I love a good debate, as you’re probably aware if you’ve read the site throughout the years. So far, through this young season, there haven’t been too many polarizing topics, though. The closest seems to have centered around the use of Dallin Hall (spoiler: while I don’t think he needs this many minutes, especially when Jacari White returns, I do think he’s contributed in a lot of non-scoring ways and his improvement within the defensive system (along with Malik Thomas blowing fewer assignments) has been the biggest reason we’ve started to see improvement on that end of the ball). But, given his 20-point performance against Maryland, that’s been tempered; at least for the moment.
Much to my surprise, then, that something actually did crop up out of the Virginia Tech loss. Now, this was rearing its head in a lot of places, so if I had a discussion with you about this – I’m not thinking of or calling you out specifically, and you weren’t alone in your thought process. I do think it makes for a worthwhile discussion, though, as it relates to how we interpret what’s going on with the team via not just outcomes but by what we’re actually seeing. I also find this interesting because, in sort of the sports talking-head world of things, explanations around why certain things went the way that they did has been equated to excuses and then dismissed summarily. That’s well and good if you’re talking to a fan of the opposing team after the game – really all that matters in that discussion re: bragging rights is what happened in that game. BUT, if you’re trying to think critically about the team and whether or not what happened is likely to happen moving forward and how the team should adjust accordingly (which is what this site is all about) then it’s very important to give care to the reasons.
The narrative went – this isn’t actually a good shooting team. Sure, we’ve shot well against a bunch of poor defenses, but among the six decent/quality defenses we’ve played (Northwestern, Butler, Texas, Dayton, Maryland, and Virginia Tech), we’d shot horribly in half of them. Therefore, it must be harder for us against those defenses and we shouldn’t count on being able to shoot well as the schedule gets tougher.
This sounds like a plausible theory and, to a point, there’s going to be some inevitable truth to it. For example, if we were to ever play Michigan, I would expect their insane defense to make our looks more difficult and to decrease our shooting percentage by some amount. This was also true of last year’s team. That team really struggled to separate from opposing defenses on the perimeter; both because of the scheme we were running and collective lack of quickness across our guard group. It made our shooting increasingly more difficult as the quality of our opponent’s defense/athleticism on the perimeter improved. We also know from watching the games and seeing how much more under duress those shots were; how late into the shot clock we’d typically get.
The problem with the theory for this year was that, for one, Dayton has been the best defensive team we’ve faced by a reasonable amount; and we scorched them even if you remove the 7-7 Jacari White shooting. Secondly, if you watched this Virginia Tech game (and this was also true for the previous games against Northwestern and Butler), it’s not like most of the shots we were getting from outside were any less open or more contested on the whole than those we were getting against pretty much any team this season (Butler was the most disruptive in passing lanes and keeping off rhythm a bit, but we still generated a ton of open threes that just didn’t fall in that one). In fact, because we were missing so many open looks, Virginia Tech actually adjusted their defense to allow for more open shots; as I mentioned in that last piece. Basically, there wasn’t anything they were doing to contest shots or force misses and the quality of looks we were getting wasn’t worse than all of those previous games (in fact, it was better than many). We just were. When shooters are “off” you can tell. Guys look uncomfortable, are passing up looks they’d normally take, when they miss – it’s often not close; air balls, barely grazing the rim. They start to look like they’re aiming rather than just naturally releasing. The misses add up.
Which brings us to… why if not for the defense? Now, the answer to that question is probably not easily identifiable on the court. It’s possible they’re all just off at the same time. But, usually, you’ll have a player or two with an off night and some who are on. It’s rare everyone is affected all at once and, when they are, typically you’ll want to look at the things that affect all of them at once. A good chunk of the players being sick, a ball they aren’t used to (this happens in the NCAA Tournament a lot, btw, and balls need to be standardized), something off the court like locker room issues or other distractions….
Environment.
