I was hoping that this game would represent a bounce back after Saturday’s struggle in Durham. Fortunately, we emerged victorious and locked up the #2 seed in the ACC Tournament. Unfortunately, it was a sleepy performance of sorts where we did just enough, but were never able to put our foot on the gas entirely. Whenever we got a lead that looked as if we could run away, we’d do something a little lackadaisical or Wake would make a play and suddenly the game would be within 6 (so many times they pulled within 6!).
I don’t want to bury the lede here, though, while being wrapped up in discussing our current form. It’s, flatly, awesome that this team is 26-4 and second place in an ACC that most pundits (not yours truly, of course) predicted we would finish, on average, 5th prior to the season. A team full of, mostly, all new players (and all of those in the regular rotation), new coaches, and a new coach for the first time at the high-major level… they absolutely crushed the assignment this season. There will be time to reflect and contextualize this start regardless of what happens from here – but as we’re now only one rivalry game away from the postseason, that time will come later.
For now, absolutely awesome job and a great start for Ryan Odom! Now, let’s get down to work and close things out strong!
Sam Lewis
I don’t often like leading a piece with a whole section on a player’s struggles… but certainly have historically when the time calls for it. It’s relevant here because, of the three players who most struggled at Duke (Thomas, White, Lewis were a combined 1-21 from the field in that game), both Thomas and White bounced back and had solid games in this one. Malik came to life in the second half and made some big shots, finishing with decent enough percentages, and Jacari still struggled a little from deep (2-7) but made plenty of impact in other ways which we’ll talk about later.
Sam, on the other hand, continued his struggles. He scored just two-points in only 14 minutes, looked lethargic most of the time while on the floor, and actually fouled out in that short period of time. He went 1-5, and his misses were very unlike him in how they were often missing badly. It was so bad that I found myself wondering while re-watching if he hasn’t been dealing with some kind of sickness or the like – because virtually everything about his play is different from when I showcased him after the N.C. State game just a week prior to this Wake game.
All of that being said, even though he wasn’t moving well, he still showed flashes at times of why he is so important for this team because, even though it didn’t go swimmingly for him and he drew too many fouls, he was still often the best one at contesting and bothering a player like Juke Harris; Wake’s 6’7″ 21.4ppg-scoring guard.
Let’s go ahead and start with the struggles, leading with his offense. This was a sign early. He actually gets his only two points of the game on this play, which is at least an alert back door cut and a calm finish… but Lewis has been one of the best catch and shoot players in college basketball over the past two seasons and this one went off of the side of the backboard.
He’s 0-9 from deep over his past two… and it’s easy to see that he just doesn’t have the feel at the moment. On this run out, he’s made this shot many times over the season, but this time he pump-fakes, steps back, and then… barely grazes the side of the backboard on the other side of the hoop.
Something definitely isn’t right, but it’s not just the shooting. He’s actually just struggled to handle the ball at times, too, and has made some timid decisions as a result. Here, we see him fumble an initial drive attempt, then make a solid back door cut but also fumble the ball on the catch. That makes him decide to try to fade away rather than go up strong at the rim, which he absolutely should have just done, and he shuffles his feet and turns it over in the process.
It’s like his reactions are just on lag at the moment and every element of the game is moving faster than he’s processing.
Let’s take a look at how that cropped up on the defensive side now. Here’s a clip, below, where he’s guarding Juke Harris (#2) full court. Now, firstly, watch how gingerly he’s running down the court. Sam often has a nonchalance about his movement, but he’s not slow. As the offense sets up, he takes a misstep away from the ball, retreating on his angle for some reason, and then just can’t recover to Harris’s burst to the perimeter around the screen set.
This has shades of the Duke game where he struggled away from the ball.
Here’s another one where he’s late arriving to the ball again, but this time it catches him on the blowby dribble. Lewis passes Harris off to Ugo and Juke makes a very difficult shot over him, but it’s worth noting how poor Sam’s movement looks throughout this. He’s lumbering almost. Like he’s just the most fatigued just over three minutes into the game.
He picked up 5 fouls in this short time – a couple that seemed ticky-tack but some because he was just too sluggish and biting on fakes.
Here’s the thing, though, Lewis still offers the ability to defend players like this – and our early-game defense when he was in more frequently was when we were defending our best. For example, he’s still very sluggish getting around these screens away from the ball, like it almost looks like he’s limping but he’s certainly more jogging than sprinting around these screens. Still, his contest is pretty bothersome and forces a bad miss:
Similarly, below, it’s a better chase than the one just before this, but he’s still pretty far behind. Even still, he’s able to jump back in front at the end and his length is able to deter Juke from doing up at all, and then TDR seals the possession by blocking the three-point attempt:
And, even though he had his struggles, you still got flashes. Like in this one, below, he gets switched onto Juke after some screening action and even though I thought he should have been anticipating the eventual ball screen earlier and readying himself for it rather than being flat-footed, he navigates it, stays in Harris’s pocket, and ends up with a smothering contest/shot block attempt that forces a horrendous shot at the rim.
