Post by elp525 on Feb 16, 2011 10:31:50 GMT -5
February 15, 2011
Shots didn't fall vs. 2-3 zone
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - Perhaps it was to be expected. After all, Syracuse is certainly no pushover inside and the 2-3 zone the Orange plays is designed in part to keep defenders near the basket and eliminate easy scores.
Still, one of the most troubling aspects of West Virginia's 63-52 loss to SU Monday night at the Carrier Dome was the Mountaineers' complete failure to score inside. And it's not as if WVU didn't have plenty of great chances.
"I think we'd all take the shots Deniz [Kilicli] got. He's made those all year,'' coach Bob Huggins said. "And we're still waiting for Kevin [Jones] to make the shots he made last year.''
But Kilicli and Jones, WVU's only real inside scoring threats, were a combined 3-for-15 shooting Monday night, part of an abysmal 6-for-25 performance by West Virginia inside the 3-point circle. That the Mountaineers were 11-of-22 outside the arc hardly mattered because there was another number that was egregious: Syracuse outscored WVU in the paint by a whopping 34-4.
Remember, this is the same West Virginia team that, during a month-long dry spell from midrange and outside, won in part with an ability to get the ball close and score. Now that the shooting is showing some signs of improvement (WVU is 17-for-35 the last two games on 3-point tries), the inside punch has disappeared.
"We threw it in there where we wanted it,'' Huggins said. "We just didn't make any shots.''
That's something that can't continue if West Virginia hopes to win any of its final five regular-season games.
Here's how bad it was for Kilicli and Jones: Kilicli made his first shot midway through the first half - a jump shot from near the free-throw line - and then proceeded to miss his last six. The first five missed were with the hook shot that heretofore had seemed automatic. It got so bad that his last attempt at a hook was an airball.
Kilicli finished his night 1-for-7 by having the ball stripped and a shot blocked on two possessions in the final minute. Both times Rick Jackson was the defender.
As for Jones, he was only slightly better, going 2-for-8. He made a 16-footer in the first half and another with just over eight minutes to play and both were big shots - the first to halt a 7-0 Syracuse run and the second to pull West Virginia to within 51-49.
But those were anomalies. West Virginia's chief weapon against the Syracuse zone was to get Jones open in the middle of that zone where he could knock down the 15-footers that a year ago were pretty much automatic for him. They got him there and open 15 seconds into the game and again on the fifth possession of the night. Both times he missed the shots.
He missed two more in the second half and added to the misery each time by once missing a follow-up shot, too, and then having the ball stripped on another second-chance opportunity.
So is it any wonder that even with Casey Mitchell making a career-high seven 3-point field goals (but only one in the final 10 minutes) that West Virginia struggled to score?
"We found Mitchell,'' said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who won his 850th game. "Once we took Mitchell away - that's who they were going to - we took that away and they tried going inside and we made some plays in there.''
Indeed, Syracuse defended well in the post. Jackson had two blocks, two steals and nine rebounds to go along with 10 points. But that's to be expected. He is averaging a double-double (12.8 points, 11.1 rebounds) and is in the top three in the Big East in blocks (as well as leading in field goal percentage).
But it wasn't the shots that Syracuse defended that were the issue. It was the open looks that were missed, along with 16 turnovers. The Orange outscored West Virginia 19-0 in fast break points, most of which came as the result of run-outs following sloppy passes.
"We have to keep moving on offense and we weren't always doing that,'' said Mitchell, who scored a game-high 23 points. "When we stop moving the shots are harder and the defense knows where everybody is. And when that happens, that zone almost becomes a man or a matchup. They just match up and everybody takes a man.''
So now comes the real test for West Virginia (16-9, 7-6 Big East). The Mountaineers have just one game between now and a week from Thursday - Saturday's 1 p.m. home game with No. 8 Notre Dame (21-4, 10-3). After that come road games at No. 4 Pitt and Rutgers, followed by season-ending home games against No. 13 Connecticut and No. 16 Louisville.
It would not be a stretch to imagine that the Mountaineers must win at least three of those five games in order to get to a winning record in Big East play and assure a first-round bye in the league tournament, not to mention an as-yet unsecured NCAA tournament berth.
But if nothing else, the Mountaineers are still talking a confident game.
"We're angry at ourselves right now,'' said Mitchell. "I think we'll win our next five. We know we can't lose many more or we're not going to get in the [NCAA] tournament. ... These next five games, especially to the seniors, this is our life. We're going to give it our all.''
