After the initial salvo between teams, maybe 5 minutes in, Tech was shooting free throws and Kansas players starting looking towards Self, seemingly, asking for a little direction or coaching. Self threw his hands up and said (twice)... "What? they're just playing harder than you!" The quasi-pessimistic outlook I had going into the game left immediately. Only minutes into the game Kansas players were asking Self for help, and he had no answers.
That was one of the cleanest offensive games I've seen Tech Hoops play in a long, long time. Kansas' defense is underrated (top 30 nationally) because of their offensive firepower, and that was the highest points per possession they have allowed all year. It was a clinic of creating good looks for guys around the basket and not settling on jump shots or wild drives to the rim. Self was pushing buttons like crazy, too. Once he realized they couldn't guard us in man, they tried a "crappy zone," as he described it, and it only took a few possessions for us to figure that out. Even later in the game, when Kansas attempted to full court press, Tech handled it extremely well. Much better than we've seen the last couple years post-Keenan.
Tech had scored .98, .73, .85 and .71 points per possession against tourney-level teams going into Saturday, but scored 1.13 against Kansas. And it wasn't the result of shooting the lights out, either (only 4/16 from 3). We were just running good offense.
That performance was sort of what we've talked about all year. Being long, playing hard, rebounding, defending in the half court, turning people over.... these are things that tend to show up most nights. It's hard to have an "off night" of being long and athletic or playing hard. Kansas' guards were noticeably small against Warren / Arms / Nadolny. Their bigs couldn't move like ours and were liabilities defending pick and rolls. The forwards they played instead of Lightfoot/McCormick were getting thrown around like rag dolls in the paint. I liked Self's comments after the game about us outrebounding them, scoring at will inside, and completely shutting them down around the basket... "that's a bad combo."
Mark Adams' ability to put so much size on the floor, but still have every characteristic of playing "small ball" poses a serious problem for teams without the correct personnel.
I can't wait to get McCullar back. He is an absolute terror off the ball in the half-court, rebounding and cutting to the basket. With Arms/Nadolny/Mylik playing well, maybe we can use McCullar off the ball a little more. I think it'll help him.
I also can't wait to get Shannon back because he's the ultimate small-ball player. But I worry about him jacking up 3s when things don't look great in late-clock situations. On Saturday, even late in the clock, we stayed poised and usually ended up getting up a good shot around the basket after dumping it inside or hitting Warren or Nadolny on a back cut. I don't want our offense to be a showcase for Shannon to show future employers he can shoot 30% from 26 feet. We have better offense to run than that, especially when rebounding the way we have been. Any shot around the basket is a "great" possession because of how likely we are to rebound it. Of course, that may not be the case Tuesday against Baylor -- we shall see.
That was the Bryson Williams take over. 8/10 on 2-point shots, 4 offensive rebounds, 3 assists and no turnovers. He was incredible. Big 12 teams will still have to double team him, and I think having McCullar back will help him out a lot when that happens.
I continue to be impressed with Obanor. He isn't making enough shots... yet. But he is a factor rebounding, defending, passing, playing within himself... he just doesn't make many mistakes. He's much more of an all-around player than I gave him credit for considering his athletic limitations.
Nadolny is made of concrete. He's a gargoyle. Those little baby Kansas guards wanted nothing to do with him.
Mylik Wilson is going to be a good player for us. Already might be one. He didn't have that gear defensively on Saturday that he had earlier in the year, but our defense will be even scarier when he's putting pressure on the ball the way he can at full strength.
MSS is a special athlete. There just aren't many guys as big, strong, fast and quick as him. And it seems like we're figuring out ways to leverage that more this year. The antidote for a guy like MSS is to just play small and make him a liability on defense. That doesn't work with MSS.
It can't be stressed enough how big of recruiting "hits" Adonis Arms and Davion Warren are. That Coastal Carolina guard that everyone wanted so badly? He's been very average for a 7-6 Michigan team. These two guys weren't exactly recruiting coups for Adams. I think both really highlight this staff's ability to evaluate.