And here, below, in the second half, there does look like there’s some energy there as he fires on the handoff, disrupts the ball, and then gets onto the ground after it to force the jump:
Just for comparison, here’s Harris who had 21 in the game being guarded by Dallin Hall with Lewis off the floor due to the foul issues (after switching with Jacari). Hall, who I consider very switchable (and we’ll see him do it well later), maintains much better positional defense against Juke, there’s not much more you could ask of him there other than maybe jumping on the contest (he’s trying to stay under control and not foul)… but he’s shot over comfortably despite being right in Harris’s space.
That lineup of Mallory, White, Hall is a fine one offensively – but there was no one out there who could reliably cover Harris and bother his ability to finish around the rim or in the midrange reliably.
Compared to how much we saw Lewis’s contest bother him or his presence outright deter him from shooting in the earlier clips, the need for him to be available (and on his game).
So, I don’t call out Sam for the purpose of just calling him out but, rather, to illustrate how much having him back and playing well would help us on both ends of the floor. He’s not a player we can well afford to be in a funk headed into the postseason. Hopefully, there was something circumstantial causing these issues and we’ll see him bounce back to close the season.
Here’s the wildest thing about this game – despite how off Lewis was – in his 14 minutes his +11 was the best +/- margin on the entire roster. It meshes with our first half good defense/slumping offense and our second half offensive resurgence but much poorer defense. Lewis’s presence, despite not being at his best, was enough to limit Harris’s effectiveness which had a trickle-down across the Wake Forest roster.
Team Defense
It wasn’t just Lewis off of his game on either end, though. We played pretty well defensively in the first half (notably when he was still on the floor, as mentioned above)… but also, for example, with Dallin Hall doing a nice job switching men and holding up at the point of attack, Grünloh and Onyenso each bocking three shots apiece (Johann continued his quality play – Ugo also seemed a bit sluggish, though), and De Ridder being De Ridder.
That being said, we also made a ton of mental mistakes and seemed to let up on our intensity whenever our lead would jump out to the 9-12 point range – keeping Wake in the game until the very end. I’m not loving the Tillis at the SF in ACC play… at all, really… but I see why they tried it here with Lewis in such foul trouble and Juke prowling. That being said, he was just too slow chasing and you simply cannot make this silly foul from three.
Mallory was also uncharacteristically caught out of position at times. Here, for example, he gets caught looking at the drive and reaching in trying to help, but loses sight of his man on the relocation and gives up a far too easy three.
For as poised as he’s been as a Freshman all season, he’s got to maintain that focus and discipline to close the year.
And then, one final look, this one is Chance being a step slow switching and dealing with a curl around a screen and then Ugo, who I think has been just a little slow to react over the past several games, doesn’t close enough ground on the drive and ends up fouling on the layup.
Especially in the second half, there were just so many possessions were we just seemed a little slow to pick up on something, recognize a threat, chase down a play, react in advance, etc. The combination of effort and focus wasn’t where we need it to be sustained over 40 minutes to make a run in either of our upcoming tournaments.
Team Offense
On the offensive side of the ball, we definitely improved as the game went on. Early on, though, we walked this weird line of both seeming to lack confidence in our outside shooting while also settling too much for our outside shot. That’s not a great balance. This first clip is a nice example. There’s good ball movement, there’s offensive rebounding, and we finish with a nice drive that draws a foul… but to get there, there are a lot of open outside shots that we pass up along the way. For example, I really liked the Hall skip pass to Grünloh in the short corner, and then the dribble interchange between him and Thomas along with the quick pass back to him from Thomas. That burned the defense and created an open three for De Ridder and put the defense in scramble. But all of De Ridder, Lewis, and Hall pass up what should be good looks (Lewis really awkwardly drives into the late close out) and by the time the ball swings back around to Thomas, the defense has guessed where it’s going and has compensated correctly to make him actually drive the close out.
Now, to be clear, I like this possession in a vacuum in terms of the looks we got – but I don’t like the implication of what it said about our mindset regarding our shooting confidence.
