Davion Warren had an overlooked performance last night. 5/9 from the field, 5 assists and 2 steals. He scored at least 5 points in quick succession during our late push. He also hit a really tough shot late in the shot clock after things had stalled to get us going early. This guy took more shots than anyone in the country last year, but has transitioned perfectly into a role player on this team. He's an important part of what we are doing. I wish Shannon had more of his mindset in terms of just staying within himself / the framework of our offense.
Bryson Williams is on track to be one of the best to ever lace it up at Tech. I don't think that's hyperbole. He's a first team All Big 12 player at this point, and we haven't had too many of those. Just unstoppable last night.
For as much pause that people had early on about this team not having a "true point guard", including a little bit from me, we've really figured out some things since the first Iowa State game. We had 10 turnovers in 50 minutes of basketball last night, in the PHOG, with Kansas foaming at the mouth like it was their super bowl. That's really, really good.
The offense (mainly, Bryson) played good enough to win that game. First time our defense really let us down, although some of that was to be expected considering how good Kansas is and Agbaji going unconscious. We scored 1.07 points per possession last night. Out of our 8 Big 12 games + Providence/Tenn/Zags, that's our 4th highest points per possession. Other than Saturday when KSU made 10 3s against KU, Tech has the two best offensive performances against KU. Our offense/Bryson showed up last night. Played well enough to win, IMO.
That was the most points per possession allowed by a Mark Adams coached Tech team. Gave up a ton of offensive rebounds and KU shot over 30 free throws. Sometimes they would run great offense and you had to just tip your cap. Sometimes we would uncharacteristically have a lapse and allow an easy entry pass or baseline drive. Sometimes their pace was so fast it was difficult to get our defense set up. And then later in the game, we were fouling them in ticky tack ways. Stops were just hard to come by. It's incredible, really, that we were so close to winning that game, just a testament to how good we are. Without question, we got KU's best shot last night.
Shannon is extremely frustrating to watch right now. He's played in 67 games as a Red Raider, 4 of them since returning from injury. 3 of those 4 have arguably been his worst games in a Tech uniform. He did play well last Saturday, but if he isn't making tough and contested shots -- shots that are, IMO, mostly outside of our offense -- he isn't doing a lot for us. He's turning the ball over and not rebounding at a high level (although he did have a huge offensive rebound on a free throw last night). Most of his possessions are bad enough that they lead to big runouts by our opponents. We need him to get right and I do think he will... eventually. What's concerning is that my biggest frustration with him is a non-physical thing -- shot selection. Something that shouldn't be affected by a lingering back injury.
McCullar going 1/11 from the field is tough. Zero free throw attempts, too. Agbaji was guarding him much of the game, and that guy is a freak. To McCullar's credit, some of his shot attempts were really tough looks taken out of necessity because the shot clock was running out. McCullar was also just a half second late contesting Agbaji on the 3 to send it 2OT...
If last night was a video game, I would've fouled at some point during their last possession in OT. I think it's a little tougher to execute than people think on the road and when your bench is on the far end of the court from where you're playing defense. Fouling up 3 isn't a fool-proof thing that all smart coaches do. Bill Self didn't foul up 3 last night, either. A lot can go wrong. So much that there's not enough time to game out all the scenarios. But the best way to think of it is this: the other team making a 3 as time expires to tie the game is only going to happen about 30%-40% of the time. If it does happen, you're going to win in OT about half the time. So not fouling up 3 = about an 80%-85% chance of winning. That's a really high threshold to overcome. Again, I would've fouled with about 3-7 seconds left on their last possession if there was a magic foul button. But missing free throws (like we missed some down the stretch), not being able to get the ball in (like McCulllar throwing it away late in the Baylor game), giving up an offensive rebound on the free throw (they rebounded 40% of their misses last night), fouling the 3-pt shooter.... bad things can happen.
Considering all the tactical things that Adams was in charge of under Beard, one can fairly assume that "whether to foul late" decisions was something he had a lot of input on over the last 5 years. I don't think Adams likes doing it. He seemingly wants to play the possession out, like most coaches do. I bet he would foul every time, though, if he thought we could it execute it perfectly.
I would not have called a TO on the last possession of regulation. Shannon (or anyone on our team) with a full head of steam going downhill against a non-structured half-court defense is multipliers better than anything we are getting after a TO and inbounding it from the side. Shannon just jacked up a prayer, like he is akin to do.
We're still not shooting the ball as well as we can or will later in the year.... I'm patiently waiting.
