Some Final Thoughts On The USF Game
November 18th, 2009 by Cvillehoops13With such a varied reaction to the Hoos performance against the USF Bulls on Monday night I decided to treat it to a true game analysis and after watching the game three times and logging every play there were some interesting trends that are worth looking at for this team going forward.
I will start by saying that with the line-up available a lot of things had to go right for UVa to win this game with USF’s inside game along with All-Big East guard Dominique Jones. Here are some notes drawn from my game report:
First Half:
- How about Mike Scott outleaping 6-11 USF Center Jarrid Famous for the jumpball, shows how athletic Scott is.
- UVa came out throwing both double teams on the perimeter as well as the corner, this successfully pushed the Bulls away from the basket and gave them some real trouble getting the ball to their post players on the block.
-Speaking of getting the ball to post players on the block, Sylven Landesberg can’t get enough credit for the job he did helping down low in this game – several times he denied and successfully defended both Famous and 6-10 Gus Gilchrist, a remarkable feat for a guy who really struggled at times last year on the defensive end.
- Mike Scott improved greatly on the defensive end from the Longwood game. In this game he correctly defended some very talented bigs, and trusted his help – both were problems against Longwood.
- UVa ran a good deal of a pretty standard motion offense in this game and both Farrakhan and Landesberg had success driving into the lane in the first half.
- With 16:56 left in the first-half Zeglinski was called for a block (that I thought should’ve been a charge) but on the play his footwork was a great demonstration of what these players are going through. When the USF player caught the ball on the wing Zeglinski starts to turn his feet to send him baseline but mid-move adjusts his feet to the correct stance to funnel the player to the middle. These guys are still working on their footwork but this game was much better than the last.
- As long as this team continues with the motion offense it is imperative that Farrakhan and Landesberg make the correct reads about where the help in the lane is – both players were very up and down in that regard in this game, with a team with size like USF you have to know when you have an open lane.
- Sammy has improved his play and his defense, but I would like to see more dribble penetration from him, when he gets to the lane he makes plays, unfortunately it isn’t getting there often.
- The first-half defense was even more impressive given the fact that Gilchrist was tall enough to see the entire court and pass out of UVa’s double teams, several times he correctly threw a skip pass to a player open for three and UVa’s guards recovered to contest or prevent the shot.
- Zeglinski played a huge role in help defense in the post despite the height differential and did a very good job and forced three turnovers due to his post D – who would’ve thought you’d ever see that?
- At around the 15 minute mark USF starts the strategy they would use throughout the first half, they had the skilled Gilchrist step away from the hoop only to throw entry passes back into Famous in the post – UVa defended this very well early by doubling Gilchrist and rotating to take away the pass and double Famous if he did catch the ball.
- All 4 of USF’s early TO’s were forced by great defense by the Hoos.
- After USF PG Chris Howard picked up his second foul and was subbed out for Mike Mercer, Bennett brought in Calvin Baker. A UVa team that had been playing their best ball of the season lost a little flow with the substitution. The score was 12-6 when Baker entered and he was subbed out with the score 14-13.
- UVa was leading 15-13 at the 9:30 mark, had defended USF almost perfectly except for the short spurt when Baker entered, yet missed threes by Farrakhan and Jeff Jones and missed lay-ups by almost all players kept UVa from taking advantage of what had been a dominating performance. At the 7:45 mark USF had 7 turnover’s to UVa’s 1 yet the Hoos only were able to turn that into a two point lead.
- In one of the few set plays we saw out of the motion offense Farrakhan came off of a staggered screen and made a great pass to a cutting Mike Scott, it was the type of offensive execution that was often missing last season.
- With UVa leading 19-16 with 6:30 left in the first half UVa subs in Tristan Spurlock and goes to the Blocker/Mover offense for the first time, UVa forces several contested shots early in the shot clock that lead to transition baskets the other way – a cardinal sin in Bennett’s system.
