(POST GAME) (H of F) Vermont, Sat. Nov. 16, 4p, FS-2, 570 WMCA

Mustapha is an excellent three point shooter when he shoots in rhythm but not when he has to create his shot. We need to run plays to get him shots in rhythm early in the game. When we don't and we fall behind he seems to feel the burden of making something happen and starts to force shots and drives. That's not really his game, and it doesn't go well. He loses confidence and it spirals down from there. Actually I see LJ as a more natural scorer and the guy the team should be turning to when they're flat and need someone to make something happen.
Also, I love Dunn's energy and activity on the court as well as his late three but he is not the guy we want taking 5 3-balls during the game. He needs to be clearer about his role and try to break down the defense so he or someone else can get a kick to Mustapha for a a nice face-up three. Also agree about Caraher playing more. We had a lot of sets where Marcellus or Rasheen got good looks from three and either wisely didn't take them or did and missed. Rather have Caraher take those shots. Finally a bunch of our turnovers were just plain sloppy passing. Need to clean that up.
Vermont is a well coached team and Lamb is a very skilled player. Given how poorly our guys shot it was a testament to our grit that we made it as close as we did in the end. Very impressed with Roberts, Earlington and Champagnie.
 
https://redstormsports.com/sports/2019/11/16/postgame-quotes-st-johns-vs-vermont.aspx

St. John’s Guard/Forward LJ Figueroa

On what went wrong the second half…

“We weren’t taking care of the ball. We weren’t executing. They played well, they stayed poised. You could tell they were experienced playing together. They have great players, a great coach. We just tried to stay poised, but it didn’t end up in our favor tonight.”

On how this game will help the team moving forward…

“It’s definitely going to help us moving forward. First loss we had all year with Coach Anderson, so it’s definitely going to help us. It’s only going to get us better. We believe we’re a stronger team. We have great chemistry. It was a tough loss tonight, but we’re going to come back tomorrow ready to work.”
 
Good coaching move by Vermont to run the stack on the inbounds. Figured they should get it in at that point. Lamb has national recognition, he is gonna go get it. In that situation esp with no double team. I live with the result. He made a contested tough jumper with 2 hands in his face. We played sloppy. Somehow claw back in the game. One of our best players had a weak game. VT is a tournament team. We should move on and at least we know we can compete with 13 seeds. We will be better. I’m not too worried.
 
No shame in losing to Vermont. Anthony Lamb is a fantastic player who hadn't been playing well and unfortunately he remembered that he was good in the 2nd half against us. It's only frustrating because this was clearly a game that was begging us to win it. We lost this game in the first half for me. Vermont couldn't buy a bucket and we should have jumped on them but instead we were somehow colder until that really solid last 5 mins or so of the first half when we grabbed the lead heading into halftime. We should have been up big at half. There was an opportunity there/

Great effort. Really thrilled to have Anderson on board.
 
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Kudos to Vermont. They played textbook basketball.
We, on the other hand, we skipped study hall.
Neither Heron nor Figueroa could handle Lamb which does not bode well for their pro aspirations. Lamb is a "legit" 6'6 shooting guard and was at least 2 inches taller than Heron. Mustapha has been playing smaller than his height and nowhere near his talent. Can't seem to finish inside against bigger competition and seems to get rattled easily.
Rutherford is not a Big East level player and the loss of John McGriff is palpable. Dunn played well for his first game but he is only an average shooter.
Also, the absence of Steere is hurting us inside but I think Roberts has been excellent thus far. He and Earlington have been a surprise.
Williams has been a big disappointment. In this game he committed two mindless turnovers most freshmen wouldn't commit. Not sure about his future value unless he gets better real quick. Same goes for Sears.
That said, Vermont is big and talented team and was a good barometer of how much we have to improve.
Had Heron and Figueroa played up to their potential we win this game.
 
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First four games remind me of last year's team. When they force turnovers and steals, usually vs. the weaker teams, they are able to run and get a good number of easy baskets. When they are not able to run their half court offense weakness is very apparent.
Hopefully when Dunn gets some game experience and Steere becomes eligible the half court offense will be much improved.
 
As it has been said.......sloppy play, turnovers and poor free throw shooting took us out of this one. I am confident we will improve a lot over the next 6 weeks. That said, I am not sure we have the horses to win more than 4-5 BE games this year.
 
