Game 19 - Southern Illinois (Annual what's a Saluki?)

[UNI Ka-Bullseye]

Upon reflection and taking a different perspective, we were very fortunate to be in position to have a shot to win it in the end after being outplayed most of the night. Officiating commentary aside, SIU shot horrible FTs. In the last five minutes Spencer and AJ both hit clutch 30-foot three pointers, and while fans of the team have seen them hit those before, they are still ridiculous shots. They threw the ball straight out of bounds with 8 seconds left. So I’m choosing to take comfort that we made some big plays and they gave us some opportunities to get back in the game, and the final good look just didn’t go in. It happens.

[CyCarp]

Last night sucked, but I'm disappointed in the chatter about us not being "clutch" and always folding down the stretch.

We erased a 3-point deficit with roughly a minute left to win a road game against a ranked team in Colorado last month; that's clutch. We also beat a decent Power 5 team in South Carolina on a neutral court that was a tight game for all 40 minutes that we managed to win by 6 by making clutch shots in the last couple of minutes.

It's fine to be disappointed in last night's performance; I am. But c'mon people, this team is 16-3 with those 3 losses coming by a total of 13 points. Don't be silly.

I agree with this. If people want to complain about blowing leads, like the WV game, that's fine - but this isn't one of those cases. We were down 16 with like 11 minutes left, then had the ball in our hands, down a point with 8 seconds left. We showed plenty of fight, just couldn't finish it off. Which we've actually done pretty well this season imo.

[orangetennis]

Unpopular opinion: Luke played sloppy, but our offense improved in the second half when he came in. Even with the turnovers, we made a run and started closing the deficit when he entered the game. There were also times he was wide open in the paint and nobody passed to him.

For the last three years we lose to teams that shoot uncharacteristically well from 3. But in all those games I'm tired of highlight reels of our guys failing to close out the shooter. We didn't rotate well and oversold on our help defense, and so we kept leaving guys wide open on the perimeter. That's a recipe for giving up career shooting nights

I believe this is a strategy some games, to leave certain guys open who haven't shot it well all year. Jake wants those guys to shoot the ball. It's a catch 22 though; if you don't leave him open he won't shoot it, but if you leave him wide open, he's much more likely to hit the shot. The thing that bothers me most about this years defense is that we aren't rotating well enough and we're giving up to many driving lanes and layups. I can live with a poor shooter making shots on occasion if we're not also giving up the easy buckets too.

[BCPanther]

Jones was 4 of 32 coming into last night. I have zero issue with leaving a 12% shooter open.

[GoPanthers85]

Jones was 4 of 32 coming into last night. I have zero issue with leaving a 12% shooter open.

Its the same as other team not play Pickford tight on the three point line. He can make them but doesn't shoot it at a high clip. So if Ty went off for 4 threes in a came it would be a big surprise to everyone.

[hoopfan]

Finally had a chance to watch the game and I don't understand the move away from Pickford in the starting lineup. This isn't a knock on Spencer, but the last 5 or 6 games have been some of the best basketball this team has played all year. I have no idea why you move away from that success.

I really had no problem with the officiating. It seemed like an easy cop out rather than acknowledging SIU was the aggressor and dominated the game.

[Valley]

"Well I'd like to think we can't play much worse. Let's come out with some intensity and punch them in the mouth to start the 2nd half"

That's exactly what we did. Too bad the refs didn't allow it.

[95UNIGRAD]

Agree on the Pickford thing. Put him back in the starting lineup and let Spencer heat it up and drain some shots off the bench to avoid offensive lulls when the subs come in.

[CyCarp]

I really had no problem with the officiating. It seemed like an easy cop out rather than acknowledging SIU was the aggressor and dominated the game.

My 2 cents... the refs called every little touch sound the rim. The commentators even mentioned there wasn't much contact a couple times. You're right, we didn't drive to the rim as much as SIU, but if they're gonna call that ticky tack stuff, they better be calling the hand checks too.

[SteinPizza]

I believe this is a strategy some games, to leave certain guys open who haven't shot it well all year. Jake wants those guys to shoot the ball. It's a catch 22 though; if you don't leave him open he won't shoot it, but if you leave him wide open, he's much more likely to hit the shot. The thing that bothers me most about this years defense is that we aren't rotating well enough and we're giving up to many driving lanes and layups. I can live with a poor shooter making shots on occasion if we're not also giving up the easy buckets too.

If you listen to Jake’s postgame radio interviews, this has been a big part of his defensive philosophy for several seasons. Makes sense too, since UNI seems to traditionally have 1 or 2 really good, athletic defensive players who are on the opponents best player (Sonnen, Jeremy Morgan, Kwazdo, Wes, Isiah Brown now). Some of the others can sag off their man or area and help.

[sivert]

Must learn to adjust to two good defenders focusing on AJ. It will happen every game now, at least in the Valley.