Two games in a ballroom with dim lights, low ceilings, and scoreboards in the corner of your eyes while shooting… and the dark Turkey Cave which is very similar but without the low ceilings… but the team didn’t even get to do a normal shootaround due to traffic on the travel there (weird!). Shooting is all depth perception meets muscle memory (along with controlling adrenaline and nerves/keeping concentration). When there’s something wonky, it can have a real impact. This is why no one used to be able to shoot a lick on those old aircraft carrier games and when teams get to the Final Four the shooting quality often decreases because of the adjustment to shooting in football stadium-like venues. And, while it didn’t really impact our opponents in those games (Tech didn’t shoot great either, but that’s their home floor and they still shot respectably)… I mean, good on them. Maybe one of our shooting weaknesses is odd environments.
That’s just a hypothesis, though, and the one that seems most likely. Possibly, all of that is just entirely coincidence and there are other things going on – sickness for the VT game – maybe distractions in West Virginia. The coaches and players surely have an inkling, but that kind of stuff is speculation on our end. The main point being – it wasn’t because we weren’t getting open looks more than in any of our other 11 games where we shot very well!
Now, fans of Tech or Butler might say, “Tough! We found a way, shot better in the same circumstances, and won the game, don’t make excuses!” And that’s both fair and true for those games. We lost those games to those teams and need to find ways to be able to win games like it in the future when the shot isn’t there… whatever the reason. That’s all true. Shooting is variance and when it swings the other way, the losses count. And, generally, if you’ve read my stuff historically, you’ll know that I usually focus on stuff much more within a strategic control; like how you play both when you are shooting well and when you aren’t.
BUT, when it comes down to whether or not we’re a good shooting team, how likely it is that these kinds of defenses have solved us, or how to use that weapon in future contests – that’s a whole different story. I firmly believe that no one has “solved” us yet and that will be hard to do given the depth and quality of shooters that we have along with the number of players who can facilitate. Those kinds of games will continue to be rare smatterings. The point remains that, even after those three extreme outliers, we’re still shooting almost 38% from deep on the season on almost 400 attempts as a team with four key players shooting 40% or better (and one 50%!), and two more shooting over 37%. And, while certainly Jacari will likely regress to the mean – our worst non-Center perimeter shooter this season, Malik Thomas, has been shooting 8% below his career average and looks to be starting to play better. That’s a very good shooting team that has been creating similar looks all year long.
So, that was the context behind my confidence when going on the HoosOn podcast this week to discuss the level of concern. We absolutely need to work on how we handle it when our shooting is SO off like it was in Blacksburg… but I don’t expect that to be very often.
And speaking of… what a nice rebound performance on the road while shooting 39% from deep against N.C. State! Let’s talk about it – starting with…
Sam Lewis (As A Lens To Talk About Other Things, Too)
A game after losing his spot in the starting lineup for the first time, Sam was back with a vengeance; putting on a complete show in the first half; finishing with 23 points on 8-12 shooting, including 5-9 from three. Why he didn’t play so much against Tech is still unclear (I wish someone had asked!). Coach Odom mentioned that Chance was coming off of a sickness during the break – but didn’t mention Sam at all and Chance still played more than Lewis in that game. Was Odom sending Sam a message? Was he sick? Was it a strategic calculation?
Whatever the reason, Lewis was locked in and showed off his full offensive bag which, aside from a few too many turnovers, was incredibly efficient. This look, below, is what we’re most used to seeing from him and has been his well-advertised strength; his spot-up shooting from deep. He made a few of these in this game, this one after feeding Ugo in the post and clearing out; he eventually takes a nice baseline pass from Dallin Hall to hit the shot.
The look was about Sam, but it also illustrates the extreme advantage that we have over N.C. State with our size. The ball screen at first switched the 6’10’, 235lb. Musa Sagnia away from Onyenso and onto Hall; leaving the 6’6″ 225lb. small-ball PF, Darrion Williams on our 7-footer. Now Ugo has been effective at scoring the ball a little closer to the basket than that; not so much from the mid-post so far away from the hoop. That being said, it’s such a mismatch that the Wolfpack aren’t willing to test it; sending a proactive double team as soon as he gets the ball. This puts their defense in rotation when Hall swoops through to take the ball back and is what leads to the open look for Lewis after TDR also crashes down from the weak side.
