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#14 UB @ Kent (1/25 - 6:30pm ET)


Kevin

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1 minute ago, skrabukes said:

I will agree with it in regard to Graves and Harris tonight, they were clearly not on their game, on either end of the floor. The others looked pretty tough out there. Kent made many contested shots throughout, just have to tip the cap when they defend for 29 seconds and Walker makes a fade-away 3 from 26 feet with a hand up on D.

Certainly.  Nothing you can do about that.  Losing your man, being slow to react, and letting Kent drive the lane uncontested at will, however, you can do a lot about, and that happened too much tonight IMO.  It was similar vs. NIU.  These were things that UB simply didn't allow teams better than Kent do earlier in the season.

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4 minutes ago, skrabukes said:

I'm not going to say the games were perfect, missed FT, some poor rebounding at times, less than stellar games from Graves and Harris, but it's a 40 minute game and the guys did more than Kent to get it done. Kent was channeling Markus Howard early in the game, but beyond that, UB  won by 20 or so over the final 33-34 minutes. Winning at Kent State on the road is not a guarantee, for anyone, regardless of whether or not we have a # in front of the team name on the scoreboard. Walker had some sick shots off the dribble that no one was stopping. I just find it degrading to question their effort, because I think that it was pretty strong throughout. Dontay and Davonte were running their behinds off on Walker and whoever their 2nd option was at all times when they were out there. CJ had some beautiful D at times getting hands on the ball. Just because they blow by a guy who gets caught flat footed or is having an off night doesn't make me think that the team as a whole isn't focused or playing without effort.

Walker scored 15 first half points - some were simply step back jumpers that can not be defended. He scored 6 points in the second half. He’s a stud, but the Bulls collectively found a way to limit the damage. Missing a foul shot is never a question of effort, unless it can be demonstrated that the player in question refuses to practice or take guidance from the coaching staff. 

The effort was there tonight. Segu and Williams made meaningful contributions. Still work to do: Rebounding, TOs, ...

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Just now, trueblue32 said:

To be fair we don't know how much the ankle injury lingered for Graves. That can be a killer for a player so reliant on his athleticism.

For sure, hence my disgust when reading that the team was "without effort and focus". Both teams played very hard out there and both teams are very good. UB winning by 9 on the road there, is more than solid. The turnovers were better too, other than the many travelling violations, but surely would love to be sewn up.

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Also not sure where this bad/lazy defense narrative comes from. Held them 7% below their average points per possession on the year in spite of playing them on the road and having them hit several undefendable circus shots early on. Also held their best player 4 points below his average on an extra shot.

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27 minutes ago, trueblue32 said:

Also not sure where this bad/lazy defense narrative comes from. Held them 7% below their average points per possession on the year in spite of playing them on the road and having them hit several undefendable circus shots early on. Also held their best player 4 points below his average on an extra shot.

The bad defense narrative comes from us knowing how lock down they have been earlier in the year. Is not that the defense was terrible tonight, it's that it was terrible in comparison to what we've seen them do.

Good win in the end. The last 5 minutes looked like the Bulls who know and loved from the beginning of the year.

Hopefully we can carry that into the next game

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2 hours ago, UBigbobby said:

Jordan is so good at so much...except...you know...the whole point of basketball.  He's such a bad shooter.  It's so sad because he's really next level at everything else.  

Jordan’s effective FG% is 56.2% this season. He’s hitting at 33.3% from three, and 59.4% from two. Those numbers would be considered good by most. He is a very poor from the foul line, however, which is unfortunate.

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Like RMA said any win at Kent is a good win. There’s just no way this one wasn’t going to come down to the wire and we went on a run at the right time. 

I agree that our defense has not been as good as we’ve seen it but it’s def accentuated when the other team start making stupid deep 3s at the end of the shot clock. Def a mix of both. I agree we need to figure out how we were playing early in the year though as March approaches. 

Not worried about Harris, he’ll get his mojo back. Perk had some major 3s and also seemed like they couldn’t match his size inside. 

It was a typical game at Kent where you can get shanked inside the paint by 3 players with no foul. I swear it happens every time. Glad we were able to grit it out when it counted. 

Def an improvement from the previous games but we still have to get better. Luckily we have a ton of conference play left. I’d be happy if this was a 1 point win. Should keep us ranked. Thank god we get to go home before @BG

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2 hours ago, 121Merrimac said:

I'm not worried about staying ranked this week... I'm worried about staying ranked after only beating Q3 teams for the rest of the season.

