UB @ MOH - 01/10 - 7:00 PM - ESPN+

[Bluebird96]

Early in the game UB had 6 assists on the first 8 or 9 buckets. To finish with just 10 assists on 27 makes is just puzzling. And obviously the FT shooting needs major improvement. Good that we got to the line so many times, but need to get back to the 70% range at least.

[UBinMD]

2 minutes ago, Ubbulls84 said:

I really want to be positive like you, but this is a game you gotta find a way to pull out. Wait until we go on road against Ball State and Kent State at end of this month. 

I choose to be positive, that’s it’s. I don’t expect perfection, I feel they have a chance to win every game when it starts. It’s doesn’t do me any good personally to get down on them. I’m not traveling with them or have direct contact. I enjoy the games and I hope they win every one. Simple as that, bitching about the bad things that happened today will not change anything going into the game Saturday. Hopefully the players and coaches learn from it and make the adjustments.

[DocCas86]

41 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

FT shooting will be the difference. 

Unfortunately...and 3 PT shooting.  We did not defend the 3 well enough, also take better care of the ball...fewer turnovers with us getting steals and forcing turnovers could have been the equalizer.  On to the next game.

Edited January 11, 2023 by DocCas86

[Bluebird96]

It’s evident that we’re not a great 3-pt shooting team. At least we don’t just chuck them up 30+ times a game like a lot of other poor shooting CBB teams.  But have to do better than 3-17.  If we even shot just 35% tonight from deep and 70% on FTs we might have pulled out a W in spite of the porous 2nd half defense. On to the next…

[clodney]

We are going to lose games in the MAC but why would anyone be “happy” to be .500 when this conference is absolute garbage this year? We just lost by double digits to a team that is nearly in the 300’s. This is as bad a loss as Howard, statistically. Face the facts, without a massive change in play we have little chance to make any noise this year. it is what we all thought it would be. A rebuild year. We will learn nothing about the decision to maintain Whitesell until next year. 

[Chet]

6 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

I choose to be positive, that’s it’s. I don’t expect perfection, I feel they have a chance to win every game when it starts. It’s doesn’t do me any good personally to get down on them. I’m not traveling with them or have direct contact. I enjoy the games and I hope they win every one. Simple as that, bitching about the bad things that happened today will not change anything going into the game Saturday. Hopefully the players and coaches learn from it and make the adjustments.

I appreciate your positivity. I need it because that was hard to watch. I don't think Miami is a good basketball team and they beat us by 11 and scored 91 even after they turned the ball over 22 times. That is ridiculous.

 

[enrique14150]

Road games are tough. And when you win them, it usually isn't pretty. Miami did their homework, they didn't give UB good looks from outside and they matched the Bulls for intensity on rebounds. In the end, a close game that went back and forth was finally opened up by 4 straight turnovers by UB down the stretch. This team looked good at the free throw line earlier in the year but it's been a problem the last couple games. Today that caught up with them. I liked the competitiveness today, I liked how some other guys stepped up.

Curtis- not his best game today. Miami kept him from hitting from outside, and he is the team's best outside shooter.

Foster - his best game as a Bull so far? His best quality is his quick first step to the net and kept beating Miami with it.

Zid - he's great at stealing the ball. He looked like he was back up to speed tonight. Played hard to the end.

Miami - Lahry is a good all around guard. That big guy 45 was a handful inside. They kept finding a way to hit threes even when they were contested. Miami had some good movement inside to the basket, they got the Bulls spread out on the perimeter and drove inside where someone had no option but to foul.

We put down our own attendances but that sure looked like a sparse crowd there. 

Lessons learned, MAC road game experience, work in progress. I like the fight but they probably know that they need to clean up some things to get the win on a night like this. This UB team is one that shouldn't overlook anyone, nor should any opponent do likewise.

[Tee4three]

How the team follows this one up will be more telling than this game

This was your typical road Mac game - physical tough and a grind

Miami made some circus shots in the first half, and knocked down their open looks in the second. UB misses open looks all night and shot terrible from the foul line

Ub is a young team going through conference play for the first time, I see progression but still a lot more potential on the table

Things I'd like to see is imposing your style and not being afraid or over aware/giving a player too much respect. I think UB had half the strategy against 45 right, make him run - dude was gassed. I think you have to bang him around too, seems like he gets frustrated or could be a bit of a hot head. When contact came his hooks became more noticeable

Foster is a good example of giving way to much respect in the first half then realizing he didn't need too in the second

[DocCas86]

30 minutes ago, Erie County said:

They'll be .500 at best. They don't win road games. Havent yet this year.

