Player of the Game: Freddie Wilson
Key to the game: Shitty Offense
Next Game: Friday Nov 21 vs Southern California (Charleston Classic)
Key to the game: Shitty Offense
Next Game: Friday Nov 21 vs Southern California (Charleston Classic)
Strange game. Going in one would have thought 46 Drexel points would have (sadly) made this a competitive game. They gave up 66 in this game, so the defense then must have been the problem? Maybe they could have stepped out better on Angel Rodriguez, but by and large the defense seemed prepared for what they saw and looked strong. Fast break points then? Miami had only 6 fast break points. The Canes also only had 5 points from the stripe.
What killed the Dragons today would kill any team against Miami. The Hurricanes went 52.4% from 3, draining 11 from distance for half of their final score. Historically Miami teams and Larranaga teams are teams that aren't great from distance, and if you pack it in and force them to struggle inside the arc, keep them out of fastbreaks and off the foul line, you'll have a pretty good chance to win the game. Today in an empty, tough gym to shoot in, Miami sank three after three. Sometimes that happens, and more often then not, that means they will win. Credit where credit is due, Drexel had a good defensive gameplan and executed it, they just faced a team that beat it.
Also: Good lord this Drexel offense sucks.
While we're giving credit, Miami played Damion Lee extremely well. It's not going out on a limb to think he will never shoot only 6 shots in a game in which he plays more than 35 minutes again in his career. Damion took what little he was given: he took 6 shots from the field and scored 6 points from the floor. While I commented on Twitter that a couple of the shots late were frustrated "hero" shots, his frustration is understood when DU can't run a set all game to get him a clean shot. How the staff can get Phil Goss open for 4 years and can't get Damion Lee open once, well I just don't know.
The elephat in the room here is obviously Mr. Tavon Allen. He seems like a genuinely good kid, and I don't want to bury him anymore than I already have. He's shooting 24% from the floor this year (24% from 2 and 24% from 3 actually) and he's shooting the ball on 31% of the possessions that he is on the floor, which is more than any other player on the team, including Damion Lee. This team may have a personnel problem at guard, but if it does it's hidden by the simply massive shot selection problem. Tavon led the team in minutes with 38 today, and that may win the "Home Alone Movie's Shovel to the Head Coaching of the Year Award". I know shooters gotta shoot, but leading the team in minutes and shots while shooting 24%? Just seems like Bru giving the world his middle finger and then telling us fans to like it.
Shot selection was far from the only problem with the offense: Even if you exclude Allen's shots, it just pushes the team from 31% shooting to 35% shooting for the game. I've been a defender of the big guys all offseason, and now going into the year, but they were flat out poor in Charleston. Outrebounded, struggled significantly with help defense on penetration, and just 3 of 14 from the field while getting to the line for just one 2 shot trip. Bru was either so fed up or desperate he went to Tyshawn Myles for the first time this year. In short minutes, it appears that Tyshawn may pass Sooren on the depth chart. Myles and Mojica seem to both be primed for jobs simply by not significantly screwing up while they are out there. At this point not hurting the DU offense simply makes you a better player than some of the starters, let alone off the bench guys.
In case you were wondering why Freddie "the turnstile" Wilson was the player of the game, it wasn't a hard decision. 21 minutes played with only 1 turnover which is huge for him personally, and on top of that he was the only player who both took shots and was efficient shooting (12 points on 12 shots). Add a steal and an assist, and he was by far the best of the worst. And he played 17 less minutes than... oh nevermind.
Last thing, for those of you, including the DU coaches, who are tired of me talking about midrange jumpers, here's how the Canes scored today:
33 points - 3 pointers
22 points - points in the paint
6 points - mid range jump shots
5 points - foul shots
Can hate Coach L all day, but that's close to perfection. For comparison, here is DU's chart:
18 points - 3 pointers
10 points - points in the paint
10 points - mid range jump shots
8 points - foul shots
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