on defense (though several times he still played the high screen poorly, a recurring theme). My biggest problem with Sommerville in this game was he had MANY opportunities to score, yet failed, because he insisted on taking several dribbles after receiving the ball, even when wide open. As a DIRECT result he turned the ball over twice doing that, and missed at least 2 shots after passing up wide open 6' - 8' jumpers in the lane for more difficult double-teamed contested shots closer in - dribbling into the defensive coverage.
4) Grant: I thought Grant played very well. He did miss his sole 3, but overall was 3-5 FG, 6 points, 5 rebounds and generally solid defense, a key factor in limiting Martinelli to 5-16 FG and 3 turnovers. I tell you, he is a candidate for breakout player as a sophomore next season.
5) Davis: So ... I actually think, that though he did a lot of good things, he also did not play as well overall as the commentators - on the BTN and this Board - state. First, 2 of his made FG's were a bit lucky - one a huge 3 at the shot-clock buzzer - a little hurried (but he DID make it), and his attempted alley-oop pass to Grant or Dortch that hit the rim and rolled around into the basket for a made FG. Plus he drive right into the 7'0" NW defender on a drive - FG swatted away easily. And, he ended up covering Leach a fair bit in the latter part of the 2nd half when Leach scored a lot. And, he got yanked towards the end of the game after a turnover (though not sure he was so bad, more that the NW player made a good play in transition). On the other hand, really tough to complain when he gets 3 steals, was 3-6 FG, 7 points and 8 (!!!) assists to just the 1 turnover. Overall, a lot of good stuff.
6) Dortch: Deserves his own paragraph for his high energy 13 minutes, 1 block, 1 steal, 2 rebounds ... though 0-2 FT. he was very helpful to the team, with 2 important rebounds, but more importantly, very, very solid use of his height, length and athleticism to effectively defend. Really important 13 minutes.
7) Martini, Derkack and Williams: In a group, none were effective. I'd give Williams a pass because of the flu he had - so sick he was still bed-ridden the morning of the game and hadn't practiced in a couple of days. Mrtini was not bad, per se, just not particularly helpful ... a couple of poor closes on the perimeter, missed his only 3 ,,, just meh. Derkack, though, had a bad game. Out of control, turnovers, refusal to take open pull-up jumpers, 1-4 FT, not great defense. Pikiell reduces each of these 3 players' minutes, accordingly, giving the minutes ot Davis, Acuff and Dortch.
So ... an important win ... and one to the 2-game home stand against very good teams.
