Thoughts on Horn's Tough Loss to Pitt

Heard Barnes on his radio show after the game and he was pissed — I mean really pissed at the team. I understand what he was saying (basically what you write Reno — started out slow, didn’t move on the offense, didn’t recognize their shooters soon enough, etc). He didn’t like that they had touched on all of that in pre-game and it didn’t matter.

Craig Way tried to soften him a little with the good stuff (effort, not giving up) but he wanted none of it. He saw this as a very winnable game that gone away and he was pissed.

Which I guess is a good thing for a coach, but I sure hope his assistants were playing the good cop in the locker room to help offset his anger.

Although I can’t be certain from watching on tv, I wish Barnes would work the refs more to defend his players. It seems like every oppenents coach does it more/better and it pays dividends. This is something I’ve noticed for years.

… and perhaps Barnes should have prepared for that last offensive sequence by having a guard, other than frosh Joseph, assume the burden of bringing the ball up court. Why not Balbay or Lucas who have more experience at this level finding an open shooter?

Of course, maybe it was a teaching moment …

I did notice during the game that J’Covan was receiving some extra coaching from Ogden, which I viewed as a sharing of the ass-chewing that I’m sure Barnes wanted to dish out. I don’t remember seeing this very much last year, so that is a positive.

Very sorry for the off topic post, but does anyone living in NYC have any idea where the ut football game may be shown today. I called Annie moores who I thought would put it on but they said no, understandably. Not really sure why I’m asking.

Didn’t hear barnes after the game but I’m more encouraged than apparently he is.

When you’re trying to create a shot with 12 seconds left you don’t have time to run much offense. I think this is why Barnes had Joseph bring it up. So you need a guard who can create his own shot. Balbay and Lucas can’t. So it was either Brown or Joseph. I’m fine with Joseph, he got two decent looks the night before when we needed it and one went in.

I would rather have CoJo take the ball up the floor than Dogus, who can’t shoot it, and Jai, who can’t really do anything, but it is inexplicable for CoJo to unilaterally drive and shoot all three potential game-winners the last two days. It is unacceptable to not even so much as glance at Jordan Hamilton in any of those three plays. CoJo has struggled mightily on offense thus far and it just doesn’t make sense on any level to have him take three consecutive potential game-winners. WTF? I have no problem with him taking the ball up the court, but Rick should’ve done a better job of explaining to the team that there’s 11 seconds left and that we have plenty of time to pass the ball once or twice if whoever’s driving the ball doesn’t have an open shot. You got to at least try to get it into Jordan’s hands.

On the positive, this team could end up being pretty good. I am amazed that we outrebounded both those front courts at MSG. I thought that would be the area we’d struggle with the most this year. I love how we’ve changed our offense, but we’ve still got a heck of a long way to go in its execution. Defensively, we’re a little better than I expected, and are definitely getting more effort from Jordan and J’Covan on that side of the ball, with J’Covan showing an obvious improvement in his ability to stay in front of his man. We’ve got some good potential. Just wish Barnes was better at preparing his team for those game-winning situations. The final offensive possession has always been one of Barnes’s biggest weaknesses as a coach.

Based on the situation, (Pitt misses the front end of a 1 and 1 to keep it a 2-point game) I would prefer having Dogus bring the ball up. He is more mature and understands that in basketball terms 11 seconds in an eternity.

When you are down by 2 points you want to drive and either dish or shoot, and Balbay is certainly quick enough to drive and draw the double team, and smart enough to find who is open. I know Joseph is more of an offensive threat that Balbay, but in that sequence, after the miss and pushing the ball downcourt, it’s a little more frantic than in the natural flow of the game — for both teams — and I would have liked to have seen a more experienced hand with the ball.

If there was less time or if we were down by 3 points, that’s different.

Cory tried to take the defender off the dribble for the score or foul. His “throw up” was a last second gasp at a lob hoping his teammates would be crashing the glass. Looked to me that our bigs did not recognize the situation and could not come up with a possible back side rebound and put back. Pitt was definitely coached up not to give the game away on a JB or JH trey so they cleared out. It was there for the possible drive/foul. Give the Pitt guard (Wannamaker?) credit for playing excellent D as Cory was not able to take him on the drive. If Pitt fouls, we have a great shot at the tie with Cory on the line. We did not lose the game on the last possession. We lost on the turnovers and no answer for Gibbs. And in regard to Gibbs, Pitt absolutely had to have that performance to hang in the game just like we had to have Jordan’s. It was a heavy weight battle. In regard to T2, he didn’t show up so much with offensive points but it was all the little things he did that really helped our chances. He is a very, very, very special talent. IMO, we needed Gary off more pick and pop 15 footers and he had an off night. But love his effort in rebounding and defending.