Shots didn't fall vs. 2-3 zone
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - Perhaps it was to be expected. After all, Syracuse is certainly no pushover inside and the 2-3 zone the Orange plays is designed in part to keep defenders near the basket and eliminate easy scores.
Still, one of the most troubling aspects of West Virginia's 63-52 loss to SU Monday night at the Carrier Dome was the Mountaineers' complete failure to score inside. And it's not as if WVU didn't have plenty of great chances.
"I think we'd all take the shots Deniz [Kilicli] got. He's made those all year,'' coach Bob Huggins said. "And we're still waiting for Kevin [Jones] to make the shots he made last year.''
But Kilicli and Jones, WVU's only real inside scoring threats, were a combined 3-for-15 shooting Monday night, part of an abysmal 6-for-25 performance by West Virginia inside the 3-point circle. That the Mountaineers were 11-of-22 outside the arc hardly mattered because there was another number that was egregious: Syracuse outscored WVU in the paint by a whopping 34-4.
Remember, this is the same West Virginia team that, during a month-long dry spell from midrange and outside, won in part with an ability to get the ball close and score. Now that the shooting is showing some signs of improvement (WVU is 17-for-35 the last two games on 3-point tries), the inside punch has disappeared.
"We threw it in there where we wanted it,'' Huggins said. "We just didn't make any shots.''
That's something that can't continue if West Virginia hopes to win any of its final five regular-season games.
Here's how bad it was for Kilicli and Jones: Kilicli made his first shot midway through the first half - a jump shot from near the free-throw line - and then proceeded to miss his last six. The first five missed were with the hook shot that heretofore had seemed automatic. It got so bad that his last attempt at a hook was an airball.
Kilicli finished his night 1-for-7 by having the ball stripped and a shot blocked on two possessions in the final minute. Both times Rick Jackson was the defender.
As for Jones, he was only slightly better, going 2-for-8. He made a 16-footer in the first half and another with just over eight minutes to play and both were big shots - the first to halt a 7-0 Syracuse run and the second to pull West Virginia to within 51-49.
But those were anomalies. West Virginia's chief weapon against the Syracuse zone was to get Jones open in the middle of that zone where he could knock down the 15-footers that a year ago were pretty much automatic for him. They got him there and open 15 seconds into the game and again on the fifth possession of the night. Both times he missed the shots.
He missed two more in the second half and added to the misery each time by once missing a follow-up shot, too, and then having the ball stripped on another second-chance opportunity.
So is it any wonder that even with Casey Mitchell making a career-high seven 3-point field goals (but only one in the final 10 minutes) that West Virginia struggled to score?
"We found Mitchell,'' said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who won his 850th game. "Once we took Mitchell away - that's who they were going to - we took that away and they tried going inside and we made some plays in there.''
Indeed, Syracuse defended well in the post. Jackson had two blocks, two steals and nine rebounds to go along with 10 points. But that's to be expected. He is averaging a double-double (12.8 points, 11.1 rebounds) and is in the top three in the Big East in blocks (as well as leading in field goal percentage).
But it wasn't the shots that Syracuse defended that were the issue. It was the open looks that were missed, along with 16 turnovers. The Orange outscored West Virginia 19-0 in fast break points, most of which came as the result of run-outs following sloppy passes.
"We have to keep moving on offense and we weren't always doing that,'' said Mitchell, who scored a game-high 23 points. "When we stop moving the shots are harder and the defense knows where everybody is. And when that happens, that zone almost becomes a man or a matchup. They just match up and everybody takes a man.''
So now comes the real test for West Virginia (16-9, 7-6 Big East). The Mountaineers have just one game between now and a week from Thursday - Saturday's 1 p.m. home game with No. 8 Notre Dame (21-4, 10-3). After that come road games at No. 4 Pitt and Rutgers, followed by season-ending home games against No. 13 Connecticut and No. 16 Louisville.
It would not be a stretch to imagine that the Mountaineers must win at least three of those five games in order to get to a winning record in Big East play and assure a first-round bye in the league tournament, not to mention an as-yet unsecured NCAA tournament berth.
But if nothing else, the Mountaineers are still talking a confident game.
"We're angry at ourselves right now,'' said Mitchell. "I think we'll win our next five. We know we can't lose many more or we're not going to get in the [NCAA] tournament. ... These next five games, especially to the seniors, this is our life. We're going to give it our all.''