FINAL: WSU falls to UTEP, 65-52, in opener...
- Thread starter britton ransford
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Got to see some of the UTEP broadcast of the game over the internet. A couple of things to like include Redding and Hawkinson's continued development (I like the 4 blocked shots, he reacted well to the ball). Lacy did not have a good game but I expect he'll do much better for most of the season. He will be the focus of the opposing team's defense for sure. Didn't realize Que got all those rebounds. What I didn't like was the absolutely horrid ballhandling, many unforced TOs and outside of Hawk, the big guys were non-existent. Poor game from Longrus, wasn't impressed with Cheatum, and Railey played about the worst 4 minutes of his career to start the game, never to return (wise move Ernie!) Cougars' zone defense was pretty active but UTEP really struggled to hit open shots. My impression is that the Miners didn't play very well and their star player struggled offensively more than Lacy. We'll learn a lot more after a few more games.
I also watched OSU, UO, and little bit of UW. All impressed me more than I expected. Granted, none of them played on the road against a decent team, like WSU did.
By the way, El C.....I can't imagine how bad our frontcourt would be if Hawk was playing D-II basketball like you had been advocating in the past. He's the ONLY big guy worth a darn right now.
Glad Cougar
I also watched OSU, UO, and little bit of UW. All impressed me more than I expected. Granted, none of them played on the road against a decent team, like WSU did.
By the way, El C.....I can't imagine how bad our frontcourt would be if Hawk was playing D-II basketball like you had been advocating in the past. He's the ONLY big guy worth a darn right now.
Glad Cougar
Thoughts: The Good, Bad & the Ugly
Reader's Digest Condensed Version:
The Good: We could have won if not for the Ugly (see below); we could have survived the Bad. Not a terrible start from that perspective. The guys appeared to be in good physical condition for this point in the year. Free throws were OK for this point in the season. A few bright spots in individual performances (Hawkinson, Que at times).
The Bad: Too dependent on Lacy's scoring. Too many forced shots; but as people get more comfortable the game should slow down a bit for them and the forced shots should diminish. UTEP did a pretty good job of defending the perimeter, and we did not make them pay for that; either our "bigs" have to score or the perimeter guys have to penetrate, or preferably both. There has to be some balance or it is too easy for the other team to focus on the perimeter. Railey did not look comfortable. I don't know if he understands his role in the CEK system. He is certainly able to play better than he did at the start of last night's game. If he is going to help us this year, he needs to understand how he fits, and last night he looked like a square peg in a round hole.
The Ugly: Turnovers are obvious. That should get better as the mental game slows down. And getting slammed like that in offensive rebounds is just a total mental breakdown. Having a smaller line up makes getting position for a rebound more important, and that was my greatest disappointment from last night. Ernie needs to pound on that in practice. That is one freebee that we can't afford to give away.
Reader's Digest Condensed Version:
The Good: We could have won if not for the Ugly (see below); we could have survived the Bad. Not a terrible start from that perspective. The guys appeared to be in good physical condition for this point in the year. Free throws were OK for this point in the season. A few bright spots in individual performances (Hawkinson, Que at times).
The Bad: Too dependent on Lacy's scoring. Too many forced shots; but as people get more comfortable the game should slow down a bit for them and the forced shots should diminish. UTEP did a pretty good job of defending the perimeter, and we did not make them pay for that; either our "bigs" have to score or the perimeter guys have to penetrate, or preferably both. There has to be some balance or it is too easy for the other team to focus on the perimeter. Railey did not look comfortable. I don't know if he understands his role in the CEK system. He is certainly able to play better than he did at the start of last night's game. If he is going to help us this year, he needs to understand how he fits, and last night he looked like a square peg in a round hole.
The Ugly: Turnovers are obvious. That should get better as the mental game slows down. And getting slammed like that in offensive rebounds is just a total mental breakdown. Having a smaller line up makes getting position for a rebound more important, and that was my greatest disappointment from last night. Ernie needs to pound on that in practice. That is one freebee that we can't afford to give away.