Guys, hang on to your hat. We are only going to get better heading into the very tough Big XII conference play, especially with the grueling upcoming schedule (USC, UNC, MSU, Hawgs, UCONN). This is going to be fun.

If i remember correctly, J’Covan was wide open on the wing right next to Joseph when he literally threw up that shot. Could have been the game winner.

I just checked the replay and J’Covan’s man left him to double Joseph on the penetration.

I’m pretty sure J’Covan would have spontaneously combusted had he hit a game winner at the buzzer at MSG. Just, poof. Gone.

EN – but Cory was watching the clock. The play was not set correctly to start as Cory did not take what the D was giving him. Did he really even know where are guys were? Back to SRR’s comment. The ball would have been handled better in the hands of a more experienced player. Cory did not make the right read but that is based on experience. We did not lose the game on the last possession is really my point. You are correct though that if JB had an open look it is a shame that CJ could not get the rock to him.

Dogus’ free throw percentage makes him too much of a risk to have the ball at the end in that situation.

So you would rather have a player who barely poses and offensive threat and a midget with no real explosiveness with the ball in their hands at the end of the game with 10 seconds and no timeouts versus a bigger, faster athlete?

Joseph has the size, quickness, and explosiveness that the others don’t have and I wouldn’t say either has shown the natural ability to create offense for other players or themselves.

Penetrate and kick it out. Why? Because the entire defense is going to collapse to the paint and the refs are going to swallow their whistles at that point in the game. One on five with little chance of going to the line.

That’s why Balbay, Lucas, or even Brown (although I doubt he’d kick it out) were better options than Joseph.

ADS,

Try Third Base on 86th & 3rd. Take the 4,5,6 up Lexington to 86th and you’re right there. I used to live over there and it’s a great gamewatchig spot for Texas exes. If you’re downtown you can try Stout at 133 w. 33rd

Would they have fouled Dog being up 2?

I just think that…(panic)…a;lkdhdlhfdashdAEWA[REW90707520952097590827349E!!!!!!!!!!

I was driving to Austin so I had to listen to the game. Quick question, were Jordan’s last two threes good looks? Craig way made it sound like we had run some offense and Hamilton was coming off a screen.

It also sounded like we battled them on the glass which is encouraging.

One other question, were we just leaving Gibbs? Is that why Barnes was pissed?

Trips …

They did rub off Hamilton’s man with screens several times. I really think they need that more because he seems to very comfortable with catch and shoot. Not so much creating for himself. A couple of times he flashed diagonally across the paint when Thompson had the ball on the block … but, Thompson never fed him (once Hamilton showed his frustration).

Balbay drew Gibbs … but, was consistently a step late. Believe that was caused by good screening and tired legs. Regardless, Gibbs was freakin’ money. Barnes shouldn’t have been pissed for him getting his points, IMO.

trips: I thought Jordan’s 3’s were good looks, but a little quick in the offense.

VL, thanks. Specifically the last two missed 3’s, though, were they good shots within the context of the offense, or were they heat checks?

What Srr50 said … the offense seemed to play a little too quick all night. I guess some of ‘em still haven’t flushed all of last year’s “gun it” mentality.

Thanks. Srr50, so open looks a pass or two into the possession with JH coming free off a screen? I’m fine with a quick open catch and shoot from JH when facing a team like pitt. Chances are we don’t get a better shot in that possession.

Another question, were they guarding Balbay 20 feet out from the bucket?

Trips, the times that I noticed the man guarding Balbay sagged back to the free throw line. Dickie V even made a point of it.

Thanks Vash.

Dick – if you’re creating the last shot from the guard position, you want a guy who can drive and draw a double so he can kick to an open teammate, or at least get fouled and hit his throws. The problem with Dogus in that specific situation is that you can defend him honestly with one guy, and if you happen to give up a foul its not much worry because he’s apt to miss one of them. Then you have the ball and the lead.