Lucky for UB they have a Q1 and a pair of Q2 games left on the schedule then. I’m assuming your not predicting they lose all three?

edit. I guess those numbers depend on which metric you use.

Edited by MillenniumBull
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Last year we collapsed in the last 7 minutes at Kent in a game we dominated.  It was our first conference loss.  I had to listen to hecklers chirp loud during that run.

Tonight...was an improvement over the NIU game.  The guys seem a step slow on both offense and defense compared to earlier in the year.  I guess it is the grind catching up.

I expect a rejuvenated bunch on Tuesday hosting Ball State.  Lock down on D.

Go Bulls!

 

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I have to massively disagree with a lot of posts in here in reference to effort. This was an extraordinary win for us.  A soul searching win.  To go down like we did so quickly after a gut-wrenching loss at NIU most kids would have doubted themselves if they were "that good". Massinburg struggled in the first half before finishing strong in the second. Harris and Graves were really off tonight.  One thing is for certain is every game is going to be very difficult.  It is actually a wonderful season long test for these kids not only as basketball players but as human beings who can overcome tough environments like tonight and what they will see in every road game this year.

I seriously think we all underestimate the importance of Perkins is to this team and that is saying a lot with everyone knowing his value to us.  When he scores a bucket or two down low the whole court opens up for us and the offense flows very smooth.  He was incredible tonight. 

I was EXTREMELY happy to see very strong games from Caruthers and Jordan offensively after both had struggled for the last stretch of games.

Even more so - wow Segu is going to be the real deal.  The kid is nowhere near as athletic as Jeenathan  but his confidence is next level stuff. He is going to be an incredible player once he puts some weight on.  Speaking of Jeenathan he finally is finding himself out there.  Outside of one bad shot he looked very good today.  

Our defense needs some work as does our rebounding as many have mentioned. With that being said this was a very entertaining game of two top quality teams.  If I was a coach or an AP voter tonight I would be very impressed with the MAC.  That crowd was loud, the game was at an incredible pace and the shots were falling.  This game was so much more entertaining then NIU game.  

Can not wait for Tuesday!! 

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Besides Segu, don’t forget Williams with that amazing stretch of play. Feel good about the future seeing those two in this game.

My concern with our play is that we are not playing the same style we have in the occ. We were making our opponents use every second of their shot clock and then we would run down the court and put up a shot within seconds. Maybe we are slowing down bc the rigor of the season? We had less games in nov/dec... Maybe the MAC teams are controlling the pace better? 

Effort is certainly not my concern. FT shooting is a big problem. Hopefully we can get back our consistent style of play.... and mow through the MAC, because frankly we are the best team in MAC and frankly should NOT struggle 3-4 gms in a row. Not with this team, regardless of how good the MAC is this yr.

 

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Great performances by Segu and Williams last night. Williams so often this season has avoided making the extra pass that makes this offense so deadly and just puts up an awkward jumper. He had one of those last night but his scoring came from crashing the glass and scoring in the paint. His success is going to revolve around his ability to drive to the basket and to crash the boards for rebounds. Enough hanging out behind the three point arc, at least until he’s able to be a threat from there.

 

And Segu is just terrific. His play reminds me a lot of Ohio’s DJ Cooper. I’m really excited to follow his development into an All-MAC player. 

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On 1/25/2019 at 7:33 PM, skrabukes said:

We were cost 2 points at the end of the half. If it was a 2 shot foul, the basket should've counted. They only had 9 team fouls, so if it was no shot, it would've been 1-and-1. VERY costly error on the refs part.

Congratulations, between three officials, two coaching staffs, two announcers and two message boards the only person in real time who posted about the blown call.  I realized the error but had no ability to post at the time.

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5 hours ago, BrooklynBull said:

Congratulations, between three officials, two coaching staffs, two announcers and two message boards the only person in real time who posted about the blown call.  I realized the error but had no ability to post at the time.

Can you explain this rule to me? I truly didn’t know what should happen. I thought he got 2 shots because he was in the act of shooting so the bonus wouldn’t matter and clearly the ball was still in his hands as the time ran out. What’s the appropriate call for this and why? 

Still should’ve made the 2 FTs though..

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4 minutes ago, weareub46 said:

Can you explain this rule to me? I truly didn’t know what should happen. I thought he got 2 shots because he was in the act of shooting so the bonus wouldn’t matter and clearly the ball was still in his hands as the time ran out. What’s the appropriate call for this and why? 

Still should’ve made the 2 FTs though..

It's such a bizarre situation. You'd think if he was shooting than the shot could count.. would he have let go if he wasn't fouled? How can you "shoot" if the result of the shot doesn't count?

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