Defense leads to tough loss

[ColonialCrazy]

81 points!!! But a loss.......

The defense failed the boys tonight. Rotations were slow...guys struggled to get back in transition...but, credit the Penguins. They made some tough, deep threes all night. Marcus Keene hit a dagger late in the game with the shot clock running down with Davis Appolon all over him. Bobby Hain dominated down low and continually got great position for easy shots. He converted them, finishing with 24 points and 14 boards.

I really thought the defense was coming together, but clearly it has a lot of work to do.

Lucky Jones played his best offensive game of the season. Jones scored 21 points on 8-14 shooting. Along with Jones, Rodney Pryor and Marcquise Reed had a nice night too. When these three all play well, the Colonials offense should click. 81 points will win them a lot of games. Unfortunately it did not garner a win tonight.

Elijah Minnie showed his promise late in the first half, scoring 7 straight points, grabbing a big defensive rebound and providing a highlight reel dunk on an allay oop from Lucky Jones. The freshman played a great first half, canning a three, providing a nice spark off the bench. He also had a few nice defensive plays in the second half, blocking and altering a few shots at the rim. It seems like things are slowly starting to click for Minnie..... On top of that he had some SWEET lime green Nike's.

The offense finally looked good. Kavon played pretty well minus a few stupid turnovers and some out of control drives. RMU made 9-19 3's and shot 52.5 percent from the field. Even Stephan Bennett nailed a few threes. It's hard to find fault on that side of the floor.

But man, the defense was awful tonight.

Close outs were slow, the bigs allowed great position all night to Bobby Hain, and nobody got back in transition. When you let good D1 guards get going, they hit shots like the ones that Marcus Keene was making second half.

YSU shot 54 percent from the field, and 41 percent from three. Will need a better effort if RMU is going to find their first win at the Sewall Center this season as the play Sunday against Buffalo. The Colonials, normally dominate at home, are 0-2 in Moon to start the season.

 

[Chris Cappella]

Agree with just about everything Lee said. The offense was fantastic, especially in the first half. However, once the offense slowed a bit in the second half RMU didn't make the amount of effort plays it needed. i'll be touching on this in full detail with an article tomorrow, but to me, that was the main storyline. the effort and energy.

Kavon Stewart did play well but had a high turnover night, which is unusual for him. 6 assists to 6 turnovers is not like him. He's been closer to a 3:1 ratio.

A few things with the zone;

-it's clear that no one still has 100% comfort in the zone. At times it looks great, other times... we get tonight.

Even the veterans are asked to do different things. Lucky Jones is now playing at the top of the zone and last year he was at the wing. David Appolon also finds himself at the top often, and he doesn't look comfortable. Both are excellent on-ball defenders, so it surprises me that they aren't causing a little more havoc on ball handlers.

One thing you'll notice: Teams will simply pass the ball the top of the key just to get the zone moving. It's constant, constant passing. Even the quick ball passes are showing slow rotations. With the zone, it's all about URGENCY. Close out's HAVE to happen.

I think we're also seeing an inordinate amount of top defenders not getting through screens. Like Kavon alluded too in my postgame write up, Keene hit some tough shots, but that came because he was already feeling it. Simple ball screens on the wings provided decent looks from three. last year, Karvel Anderson and Anthony Myers-Pate hardly ever got caught up on ball screens at the top of the key. In games like this, it happened too often. When close outs finally started to get better, it was too late... the shooter was already feeling it.

Also, RMU continue to be punished by veteran big men. Bobby Hain is a nice ball player who is a veteran, but 24-12? Some of his shots were contested, but often he was getting rebounds or just good looks for easy points. Hain is another example of a big man who passed great out of the high post. He would catch the ball, then WHAM, his decision was made. His quick passing exposed slow rotations, which unfortunately has happened a little too often. veteran big men passing out of the high post has destroyed this defense.

These are all very easy problems to fix, but again, it comes with effort, energy, and urgency. You'll see what I mean with my story tomorrow.

That's all for now!

--Chris Cappella
--@C_Cappella