First off, Happy New Year to all of you. I hope you enjoy this time with your families and can spend it taking in some good football today.
Let’s just dive right into my thoughts from yesterday’s action…
A hat tip is certainly in order for UCF. In particular, Keyshawn Hall and Darius Johnson, both of which had their way with the Tech defense at different spots in the game.
I tried my best to warn anybody who would listen that Hall was a dude and he certainly showed everything that he was capable of. Hall scored 21 against Jacksonville the last time the Knights were on the court and followed that up with 22 on the Red Raiders on a very crisp day from the field. 17 at the end of the first half, 7-7 from the field and 3-3 from deep. I
t spoke a lot to what Hall was able to do getting to the rim and attacking the basket, something that he showed a lot of explosiveness doing this season. Not only that, he knocked down some pretty tough looks from deep that you really just kinda have to wave the white flag on.
Hall attacked Darrion Williams, who was simply not athletic enough to keep up with his elusive forward counterpart. Once the Tech defense finally keyed in on trying to pack the paint and forcing Hall to pass the rock, you saw the tide turn dramatically in favor of Tech. The only problem was Darius Johnson picked up the slack and did his own work driving to the cup. IIRC, during the game against Jax, the announcer noted that Johnson was like a bowling ball once he got going to the rack and that was true.
I made several comments before the game that I was not sure the Knights had the depth to hold their own in a game like this and I think to a certain extent this was still the case. Had the Red Raiders’ run started even a minute earlier, I’m confident the result would have been different. UCF clearly ran out of gas but the comeback was too little too late in the end.
Pick your poison, it was really a bit of everything that went wrong for 30 minutes of the game and that was what made the deficit so large to begin with.
Give UCF credit, I thought they did a great job of really taking Chance McMillian out of the game in the first half and largely did the same against Darrion Williams. Those two going a combined 9-27 from the field is not a recipe for success, the Knights defended them well– though Williams missed several looks that were very uncharacteristic by his standards.
The defense began to tighten up once shots began to fall and this became the perfect storm to mount the comeback that was a couple of shots away from being a success.
I think that is ultimately what was Tech’s undoing in the 3/4 of the game.
There is no grit or desire that is easily sensible from this team. This squad gets their groove from knocking down shots, and if that is not the case, any semblance of a defensive identity gets tossed out of the window.
I hope this season does not devolve into Grant McCasland preaching game after game that he needs to coach better and help put the guys into better situations. Some of the defensive pitfalls may stem from rotation issues and/or lack of proper schematics, but I think what we’ve seen so far is more of a personnel issue than anything. This team has hardly been healthy all at once this season, so developing cohesiveness both in game and in practice has simply come to be a challenge.
What makes defensive minded teams so great is there almost has to be somewhat of an acceptance that the offensive end of the floor is going to be tough sledding sometimes.
Now, I understand this team is going to likely be the furthest thing from a defensive minded machine. BUT, if there is going to be any hope of even sniffing the tournament, something is going to have to change defensively and someone is going to have to be the catalyst behind the desire to play good defense in Lubbock again.
The whole “Toughest Team Wins” mantra loses all merit when you’re getting beat off the dribble constantly, can’t play on the ball without fouling or throw out lackluster closeouts on three point shooters.
I want to believe that there is a defensive itch in this team somewhere. To some of you fellow posters on here, the sentiment around lack of confidence in McCasland shifting the defensive focus is valid. Defense has been basically non-existent since he arrived, and there is no hiding from that.
However, good defense does not only happen from a scheme. Just my opinion. Good schemes can help elevate good defenders into creating great defenses, but good defenders are forged from having a certain kind of effort and intensity. That will be the challenge for these guys moving forward.
Now Tech is 0-1. 19 left to put something together to make yourself worthy of playing meaningful games in March. UCF was a gut punch for sure, but this upcoming weekend is a great opportunity to develop some toughness.
Let’s just dive right into my thoughts from yesterday’s action…
A hat tip is certainly in order for UCF. In particular, Keyshawn Hall and Darius Johnson, both of which had their way with the Tech defense at different spots in the game.
I tried my best to warn anybody who would listen that Hall was a dude and he certainly showed everything that he was capable of. Hall scored 21 against Jacksonville the last time the Knights were on the court and followed that up with 22 on the Red Raiders on a very crisp day from the field. 17 at the end of the first half, 7-7 from the field and 3-3 from deep. I
t spoke a lot to what Hall was able to do getting to the rim and attacking the basket, something that he showed a lot of explosiveness doing this season. Not only that, he knocked down some pretty tough looks from deep that you really just kinda have to wave the white flag on.
Hall attacked Darrion Williams, who was simply not athletic enough to keep up with his elusive forward counterpart. Once the Tech defense finally keyed in on trying to pack the paint and forcing Hall to pass the rock, you saw the tide turn dramatically in favor of Tech. The only problem was Darius Johnson picked up the slack and did his own work driving to the cup. IIRC, during the game against Jax, the announcer noted that Johnson was like a bowling ball once he got going to the rack and that was true.
I made several comments before the game that I was not sure the Knights had the depth to hold their own in a game like this and I think to a certain extent this was still the case. Had the Red Raiders’ run started even a minute earlier, I’m confident the result would have been different. UCF clearly ran out of gas but the comeback was too little too late in the end.
Pick your poison, it was really a bit of everything that went wrong for 30 minutes of the game and that was what made the deficit so large to begin with.
Give UCF credit, I thought they did a great job of really taking Chance McMillian out of the game in the first half and largely did the same against Darrion Williams. Those two going a combined 9-27 from the field is not a recipe for success, the Knights defended them well– though Williams missed several looks that were very uncharacteristic by his standards.
The defense began to tighten up once shots began to fall and this became the perfect storm to mount the comeback that was a couple of shots away from being a success.
I think that is ultimately what was Tech’s undoing in the 3/4 of the game.
There is no grit or desire that is easily sensible from this team. This squad gets their groove from knocking down shots, and if that is not the case, any semblance of a defensive identity gets tossed out of the window.
I hope this season does not devolve into Grant McCasland preaching game after game that he needs to coach better and help put the guys into better situations. Some of the defensive pitfalls may stem from rotation issues and/or lack of proper schematics, but I think what we’ve seen so far is more of a personnel issue than anything. This team has hardly been healthy all at once this season, so developing cohesiveness both in game and in practice has simply come to be a challenge.
What makes defensive minded teams so great is there almost has to be somewhat of an acceptance that the offensive end of the floor is going to be tough sledding sometimes.
Now, I understand this team is going to likely be the furthest thing from a defensive minded machine. BUT, if there is going to be any hope of even sniffing the tournament, something is going to have to change defensively and someone is going to have to be the catalyst behind the desire to play good defense in Lubbock again.
The whole “Toughest Team Wins” mantra loses all merit when you’re getting beat off the dribble constantly, can’t play on the ball without fouling or throw out lackluster closeouts on three point shooters.
I want to believe that there is a defensive itch in this team somewhere. To some of you fellow posters on here, the sentiment around lack of confidence in McCasland shifting the defensive focus is valid. Defense has been basically non-existent since he arrived, and there is no hiding from that.
However, good defense does not only happen from a scheme. Just my opinion. Good schemes can help elevate good defenders into creating great defenses, but good defenders are forged from having a certain kind of effort and intensity. That will be the challenge for these guys moving forward.
Now Tech is 0-1. 19 left to put something together to make yourself worthy of playing meaningful games in March. UCF was a gut punch for sure, but this upcoming weekend is a great opportunity to develop some toughness.
