GW Hoops / GW @ La Salle

**Posted by Free Quebec** 2/01/2025 4:33 pm

LaSalle is to GW as GW is to Dayton. Our bogey team.

Really, all these games are 50-50 games and it just comes down to who makes plays at key times. We had the lead but lost concentration late, LaSalle took care of the ball and made some plays, and they were really good with their drop coverage to take Castro out.

On to the next.

**Posted by MVCOLONIAL** 2/01/2025 4:34 pm

Why can't we shoot foul shots?

**Posted by moneybox** 2/01/2025 4:47 pm

Don't know but it has cost us badly in multiple games.

**Posted by FredD** 2/01/2025 4:58 pm

I don’t know enough about coaching to say X was good coaching or Y was bad coaching, but are there coaching chances, risks or trade offs at play here?

**Posted by GW0509** 2/01/2025 5:11 pm

Winless at La Salle since 2019

Last edited by GW0509 (2/01/2025 5:48 pm)

**Posted by dmvpiranha** 2/01/2025 5:25 pm

Appreciate the kind words H&R..71 and jersey guy!

dmvpiranha wrote:
Saturday's game feels like a bit of a trap game. La Salle knocked off GW all three times last year, which suggests that Dunphy has CC's number and the Explorers are also coming off a very disappointing performance against Fordham. Winning on the road will be tough, and the Revs will need to keep their shooting up from the last game. What's concerning is La Salle's strength is on the glass, which is what gave GW fits in the UMass game - easily their worst performance in conference play. It would definitely help if Lilley remains out. The keys will be limiting their transition looks and preventing penetration in the halfcourt.

GW was predictably crushed by La Salle on the boards today. Just too many second chance opportunities allowed all game. No ability to finish the defensive possession after forcing a miss which was a bigger issue than usual because the Explorers rarely turn the ball over and GW generated few steals today. I second the FT shooting complaints as well. May not be the reason GW lost but that's six straight games now under 70%. The better FT shooters on the team probably need to get more attempts. I'm not confident Rafael will suddenly be consistent from the line. He probably overperformed earlier in the season. Castro still had a solid game overall and made good passes out of the post.

It's a shame, because there were a lot of things to like earlier in the game. Giving Jun scoring opportunities in different ways cutting off the ball, Jacoi making a layup, Moss making a three, 18 assists, etc. Unfortunately Buchanan was a no show for much of the second half, Hutch suddenly got the idea that he should be taking threes in crunch time, and Moss was pretty bad the rest of the time. Drumgoole fumbling the ball late is something no fifth year player should do. CJ has nice moments but as others mentioned he makes careless decisions at times and has a tendency to get caught too deep in the paint. Hansen had a good offensive game and was assertive, but needs to be better on the boards, especially when Rafael is out of position after contesting a shot. Autry has good moments offensively, but is guaranteed to do at least three stupid things on defense every game.

Ultimately, just like the GMU and Richmond games the game was winnable on the road but just like in those games the team got uptight and stopped executing when things got close. The late game play against Rhody was an anomaly. MBB should know that even in crunch time they are still allowed to pass and don't have to take a shot in isolation out of panic. That's ultimately what is holding this team back from being a contender this year, because they have shown they can play with anyone in the league. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say the last three minutes of today's game were CC's worst as a coach at GW. Why start fouling with over a minute to go and down only 4? The last few minutes a few years ago at Mason under Jamion definitely comes close with JB and JoeBam jacking up idiotic threes when the game was still close. CC was definitely out coached by Dunphy down the stretch. It honestly looked like he was in a rush to go home or something at the end because what transpired was truly that confusing. Well he gets to go home with two unused timeouts and an L.

**Posted by jf** 2/01/2025 6:02 pm

The thing is we threw up those long shots when we had a 3-point lead to protect and build
on. No reason to do that early in the clock, when actually sharing the ball had worked to
a great degree in this game.
Unused timeouts a good point.
It looked like we were going to have a win in a hard-fought game, and then as with several others,
we just fumbled it (literally and figuratively) away.

