Winthrop runs a similar high-post modified-UCLA open offense that Fox has adopted as our primary scheme. The game was interesting because Winthrop's Coach Pat Kelsey showed us how well the offense can work when it's run correctly. They ran their offensive scheme better than we did.
One could make a good argument that Kelsey did a better job of coaching Tuesday night given that his team lacked a single player who would start for us yet kept the game close. Kelsey lost his top two perimeter team-leading scorers from last year and had to integrate 3 new players into his rotation, therefore we can't use the excuse that his roster is more veteran than ours.
The Winthrop and Ga offense starts with the post making a high screen for the pg out top with the pick and roll being an option. Winthrop runs the play well. We don't. The second option calls for multiple off-ball screens to open up the court. Winthrop maintained excellent spacing on the court and aggressively took the ball to the hoop when the open 3 wasn't available off those screens. They scored more frequently from the floor off their scheme than we did in our similar offense because they ran it quicker, they executed their screens better, maintained their spacing and they pocket-passed and kicked out better off their penetrations.
We won because we played better defense, were more physical with our much better athleticism, and made an unusually high percentage of our free throws. We drew more fouls than they did. We outrebounded them by 12 with our taller, better athletes. We shot 36 foul shots to their 16. The one thing we continue to do well is draw fouls -- especially our guards. We will get killed against SEC teams if we don't get a healthy Gaines back and find someone else who can hit a 3-point shot to open the court.
The game was almost eerie in how similar the teams looked in their offense, especially since Winthrop's star guard is an even smaller, quicker version of JJ Frazier. Although Winthrop looked to penetrate more aggressively off the pick and roll than we did, they also looked to kick it out for open threes more. We took advantage of Maten's hot hand to continue pounding the ball inside. A look at this shot chart shows how futile we were shooting from outside. Our shot chart is an embarrassment and proof of how boring our offense is when we don't open the court by making our outside shots.
One could make a good argument that Kelsey did a better job of coaching Tuesday night given that his team lacked a single player who would start for us yet kept the game close. Kelsey lost his top two perimeter team-leading scorers from last year and had to integrate 3 new players into his rotation, therefore we can't use the excuse that his roster is more veteran than ours.
The Winthrop and Ga offense starts with the post making a high screen for the pg out top with the pick and roll being an option. Winthrop runs the play well. We don't. The second option calls for multiple off-ball screens to open up the court. Winthrop maintained excellent spacing on the court and aggressively took the ball to the hoop when the open 3 wasn't available off those screens. They scored more frequently from the floor off their scheme than we did in our similar offense because they ran it quicker, they executed their screens better, maintained their spacing and they pocket-passed and kicked out better off their penetrations.
We won because we played better defense, were more physical with our much better athleticism, and made an unusually high percentage of our free throws. We drew more fouls than they did. We outrebounded them by 12 with our taller, better athletes. We shot 36 foul shots to their 16. The one thing we continue to do well is draw fouls -- especially our guards. We will get killed against SEC teams if we don't get a healthy Gaines back and find someone else who can hit a 3-point shot to open the court.
The game was almost eerie in how similar the teams looked in their offense, especially since Winthrop's star guard is an even smaller, quicker version of JJ Frazier. Although Winthrop looked to penetrate more aggressively off the pick and roll than we did, they also looked to kick it out for open threes more. We took advantage of Maten's hot hand to continue pounding the ball inside. A look at this shot chart shows how futile we were shooting from outside. Our shot chart is an embarrassment and proof of how boring our offense is when we don't open the court by making our outside shots.
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