One thing Sam didn’t put on tape a ton last year, though, was this ability to pull up from deep off of the bounce. This shot, below, was awesome and was more of a minor adjustment to dodge a would-be shot blocker… but it’s in line with his reduced need to merely be a catch and shoot player.
A couple of things to point out in that one: N.C. State is rotating pretty well here and doing a good job to cut off drives. That being said, our ball movement is also good as we continue to probe and put them in rotations… and Hall’s final cross-court pass leading Lewis into space gives him this nice opportunity (and very good shot-making). If you pause at 4-5 seconds into the clip, though, Johann Grünloh is open to take a pass from Dallin Hall from the wing, right around the rim, and then seals the recovering man where Sam Lewis should also be able to feed him. I’d really like for us to look to feed Grünloh in these situations more aggressively moving forward. These should lead to relatively easy baskets and should help get him more engaged on the offensive end. I think we’ve been scared off by a couple of turnovers while trying to make these entry passes or when he’s caught and turned; keeping the ball low (he does need to play stronger). That being said, it’s worth giving him more opportunities in these kinds of situations to build confidence. Really the biggest thing missing from our offense collectively right now is that the scoring from the Center position has tailed off a little.
Okay, back to Sam! He’s also gotten comfortable working his way, under control, to a midrange game. We typically don’t seek out these kinds of shots; but it’s nice to have a slew of players (most commonly TDR, Thomas, and now Lewis) who can get to it, when needed.
This possession didn’t look like it was going places, but Tillis does a nice job of using a shot fake to create a driving lane and then Lewis keeps the advantage alive by attacking the close out back to him. I also really like the footwork to side-step into the shot, freeing up even more space from his defender.
I’d also like to use this time to talk a little about Devin Tillis. I was really hard on Tillis’s performance after last game, through no fault of his, because he was over-used and mis-used. Having him start and play 39 minutes of a 55-minute game while running a large number of isolation plays through him and having him chase around opposing guards is… way too much Devin Tillis. That being said, he was really good as a role player in this game, who still played over half but was mostly (not entirely) used to back up TDR. He was a perfect 4-4 from the floor, still had a slick mid-post move or two but it was used as a change of pace rather than a staple, and played solid defense throughout, albeit against an under-sized opponent (so it was a stronger matchup). Tillis IS a great role player to have on the roster because he seems to have no ego and isn’t going to be bothered by coming off of the bench but still being called on in important moments. I was excited to see us go back to a better use case for him.
Sam again! Another thing that we didn’t do well against Virginia Tech was attack in transition. A good part of that was due to how much Devin Tillis was on the floor. Coach Odom said in the N.C. State postgame presser that we did have to play a little slower when he’s out there at the SF. The Wolfpack like to pressure full court, and were largely ineffective in this game aside from a stretch early in the second half. Here’s a good look at Sam Lewis aggressively punishing them when we successfully broke the press by taking the ball to the rim rather than just waiting to run offense:
And, finally, this clip below was the one that excited me the most from Lewis because it’s not been overly characteristic of his game. Lewis is more of a slasher from the perimeter; using his athleticism and strides to get to the hoop. He’s not often one to dribble through traffic; and N.C. State, as mentioned, is a smaller team with active hands who is good at stealing the ball. Here, though, Lewis shows off some nifty handling and pacing, weaving through the defense on his way to a nice finish at the rim:
Sam Lewis is such an important piece for us this year, I believe, especially when he’s playing to his full bag like this on offense. He’s an athletic, length, and skill profile that is a huge benefit to have out there as one of our three guards.
Malik Thomas Redemption Arc
I spoke and wrote after last game about how Ryan Odom learns the lessons from just about any takeaway very quickly. Literally one game after the VT loss, Devin Tillis is back being utilized as a role player off of the bench albeit a significant one), and Malik Thomas saw his proportional utilization increase. In fact, Thomas was tied for third most minutes (with Sam Lewis) in this one at 25 minutes played (although there was some very even distribution around the 24 and 23 minute mark across others).
