** Niagara. Nicholls. St. Francis (PA). The Citadel, UMBC, and even VCU.
** That’s the quite unsightly list of foes who have upended our Panthers in the OOC season during the Capel era. Each of those losses had their own reasons, but the only common denominator among them all is that these were clearly substandard opponents.
** Florida Gulf Coast should probably be considered at least a place above this substandard list. In fact, they were a tough and strong group who have some legit weapons. Nonetheless, I walked out of the Pete this evening feeling like this year’s group of Panthers is certainly different at this point in the season than any of the previous Capel teams. Other Capel teams would likely have lost a game like this.
** I see the difference with this year's team is that they know who they are, and know what they need to do to keep opponents like the Eagles at arm’s length, instead of letting them gain an upper hand.
** Mostly, tonight the Panther’s kept FGC a couple of possessions away because they ran some really good offense.
** And this isn’t to say that we were really good offensively. In fact, we didn’t shoot the ball well from three point line, and fumbled about at the foul line, leaving about a dozen or so points to be had from both spots on the table.
** Still, the Panthers notched 86 points. That’s impressive.
** It’s hard for me to think of a single trip on our end during the game when we struggled to get something we wanted offensively. We took care of the ball well while executing our stuff very well. Our guys are running some fluid sets, particularly the zoom screens that bring Bub out from the baseline, swinging up near the top of the key. And Bub was hitting that shot more often than not.
** Blake was getting his typical threes as well, but for a better part of the game he wasn’t hitting his shot more often than not. In fact, for parts of this game, Blake may have been hurting more than helping.
** But no worry. Because tonight, Jaland Lowe joined the attack.
** During the first half, Jaland was likely our best offensive player, both with shooting and playmaking. He was also solid on the defensive end, with his switches on the perimeter.
** Last Friday, I suggested that Jaland’s growth might be more important than any other player, so my thanks to him for allowing my thoughts to be right for once. If it wasn’t for Jaland’s first half, it’s possible the Panthers go to the break tied, if not even behind, instead of ahead by comfy double digits.
** Had this been the case, maybe tonight we are adding Florida Gulf Coast to the unsightly list of names that led off today’s edition.
** Our 86 points were important for another reason. That is because tonight showed there is some work to be done on defense.
** I’m not suggesting that there were any real difficulties with our defensive efforts. Instead, I could point to several areas of defensive execution that caused some problems.
** Early in the game, we looked to chose to go under screens about 5-6 times too many leaving space for perimeter shooters. This seemed to improve as the game went on. But the bigger problems were a result of FGC’s posting up in the lane. One on one, Fede struggled with it, and GDiaz really struggled with it, especially to FGC’s physicality.
** But we were able to offer some post defense when we ran a double at the post man, and most often this was accomplished by Will Jeffress.
** Overall, Will’s impact on the game on the defensive end cannot be overstated. He was exceptional, and the difference he made on the outcome was likely greater than Jaland’s.
** Beyond Will’s help in the post, he was almost flawless shutting down his man, which several times led to bad shots or even turnovers. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a 21 minute defensive only performance quite like Will’s tonight.
** And on this night, Will didn’t even try to get involved offensively, understanding that wasn’t his role. So going back to my above point, we scored 86 points with one guy on our team playing 21 minutes and taking just one shot. I hope this is indeed as good of a sign as I think it is.
** We already know that Bub and Ish are a pretty nifty backcourt pair. I can’t wait to see how they stack up against some of the finer backcourts in the ACC. And adding in Jaland’s dozen to make 48 points among the trio should hopefully convince some such as myself that we are further along replacing last year’s senior guards than I may have thought previously.
** Finally, I’ll throw a little shout out to Zach for knocking down a big triple. He may be coming along a little more slowly than we might like. But I do think he’s indeed coming around.
** There was a part of me that was hoping for another 20+ point win tonight, adding more fuel to our fire that this team just might be special. While I liked the Panther performance tonight, it wasn’t exactly that kind of impressive performance.
** But it was certainly the kind of performance that shows this team remains on the right track for this campaign. And it sure as heck beats some of the head scratching defeats in the fall of the previous five.
