13 assists on 29 field goals

[freewillie07]

Tonight against Montana State.

By comparison, in the NCAA First Round, NU had 20 assists on the same 29 field goals.

This is very rudimentary analysis, of course, but it does seem like this squad is playing a lot of one-on-one thus far.

That’ll fly in the noncon but we are going to have to do better in conference when Brooks and Nick can’t steamroll their way to the basket as easily.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

We are still struggling pretty badly to instigate a team offense. Brooks can create for himself but he wasn’t a creator tonight so much despite playing tremendously well. Yes, he had the amazing dish to MN, but he’s maybe not able to stir the drink every time down the floor.

Somebody who can get Ty Berry more looks off the ball screen maybe. Ty coming alive late in that game was needed, we need last year’s Ty back.

I repeat that Brooks Barnhizer is a ****ing absurdly good player.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

Looking at the line: 3 rebounds for Nicholson isn’t good enough.

 

[MC_Cat]

Tonight against Montana State.

By comparison, in the NCAA First Round, NU had 20 assists on the same 29 field goals.

This is very rudimentary analysis, of course, but it does seem like this squad is playing a lot of one-on-one thus far.

That’ll fly in the noncon but we are going to have to do better in conference when Brooks and Nick can’t steamroll their way to the basket as easily.

Spot on. We'll have to improve on this significantly if we're going to make another tourney run. I'm hopeful though because the team has not yet found a rhythm but thankfully are finding a way to gut out wins.

 

[macarthur31]

I'm not mad at it for tonight, given the advantage we had on the wings with Barnhizer and Martinelli. But, point well taken - as the wings get better come B1G play.

However, that two man game that Leach and Martinelli were running in the final moments which freed up Nick to get that paint floater from Leach's dribble pen - that's what I hope to see more of in the coming days.

 

[macarthur31]

Looking at the line: 3 rebounds for Nicholson isn’t good enough.

I'm not totally mad at it given Nicholson is often battling multiple guys underneath which frees up the guards to grab boards. He had 4 blocks tonight, and several other hurries. He's making a good contribution out there.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

I'm not mad at it for tonight, given the advantage we had on the wings with Barnhizer and Martinelli. But, point well taken - as the wings get better come B1G play.

However, that two man game that Leach and Martinelli were running in the final moments which freed up Nick to get that paint floater from Leach's dribble pen - that's what I hope to see more of in the coming days.

They had some flashes of nice sets at times…

I’m letting my emotions chill a little and considering the extent to which offense was the problem - it was a sloppy and flat night from everybody not Brooks and Nick offensively, but it wasn’t THAT bad - vs defense being the problem. MSU lit it up from outside partially from all the wide open looks allowed. A Big Ten program that prides itself on tough grinder defense needs to be tougher for an overmatched Big Sky team to deal with than that.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

I'm not totally mad at it given Nicholson is often battling multiple guys underneath which frees up the guards to grab boards. He had 4 blocks tonight, and several other hurries. He's making a good contribution out there.

Don’t disagree his overall contribution was strong, and you’re right in the rebounds overall. Still, with his huge size advantage it feels like he should have had more pretty easily.

 

[macarthur31]

They had some flashes of nice sets at times…

I’m letting my emotions chill a little and considering the extent to which offense was the problem - it was a sloppy and flat night from everybody not Brooks and Nick offensively, but it wasn’t THAT bad - vs defense being the problem. MSU lit it up from outside partially from all the wide open looks allowed. A Big Ten program that prides itself on tough grinder defense needs to be tougher for an overmatched Big Sky team to deal with than that.

Butch talked about it in-game - the 'Cats are wired to collapse on paint, and tonight was a night where the kickouts worked. (In B1G during last two seasons, 'Cats have allowed 36% from 3FG which puts them 10th, so open looks are a feature not a bug.) MTSU went 12-26/46.2% on 3FG against Bucky, so they can hit 3s.

They got better in the 2nd half with the aggressive doubles in the paint - that's how both Barnzo and NickMart got 3 steals apiece. If we're gonna give up open looks from 3, 'Cats need to force more TOs and MTSU only coughed it up 10 times (15.6% TO Rate), and given the length on this team we gotta be close to that 21.3% forced from the '23 season.

Finally - we continue to be poor from FTs. Going 10-16/62.5% is gave 1-2 possessions away to the opponent. That's another aspect that's gotta improve.

 

[hdhntr1]

Tonight against Montana State.

By comparison, in the NCAA First Round, NU had 20 assists on the same 29 field goals.

This is very rudimentary analysis, of course, but it does seem like this squad is playing a lot of one-on-one thus far.

That’ll fly in the noncon but we are going to have to do better in conference when Brooks and Nick can’t steamroll their way to the basket as easily.

NU was driving in and playing one on one. No kick outs. Montana State just collapsed so not the room to work, They are a pretty good and well coached team. Did not see a lot of them beating themselves. Our 3 pt shooting again leaves something to be desired (4/16 and that is an improvement from when it was 2/12)