Temple Defense dictated our shot selection

[Billiken75]

Temple plays an extremely physical defense - it is more similar to hockey forechecking - and they were called for 3 fouls in the first half and 6 in the second half. Kwamain tried to dribble penetrate but when you are hand checked and they have good rotation in the middle, it won't happen. With a big physical team like Temple, we aren't likely to win if the game is called with so few fouls. And, I like all the coaching geniuses on the board - I put my money on Majerus any day.

The Xavier game and this game shows what we need to improve: strength, rebounding, and free throw shooting from Willie. I have to say I am pretty disappointed with all the negative shots at Kwamain. He was guarded by a big, athletic guard. Give props to their defensive style - if the refs swallow their whistles, we probably lose and we did.

[slufan13]

good post....no doubt Temple's defense had a lot to do with the way we played, but also it didn't force all the mistakes we made....We jacked up forced shots early in the shot clock, made some unforced turnovers, and didn't go the basket enough. I though Kwamain could have obviously played better, but he still gave it his all....

[b.hayes]

I'll buy that for about 40% of the bad 3's we took, but that still leaves us with too many lost possessions. We must have taken 8-10 threes in the second half that we had no business taking. We had 22 of our 51 between Willie and Cory, so obviously we were getting some good looks inside. Our ball movement broke down which led to bad shots. Did their defense have something to do with disrupting the ball movement? Of course, but we moved it around plenty of times where we found the weak spot just by keeping the ball moving. Those threes didn't come at the shot clock buzzer...we could have made an extra pass or two on all of them.

[Bay Area Billiken]

good post....no doubt Temple's defense had a lot to do with the way we played, but also it didn't force all the mistakes we made....We jacked up forced shots early in the shot clock, made some unforced turnovers, and didn't go the basket enough. I though Kwamain could have obviously played better, but he still gave it his all....

Aren't hand checks, pushes, and shoves supposed to be fouls? Evidently they aren't in certain circles in the A-10, as when Temple is the opponent, even Temple on the road.

And what is traveling in the current era? Last week we saw the Xavier guard slide on the floor with both feet, no whistle, and then he makes a circus shot. Tonight we saw a Temple player walk backward with both feet, with the ball, and no call. I don't think either of these were "jump stops."

[GoBills]

There were several times in the second half where the Bills had outstanding ball movement, where it looked like there was an open three available, but Temple had a knack for quickly closing that down and either forcing a contested shot or one more pass.

[Bizziken]

We shot 16-26 from inside the 3 point line...that's 62%!!!....In comparison, Temple shot 19-41 from inside the arc (46%)

Where was Temple's D inside the 3 point line? Their perimeter defense was the best we had seen this year though...

Also, Willie plays 5 more minutes, we might win this game

[AB34]

This might win "Most Insightful Thread of the Year" so far. Analysis is right on from most, though I disagree with the travels. They actually called more than I though possible in the first half. May have been an infamous "point of emphasis" before the game. But just for the first half.

[Zink]

In the 1st half we were getting open looks, but generally missing the shots - except for CS who looked really good on offense tonight (too many fouls though on D). Their zone was quite effective, as that was the defense they utilized during their run to end the 1st half and I figured they would stick with it. However, in the 2nd half, they stopped switching between man and zone, but really upped the ball pressure and overplayed us on off-the-ball screens, denying open looks from the perimeter. The way to combat this is to backdoor-cut, but for some reason or another this does not seem to be an option in our offense. This led to us forcing shots from outside.

As for the hand-checking, literally every other team we have played in conference does it and gets away with it. A few calls were made on the perimeter for holding/reaching during non-con, but nothing since the conference season began. Unfortunately, we haven't really taken advantage of this, although I have seen KC hand-check his man effectively to prevent easy penetration. Hopefully the coaches will pick up on this and realize how much of a disadvantage this is against wing players who like to attack the basket - the type of player we often have trouble with.

[gister]

Temple plays an extremely physical defense - it is more similar to hockey forechecking - and they were called for 3 fouls in the first half and 6 in the second half. Kwamain tried to dribble penetrate but when you are hand checked and they have good rotation in the middle, it won't happen. With a big physical team like Temple, we aren't likely to win if the game is called with so few fouls. And, I like all the coaching geniuses on the board - I put my money on Majerus any day.

The Xavier game and this game shows what we need to improve: strength, rebounding, and free throw shooting from Willie. I have to say I am pretty disappointed with all the negative shots at Kwamain. He was guarded by a big, athletic guard. Give props to their defensive style - if the refs swallow their whistles, we probably lose and we did.

In the second half, you could see Kwamain looking for ways to drive in. Everytime, the defense rotated and he had to give up/back out. He was desperately looking for a way to drive in, but I think their defense was designed to stop him. I don't know about the hand checks.

We had quite a few open looks from 3, but they were not falling. Fatigue may have been a problem for a young team.

As an aside, Dayton plays tomorrow night on the road. Maybe they will have some fatigue on Saturday!!!

[slu72]

In the second half, you could see Kwamain looking for ways to drive in. Everytime, the defense rotated and he had to give up/back out. He was desperately looking for a way to drive in, but I think their defense was designed to stop him. I don't know about the hand checks.

We had quite a few open looks from 3, but they were not falling. Fatigue may have been a problem for a young team.

As an aside, Dayton plays tomorrow night on the road. Maybe they will have some fatigue on Saturday!!!

There were some forced shots, but not too many. I thought most of the 3's taken were fairly open looks, they just didn't drop. And again BC has got to make the bunnies. He missed two that I know of last night and Temple got the board. They could have been huge points at the time. And let's not forget the two clanked FT's, which is this team's real achilles heel. I got the feeling Temple's d on WR at the end was screw it foul him let him beat us from the line.