UCF Part II

[Queens_NYC]

Sunday, February 19th, 2023
12:00 PM
Addition Financial Arena
ESPNU

The Bearcats (16-10 [8-6 AAC], NET #81, KenPom #67) look to get back on track this weekend at UCF (15-10 [6-7 AAC], NET #56, KenPom #56) - a place where UC has not won since January 2020.

Since the Bearcats' 73-64 victory over UCF on February 4th, UCF has defeated Wichita on the road (72-67) along with Tulsa at home (96-52), but most recently lost at Memphis midweek in heartbreaking fashion (64-63). Down 9 points with 10 minutes to go in the game, UCF went on a 12-2 run to take the lead with 3:10 to go. Neither team would score until there were 7 seconds left in the game when Memphis hit would what be the game-winning lay-up.

5th-year 7-foot center Michael Durr recently made his first appearance for the Knights since January 8th coming off the bench to play 10 minutes against Memphis. He scored 3 points and grabbed 6 rebounds (4 offensive).

While the Bearcats' postseason hopes have taken a huge hit since Viktor Lahkin's injury, a win over UCF would go a long way towards assuring a top 5 seed and first round bye in March's AAC tournament.

The Bearcats are currently 3.5-point underdogs.

[sedziobs]

Originally Posted by Queens_NYC

Down 9 points with 10 minutes to go in the game, UCF went on a 12-2 run to take the lead with 3:10 to go.

Similar to the first game against us. UCF was down 16 with 10 minutes left and tied the game at the 2:05 mark.

In that game UCF went 10 for 25 from three but turned it over 24 times. This game should have a completely different feel if they add Durr and we are without Lakhin, who put up 20 points on only 12 shots and had 8 rebounds and 4 steals.

[Queens_NYC]

Hard to complain about that half other than a few sloppy turnovers.

We're shooting 11/15 (73.3%) from 2 while holding UCF to 7/19 (36.8%) from 2.

[sedziobs]

Davenport and Ezikpe have been surprisingly good defensively and on the glass. It helps that Durr has been wandering the perimeter and even took a three.

[sedziobs]

Another late defensive collapse and we didn't handle the press well. Great game from Ezikpe though and DDJ was really good in the PnR.

[sedziobs]

UCF drastically cut down their turnovers from the first game, committing only 9 today. Their shooting was about as good as the first game, so they were able to put up 1.13 points per possession, after scoring just 0.87 at Fifth Third.

Our offense was great. We had our highest offensive rebounding rate of the season since the opener against Cleveland St. Davenport had 3 offensive boards. He had a pretty good game despite only scoring 2 points. We got to the rim 22 times where Ody and Ezikpe were a perfect 10 for 10. Overall it was our best performance of the season inside the arc, where we finished 25 for 38. We need to be able to do that when the threes aren't falling on the road.

[sedziobs]

I think it shows how a lot of college teams don't scout effectively or can't execute a scouting report. Our PnR is very one dimensional. Our bigs are not a shooting threat and DDJ generally isn't trying to get to the rim. This isn't like Kyle Washington being able to pop for the three or Cumberland being a threat to drive hard at the rim if there's no hedge. Our PnR can be stopped by simply sagging off the big and the guard fighting through the screen.

DDJ has been good at taking advantage recently though. Much better than hero ball.

[waterhead]

Originally Posted by sedziobs

I think it shows how a lot of college teams don't scout effectively or can't execute a scouting report. Our PnR is very one dimensional. Our bigs are not a shooting threat and DDJ generally isn't trying to get to the rim. This isn't like Kyle Washington being able to pop for the three or Cumberland being a threat to drive hard at the rim if there's no hedge. Our PnR can be stopped by simply sagging off the big and the guard fighting through the screen.

DDJ has been good at taking advantage recently though. Much better than hero ball.

I would agree with you here but DDJ does have a floater and mid range shot to work with if the big is not available. Even though he doesn't get to the rim (which I would prefer)...there are more options that can come out of the PnR like DDJ finding other players than the big to kick out to. He's done a pretty good job of finding players lately in all aspects. He's found a way to skip passes by keeping his head up.

I would not mind seeing (as has been said by a few)...moving him on ball more and maybe trade some minutes for MAW with Dan. Memphis did not allow DDJ to get the ball on the wing and it is tiring watching him run back and forth to try to get that done. Memphis will do that again. The game plan for Memphis should be to let him bring the ball up more so he doesn't have to fight so hard to get open. MAW doesn't provide nearly the dynamics of passing that DDJ does. It's time! And a nation leading assist streak of 5 or more in 13 games is all the evidence you need. He's already playing too many minutes and he's playing as hard as he can on D. Let's not run him ragged by making him run back and forth from side to side hoping to get a good screen. He's gotta be getting tired.

[sedziobs]

Originally Posted by waterhead

I would agree with you here but DDJ does have a floater and mid range shot to work with if the big is not available. Even though he doesn't get to the rim (which I would prefer)...there are more options that can come out of the PnR like DDJ finding other players than the big to kick out to. He's done a pretty good job of finding players lately in all aspects. He's found a way to skip passes by keeping his head up.

I think teams would live with a midrange shot contested by a trailing guard. That's not a great shot to get out of PnR, and it's generally available any time. The big sagging would be able to contest a floater in the lane, and also prevent perimeter defenders from having to help so there's no one to kick out to. Cumberland or Kilpatrick would attack that big, but DDJ isn't really capable of that. That's what I mean by a one dimensional PnR. You can defend it pretty well with just the two primary defenders and no help. UCF just did a horrible job.

[sedziobs]

Originally Posted by waterhead

I would not mind seeing (as has been said by a few)...moving him on ball more and maybe trade some minutes for MAW with Dan. Memphis did not allow DDJ to get the ball on the wing and it is tiring watching him run back and forth to try to get that done. Memphis will do that again. The game plan for Memphis should be to let him bring the ball up more so he doesn't have to fight so hard to get open. MAW doesn't provide nearly the dynamics of passing that DDJ does. It's time! And a nation leading assist streak of 5 or more in 13 games is all the evidence you need. He's already playing too many minutes and he's playing as hard as he can on D. Let's not run him ragged by making him run back and forth from side to side hoping to get a good screen. He's gotta be getting tired.

Yes, this is why I've been promoting horns. You should be able to free a guy with 3 man action on one side. If they are overplaying the down screen, then back door cuts and the screener slipping or rolling should be available, and the middle of the court would be wide open for driving lanes. Especially when we're going through a drought, running simple actions like that can help.