**Posted by Free Quebec** 2/01/2025 6:20 pm

Pirana, to your point that late game execution is holding us back from being a contender, I agree and would add that it doesn’t shock me. We’ve jumped 75 or 80 spots in KenPom, which us a significant improvement, and so learning how to close out games like this consistently on the road is really the next step (and the difference between us being a top 100 or top 80) team.

**Posted by H&R..71** 2/01/2025 6:22 pm

Forget the poor rebounding, poor FTs, exploited mismatches on D. We worked hard to be up 6 with 6:40 to go, then a frikin 4 point play?? Ok, so besides some answered prayers on some circus shots by LaSalle we were only down 4 with 1:30 to go. The game was far from over and needed to be managed! It was a bad look to fold it up and if I’m a player…I’m very disappointed and confused. As a fan I’m shocked. The game deserves better

**Posted by Alum '04** 2/01/2025 6:30 pm

We might not be a top 4 team but we are certainly a top half of the league team. Those are my expectations at this point.

**Posted by Gwmayhem** 2/02/2025 6:13 pm

1. Probably not a big secret that we have been unsuccessful against some of the conference's better offensive rebounding teams. This includes Duquesne, UMASS and La Salle. Clearly, more of an effort by all 5 GW players on the floor to grab defensive rebounds is warranted.

2. La Salle missed 30 shots. The rebound went to La Salle 16 times and to GW 14 times. La Salle nearly doubled its season average of 27+% offensive rebounding percentage.

3. Looked like Jun was primed for a breakout game having had some big games last season against the Explorers as well as a very solid first half. Then, he again turns into the forgotten man during the second half. I am not trying to knock Gerald, but this team will not win much if he serves as the alpha on this team. Again, having Jun with the ball in his hands, where he's a threat to shoot, drive/get fouled, and set up teammates with open looks, is what this team must get back to.

4. The terrible end of game sequence began when Rafael tried a very difficult bounce pass to Gerald after Gerald had tipped a loose ball to him. Incredibly high degree of difficulty with about 1:10 left in a very close game, resulting in a turnover. This was followed by "way too early 3's" from Gerald and Jacoi at crucial stages. This team has to execute far better down the stretch if it expects to win winnable games.

5. GW's home and home opponents are intended to be somewhat balanced along with the rest of the league, with a slight advantage to those teams that finish poorly in the previous year. This year, GW's home and homes are against Geo. Mason (who has overperformed, picked for #6 in the preseason), Richmond (who has underperformed), UMASS (who has overperformed) and La Salle (who has also overperformed). In a scheduling quirk, we opened on the road against all four of these teams and went 0-4 in these games. It's the third straight year under CC that GW will not sweep a regular season home and home. We have already knocked off the Spiders in the rematch and will get chances against the other three, beginning Wednesday against Mason.

**Posted by GWRising** 2/03/2025 11:41 am

Repeat after me .... we gave up 20 offensive rebounds leading to 21 second chance points and scored 7 points in the last 6:42!!!! That's all you need to know about this game. The rest is window dressing.

In our five A-10 losses we are giving up nearly 5 more offensive rebounds per game than in our 4 wins. Aside from our inconsistent three point and free throw shooting, if there was one thing to fix - this would be it.

**Posted by Tennessee Colonial** 2/03/2025 1:09 pm

Thanks Rising. Rebounding is desire and learning how to box out. This should have been fixed before the conference schedule. My HS team was pretty small, but we got a lot of rebounds by learning how to box out. The coach drilled that into our brains. We went 19-4 the last year playing one of the toughest schedules in the state of NJ. Positioning is very, very important.

**Posted by Sons of Liberty** 2/05/2025 6:19 pm

One final note on this game: Of course, losing sucks, but I am glad to see that LaSalle has a new arena. That helps the conference overall, which also helps GDUB in a small way. Anyhoo...on to the Mason game in less than an hour...