If you’re Malik Thomas after being benched despite playing well against VT in a 3OT loss, there are many different ways you could respond. You could sulk, you could become more selfish when you’re on the floor, you could become more timid when you’re on the floor. Fortunately for us, Thomas seems to be responding in the best way possible; by maintaining his offensive aggression while increasing his effort across the board.
Now, I want to be very clear, Thomas is still the worst perimeter defender on the roster, and there were still times in this game where he conceded a bucket here or there. In discussing this “redemption arc” that should not be lost on the reader as I talk about his improvements. Where he has improved, though, is with the consistent effort and much improved awareness on that end. He’s giving up far fewer giveaway buckets because of full-scale breakdowns on his end.
Here’s a good example, below, on a play in which we still concede two points. This play starts with a shot and Thomas away from the ball, he boxes his man, but Elijah Gertrude loses track of his on and concedes the offensive board. Thomas and Sam Lewis do a nice job of communicating and quickly switching to different defensive assignments. As the play moves baseline, Thomas plays between his own man, while still being aware of the corner (he does lose sight of his own man a little bit here). As the ball kicks to the corner (Tillis has collapsed down to help the interior), Thomas sprints out and leaps from a great distance, running his man off of the three-point line and forcing a mid-range jumper as Tillis steps back up.
Now, this isn’t an amazing defensive possession, again, to be clear, but it is still marked improvement in all of the things that were giving Thomas trouble earlier in the season. He quickly communicates and identifies a defensive shift without any issues or break downs. He’s aware of the full play and giving great effort to affect it, even if he could have identified and left for that corner rotation sooner. The result is, N.C. State doesn’t get the open three-point attempt, takes a difficult shot worth one less, and has to make a bucket from a depth/range that they likely haven’t practiced as much as that corner three. Running people off the line is that analytics-focused professional-style defense.
Like, we can live with that possession from Thomas. Firstly, if Eli was more alert we just have a rebound… but the rest of it was completely acceptable. And, when your defense isn’t suffering from his presence… and he’s playing with this level of intensity, good things often come on the offensive end.
Here’s one of my favorite plays from the game. Watch Thomas’s motor throughout this play. He first crashes down through traffic and grabs the board off of the TDR miss, saving it to Lewis. There’s really nice timing and anticipation on that board. He relocates to the corner but the pass to him is a little off, requiring him to spend some time gathering. No matter, he gives a shot fake and slips by the close out, driving the baseline and weaving back to the middle. As the help defense converges, Thomas gets into the air and just drops it off to Onyenso… but keeps that motor going and relocates again back out to the point. N.C. State is now confused in their responsibilities after the scramble, and Thomas is left to gather himself and drill the straight-on three.
That play was all Thomas creation. He just kept moving and working relentlessly until it created a wide-open shot.
I absolutely loved his tenacity in this game; and he still wasn’t getting calls when he was drawing contact in traffic (I’m not going to waste words on the travesty of officiating in this one, given the outcome… but it was wild). He still found ways to finish through the contact, though, which is a skill of his:
That one came very timely to break up a referee-aided 11-0 run from N.C. State – great aggression, body control, and quality finishing in a big moment.
And even when he was a little over-aggressive in traffic… as he sometimes is, he was scrapping for the rebound and loose ball – in this instance finding a great kick out to the flaming hot Lewis:
I actually like him being aggressive in traffic on that play as long as he keeps scrapping – because eventually he is going to draw some free throws and the opportunity was there. There was a play later in the game where I thought he should have been a more willing passer in transition.
One thing Thomas has always done but has cropped up more and more frequently recently is a great lesson in efficiency, savvy, and how to gain advantage over players when you aren’t necessarily quicker. Watch on this play, below, how he starts cutting as a pass is coming to him but before he even catches it. Most guys secure the pass and then start their move or are already cutting and the passer finds them in stride. Not here. Mallory makes the pass out to Thomas who, as it’s in the air, starts moving toward it and the rim then, as he catches, he’s already moving this gets him clearly past his defender without having to have elite burst… and there’s a nice pull-up jumper at the end to finish over the help, as well.
