[NU Sports] rebounding disaster

[Roy S. Lamberton]

Perdoo really took Shurna out of his game in the first half, I don't think he got a clean
look at the basket for 20 minutes.

They were slapping at Sobo too, and what kind of grease was on the floor under NU's basket
in the first half. Hearn and Sobo both slipped trying to cut under there - it cost us some
points.

Once again, just like Nebraska, we let PU get up a few baskets on us before we started to
score, and nobody seemed to find the range in or outside the arc, in the first 10 minutes.
PU couldn't either, but we could have put that thing away in the first half had we scored
when they didn't.

The Cats just have to take it to Indy on Wednesday.

rsl

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Roy S. Lamberton - Senior Associate.
Computer Applications & Support Associates
Coach Roy's Random Thoughts - http://coachroy.org
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-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of
Beamsley, Jeff
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 2:12 PM
To: Tom Maycock; nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] rebounding disaster

Couple of thoughts.

These teams are pretty evenly matched.  The loss at home was close.  Hummel had to make a
great shot to win and did.  NU learned from that loss.  Carmody switched to a small lineup
and won three games including a big win over Illinois.   

NU has to shoot the three well for this small lineup to work.  We didn't do that in the
first half (4-11).  Purdude did a good job defending the three, but when we had open
looks,  we didn't make 'em.  We also had a tough time finishing around the basket on the
sorts of drives that should open up if the D is all out at the three point line.

The good news is that our defense in the first half was just as good as Purdew's, so
Purdew shot just as badly as we did.  Other than rebounds, the first half stats were
pretty even.

Both teams shot better in the second half but again were pretty close.  NU rebounded much
better.  

Where this game was won, however, was at the free throw line.  Even though it seemed like
they buried us in threes, we actually outplayed them on the floor.  They were 21-28 at the
line in the second half to our 7-12.  The final margin of victory was 10.  

Bottom line is that Purdid was able to make us play their game (gritty physical grind it
out) and last night, they were better at it.

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of Tom
Maycock
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 12:11 PM
To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] rebounding disaster

> I realize the Princeton offense means rebounding can be a weakness

It may limit offensive rebounds, but I don't think it has anything inherently to do with
defensive rebounding. And that was the big problem yesterday (and has been in many
games). 

The 1-3-1 defense certainly doesn't lend itself to strong rebounding. It's just one of the
compromises you accept when you play that defense--you're going to give up a few gimmes,
and you hope that the turnovers and general mayhem you cause with the 1-3-1 more than
offset that. The Cats did play man D for a while in the second half, which I think helped,
but then as I recall they had issues staying on 3-point shooters. 


Also, the small lineup isn't conducive to strong rebounding either. (Well, at least
theoretically--I think the Cats have actually rebounded better overall with their small
lineup than with their "big" lineup). But strong rebounding from a small lineup requires
extra-big doses of "want". 

To be fair, especially in the first half Purdue was really putting up some awful shots
that lead to really long rebounds, so there was just some bad luck there. However,
rebounding is mostly about thinking ahead, being physical, and working your ass off. The
Cats flat out didn't do a great job at those things for large portions of the game. 

Too bad, as it was another winnable game, in which the Cats played fairly well, but not
great. As the announcers noted, the Cats failed to take advantage of Purdue's cold streak
early, which left them no cushion when the Boilers got hot down the stretch. 


Mostly, it just makes the loss at home against Purdue all the more painful. The Cats
*could* have won on Sunday, but they *should* have won that game at home. The 0-2 mark
against Purdue may haunt them at selection time. Maybe they'll get a rematch in the Big
Ten tourney?

Tom

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