** That’s the quite unsightly list of foes who have upended our Panthers in the OOC season during the Capel era. Each of those losses had their own reasons, but the only common denominator among them all is that these were clearly substandard opponents.
** Florida Gulf Coast should probably be considered at least a place above this substandard list. In fact, they were a tough and strong group who have some legit weapons. Nonetheless, I walked out of the Pete this evening feeling like this year’s group of Panthers is certainly different at this point in the season than any of the previous Capel teams. Other Capel teams would likely have lost a game like this.
** I see the difference with this year's team is that they know who they are, and know what they need to do to keep opponents like the Eagles at arm’s length, instead of letting them gain an upper hand.
** Mostly, tonight the Panther’s kept FGC a couple of possessions away because they ran some really good offense.
** And this isn’t to say that we were really good offensively. In fact, we didn’t shoot the ball well from three point line, and fumbled about at the foul line, leaving about a dozen or so points to be had from both spots on the table.
** Still, the Panthers notched 86 points. That’s impressive.
** It’s hard for me to think of a single trip on our end during the game when we struggled to get something we wanted offensively. We took care of the ball well while executing our stuff very well. Our guys are running some fluid sets, particularly the zoom screens that bring Bub out from the baseline, swinging up near the top of the key. And Bub was hitting that shot more often than not.
** Blake was getting his typical threes as well, but for a better part of the game he wasn’t hitting his shot more often than not. In fact, for parts of this game, Blake may have been hurting more than helping.
** But no worry. Because tonight, Jaland Lowe joined the attack.
** During the first half, Jaland was likely our best offensive player, both with shooting and playmaking. He was also solid on the defensive end, with his switches on the perimeter.
** Last Friday, I suggested that Jaland’s growth might be more important than any other player, so my thanks to him for allowing my thoughts to be right for once. If it wasn’t for Jaland’s first half, it’s possible the Panthers go to the break tied, if not even behind, instead of ahead by comfy double digits.
** Had this been the case, maybe tonight we are adding Florida Gulf Coast to the unsightly list of names that led off today’s edition.
** Our 86 points were important for another reason. That is because tonight showed there is some work to be done on defense.
** I’m not suggesting that there were any real difficulties with our defensive efforts. Instead, I could point to several areas of defensive execution that caused some problems.
** Early in the game, we looked to chose to go under screens about 5-6 times too many leaving space for perimeter shooters. This seemed to improve as the game went on. But the bigger problems were a result of FGC’s posting up in the lane. One on one, Fede struggled with it, and GDiaz really struggled with it, especially to FGC’s physicality.
** But we were able to offer some post defense when we ran a double at the post man, and most often this was accomplished by Will Jeffress.
** Overall, Will’s impact on the game on the defensive end cannot be overstated. He was exceptional, and the difference he made on the outcome was likely greater than Jaland’s.
** Beyond Will’s help in the post, he was almost flawless shutting down his man, which several times led to bad shots or even turnovers. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a 21 minute defensive only performance quite like Will’s tonight.
** And on this night, Will didn’t even try to get involved offensively, understanding that wasn’t his role. So going back to my above point, we scored 86 points with one guy on our team playing 21 minutes and taking just one shot. I hope this is indeed as good of a sign as I think it is.
** We already know that Bub and Ish are a pretty nifty backcourt pair. I can’t wait to see how they stack up against some of the finer backcourts in the ACC. And adding in Jaland’s dozen to make 48 points among the trio should hopefully convince some such as myself that we are further along replacing last year’s senior guards than I may have thought previously.
** Finally, I’ll throw a little shout out to Zach for knocking down a big triple. He may be coming along a little more slowly than we might like. But I do think he’s indeed coming around.
** There was a part of me that was hoping for another 20+ point win tonight, adding more fuel to our fire that this team just might be special. While I liked the Panther performance tonight, it wasn’t exactly that kind of impressive performance.
** But it was certainly the kind of performance that shows this team remains on the right track for this campaign. And it sure as heck beats some of the head scratching defeats in the fall of the previous five.