That’s such a veteran trick that he does all of the time and it’s so effective. Again, love his finishing and the way he can get us different kinds of looks, as well.
And, finally, even though his shooting from deep has clearly been off this season (just 29% compared to 37% for his career and almost 40% last year), he’s had a couple of really nice ones recently when he’s just reacting on instinct and hasn’t had time to think about the shot.
If some of our other players (specifically, Jacari White when he returns) are likely to regress to their career average a little), Thomas is a great candidate to heat up – especially if he’s starting to earn more playing time and gain more confidence/doesn’t feel like he has to press quite as much. That interplay between he and Mallory is so lethal long term because both are threats to drive but it doesn’t take much sagging from a near-side defender for one of them to be able to just launch.
I’m starting to see a clear path for Malik Thomas to fine the role he’s been searching for all year – removing the liability from his defense, playing with great energy on both ends, and someone who functions well within the team offense but has the ability to explode/take over individually on the offensive end, get a clutch bucket, or be a slump/run breaker. If there’s anything positive that comes from the Jacari White injury, I hope Thomas getting comfortable is it. We’ve seen him do it in both of the last two games.
Thijs De Ridder vs. Darrion Williams
Darrion Williams was one of the highest rated players in the transfer portal (6th on Evan Miya’s list). His addition to Will Wade’s Wolfpack as a 6’6″ small-ball PF who could play 3-4, defend multiple positions, and stretch defenses was the trigger for the preseason credibility they gained. He, along with Cam Boozer, were the preseason favorites for ACC Player Of The Year (I’m really interested to see the Boozer/TDR matchup, that’s appointment television).
And yet, Williams had absolutely nothing for Thijs De Ridder. And, yes, I know that he’s been in a scoring slump in the past few games… but this was glaring. Williams scored 7 points on 3-8 shooting and the only bucket he got with TDR guarding him was off of a curl screen mid-range jumper where Thijs got knocked to the ground. Otherwise, when De Ridder was in the game, he guarded Darrion. He was physical with him but maintained the mobility to stay attached, and had the length to bother his shots around screens. Here’s a good look at that:
Note how you can see that we’re a really tough matchup for the under-sized Wolfpack here, because Williams doesn’t want to take that ball farther into the lane to test the sagging Grünloh, and TDR can be trailing but still give a good contest on his shot.
Here’s another look at it, this time with De Ridder fighting over the screen, staying in Darrion’s pocket, and giving a very intrusive contest on the jumper, forcing another miss.
That was pretty early in the game. State actually pretty much went away from having Williams test TDR when he was the cover. Later in the game, look at how easily deterred Williams is from trying to make anything happen when TDR gets over the ball screen. You can sense the lack of willingness to test him, and that’s just really nice defensive positioning by Thijs, along with good rotations and a nice, strong rebound, despite being tackled to the ground without it being called:
They started using Darrion more as a screener… but we had no hesitancy switching Thijs onto other assignments (nor, it needs to be called out, leaving Hall on Williams!). This clip, below, is kind of a full-circle piece on all of our sections so far. That’s just awesome, awesome, perimeter defense on the 6’6″ Quadir Copeland (#11). Thijs switches, uses his length to deter an outside shot while figuring out how to navigate the second ball screen, and then absolutely invades Copeland’s space, overpowering him without fouling, and forcing a terrible fadeaway jumper. Bonus action, he takes the outlet, runs the break the other way, finds Thomas, who keeps the ball moving to Lewis in the corner… bucket!
