Unofficial 1st Half Stats - By Hand - And Recap

[jellyman]

Unofficially, by my hand as I was watching (I suppose I could check out a site somewhere, but I like to do it myself):

RU is 17-29 FG, 4-7 from 3 and 5-5 FT. 13 rebounds (but by my count ZERO offensive rebounds). 8 assists, 7 turnovers, 3 steals.

Creighton is 16-33 FG, 4-13 from 3, 4-10 FT. 16 rebounds (7 offensive), 6 turnovers.

Sanders has been en fuego: 16 points on 5-6 FG, 2-2 3, 4-4 FT, 2 assists, 1 turnover. Daniels, Foreman and Freeman each have 6 points, Williams with 5, Lewis and Laurent with 2 each.

RU continues to have problems defending the pick and roll, or the pick and dribble penetration ... or should I say both.

Lewis, though he did hit 1 jump shot, has been useless again - this is a real problem for RU.

Goode had real troubles in the 1st half: Just could not help on offense (too slow), and since he is not an asset on defense ...

Grier was the 1st non-center off the bench in this game, which I thought interesting (for Foreman, maybe). Ahead of Laurent.

Daniels hit 2 rainbow 3's. But also had a turnover, plus 2 fouls, and played poor defense (though he is not the only guilty one there).

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

woke up at 5 and was able to watch without knowing score....not the way I want my basketball team to look. Our effort on the defensive end was real bad....and that's with individually 40% of players (3 and 5) doing their job.

 

[RocktheRac]

Sheridan can easily replace Lewis at this point.

 

[bac2therac]

my concern is just not having enough Big 10 depth. With Lewis a no show and guys like Goode and Grier not really at Big 10 level plus Diallo and Laurant needing time to adjust to the college game, things could get ugly quickly.

Answer for the future is recruit recruit recruit..

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

my concern is just not having enough Big 10 depth. With Lewis a no show and guys like Goode and Grier not really at Big 10 level plus Diallo and Laurant needing time to adjust to the college game, things could get ugly quickly.

Answer for the future is recruit recruit recruit..

Laurent left the game hurt.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Sheridan can easily replace Lewis at this point.

I thought Lewis was actually effective early and then got the 2 fouls. Although Lewis is a low post defender and Creighton was looking for bigs to shoot from the outside, I think Lewis should have played more.

 

[jellyman]

I thought Lewis was actually effective early and then got the 2 fouls. Although Lewis is a low post defender and Creighton was looking for bigs to shoot from the outside, I think Lewis should have played more.

The problem with Lewis so far this season is two-fold:

1) He has been truly awful offensively. Unfortunately, he has looked much worse this year offensively than last year, a seeming regression. It is too early to tell if this will be a season-long swoon. But if this is the way he is going to play all year then RU will struggle to win 11-12 games unless Diallo advances VERY rapidly. Even in the college game, a guard game, you just cannot get double 0's out of the 5 spot (i.e. neither scoring nor rebounding), and expect to win a lot.

2) He has been more foul prone this year than last - which keeps him off the court.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

5th year senior is real excited for his final season and could be pressing?!?

Watching Michigan State last night, albeit vs. a zone, big gets ball down low more times than not it is kicked out to the perimeter. Maybe Lewis needs to look to pass. He is mostly getting good looks and not converting.

the question is also defensively. Although Lewis is not as agile as Foreman or Freeman does he make us better defensively vs. team like Creighton last night that isn't looking to score inside. What is the better defensive lineup vs. Creighton

3 guards Foreman Freeman VS. 3 guards (foreman or freeman) Lewis. Right now i pick the one with Lewis.

 

[jellyman]

5th year senior is real excited for his final season and could be pressing?!?