For 2nd consecutive roberts and champ had the same game.

Roberts made noise in the 1st half, and not much in the 2nd.
Didn't hear a peep from champ in the 1st half (2pnts, 2boards), in the 2nd half he wokeup.
Need complete games from them.
Now don't kill me for this, just an observation.
Hope it doesn't continue vs columbia.
 
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CA finally had some noise on Saturday as the 4K were on their feet at the end pushing the team. The t/o's were bad in that they led to fast breaks and easy baskets for Vermont.

Vermont's strength is their defense--their game against Virginia on Tuesday night should be interesting.

We had 5 great minutes of ball-the last 2 of the first half with a 10-0 run and the last 3 minutes of the 2nd half when down 9, we tied the game. This team has guts/energy/no quit. CMA was really under control in time outs even though behind--he was focusing on what needed to be done rather than berating his players. They will learn from a loss.
 
We shot 34.5% from the field, 26.3% from three, missed 12 free throw's, had 16 TO's and only lost by two.

It's safe to say that we didn't play our best game today. That is going to happen with a new coach and system, especially early in the season.

Now, if the poor shooting, missed free throws, and turnovers turn into more of a trend rather than a fluke, then it will be time to be worried. But I am not flipping out or over-reacting after one game against a quality opponent.
 
[quote="Eric Williamson" post=363615]We shot 34.5% from the field, 26.3% from three, missed 12 free throw's, had 16 TO's and only lost by two.

It's safe to say that we didn't play our best game today. That is going to happen with a new coach and system, especially early in the season.

Now, if the poor shooting, missed free throws, and turnovers turn into more of a trend rather than a fluke, then it will be time to be worried. But I am not flipping out or over-reacting after one game against a quality opponent.[/quote]
Let's not confuse Vermont with Virginia, Duke or Michigan State. The team stunk out the joint. I'm sure we'll turn it around against the low to mid majors on the schedule...but I saw nothing that tells me we can compete against the big boys.
 
[quote="ron " post=363586]On a positive note we are rebounding much better and did not get killed by 3 pointers. CMA was actually coaching during the timeouts and the team was hustling. We may have lost but this team is a lot easier to watch than last year's team. Hopefully they will be doing a lot more free throw shooting in practice![/quote]

Easier to watch? What part, those blown free throws in the clutch? I remember we were something like 10-0 last year...that was easier to watch.
 
[quote="L J S A" post=363564]I assume coaching handbook probably says trust your defense, but I'm wondering if we should have fouled after the three that tied the game. At worst we have 10 seconds to try to get the win.[/quote]

I would say you never hand the opponent free throws in a tie game and 10 seconds left as a strategy to get the ball back.
 
[quote="Tom H O'Toole" post=363611]For 2nd consecutive roberts and champ had the same game.

Roberts made noise in the 1st half, and not much in the 2nd.
Didn't hear a peep from champ in the 1st half (2pnts, 2boards), in the 2nd half he wokeup.
Need complete games from them.
Now don't kill me for this, just an observation.
Hope it doesn't continue vs columbia.[/quote]

Folks here were way too quick to heap praise on those two after playing subpar competition. I like both but they should be judged by their production in conference play and OOC stiff competition.

Just remember that with 3 games left in conference play last season we were 8-7, and the board was giddy over the prospect of a 3rd place Big East finish. Of course the wheels fell off but I'd be tempted to pull some of the positive posts from folks here with short memories.

CMA is the best coach we could possibly have hired, including either Hurley. However there is little coaching magic on a team short on talent. There is lots if season to enjoy for us, but a .500 big east campaign won't be one of them.
 
Agree, just hope we don’t wind up with 2 wins in confr. But if we do and we played close games then the future looks bright but it would hurt our recruiting
 
I like the 40 mins of hell but we wind up leaving an open man thus getting hurt with teams making 3s our shooting is not good and our free throws need to get better
Only thing I have found by the time you get to college you are either a very good or great shooter or you are not. Shooting is a gift yes improvements can be made but if you are a 65% free throw shooter your not going to become an 85% shooter just hope as a team we can shoot 75% each game thus giving us more wins
 
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