 

They played poorly tonight, no doubt.  It is tough on the road. The road team is a combined 4-14 so far this season in the MAC.  

I feel they will get 10 wins.   Year in and year out you have a lot of MAC teams with 9-11 wins.  What gives me hope is that this team plays hard and generally plays team ball.  I will continue to root for them to improve and hope for best come March.

 

[Ubbulls84]

40 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

I choose to be positive, that’s it’s. I don’t expect perfection, I feel they have a chance to win every game when it starts. It’s doesn’t do me any good personally to get down on them. I’m not traveling with them or have direct contact. I enjoy the games and I hope they win every one. Simple as that, bitching about the bad things that happened today will not change anything going into the game Saturday. Hopefully the players and coaches learn from it and make the adjustments.

Appreciate that, and of course complaining won’t change anything. But people complain because they are fans, and it’s good to vent too when your not happy about the teams performance. They are only complaining because they want or expect the team to do better. 

[MuchMany]

Went to the Sabres game so just about to watch back now, but doesn't sound like an enjoyable one. I at least want to see what the hell this #45 is all about from the comments. 

Did someone say Ceaser wasn't dressed/present? His body language looked rough in the mop up minutes against NIU to the point it caught my attention.

And amen, @UBinMD.

[ChubbyHubby]

10 hours ago, Ubbulls84 said:

Appreciate that, and of course complaining won’t change anything. But people complain because they are fans, and it’s good to vent too when your not happy about the teams performance. They are only complaining because they want or expect the team to do better. 

I agree, but geez, those that complain CONSTANTLY, don't even acknowlege when the team plays well.  They just dig to find some part of the game to b!tch about.

[DocCas86]

Another stat that I think needs to be looked into is MOH 2pt %, They shot over 60%

[John]

2 hours ago, DocCas86 said:

Another stat that I think needs to be looked into is MOH 2pt %, They shot over 60%

Stats can always be an interesting aspect of any game. IF UB on average in a game shoots 17% from the 3 point line, shoots 60% or less from the free throw line especially when they get 38 attempts,, have only 10 assists and have double digit turnovers and as in many games so far this year have players start playing selfish that can usually result in a loss. This does appear like this will be an up and down year with some good performances and some not so good performances. The question is can this coaching staff change the attitudes of some of these players to play more team ball?? I do think we have some very talented players on this team and of course will continue to support both teams in what looks like a roller coaster year. Go Bulls!!

[enrique14150]

14 minutes ago, John said:

Stats can always be an interesting aspect of any game. IF UB on average in a game shoots 17% from the 3 point line, shoots 60% or less from the free throw line especially when they get 38 attempts,, have only 10 assists and have double digit turnovers and as in many games so far this year have players start playing selfish that can usually result in a loss. This does appear like this will be an up and down year with some good performances and some not so good performances. The question is can this coaching staff change the attitudes of some of these players to play more team ball?? I do think we have some very talented players on this team and of course will continue to support both teams in what looks like a roller coaster year. Go Bulls!!

I agree with you that this is going to be up and down, because of the nature of the team right now.  I hope people realize how much better this team looks now than it did 2 months ago.  And how much some players have progressed.  Curtis didn't play much last year, look at him now, in just his sophomore season.  Look at Isaac Jack, starting to become a regular piece of the equation, how much he's come along in just a couple months.

"play more team ball" - the Bulls are 3rd in the MAC right now with 14.5 assists per game.  Assist-to-turnover ratio isn't as good...but those tell me that they're trying to work it around, sometimes they don't do it well.  I feel like as they get better as a team, those turnovers may come down.  And turnovers will be more of a problem for teams like UB that, since Hurley, want to run the floor at a high tempo (as they say in football, "live by the blitz, die by the blitz.").  I totally agree that they can get better at this, but in terms of assists they're actually one of the best in the conference right now.

www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/conferences/statistics/team/_/id/14/stat/assists/sort/avgAssists

I feel like yesterday they were trying to play team ball and pass it around, but Miami was doing a good job of shutting that down.  Curtis wasn't getting good looks outside.  Down the stretch, 'Foster taking it to the net' was the thing that was working best (in this game).  