One thing I noticed being at the game was how much our staff coaches their asses off. Every single one of them -- Peery, Hester, Sutton, Williams -- are all doing something instructive during the game. I don't see any former AAU coaches (Maligi) just hovering around the huddle doing, essentially, nothing.
That was one of the cleanest offensive games I've seen Tech Hoops play in a long, long time. Kansas' defense is underrated (top 30 nationally) because of their offensive firepower, and that was the highest points per possession they have allowed all year. It was a clinic of creating good looks for guys around the basket and not settling on jump shots or wild drives to the rim. Self was pushing buttons like crazy, too. Once he realized they couldn't guard us in man, they tried a "crappy zone," as he described it, and it only took a few possessions for us to figure that out. Even later in the game, when Kansas attempted to full court press, Tech handled it extremely well. Much better than we've seen the last couple years post-Keenan.
Tech had scored .98, .73, .85 and .71 points per possession against tourney-level teams going into Saturday, but scored 1.13 against Kansas. And it wasn't the result of shooting the lights out, either (only 4/16 from 3). We were just running good offense.
That performance was sort of what we've talked about all year. Being long, playing hard, rebounding, defending in the half court, turning people over.... these are things that tend to show up most nights. It's hard to have an "off night" of being long and athletic or playing hard. Kansas' guards were noticeably small against Warren / Arms / Nadolny. Their bigs couldn't move like ours and were liabilities defending pick and rolls. The forwards they played instead of Lightfoot/McCormick were getting thrown around like rag dolls in the paint. I liked Self's comments after the game about us outrebounding them, scoring at will inside, and completely shutting them down around the basket... "that's a bad combo."
Mark Adams' ability to put so much size on the floor, but still have every characteristic of playing "small ball" poses a serious problem for teams without the correct personnel.
I can't wait to get McCullar back. He is an absolute terror off the ball in the half-court, rebounding and cutting to the basket. With Arms/Nadolny/Mylik playing well, maybe we can use McCullar off the ball a little more. I think it'll help him.
I also can't wait to get Shannon back because he's the ultimate small-ball player. But I worry about him jacking up 3s when things don't look great in late-clock situations. On Saturday, even late in the clock, we stayed poised and usually ended up getting up a good shot around the basket after dumping it inside or hitting Warren or Nadolny on a back cut. I don't want our offense to be a showcase for Shannon to show future employers he can shoot 30% from 26 feet. We have better offense to run than that, especially when rebounding the way we have been. Any shot around the basket is a "great" possession because of how likely we are to rebound it. Of course, that may not be the case Tuesday against Baylor -- we shall see.
That was the Bryson Williams take over. 8/10 on 2-point shots, 4 offensive rebounds, 3 assists and no turnovers. He was incredible. Big 12 teams will still have to double team him, and I think having McCullar back will help him out a lot when that happens.
I continue to be impressed with Obanor. He isn't making enough shots... yet. But he is a factor rebounding, defending, passing, playing within himself... he just doesn't make many mistakes. He's much more of an all-around player than I gave him credit for considering his athletic limitations.
Nadolny is made of concrete. He's a gargoyle. Those little baby Kansas guards wanted nothing to do with him.
Mylik Wilson is going to be a good player for us. Already might be one. He didn't have that gear defensively on Saturday that he had earlier in the year, but our defense will be even scarier when he's putting pressure on the ball the way he can at full strength.
MSS is a special athlete. There just aren't many guys as big, strong, fast and quick as him. And it seems like we're figuring out ways to leverage that more this year. The antidote for a guy like MSS is to just play small and make him a liability on defense. That doesn't work with MSS.
It can't be stressed enough how big of recruiting "hits" Adonis Arms and Davion Warren are. That Coastal Carolina guard that everyone wanted so badly? He's been very average for a 7-6 Michigan team. These two guys weren't exactly recruiting coups for Adams. I think both really highlight this staff's ability to evaluate.
One thing I noticed being at the game was how much our staff coaches their asses off. Every single one of them -- Peery, Hester, Sutton, Williams -- are all doing something instructive during the game. I don't see any former AAU coaches (Maligi) just hovering around the huddle doing, essentially, nothing.
