Sometimes fate forces you hand

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Jason94
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Sometimes fate forces you hand

Post by Jason94 »

CJS finally went away from his inverted starting lineup, partially driven by injuries to Robbins and Dort (it would seem), and the move immediately paid dividends. This was an excellent win, as UGA had been undefeated at home, and we stole one from there, doing just enough to stave off a last minute charge by the Dawgs.

The greatest beneficiary of the shift from Thomas as the point and insertion of Wright back into the starting lineup was Stute, who had a very efficient game, scoring 14 points on 6 shots and could have had more had he hit his FTA. Wright didn't have a great shooting game but forced UGA to pay attention to him, and his starting also allowed him to play 34 minutes, which was more than he had played since the Temple game.

Manjon was great today - his ability to get into the defense and create breakdowns creates a tremendous amount of pressure on the defense even if it doesn't directly lead to an assist or a bucket. He is starting to understand the speed of SEC play, and has done a very good job of playing within himself, feeling for the correct time to attack. Lawrence was likewise good attacking the basket - similar to the last couple of previous games - this draws fouls which gives us extra chances at the FT line (putting ourselves in the bonus earlier) and getting opponents into foul trouble. He seems to have really stepped things up in SEC play, and is drawing almost 7 fouls per 40 minutes played in league play. He still takes a bit too many threes given his success rate, and probably should only do so either at the end of the shot clock or a couple time max when completely wide open. The best thing both players have done is dramatically decrease their turnovers in league play.

This game is an example of the difference between how our offense was last season vs. this year. Outside of Wright there wasn't too many options and Pippen ended up dominating the ball. This season when the right players are out there, it can be difficult to defend us because you cannot really key in on any one player. 5 players were in double figures and the other two scorers had 7 and 6 respectively. Possessions were spread out pretty evenly.


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Vandy187187
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Re: Sometimes fate forces you hand

Post by Vandy187187 »

Whether injuries forced it or not. Stack deserves credit like I have been giving him blame on the lineup options. Today we seemed to run our offense much better for all but 4 minutes of the game. Manjon was terrific in the 2nd half, and when our 3 went cold he was the difference getting to the rim. QMB while he can't score even 2 feet from the basket made all the hustle plays and rebounded his butt off. We had some cuts and passes for easy buckets today which was nice to see.

Hopefully Lewis is OK after whacking his head hard on the court. He can really shoot the ball and he didn't have a TO either in his minutes, played tough D too.

Trey had no TO either and made the biggest shots of the game when it was on the line at the FT line. The ball never touched the rim, as Don said, ICE TREY is his nickname at the line now due to the ice water in his veins.

One thing to point out. QMB had 6 of our 8 offensive boards. Stute had the other 2. More people need to crash the glass you can't have 2 people with an offensive rebound.
memphisVUalum
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Re: Sometimes fate forces you hand

Post by memphisVUalum »

Vandy187187 wrote: Sat Jan 21, 2023 3:38 pm Whether injuries forced it or not. Stack deserves credit like I have been giving him blame on the lineup options. Today we seemed to run our offense much better for all but 4 minutes of the game. Manjon was terrific in the 2nd half, and when our 3 went cold he was the difference getting to the rim. QMB while he can't score even 2 feet from the basket made all the hustle plays and rebounded his butt off. We had some cuts and passes for easy buckets today which was nice to see.

Hopefully Lewis is OK after whacking his head hard on the court. He can really shoot the ball and he didn't have a TO either in his minutes, played tough D too.

Trey had no TO either and made the biggest shots of the game when it was on the line at the FT line. The ball never touched the rim, as Don said, ICE TREY is his nickname at the line now due to the ice water in his veins.

One thing to point out. QMB had 6 of our 8 offensive boards. Stute had the other 2. More people need to crash the glass you can't have 2 people with an offensive rebound.
Yes, I'm worried about how Lewis was after hitting his head. Good win.
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Re: Sometimes fate forces you hand

Post by Nashmann »

Manjon was probably the main difference in the team's play. He was awesome and had in my opinion his best game. He is so quick and is so much more confident in his game. His drives and scoring plus his beating the press so often was a game-changer! Hope we can keep him for next year!
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Re: Sometimes fate forces you hand

Post by ymtn64 »

Very good points from each of you. One unfortunate thing I noticed about Manjon that probably doesn't work so well starting Tuesday night. I've noticed in previous games that he typically works at doing what he did at Georgia, he drives the ball, forced the defense to rotate which gives him changes to kick to shooter/others moving toward the basket and so on. Georgia kept either doing this on purpose, or Mike White couldn't get his guys to understand that if you keep a rim protector near the basket, Manjon and Ty can't get all the way to the basket for so many relatively easy layups and dunks. Please don't hear me taking anything away from these two players because without them today we were in trouble most likely. Jason, you and I really agree about Wright, the only way this season keeps moving successfully is Wright has to play 30 plus minutes. It isn't always about him scoring, he typically has a calming influence on the team. Stute was very good, other than missing 3 straight FT's, unless I missed it, he didnt move after each miss, someone has taught him a bad habit, or it was just him, but ALWAYS after missing a FT, move/change your focus point before taking the next one. Again very basic basketball that is taught to kids and young teens.

I will admit I get frustrated with CJS often. From the sets we run on offense, often not working to the actual players on the courts best abilities, the former poor excuse for playing time, and I honestly think his weird unease at calling timeouts will forever frustrate the heck out of me! I really don't mean this to sound like a backhanded compliment, I honestly mean he as well as the entire Coaching Staff did one incredible job having our undersized, limited roster ready to play. They deserve tons of credit for this win, and I am thrilled!

Now about UK and their dominate rim protector, Tuesday night has problems written all over it....then again, another masterful coaching plan along with our players giving everything they have got, maybe we find a way. I know I will be there with my group cheering loud, and I can't wait to see what happens next
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