Better ball movement from WBB the past two games. Even after the Ohio contest, I could see the talent, but moving forward it's going to come down to the small things (that can all help boost the offense):

1) Does the team value the ball? Under McCombs, the team coughs up the ball at alarming rates. You don't give yourself a chance to score if you can't get a shot up. This is perhaps the biggest problem imo.
2) When the jumpers aren't falling, can the team get to the FT line?
3) If they can get to the line, can the team make FTs? This team may not be great from deep, but should be able to convert better at the line. It becomes harder to score if you can't get the free ones.
4) Is the team able to turn teams over? While McCombs teams are usually good defensively, they haven't made teams uncomfortable or generate turnovers. Added production can come from turning defense into offense. WBB also plays at a slow pace which caps the offense a bit.
5) Can the team finish defensive possessions with a rebound? This was a problem early on against Georgia Southern, but was better after the first quarter.
6) Can the team defend without fouling? The goal should be to always outshoot the other team from the line.
 

Final Result: GW survives late Morgan State run to win 52-47.

To start, Planes Fortuny was in for Mott, who was not available for this game. GW started quickly and jumped out to a 6-0 lead, forcing an early Morgan timeout. GW’s defense remained stout after the timeout, but the offense was stymied by poor shooting and 8 turnovers. The Revs could only produce a single field goal to close out the quarter with a 10-8 lead. The Lady Bears’ press bothered GW to start the 2nd quarter, but GW went to their inside game to build the lead to 17-12 at the media timeout. GW continued the inside assault after the timeout and increased the lead to 23-13 with 2:03 to go. Morgan pressed and shutout the Revs in the final moments, reducing the GW margin to 23-20 going to the half. Andrews had 6 points, followed by Sims’ 5 points. Gabrielle Johnson and Michaela Bogans each had five points for Morgan. Key 1st half stats for GW-- 14 turnovers and no 3-pointers on 6 attempts. To start the 3rd quarter, Morgan moved their press to the half court, taking GW out of their rhythm and tying the score 32-32 at the 4:00 mark. After the timeout, GW regained their composure, and a 12-2 run to end the quarter staked GW to a 44-34 lead. The 4th quarter started out sloppily for both teams, but after 6 minutes of run, GW still led 50-42. GW could only add 2 free throws for the rest of the game, but held on to win 52-47. Andrews finished with 16 points and Lewis finished with 10 points despite fouling out with 3:12 left in the game. Butler finished with a 12/10 double-double for Morgan and Bannerman added 10 points.

This game looked much like the Towson and Georgia Southern games, with GW turning in a shaky performance against defensive pressure that resulted in 24 turnovers. Calisto and Andrews were the main culprits, with 6 and 5 turnovers, respectively. Although GW shot a respectable 42.2% for the game, they were 0-9 from distance. The difference for GW today was their improved free throw shooting (14-17), which provided the margin of victory. The interior defense was solid, holding the Lady Bears to just 29.8% from the field, but Morgan had 12 more attempts from the field than GW, and made 5 3-pointers in 16 tries. GW’s response to pressure defense, and ball handling in general, is worrisome. The guards in today’s game accounted for 17 of the 24 turnovers. Many came against the press, especially when Lewis was out of the game. This is GW’s biggest issue, one that has to be fixed, because defense alone won’t be enough to beat any of the better teams in the A10. On the plus side, Lewis had another solid game and seems to be emerging as the team’s floor leader. She does not rush or and force things, but is also coming up big when needed. Also, a shout out to Loving, who was forced into action by Mott’s absence and responded with 4 points and 6 rebounds in 21 solid minutes of play.

Next up is George Mason, a local A10 rival, and the best team GW will play to date. Hopefully GW can play up to the level of the competition in this game.

 

Last edited by xAC (11/28/2024 8:08 am)

Not the kind of win that inspires a ton of confidence moving forward, but I guess a win nonetheless. I realize we aren't on the same level as Richmond right now, but they beat this team by over 50.

Let's revisit the six things to watch for:

1) Does the team value the ball?

The answer is a big no from this game. 24 turnovers to just 5 assists? Teams on the WBB side turn the ball over a lot more on average, so I looked at teams around the 170-180 range. They average around 17 turnovers so even by that standard 24 is awful.

As xAC mentioned above, dealing with the press was atrocious and has always been a problem under McCombs. In the fourth quarter of every game I keep thinking that McCombs will take a timeout when GW struggles to get the ball past the half court line, and every time I'm proven wrong. What are you saving the timeouts for??? Multiple times today the ball was inbounded to Planes Fortuny along the sideline, exactly where you don't want to go with the ball when a team is pressing and you're having a bigger player trying to corral the ball along the sideline which is tough on the player.

If I'm the opponent facing GW, I'm pressing the heck out of them until they can successfully break it. This continues to be the biggest issue for the team going forward.

2) When the jumpers aren't falling, can the team get to the FT line?

I'll call this a push. I liked that McCombs changed up the game plan after halftime to go inside a lot more. This team did not take a lot of threes. I can't believe McCombs hasn't recruited enough shooting yet. It doesn't feel like a coincidence that the Mia/Jayla team was her best.

3) If they can get to the line, can the team make FTs?

GW entered the game as a bottom 50 team in the country in FT shooting but did a great job today - 82%.

4) Is the team able to turn teams over?

I'll actually call this a bit of success based on a stretch in the second half. The team actually looked a bit better in the third quarter, showing the ability to turn MSU over and get out in transition a bit. The transition offense was rough at times, but the willingness to look for quick points was a good sign. There's nothing wrong with playing slow, but it requires great execution and that hasn't been seen consistently under McCombs.

5) Can the team finish defensive possessions with a rebound?

I guess Morgan State was on the shorter side, but GW did well with limiting second chances for the most part.

6) Can the team defend without fouling?

There's still many quarters where it feels like the other team gets into the bonus a lot sooner than GW, but they did attempt more FTs than Morgan State so will call it a win.

xAC wrote:

To me there is another thing to look out for, and DMV, you’ve alluded to this in the past—can this coaching staff develop our players. One of the biggest enjoyments of GW basketball for me, is to watch recruits stay four years and develop into really good players. I can’t remember anyone doing that since Briana Cummings. With this coaching staff (I know there have been changes), a big disappointment for me was/has been the development of Faith Blethen and Maxine Engel. Both showed great potential in their freshmen year, but for them, that turned out to be their best year, although the jury is still out on Engel. To be fair, they were not McCombs recruits, and neither were Sophie Haydon, Michelle Ojo, and Leila Patel, who did not pan out. Roberston was a great recruit, but in her two years, we did not see great signs that she was becoming the best version of herself, and Caia Loving has yet to show great improvement from her first two years. That leaves Sara Lewis, Filipa Calisto, Gabby Reynolds, Kamari Sims. All have shown potential to be really good A10 players and Lewis and Sims improved considerably from last year. The big test for the coaching staff is whether they can turn Reynold into top A10 talent and sustain the growth of the others-- who are keys to this program’s future. Just something to take notice on as the season goes on.

100%. I think Sara Lewis has shown quite a bit of improvement so far from last season. Last year, she would be called for a charge on drives to the rim, but she's improved a lot there. I'm looking to see if improvement can come in the shooting department from returning players. Given that Reynolds is just a freshman, patience is warranted but because of the way McCombs has constructed this team, she is going to have to minimize mistakes come conference play for the team to be successful.

Not particularly optimistic about the George Mason game. WBB should probably be fine against the bottom teams of the A10 but will struggle against the top of the league. The fact that GMU, a team with little history on the WBB side, has eclipsed GW is depressing.