Okay, I mentioned recently in the Duke game that Ugo has been a little too reluctant to go at the rim when he either has momentum or gets the basketball close to it. Grünloh has gotten better recently, for example, it’s hard not to foul a player of his length when he just attacks the rim confidently:
Ugo has really been denying many of the opportunities that would benefit us for him to take. Here’s a clip where he does so three separate times. Initially, he’s running ahead and could go up with the ball on the catch in transition. He’s shoved in the back, he probably gets that call if he’s trying to shoot. Instead, he decides to pass it back out. After we run some offense, Hall collects an offensive rebound and shovels him the ball under the hoop. If he’s ready for the pass and catches it cleanly, he could have gone right up through a defender. Instead, he bobbles it and ends up with his back to the basket right outside of the restricted area. Now, #25 guarding him is the 6’7″ Tre’Von Spillers. It’s 9-5 and very early in the game. There’s no world in which I don’t want Ugo trying to score against this size mismatch at this point in the game here. Get to that little baby hook you have or just take a dribble and go hard at the rim. He has such a size advantage. He’s passive and just passes it out to Tillis. We need both of our Centers trying to take advantage of these kinds of opportunities rather than shipping. It’s not over, though, then he runs a pick and roll with Devin and gets the ball moving toward the rim with Juke Harris coming over to defend. He also allows Juke to stonewall him and we settle for another kick out and a difficult White three. Ugo helps tap out another offensive rebound but yet another hard White three-point attempt that misses follows.
Those are shots that Jacari can make… those aren’t shots we want to prefer over Onyenso trying to make a move on a player 5 inches shorter than him, twice, that close to the basket. Can’t have that. Need the aggression.
In general, we lost our focus on the offensive end far too often, too. This is a pretty terrible decision by Thomas with this lob attempt toward Onyenso really not having any chance… but with only 19 points and just over 6 minutes to go in the half, he’s trying to spark something.
This next one comes early in the second half. We’ve come out playing some better offense and have a reasonably comfortable feeling 9-point lead. Thomas hasn’t hit a three yet since before the Duke game. I love that he’s a confident player who will keep shooting when the look is there, but I don’t like this look where he catches the ball off of an Iverson cut and actually has a pretty clean path toward the basket with his man chasing but, instead, stops and takes a pull up three.
That was barely over 10 seconds off of the shot clock and it wasn’t a heat check… it was kind of the opposite of a heat check. The thing was, it was the screen and cut that freed him and he could have taken it either way; so I’d have preferred him trying to get something at the rim there if he’s in the middle of a cold-shooting streak and, really, in general. I don’t hate this shot from a Thomas who has been feeling it from deep and where the outside shot is the lone and clear opportunity. I do hate it as a slump-buster when a drive toward the rim was right there. It reads as being a little too casual with shot-selection in a game that is still very closeable, as Wake proved.
Okay, and then I’ll also just say that our vision and passing around the basket hasn’t really been there, either. I’m thinking of the Duke game where Chance got Sarr to literally fall down and had a two-on-one with Ugo against Maliq Brown and couldn’t get him the ball. Here, it’s Jacari who doesn’t see how open Grünloh is as his man literally falls down, drives toward the bucket with his head down and blinders on, and then throws a flippant pass back toward Johann far too late after the defender has recovered.
That’s just sloppy and unalert basketball. He needs to be able to realize the opportunity in a timely way and be able to see the floor. Instead, he gift-wraps the ball for the Demon Deacons.
I’m wary with VT coming into town given how we’re playing now and how we played them last time. In that game, I thought we were really unwilling to push the issue on them inside and settled for far too many outside jumpers. That trend is similar right now.
I do want to be clear, though, I like us shooting threes and don’t want that to stop. When I say “settle” I mean passing up good opportunities to drive the basket or for a big to go up with a shot around the rim and, instead, getting a contested three-point attempt where an open look wasn’t really created. Be aggressive with the opportunities on the interior first, and also take the clean looks you generate from outside.
Now, given all of that above, I do want to close by acknowledging three players who I think are playing well again on the offensive side of the ball, at least in certain ways – and Grünloh isn’t even one of them because I’ve recently talked about his resurgence.
Jacari White’s Explosives
It’s no surprise that White can provide instant offense… but normally that’s from his insane shot-making on the perimeter (he’s still shooting 44.4% for the season from out there despite his recent colder spell). He was only 2-7 in this game, in no small part because some of the shots were like those shown above. He still finished with 14 points on 6-12 from the floor, though, and that’s because he put on display his ability to be explosive with the basketball, especially in the open floor.
