Thoughts after 1 game
-Backcourt of Lowe and Leggett looks good after 1 game. Its great to get scoring from the backcourt, but what we got was high level offensive efficiency from these 2 players. We also got 17 rebounds from these 2 players along with 9 assists and 1 turnover. That's as Elite as you can get from the starting backcourt in game 1. I also thought their defense was on, they attacked the passing lanes, they did a decent job keeping their man in front of them on defense for the most part. I'd like to see a little more communication / energy / emotion from these 2 on the floor to energize the rest of the team when we start going on scoring runs. This is nitpicking, but we want the team energy to remain high and it wasn't all there in this first game from some of our other players.
-Keeping pace with the backcourt was Brandin Cummings scoring 11 points off the bench on great efficiency with 3 assists. Everyone is starting to talk about his offense by now, but Im going to talk about his defense. He's doing a better job keeping his man in front of him from a year ago, but there is still more work to be done there. However, he has really good ball hawk skills creating steals, deflecting passes, disrupting passing lanes etc. He only had 1 steal in this game, but he was close to having 3 or 4.
-Cam Corhen was 3rd on the team in scoring with 12 points and 5 rebounds in 25 minutes of action on 60% shooting from the field. What is noteworthy here is what I told you guys from the preseason. Corhen is a bucket getter in the midrange. He made 4 midrange jump shots in this game which is more than Fede had in 2 full complete seasons at Pitt. I thought he was ok in this game and I thought his defense was ok. Like Cummings, he only got 1 steal, but he was close to having 2 or 3. A lot of our defensive breakdowns in the interior came from not stopping some of Radford's dribble penetration. Even still, we outscored this team 50-16 in the paint which is complete domination in the interior. I also thought his block outs and screens were good, as we scored multiple baskets because of him properly sealing his man off, one of which was Ontario Lett like on offense.
-Guillermo Diaz Graham had a pretty solid game overall. 10 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks in 25 minutes. I really liked his passing in this game. He made passes into the interior look easy and almost effortless because he simply towered over the defender guarding him at the 4. I thought his defense was fairly decent for the most part which was an area of concern I had in the preseason. I think he looks comfortable at the 4.
-Zach Austin looked slow and lethargic to me in this game. He was slow closing out on shooters, he was non existent on the glass, and for a player that played 21 minutes as a senior he was to me a large disappointment in the opener. Maybe he was upset a little bit for not starting, but he has to be a lot better than this.
-Damian Dunn was ok in this game but like Austin he was completely non existent on the glass and for a 5th year starter he also needs to step up. If this type of stuff happened on a Wanamaker or a Krauser led team ( our wings getting zero total rebounds for an entire game) a size 10 shoe would of been up their ass from our captains the following practice. Leggett needs to get on both of them. I thought Dunn's offense was ok but I still have some turnover concerns with him against fast athletic teams when he tries to get the ball into the interior.
-I dont have a lot to comment on with regards to the deeper bench. I think Kante is going to improve when the game starts to slow down for him. Im hopeful that comes after about 10 or 15 games this year and he gains confidence from his major injury. He has to get his turnover numbers down obviously as we cant have a reserve player giving the other team 2-3 turnovers per game. I also thought Barnes was quite good on defense in his limited action.
-That leaves me to Jorge. Maybe its just me but it just seems like things are off a little bit off when he is on the floor. Statistically he was fine, he got 2 steals, but it just feels like the team loses a step with him on the floor. Ill wait to see more here, but I really want Delalic back which is going to force Jorge and Austin more to a smaller reserve role and maybe Dunn too. I think Delalic could be dangerous at the 4 even though I like him the most at the 3.
Quick hitters on stats
-Our offensive efficiency is already pushing Top 20 Nationally on Pomeroy without Delalic. I expect our offense to be considerably better than this with a healthy Delalic.
-We outscored Radford 24-1 in fastbreak points
-5 Players have an ORTG offensive power rating over 120 through 1 game excluding Jorge who would make 6. 7 players are over 108 ORTG. This is solid.
-Through a very small sample size, Papa Kante currently has the best defensive power rating on the team which is what we need the most from him. Zach Austin currently has the worst.
-Through the first game, Lowe, Leggett and Guillermo lead the team in win shares.
-We had 8 offensive turnovers in this game and 2 again came from Kante in a small role. This is a decent number for the opener because for our offense to get where we want it to be. We need to be close to the best in the entire country in least turnovers per game, which was my forecast / hope preseason.
Additional notes
-Murray State won its opener by almost 80 points. I have little idea just how good they are yet, but torvik has us as a 12.5 point favorite.
-Central Florida, Ohio State and Gardner Webb all gave us a boost in non conference schedule strength last night.
-The ACC is undefeated opening night. The SEC laid an egg on opening night.
We are 1-0 and moving on and moving up. Keep the gas pedal down full throttle going into next game and leave no doubt.
