dmvpiranha wrote:

Defensively, MBB will want to limit clean looks from outside and offensively the ball movement will have to continue to be good, especially if Jun is being reintegrated into the offense. GW has played great defense throughout the year, but it feels like a hot shooting game from the opposition is coming at some point.

Sadly the team just did not come out strong out of the gate, which is needed in the A10 where every game is a tossup. They were flat-footed on defense in the first half and didn't limit the outside looks well at all. GW was fairly disruptive, but the wide open looks reminded me of last year's team defensively. Max was clearly locked in and had a great game but come on - it felt like we were watching him take shots instead of closing out on his attempts. Also, his alley-oop dunk probably should have resulted in a T given he lifted himself up on the rim. Usually general hanging is considered okay but they call the lifting up variety. Oh well. A hot shooting game from the opposition was inevitable but I thought GW would have contested on shots better when that happened at least.

Offensively, GW wasn't much better early on. Duquesne seemed ready for Hansen's passing and Sean had a tough game in general. Thankful that Rafael was carrying the team for much of the game with his energy on the offensive boards and attacking the hoop in general. The Dukes were ready for the plays GW was trying to run, leading to tough moments when GW had to change things up mid-possession.

GW played fairly well overall after halftime, but the 13 point hole was a lot to dig out of. Duquesne had fewer open looks, and honestly everyone outside of Max was more or less held in check. I even thought offensively the team was a lot more creative and less predictable - usually making the extra pass but truthfully more of those close-proximity shots needed to be made instead of going to the FT line. Of course, one of the worst FT shooting teams in the country shot 81% from the FT line while GW was 62%. For a while in the second half, it felt like the Revs were on the precipice of cutting the lead but failed to do so because they kept splitting FTs.

A big problem all game was the inability to end defensive possessions with a rebound. GW gave up way too many second chance opportunities, including at pivotal moments of the second half when they were attempting to overcome the deficit.

Thought Ty gave some good minutes with corner 3s. CJ is a dog defensively but seemed a little unsure of where he wanted to go with it offensively at times. Gerald took more shots than he scored points which is usually a bad sign. He didn't feel confident on his shots tonight. Autry is the most steady shooter GW has and he showed some nice effort defensively. Getting stripped late was killer though and not needed in that situation. Jun didn't look fully healthy and it showed. Many shots left short near the rim, but good to see nice stroke on the FTs. Wish Dayan was involved a bit more. Despite the loss, it was really fun to watch Rafael dominate out there.

Ultimately, a team usually can't afford to have three players take 3+ shots and miss all their attempts. As Jun gets healthy, he'll need to be more efficient from the field against conference competition, which will involve deploying him in more creative ways. Jacoi has continued to defend well and make some nice passes at times (although was caught overdribbling a few times), but as a scorer it's a rough watch. He's inconsistent from 3, but more concerning is his layup attempts. It feels like he just lofts it near the rim begging for the other team to swat it out of the stadium. Duquesne was impressive tonight with their blocks but this has been a problem even before this game with Hutch. Against D1 competition, he's shot 25% or worse from the field in 10 of 14 games. I know he was banged up earlier in the season which may be playing a role but at some point you can't just call it a bad stretch.

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

I don't say it nearly often enough, but thank you DMV Pirananha for your pregame reviews.  They are incredible.

I really appreciate it LSF!

Some observations from a tough night:

1) Take away the best game of Rafael Castro's season and GW shot 25% from the floor.  That includes Ty making both of his three point shots.

2) There is a balance between riding the guys who you feel gives the team the best chance to win and betting on the players who are playing the best on a given night.  CC was a bit inconsistent in that regard.  He played Rafael a team high in minutes, far more than he's used to, because he stayed out of foul trouble and frankly, was fantastic.  Gerald Drumgoole, who everyone knows by now is a streaky shooter, goes 1-8 from 3 (with some of these being very bad takes) and still manages to play 31 minutes?  

3) GW went from a 71% assist to made basket rate against URI to a 57% rate last night.  The 57% isn't terrible and was more in line with the Dayton performance.  The difference was 15-31 from 3 against the Flyers vs. 5-18 last night (and that's 3-16 if we take away Bevins).