Watching Michigan State last night, albeit vs. a zone, big gets ball down low more times than not it is kicked out to the perimeter. Maybe Lewis needs to look to pass. He is mostly getting good looks and not converting.

the question is also defensively. Although Lewis is not as agile as Foreman or Freeman does he make us better defensively vs. team like Creighton last night that isn't looking to score inside. What is the better defensive lineup vs. Creighton

3 guards Foreman Freeman VS. 3 guards (foreman or freeman) Lewis. Right now i pick the one with Lewis.

I understand - and Creighton, though a 3-point hoisting team, did try to get the ball to the post also, and cut into the lane a bit as well. You would think Lewis would have been very useful.

However, Lewis only got 9 minutes of play ... but 3 fouls, just 2 rebounds, and 1-5 shooting.

Plus, Lewis was really bad at one of the 2 most crucial sequences/segments of the 2nd half. One of those 2 most crucial segments was at the beginning of the 2nd half, where Lewis was really bad, missed a couple of point blank shots. RU had a chance to actually score a couple of times in the opening minutes of the half, but failed, and Lewis was at the center of the bad start. Sure, many others also failed in the 2nd half, but the tone was set at the opening. Also, Lewis had ZERO defensive rebounds in a game where Creighton was killing RU on the offensive boards.

Sidebar, having nothing to do with Lewis: RU had fallen behind by 9 a couple of times, but had pulled to within 68-62, AND had the ball. Daniels tried to go 1 on 3 in the forecourt, but well away from the basket. He lost the ball, but somehow in a scramble ended up with the ball at the top of the circle, or just inside the circle. He then drove towards the basekt 1 on 2, right into Creighton's #41, and when well-defended, instead of pulling back or looking for another open player, threw up a WILD shot against a much taller and bigger player, which missed badly. Creighton grabbed the rebound and on a 3 on 2 fast break hit a 3 to take the lead back to 9, 71-62 ... and then quickly made it 76-62.

But this was not all on Daniels and Lewis. Other than the poor defensive effort and execution, RU played horrendously selfish 1 on 1 ball in the 2nd half, in particular. Other than the 1 on 1 in the half court game, shortly before the Daniels play I just mentioned, RU created a turnover, also down 6 or even 5 points. Freeman made a really good steal just outside the Creighton foul line. He then started to drive down the court, and had a CLASSIC 2 on 1 fast break, with Sanders ahead of him (and the Creighton defender) on Freeman's right. A simple pass to Sanders leads to an almost certain dunk by Sanders - and Freeman had a good angle to make the pass. Instead, Freeman keeps dribbling, and a little bit past the half court line, a Creighton player knocks the ball from Freeman from behind. It is just basic that a PASS advances the ball faster on the fast break than the dribble. And if somehow, the Creighton defender who was trying to get back is able to defend Sanders after Freeman passed (if Freeman had passed), then Sanders would probably have an easy pass back to a running and trailing Freeman for a dunk by Freeman.

The above are just 2 examples of selfish 1 on 1 play.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

The good and bad of Daniels....when Jordan emptied the bench in the 1st half [banana] the 2nd unit was terrible defensively. Our 1st unit I believe was pretty good defensively up to that point. Offensively Daniels scored 5 crucial points in that span keeping it close.

 

[linzalonic]

5th year senior is real excited for his final season and could be pressing?!?

Watching Michigan State last night, albeit vs. a zone, big gets ball down low more times than not it is kicked out to the perimeter. Maybe Lewis needs to look to pass. He is mostly getting good looks and not converting.

the question is also defensively. Although Lewis is not as agile as Foreman or Freeman does he make us better defensively vs. team like Creighton last night that isn't looking to score inside. What is the better defensive lineup vs. Creighton

3 guards Foreman Freeman VS. 3 guards (foreman or freeman) Lewis. Right now i pick the one with Lewis.

I think Lewis is a decent on-ball, positional defender, but is slow-footed on help D. But when he gets in foul trouble, he becomes a matador (so he can stay on the court), to the extreme detriment of the team. I also think he's a poor rebounder for his size, so I'm picking Foreman/Freeman.

I was bullish on Lewis before the season but I'm extremely disappointed so far. We need him to pick it up.