His foul rate still needs to come down; especially the silly frustration fouls – but De Ridder is an absolute problem on the defensive end (both ends, really). His versatility to matchup both inside and outside is just awesome. Williams is supposed to be a mismatch-inducing player. If you go small on him, he has the strength and skill to body you. If you go bigger on him, he has the shooting and quickness to beat you from the perimeter. But, if you go La Liga Professional on him, you can dominate all aspects. Thijs’s ability to slide and move is incredibly underrated; and I think we’ve yet to scratch the surface of how we can use him. For example, I believe he’d be a plus matchup covering Avdalas. I think he’s actually the quicker player and is stronger. When VT was killing us on the glass the other day, we could have played ALL of TDR, Grünloh, and Onyenso, and put Grünloh on Hansberry. A perfect time to dust off that old two-Center lineup we had been trying earlier in the year, but WITH TDR too.
Ideas.
Anyway, the interesting part was that N.C. State tried everything they could to keep Williams from having to guard De Ridder. Perhaps they didn’t want to get him into foul trouble – but it was noticeable that he was not their preferred matchup. Notice, here, below, they’re actually playing Williams on Thomas and playing the 6’5″ Paul McNeil Jr. Now, we could have just isolated that, but instead we set the ball screen, draw the switch, and now TDR has the Williams isolation:
Jay Williams knows. That was a shooting foul, as well, but TDR just completely overpowers Williams and is able to play through his contact.
Thijs De Ridder has been awesome two-way player for us this season; there are no two ways about it. That being said, there is another level here, in my opinion, and the only thing holding him back is between his ears. He can absolutely be the best player on the floor in almost any game we play if he believes it – and I hope that belief continues to blossom.
Defense
The last thing I just want to touch on is this continuing trend of our defense improving significantly from where we were earlier in the season. I first started talking about it after the Maryland game, where we really locked them down in the first half and, if it wasn’t for some pretty awesome shot-making on their end, would have had a much less misleading final score. It continued throughout the American game… and kept us in the VT game when our shots weren’t falling; holding them to 55-points for the game.
This continued that trend, holding a top 50 offense that averages 85ppg to 20 in the first half and 61 overall. Our defensive efficiency has gone from the 70-80 range on Kenpom to 39, as it stands, which is huge given our offensive skill. I’m guessing there’s been a lot of work on this over the two breaks.
One of the biggest contributors to this is that players are getting much better at switching and helping. Dallin Hall has been the best at this on the perimeter, but it’s shown up everywhere. Take a look at this play before the end of the half. Mallory starts out on Quadir Copeland (#11); a considerable size mismatch, but when State initiates their play downhill, Sam Lewis proactively switches onto him despite a pretty loose ball screen, with Mallory moving away from the ball. Dallin Hall is playing under the hoop, with his man in the corner. Watch how he reads Copeland’s eyes on this play. When he sees his head is down on the drive, he commits to sliding over and helping aggressively, with Grünloh also collapsing from behind. This results in a triple team around the hoop, with Johann umbrellaing, Lewis obstructing the driving path, and Hall aggressively pecking at the ball and trying to tie it up. Mallory is chasing the strong-side shooter and Tillis is lurking in help position to either drop on #21 or to be able to retreat to the corner. The results is that, rather than N.C. State getting off a shot before the half, we force a turnover and don’t even allow the opportunity.
I love that selective aggression and the anticipation/willingness to try to make a play on the defensive side of the ball. We very easily could have let Lewis just defend this drive himself, with Johann potentially chasing from behind if it took too long to develop. Instead, we took a calculated risk to keep Copeland from even getting a shot attempt – and it worked very well.
This next one, once again the familiar season-long story of great rim protection by one of our Centers – this time trying really hard not to allow a bogus foul to be called on us. I love the rim protection but a subtle thing that I also really appreciate is how, at the end of the play, Dallin Hall peels off of his man, who has cut though to the corner, to box out Ven-Allen Lubin (#22) after Grünloh leaves him to go block the shot.
It doesn’t end up mattering because the shot is blocked out of bounds – but I have to call out that aware and winning basketball. Dallin doesn’t get locked onto his own man, but sees what’s happening in real time and zeroes in on the biggest threat to the play at this point, which is N.C. State’s Center cleaning up the glass, and does what he can to keep that from happening.