Batcho had some big and really effective moments in that game last night. He's a weapon on jump balls. 3-0 in OT tipoffs this year. It says a lot about him that Adams trusted him in some of those defensive possessions late.
Bryson Williams is on track to be one of the best to ever lace it up at Tech. I don't think that's hyperbole. He's a first team All Big 12 player at this point, and we haven't had too many of those. Just unstoppable last night.
For as much pause that people had early on about this team not having a "true point guard", including a little bit from me, we've really figured out some things since the first Iowa State game. We had 10 turnovers in 50 minutes of basketball last night, in the PHOG, with Kansas foaming at the mouth like it was their super bowl. That's really, really good.
The offense (mainly, Bryson) played good enough to win that game. First time our defense really let us down, although some of that was to be expected considering how good Kansas is and Agbaji going unconscious. We scored 1.07 points per possession last night. Out of our 8 Big 12 games + Providence/Tenn/Zags, that's our 4th highest points per possession. Other than Saturday when KSU made 10 3s against KU, Tech has the two best offensive performances against KU. Our offense/Bryson showed up last night. Played well enough to win, IMO.
That was the most points per possession allowed by a Mark Adams coached Tech team. Gave up a ton of offensive rebounds and KU shot over 30 free throws. Sometimes they would run great offense and you had to just tip your cap. Sometimes we would uncharacteristically have a lapse and allow an easy entry pass or baseline drive. Sometimes their pace was so fast it was difficult to get our defense set up. And then later in the game, we were fouling them in ticky tack ways. Stops were just hard to come by. It's incredible, really, that we were so close to winning that game, just a testament to how good we are. Without question, we got KU's best shot last night.
Shannon is extremely frustrating to watch right now. He's played in 67 games as a Red Raider, 4 of them since returning from injury. 3 of those 4 have arguably been his worst games in a Tech uniform. He did play well last Saturday, but if he isn't making tough and contested shots -- shots that are, IMO, mostly outside of our offense -- he isn't doing a lot for us. He's turning the ball over and not rebounding at a high level (although he did have a huge offensive rebound on a free throw last night). Most of his possessions are bad enough that they lead to big runouts by our opponents. We need him to get right and I do think he will... eventually. What's concerning is that my biggest frustration with him is a non-physical thing -- shot selection. Something that shouldn't be affected by a lingering back injury.
McCullar going 1/11 from the field is tough. Zero free throw attempts, too. Agbaji was guarding him much of the game, and that guy is a freak. To McCullar's credit, some of his shot attempts were really tough looks taken out of necessity because the shot clock was running out. McCullar was also just a half second late contesting Agbaji on the 3 to send it 2OT...
If last night was a video game, I would've fouled at some point during their last possession in OT. I think it's a little tougher to execute than people think on the road and when your bench is on the far end of the court from where you're playing defense. Fouling up 3 isn't a fool-proof thing that all smart coaches do. Bill Self didn't foul up 3 last night, either. A lot can go wrong. So much that there's not enough time to game out all the scenarios. But the best way to think of it is this: the other team making a 3 as time expires to tie the game is only going to happen about 30%-40% of the time. If it does happen, you're going to win in OT about half the time. So not fouling up 3 = about an 80%-85% chance of winning. That's a really high threshold to overcome. Again, I would've fouled with about 3-7 seconds left on their last possession if there was a magic foul button. But missing free throws (like we missed some down the stretch), not being able to get the ball in (like McCulllar throwing it away late in the Baylor game), giving up an offensive rebound on the free throw (they rebounded 40% of their misses last night), fouling the 3-pt shooter.... bad things can happen.
Considering all the tactical things that Adams was in charge of under Beard, one can fairly assume that "whether to foul late" decisions was something he had a lot of input on over the last 5 years. I don't think Adams likes doing it. He seemingly wants to play the possession out, like most coaches do. I bet he would foul every time, though, if he thought we could it execute it perfectly.
I would not have called a TO on the last possession of regulation. Shannon (or anyone on our team) with a full head of steam going downhill against a non-structured half-court defense is multipliers better than anything we are getting after a TO and inbounding it from the side. Shannon just jacked up a prayer, like he is akin to do.
We're still not shooting the ball as well as we can or will later in the year.... I'm patiently waiting.
Batcho had some big and really effective moments in that game last night. He's a weapon on jump balls. 3-0 in OT tipoffs this year. It says a lot about him that Adams trusted him in some of those defensive possessions late.