In short, the right guy had the ball to start that possession, he just didn’t execute. He’ll learn.

I think the right guy had the ball at the end of the game. not sure why you’d ever want to give the ball to Lucas in that situation. while the effort is there, the only thing the guy does that is above average is knock down open J’s.

anyways, learning moment for Joseph and probably for the whole team, considering the game as a whole.

think the vibe and flow of the team is sooooo much better this year. we had no idea this would be the case a couple of weeks ago. while the ending was tough, I feel pretty good about our squad.

Virginia – I agree with you but going forward, Joseph is the guy we will want to handle the ball in that situation. I’d rather he learns this lesson now than waiting to see what he does once we get to conference play. He hopefully learned from it.

Trips – I’m sort of in the camp that just about any shot we get from Jordan is a good one, but if I wanted to be really critical I thought both shots were a little quick. OTOH, he had been shooting the 3 great all night and he was fairly open.

Overall, I’m just shocked at how good this team looked in these 2 games.

Virginia,

As BEHorn stated above, there would be no reason for Pitt to collapse on either Dogus or Lucas because neither has the size or offensive skills to pose any threat.

Jordan got a good look on the last 3 that he missed. It was early in the shot clock but the game was getting close to the end and the horns were behind (it was definitely time to take the first good shot, it wasn’t like the horns O was generating lots of good looks). He hit 5 of 8 of his 3 point attempts on the night.

It would have been much better for either Jordan or Brown to have the ball in their hands at the end. Both were having good offensive games (they had nearly 2/3 of the horns points for the game), have excellent ball handling skills, can hit free throws if necessary, have the strength to handle the physical play of the last few seconds of a game when refs tend to swallow their whistle, are experienced, and can get their own shot anywhere from 3 point land to inside the paint. Cory had 2 points on the night, so it did not make any sense to put the ball in his hands.

Anybody who has not seen the game ending play, has to watch at least the last few seconds of the replay. It may be one of the worst, most laughably bad collegiate basketball plays of all time. The horns put up a helluva fight but that was a terrible way to end the game.

Having said that, it was just one play by a frosh who just started his collegiate career.

When the horns play a team with a big front line, they need to do more pick and roll with Tristan. It was very tough for Tristan to get his shot posting up, everything he shot was strongly contested. Posting up gives the D time to mobilize more than one defender to guard Tristan. Passing out of the double team (with your back to the bucket stopping you from easily seeing the whole court) is not easy. Better to make those big defenders have to hedge the screen and get Tristan matched up with the point guard defender on the switch. This will utilize Tristan’s athleticism and ability to finish with either hand.

Open thread? Or is it best to forget about football?

Lucas was positively awful in his four minutes last night. Whoever called him the Kirkendoll of the basketball team was right on. We can get by with playing him against the shithooks, but he gets eaten up and spit out by good teams.

Dumbass Comcast was 15 minutes late in starting their broadcast (channel 110 in Houston) and joined in progress. From what I can tell Marquis Goodwin is injured, being strapped down on a cart to be carried off the field. Hopefully it is just precautionary and not as serious as it looks.

Correction, it is a n FAU player, not Goodwin that was injured. FAU player just raised his arm as they were wheeling him off.

The shitfest continues. Texas goes on a long drive and then stalls out with a 1st down inside the 10. Chokes on 4th and goal at the 1 inch line, now 0-0 FAU ball.

Blake Gideon intercepts FAU on their own 10. Celebrates by headbutting 3 cheerleaders, 2 doners, and a kid in a wheelchair.

Cody Johnson runs to the 1/2 yard line, GG of course sneaks and gets nothing, Cody finally scores on 4th and inches. 7-0, 8:50 left in the 1st qtr.

Open thread sighting reported.

A FREAKING embarrassment.

M______ F__________!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 3 that Hamilton took with 90 seconds and down 1 was a lot worse of a shot than the one before it a couple of minutes early from the corner. At least on that one he had a kick out from Johnson and shot it in rhythm. While the one with 90 seconds left was a decent look it was early in the clock and the worse part is that Thompson had outstanding position well inside the paint. But Hamilton was feeling it and let it fly.