If you think Prey is terrible then you should find another hobby. To write after that "Vince doesn't give us much" is delusional. He doesn't give us anything. He takes away more than any player I've seen all year in college basketball. We are so fortunate that we keep going on runs the second he leaves the game, because he could easily lead to a 15-0 run one of these games. Momentum is a big deal in college basketball. Putting that kid in the game when a team in struggling could give them confidence and get them going.
@Villanova, Wed., Feb. 12 , 6p, FS-1
- Thread starter lawmanfan
- Start date
If you think Prey is terrible then you should find another hobby. To write after that "Vince doesn't give us much" is delusional. He doesn't give us anything. He takes away more than any player I've seen all year in college basketball. We are so fortunate that we keep going on runs the second he leaves the game, because he could easily lead to a 15-0 run one of these games. Momentum is a big deal in college basketball. Putting that kid in the game when a team in struggling could give them confidence and get them going.
Rick
“We lost because we didn’t block out,” Pitino reflected. “We were not good at guarding the ball. They made a lot of terrific shots with one second left (on the shot clock), but twice, we didn’t block out and it cost us the game. That’s been a weakness of ours and it finally bit us in the ass, but (it was) a great game. The guys played their asses off.”
“We lost because we didn’t block out,” Pitino reflected. “We were not good at guarding the ball. They made a lot of terrific shots with one second left (on the shot clock), but twice, we didn’t block out and it cost us the game. That’s been a weakness of ours and it finally bit us in the ass, but (it was) a great game. The guys played their asses off.”
I know this is not going to be popular, but Neptune had the perfect game plan. Cut off our driving and midrange game and force us to jack up way more threes than we should have. Kadary had a decent game but RJ never really got to effect the game. And, yeah our defense was not as consistent as it has been.
ChiTown Red
Well-known member
The attention to detail was not as good by the kids tonight as it had been in the previous games. They played in spurts, and generally did a good job of defending Dixon, but they did not do a good job on the boards on the long rebounds. They also cannot survive offensively when Ejiofor is a total non-factor like he was on that end (he was excellent defensively), and when Luis is off with his shot. In spite of this, they still had a shot at winning it. Need to rest up for the stretch and lock this conference down.
I agree re Zuby, which begs the question, is there anything we can do better as a team to get him going offensively? Because I feel like for much of the season he had been eating off of offensive boards. That’s starting to dry up, likely because teams are game planning for it more.
ChiTown Red
Well-known member
To me, they should look to run some pick and roll with Richmond and Ejiofor. Would play to both of their strengths.
We didn't do a great job of feeding the post.
There is also the issue of teams literally tackling him the second the ball goes up. We haven't been getting those calls much in the 1st half but in the 2nd in some games the refs start to call it more.
Nova also had the big kid plus Dixon and other size to collectively throw at the glass.
Tonight's SJU bench stats totals that were compiled by our five bench players:
26 Minutes played shot 2 for 7 from three, 0 for 0 from two, 0 for 0 from the line, with 1 steal, 1 block, five rebounds, 0 assists, 4 turnovers & scored 6 total points.
Tyler Perkins came off the bench for Nova, played 29 minutes, and shot 4 for 5 from three including the game-winner.
We will probably need some better bench production going forward but, with injuries to Smith and Dunlap, someone will need to step up.
26 Minutes played shot 2 for 7 from three, 0 for 0 from two, 0 for 0 from the line, with 1 steal, 1 block, five rebounds, 0 assists, 4 turnovers & scored 6 total points.
Tyler Perkins came off the bench for Nova, played 29 minutes, and shot 4 for 5 from three including the game-winner.
We will probably need some better bench production going forward but, with injuries to Smith and Dunlap, someone will need to step up.
Mullins Revenge
Well-known member
Prey is terrible dude. He has 0 offensive game. We are playing 4 on 5 when hes out there.
Dead Rabbit in Boiling Pot at Section9's house don't worry it's just a warning from ESPKEN. He's too good of a guy to actually do anything worse than kill a rabbit and boil it on your stove and shave the word Neptune on it's dead dangling body
He’s a big man. All he has to do is set screens and rebound this year. We don’t need offense from him with RJ and Kadary on the floor.
The far more important aspect is defense and he does that very well. We just need our depth guys to play neutral and him and Ayo can do that due to their defense and hustle.