4) A huge story last night was that GW had arguably their two best players at the start of the season coming off the bench last night and was still outscored 35-13 by Duquesne's bench.  Let's discuss 4 bench players, two from each team:

Jun:  What appears to be overlooked right now is how to best utilize Jun.  The answer isn't for him to serve as a decoy on offense nor is it to repeatedly attempt to go one on one (or worse) against a defense.  Jun is most effective when he is every bit as much a threat to find a wide open shooter than he is to finish the play himself.  Last night, it appeared like his opportunities were limited, he knew this, and so he played more "hero ball" inviting more double teams which aggressively arrived.  And yet, there was an occasion where he passed up an easy two to feed Castro who was fouled.  I'll happily give the benefit of the doubt to his coming back from an injury but nevertheless, this team is going to have to learn how to play cohesively with Jun in the lineup.

Jacoi: There may not be anyone who is "more in Jacoi's corner" than me.  However, this sophomore slump is starting to better resemble an all out regression.  Jacoi is a true competitor but when the flawed shooting starts to impact other facets of his game (such as his three turnovers in just 23 minutes of which two were clearly on him), he simply is not helping the team.  I keep thinking that this guy is too good to be kept down for this long but there comes a point where once the slump becomes long enough, you have little choice but to reassess.  

David Dixon.  I thought Dixon played an important role in turning the game around, blocking 5 shots (the Dukes had 12 for the game) in just 21 minutes.  If this sounds familiar, it ought to.  Last year, Dixon put up 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots in Duquesne's narrow victory over GW.  Moreover, his style of play fed right into the way this game was officiated.  There was little doubt that "no harm, no foul" was the official slogan of this crew.  I saw Dukes barreling into our players all night, often leading with elbows, forearms, and hands (pushing off to create separation).  The NCAA has made an effort to alter officiating so that fewer offensive fouls are called but I'm not sure if zero offensive fouls ever being called are what they had in mind.  Seriously, can you recall many charges taken this season?  If so, you can probably count them on one hand.

Max Edwards..This looked like it was straight out of a Hollywood script.  I can't say I was happy about Max's performance at GW's expense but I will go so far as to say that I was somewhat happy for him.   He's been on a rocky journey with the most recent detour being having lost his starting role and subsequently, his playing time shaved.  In case you want or need to see it, 8-10 from the floor, 3-5 from 3, 22 points, and 4 steals in just 17 minutes.  Thought it was borderline disgraceful/stupid that Dru Jones did not play him during crunch time given how motivated he was.  

5) I don't want to pile on, largely because I like him and fel that he's having a great season, but the Trey Autry attempt to tie the game with just under a minute left was just awful.  While I get that this may have been the play call coming out of the long stoppage to overturn the Duquesne goaltending call, sometimes you simply have to audible.  Trey, a pick setter (Castro?), and two Duquesne defenders were all within a square foot of one another when Autry tried a very ill advised three.  A better play even for two points cuts their lead to 1 with another possession still to come.  I know many disagreed with CC's decision to foul after this play (GW could have played good defense and gotten the ball back down 3 with maybe 20-30 seconds left) but given how poor a free throw shooting team Duquesne has been, I did not have a problem extending the game though fouling Tre Dinkins should not have been the choice to foul.  

 

I’m as disappointed as anyone about last night’s game. While I don’t think anyone but Castro played well, especially on offense, Jones had 7 steals. He’s a major disrupter on defense.

H&R..71 wrote:

Was stunned by Castro saying that he thought coming into this game a couple of the practices were slow.
Wait wat??? Did he just throw his coach under the bus?  I guess as the only dude who came to play he had the right?  or is that something you keep in the locker room?  And CC's response was the injury thing and that's why you can't have a full speed practice? Oh please!
And another reason for the loss according to CC was because Duquesne was very methodical? Well GW obviously wasn't!
Some of this is concerning and hopefully the Revs can practice their method at full speed soon. Or let Castro run the practices.

At least we got through a press conference without a Garrett Johnson mention

If I didn't know better, I'd have suspected some sort of collusion that helped Max have his best game of the year (by far).   It certainly seemed like whoever was supposed to guard him, very often didn't know it, or backed off and took himself out of the play.   Jun still looks impaired - especially on offense - and, true to form, our ball movement seemed to regress dramatically the more we tried to involve him.  Without a career offensive night from an outstanding Castro, we're blown out decisively at home.  Given our recent proclivities, i.e, win when we should lose (on paper) and vice-versa, I look forward to a surprisingly easy and dare I say impressive win at GMU on Saturday.