Here’s a really nice and athletic finish at full speed in transition. Thomas does well to run the break, keep speed, and make a timely pass. Then, Jacari keeps the motor going and makes a nice wrap-around to the other side of the rim for the acrobatic finish. Nice rim protection from Johann to start this off, it’s worth mentioning:
He’s just got more pure quickness and speed than most expect given his reputation as a shooter. The pick-6, below, comes from being disruptive going after the pass, but the way he closed on the ball, swooped ahead of the offensive player, and then finished with the two-handed dunk in transition was really impressive:
This last one, below, was my favorite of all of them, though. The reason is that his first dribble is behind the back and it’s not just for flare; it serves a distinct purpose of protecting the ball from the defender while keeping his ability to accelerate into transition fully intact. It’s such a crafty move to lose the defender trying to shut down the run out and requires quick thinking and execution to know to go to this move. Nice speed, again, in the open floor and another reverse layup.
When I talk about wanting guys to have aggression… those looks are killer instinct-type looks. He easily could have put the ball down with his right hand in that one, gotten it stolen or maybe forced contact, likely had to slow down to protect the ball. Instead, with one fluid motion, he turned a potential stumbling block into a clean two points.
Dallin Hall’s Shooting
What a welcome sight for a team that hasn’t been shooting very well and for Dallin himself who had been going through a bit of a dry spell a couple of weeks ago. Hall’s back to rounding up to 35% and his mentality looks refreshed. He went 2-4 in this game but both of the looks demonstrated confidence. The first was this BLOB play where he sets a back screen for Thomas, which sends both defenders scrambling after Malik, and then Dallin simply pops outside and knocks down the wide open look.
The other was even nicer, though, as it came later in the game with just over 6 minutes left. This is a play we’ve run all season but often run it for Chance due to his quick acceleration. Here we run it for Hall who passes it ahead to Tillis as a hub and then takes the handoff back. His man falls, potentially trying to bait a charge. Potentially, he could have tried to drive that lane there and either draw contact or, more likely, kick the ball back outside for an assist. I think at most points during this season that’s what he would have done. Here, though, he just spins back around so that he’s outside of the three-point line and drills the shot.
A very confident take in a game where Wake kept shaving our once double-digit lead down to six. I like this development for Dallin quite a bit at this point in the year!
Thijs De Ridder
De Ridder has really been reminding everyone recently why he’s the best player on the team. His offensive game has been coming on after a mini-slump, though. The most notable and standout thing is that his perimeter shooting is coming back around again too. This was becoming an issue when he was super cold a few weeks back, but now he’s confidently pulling up quickly and has also made some looks in big moments.
Here, for example, he pulls up from range with zero hesitation when his man plays under the ball screen. Not only would he not have done this a few weeks ago, but I love seeing the 4-5 ball screen back on the menu lately:
I like that set too, out of horns, takes the pass, fakes the handoff back to Chance, and then uses the misdirection to turn into the ball screen from Johann. Keep this one in regular rotation!
And here is just a really nice pull up from the top of the key again, this time after some nice movement using Grünloh as a hub. White dribbles around and cuts off of him, Mallory then takes the DHO back in the same direction and Grünloh’s roll pulls the help defense low enough to allow Thijs the clean look.
While it’s not ideal that some of our best shooters (Lewis and White) are still pretty cold from outside, it’s definitely encouraging that some of our less reliable outside shooters throughout the season (Hall, TDR, and also Grünloh) are all on form right now. They aren’t as volume so it won’t fully make up for it, but hopefully it can stem the bleeding and, if it can sustain while the others click – that will be something.
He’s also doing the things he’s been doing all season that can kind of salvage and help get us points when the offense overall is disjointed, like his isolation clear-outs which have been very effective almost no matter his defender – but especially against a mismatch like here:
And where his defense turns into offense through almost sheer will power, at times. This one, below, came after Wake had tied the game at 22 and we desperately needed something to generate some offense. This steal and take, drawing the foul (made both free throws) sparked a 10-2 run to close the half:
My favorite part of that clip is that you can just see his functional strength and agility on display at the same time. He holds up the drive but moves his feet enough to not get called, tapping the ball away with his off hand, and then basically runs through the contact of the former ball-handler while weaving past the last man to beat. One-man wrecking ball.
In Conclusion
This team really has had a phenomenal season thus far in earning the #2 seed in the ACC. We are at a point, though, where we don’t have much time left in front of us to find our best form. We’ve got one rivalry game left in the ACC to kind of snap out of it collectively… and then it’s basically must-win games from there (assuming we want to make it as far as we can in both tournaments).
There are still places on this roster to look to be encouraged at the moment, and I just touched on some of them. That being said, we are distinctly in a two-game window of not playing our best ball and looking like our collective heads aren’t fully in it.
Here’s hoping that Spring Break rest, the prospects of playing our in-state rival who previously beat us, and the final realization of the approaching postseason will be the concoction to snap everything together. It would go a long way, in my opinion, for the confidence to show that we’re back in form against a hungry bubble Tech team rather than continuing through the slump, win or lose, and hoping that we can turn it on in Charlotte.
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