Next year Prey can show off his offensive skillset. There aren’t enough minutes this year.
He definitely had a few more of those type of plays tonight. Where he just wasn’t paying as much attention to detail as he has been of late. There was a stretch early second half where he really killed us with some bad passes, weak ball handling, etc
I think him and the team might’ve been feeling themselves a little bit coming off last week and forgot to do some of the little things. It happens, but time to clean it up before Creighton
pobee2012grad
Active member
Bottom line, and to their credit, nova turned this game into a slow three point competition. We aren’t winning any three point competitions.
The lack of any capable scorer from our bench is incredibly frustrating. It should be glover. At some point the bar for Prey has to be higher than setting screens and moving your feet on defense.
The lack of any capable scorer from our bench is incredibly frustrating. It should be glover. At some point the bar for Prey has to be higher than setting screens and moving your feet on defense.
No, Rick, they didn’t. I get and respect the coach speak but they did not play either smart nor especially hard. Disappointed not in the record obviously and losing on the road is no disgrace but this team IMO has a chance, not a given, a chance, of truly being special.
Their potential capability on D is that good, but until they understand that games are 40 minutes, and this approach of it being seemingly ok to shoot whenever whatever 3 shows, go 11-37, while 16-24 from 2, IMO this team is not moving toward maximizing their potential.
Now perspective is certainly necessary and more than fair so I am very anxious to see how they come out of the gate Sunday.
Wasn’t able to watch game last night. First half saw on phone. Saw we were down 10. Made a run to cut it to 2 at the half. Second half didn’t see any as I was paying a shiva call to a friend. Once I left and saw we lost by 2. Started looking at box score. Saw Zuby took only 5 shots? Said oh he must not have played much but see over 30 minutes. And then I see all the 3’s we took.
I haven’t read the thread so could you guys explain why Zuby was used so little offensively and sure I see we hit some 3’s and percent wise we were around 30% which is good for us. But seemed like the quantity of 3’s was more than it normally is. And we shot like 10 more total than nova.
I haven’t read the thread so could you guys explain why Zuby was used so little offensively and sure I see we hit some 3’s and percent wise we were around 30% which is good for us. But seemed like the quantity of 3’s was more than it normally is. And we shot like 10 more total than nova.
Nova hit a handful of huge threes down the stretch, some very contested, and some well beyond the arc. We made some shots also, none bigger than Wilcher's three.
Had Wilcher or anyone else made a 3 in the last possession of the game, the posts here would be all incredibly positive.
This team in gritty, and gutsy, and outworks their opponents. This isn't the UCLA team that won 88 straight. Villanova has been playing well, on their home court, was favored on many sites. Plus we are down 2 rotation players.
Bottom line: This team could be a Final Four team. They could also be an early tourney exit. Who among us wouldn't have signed up for this.
If we beat Creighton on Sunday, we will strengthen our grip on 1st, and guarantee that the best teams 2-5 can do against us is split the season series.
Huge game for us. Guessing this will be a big crowd. Great.
Had Wilcher or anyone else made a 3 in the last possession of the game, the posts here would be all incredibly positive.
This team in gritty, and gutsy, and outworks their opponents. This isn't the UCLA team that won 88 straight. Villanova has been playing well, on their home court, was favored on many sites. Plus we are down 2 rotation players.
Bottom line: This team could be a Final Four team. They could also be an early tourney exit. Who among us wouldn't have signed up for this.
If we beat Creighton on Sunday, we will strengthen our grip on 1st, and guarantee that the best teams 2-5 can do against us is split the season series.
Huge game for us. Guessing this will be a big crowd. Great.
This ending reminded me of the 2019 Seton Hall game where we had a great win streak going, our opponent traveled on their final possession but was rewarded with a backbreaking 3. Only difference was that we had a chance to win still this time.
Our following game was dominating a top team in the Big East at home by 20. 89-69 over Marquette. Let’s do that to Creighton and don’t look back!
Our following game was dominating a top team in the Big East at home by 20. 89-69 over Marquette. Let’s do that to Creighton and don’t look back!
Larry Wright
Well-known member
Prey is a good defender and decent rebounder but an absolute mess on offense right now. You have to stop talking him up like he is Marc Gasol. He is a solid guy and I think will be a good 4 year player but right now adds absolutely nothing offensively. In fact w/o Smith who is still hampered by injuries himself the entire bench offers nothing offensively.