- Late in the half USF ran a high pick and roll against Landesberg and Meyinsse, Jerome hedged too high and misplayed it (Sylven correctly just hung with his man) this led to a 3-pointer for Gus Gilchrist and Stan Heath tucked this play away for the second-half. On the next possession Landesberg and Farrakhan don’t communicate as Mustapha is hit on a screen and Sylven has sunk into the lane too far to contest an easy free-throw line jumper from USF.
- Jontel Evans has been a great energy guy off of the bench, unfortunately he has a bad habit of extending too far and leaving his teammates on an island, he committed a foul at mid-court at the end of the half that gave USF a free trip to the free throw line.
- Farrakhan missed an easy pull-up jumper and then Jones for USF goes down and hits a jumper to make the halftime mark 31-27.
- At this point the Cavs were in trouble, they had played dominating defense and set up open shots and trailed at the half.
Second Half
- USF opened the half on a 9-0 run. This run defined the second-half. USF started setting screens for Famous cutting through the lane while setting Gilchrist up to throw the entry if there was a mis-match. UVa was late on their help several times and USF scored out of the set.
- UVa also became careless with the ball, Zeglinski’s horrible cross-court pass straight to USF after making a great defensive play was probably the best example.
- UVa was slow in their help for most of the half, sometimes due to communication, sometimes due to just lazy defense, sometimes due to USF making a good play. For guys the size of UVa’s guards to be pounding the way they were all game seemed to finally take a toll. You can only stand to get hit so many times before you begin to hesitate.
- The guards being slow to help put more pressure on Mike Scott who was physically dominated for much of the half – it was actually lazy help on his part coming across the lane that set up his fifth foul – he was obviously worn down.
- Calvin Baker played much better in his second stint in the game, hitting a deep three and seeming to be in better rhythm with his teammates and the system.
- As I mentioned in my first half notes, Heath realized that UVa was struggling to defend the pick and roll at the top of the key and he ran a good number of sets that started with that play – in many cases the UVa defenders had a hard time knowing whether to hedge the screen, switch it, or just play it straight. It’s a great example of the trouble that can come from switching defensive philosophies – I expect that play to get a lot of practice and with better communication it should be defended better in the future. Having a 6-10 player like Gilchrist that can hit from outside makes defending the play that much more difficult.
Some final notes:
- It was good to see Calvin Baker out there, even better to see him have some positive plays – much like the other players did after the Longwood game I expect he’ll be much better in the Rider game.
- This team improved on both ends from the Longwood game, that’s a tribute to both Coach Bennett and the players willingness to put in the work.
- When Sene returns the time the guards spent defending the post will really pay off, they will be forced to switch down at times while the bigs recover and the USF game gave them the best possible experience in that.
- I can’t emphasize enough the strides Landesberg has made on the defensive end – he was a liability on that end at times last year, struggling with both footwork and getting off of screens – this year he is the best defender on the team.
- It will be nice to see Spurlock get a chance at the 3 spot when Sene returns, I think we’ll see an instant change in his comfort level.
- Jontel Evans has to have more discipline on defense.
- Farrakhan and Jones both had several good looks from three that they just missed, in order for this team to reach its potential one of those guys needs to be a consistent outside threat. After watching the game so many times both of these players took some contested shots early in the shot-clock but UVa’s shot selection was actually pretty solid – every player missed some good looks and USF’s height, length and athleticism played a big part in that.
- Speaking of Jones, he is really struggling on both ends. He has struggled with almost every aspect of this defense and his offensive game is streaky at best. Oddly enough, after his worst defensive lapses this year he has almost always come back down the court and hit the shot – unfortunately he’s giving up many more points than he is contributing at this point. Hopefully the light comes on for him soon, because Farrakhan’s ability to defend and get the ball to the lane will keep Jones off the court if he can’t defend and hit the outside shot.
- When running efficency ratings, the team is actually at its best when Sylven sets the offense – slightly beating out Zeglinski. It’s good to keep rotating these guys, especially if Sammy can fill the void of an outside shooter this team is currently looking for.
- With Gilchrist and Jones USF has a chance to make some noise and have a solid finish in the Big East. I am confident that Stan Heath ends the year as the coach of the year in the league.