[John]

35 minutes ago, enrique14150 said:

I agree with you that this is going to be up and down, because of the nature of the team right now.  I hope people realize how much better this team looks now than it did 2 months ago.  And how much some players have progressed.  Curtis didn't play much last year, look at him now, in just his sophomore season.  Look at Isaac Jack, starting to become a regular piece of the equation, how much he's come along in just a couple months.

"play more team ball" - the Bulls are 3rd in the MAC right now with 14.5 assists per game.  Assist-to-turnover ratio isn't as good...but those tell me that they're trying to work it around, sometimes they don't do it well.  I feel like as they get better as a team, those turnovers may come down.  And turnovers will be more of a problem for teams like UB that, since Hurley, want to run the floor at a high tempo (as they say in football, "live by the blitz, die by the blitz.").  I totally agree that they can get better at this, but in terms of assists they're actually one of the best in the conference right now.

www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/conferences/statistics/team/_/id/14/stat/assists/sort/avgAssists

I feel like yesterday they were trying to play team ball and pass it around, but Miami was doing a good job of shutting that down.  Curtis wasn't getting good looks outside.  Down the stretch, 'Foster taking it to the net' was the thing that was working best (in this game).  

I do agree with your comments. What has seemed to happen in many games is they do have stretches of very good team ball but in many stretches they go back to one on one ball but again that can because of the other team’s defense of how the game is being played. The big buckaboo could be because of our poor 3 point shooting and I think the biggest obstacle is our free throw shooting. I think they will still have some good free throw shooting games but can they have any consistency at all?? Time will tell and still feel like progress has been made in many areas and hope we can be more than a 500 team. Go Bulls!!!

[DocCas86]

My focus on the stats, in particular MOH 2pt%,  is what lessons the team learn from this and what do they do differently going forward.  Can't give up over 90 points and expect to win too many games.  

Need to make sure they learn and improve.

Edited January 11, 2023 by DocCas86

[ChubbyHubby]

D-1 teams should be shooting a minimum of 75% on free throws.  Sure, you're gonna have that Shaq on the team that can't buy one, but there should be an Ernie D. on the team to offset that.  They are FREE throws.

[enrique14150]

1 hour ago, John said:

I do agree with your comments. What has seemed to happen in many games is they do have stretches of very good team ball but in many stretches they go back to one on one ball but again that can because of the other team’s defense of how the game is being played. The big buckaboo could be because of our poor 3 point shooting and I think the biggest obstacle is our free throw shooting. I think they will still have some good free throw shooting games but can they have any consistency at all?? Time will tell and still feel like progress has been made in many areas and hope we can be more than a 500 team. Go Bulls!!!

Reggie-ball was the old style, work it around till you found THE shot you wanted.  When Hurley came in, and Oates and Whitesell have kept this going, it's the modern idea of: up-tempo, hit them in transition, so you take way more shots than the other team, even if you miss a lot of them, statistically it works out better.  And either go for layups (take turns driving to the net) or take 3's.  It makes for a lot of ugly basketball at times; it absolutely BURIES opponents when you're shooting well; it's hard to set up rebounders underneath sometimes; when it works it's fast and entertaining.  I think they are playing the way the style dictates.  But yeah, I hear you, the team has been built around this style for years.  I'm not saying go back to what it was before (this year's team plays that higher tempo a LOT better than the past couple years did).  I will say that I love a good 2 point jump shot, beat that guy on the perimeter and instead of driving all the way, drain that 2.  Then they have to guard you everywhere on the court.  Driving to the net and getting fouled works too...provided you're hitting your foul shots.

Foster seems best at going to the net, he hasn't been consistent from outside.  Powell is all over the place with his intensity, in the end he has points and steals but there's an element of brute force about his game.  I feel like Curtis is the one that can hit from anywhere - three's, jumpers, layups, floaters (he doesn't have the height for a classic Yassin Idbihi hook shot though 🙂 ).  

Last night, I think the outside shooting wasn't working, and it made them have to rely on driving to the net.  Since they were drawing lots of fouls (THREE guys on the Deadhawks fouled out), this would've worked if they could've made their foul shots.

[John]

6 hours ago, ChubbyHubby said:

D-1 teams should be shooting a minimum of 75% on free throws.  Sure, you're gonna have that Shaq on the team that can't buy one, but there should be an Ernie D. on the team to offset that.  They are FREE throws.

You really do wonder how much practice they put in on free throws?? Just sad on players that have played all their life and can’t improve on foul shooting.