Here’s another really nice rotation from Hall and good defense prior from everyone else. Mallory gets jacked up by a screen at midcourt which leaves State galivanting toward the rim, but Ugo’s presence there acts as a deterrent; negating the entire advantage they had gained from the half-court screen. N.C. State just passes the ball around a little bit from there, seemingly uncertain of what they wanted to do; but Hall notices Lubin ready to try to drive on Ugo and, again, simply peels off of his man to step up and take a great charge at a critical point in the game.
It’s not over yet, though! This next one gives us a good look at Devin Tillis guarding Darrion Williams. I thought he did a pretty admirable job on the matchup, but it wasn’t the dominance of TDR and N.C. State was more focused on trying to attack the matchup. Williams drives around Tillis here, with Lubin (#22) rolling to the hoop. Ugo is playing sag defense while Tillis works to recover, and notice the nice sag in from Mallory up top but, once again, Hall just leaves his man in Copeland to help ensure the drive is shut down, which hastens the pass back to Lubin, which Tillis has done a nice job of recovering to for the steal. Like, Ugo may have been just fine contesting Williams, but it’s unclear the pass back to Lubin would have been as hard, and Hall’s rotation just
Ugo may have been just fine contesting Williams on his own, but it’s unclear the pass back to Lubin would have been as hard, and Hall’s rotation just really eliminates anything else Darrion may have been trying to do. It makes the timing awkward, it helps Ugo stay pinched on Lubin… and also notice Mallory on the back side swarming in there as well. Really nice collective team defense helping when Tillis as beaten on the first step, with the icing on the cake being Hall.
Every single one of those four plays above our defense went from vanilla to proactively making something happen (or at least being in a good position to improve our situation) because Dallin Hall read the play and had a good understanding of where he could help most and when he could leave without his own man being likely to get the ball.
While Hall is being the most intuitive and disruptive, he hasn’t been the only one playing good team defense, though. Here’s something neat where TDR is easily able to switch onto Chance Mallory’s man after a ball screen – that’s some quality 1-4 switching – Ugo is there to help clean anything up that might have gone up, Lubin isn’t really a threat to score around there with Ugo home, and Tillis does well to be right there on the kickout and to offer a contest right in the shooter’s lap without fouling. TDR stays home and cleans up the glass.
So, yeah, just a few looks there, but things are coming together on this end. We still have the quality rim protection from the 5 slot; but the rest of our team is doing a much better job of being disruptive, communicating, and staying attached to their covers. Add in some fairly spicy help defense from Hall to bolster the unit’s overall improved confidence – all of that together is why we’re stringing together some quality defensive performances and seeing our overall rating climb.
Keep this as the baseline for the defense the rest of the season, continue to tighten things gradually and continue to solve for better offensive rebounding teams, and we should be in a pretty good spot when you blend both sides of the ball together.
In Conclusion
My favorite thing about this season so far has been watching the team continually improve throughout it while still having maintained a solid floor throughout. I remember some people saying that this team’s defense, for example, was what it as and there wasn’t much room for improvement. If you go and revisit some of those pieces from earlier in the season and compare the defense in those to the defense in the games since Maryland, you should notice a significant change.
Progress isn’t necessarily going to be linear. We’ve lost two respectable Q1 games to teams I’d expect we’d beat if we played them again – but the highs of the team and how we’ve been able to pile on some quality opponents shows where the bar can be. I don’t think we’ve peaked yet… and we may not until the end of the season. There’s so much room to continually learn how to most effectively play together, and with each game we’re seeing something polished over here, something shined over there, a small tweak here, a larger one there, etc. I imagine there will still be some frustrating losses to come (hopefully not, but it seems probable), but the overall trajectory feels really good right now.
For our next test tomorrow, a late tip against Cal. Our old friend Dai Dai Ames is coming back to town while living his best life at 17.6 ppg on 45% shooting from three and 50% from the floor. The Golden Bears should also offer some more size to test our rebounding mettle. A game we should win, but potentially a decent test.
Until next time, thanks for reading!
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