UTSA (1/18/25)

[NT80]

  On 1/19/2025 at 3:44 PM, BigWillie said:

This is something that a little smaller arena would help with. It brings those that are louder closer to the action and makes it louder overall.

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It truly looked and sounded like a high school gym.  Not what we want at all.

[Censored by Laurie]

  On 1/19/2025 at 3:44 PM, BigWillie said:

This is the sole reason, IMO, we lost to Memphis. Too many live ball TOs when they pressed and we would give up easy points.

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ya...we can clearly be pressed. I think having Dello rather than Massie/Lorient in the press-break would've helped yesterday, but it's definitely something I hope we clean up a bit throughout the rest of the season

[BillySee58]

  On 1/19/2025 at 12:00 AM, THOR said:

so the NET should rise?

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Well, we jumped up 7 spots to 51. Guess we can generally expect road wins with good margins of victory will yield pretty positive movement in the NET.

[Green Otaku]

I've been really happy about the way Sissoko has been playing the last couple of games. His game has always been more about getting a pass and going at the bucket and not so much just posting up, he looks to finally get where he is supposed to be during offensive plays, he's been aggressive going up for rebounds. Let's hope he continues to play this way.

 

Stone got 3 mins, we basically payed 7 yesterday. I'm surprised none of the other guards on the bench got any minutes.

[Green Otaku]

  On 1/18/2025 at 11:16 PM, Glory to the Green said:

Our free throw shooting has been really good this season. It put the game away today. I’m glad we got the win, but I have a couple of questions…

Why do we struggle so much against the press?

Why did we continue to allow them to speed us up even after we crossed half court?

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From what I've seen in the last few games is they like to press with length. Wright and Jossell are the best ball handlers, but are the 2 shortest on our team and struggle with getting trapped, so Hodge has switched to Massie or Floyd bringing the ball up who aren't point guards. We also aren't punishing them when we break the press because the other teams know we are going to back off and take our time, they don't have to worry about a fast break.

If the other team is going to defend us that hard I'd like to see us aggressively drive through them and make them foul us.

[Glory to the Green]

  On 1/19/2025 at 6:10 PM, Green Otaku said:

We also aren't punishing them when we break the press because the other teams know we are going to back off and take our time, they don't have to worry about a fast break.

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I didn’t think about this.  I was frustrated when we attacked the basket after breaking their press, but you’re saying it’s necessary to attack to punish them for trying to press. Thank you for the insight. 

[NorthTexasWeLove]

  On 1/19/2025 at 5:58 PM, Green Otaku said:

I've been really happy about the way Sissoko has been playing the last couple of games. His game has always been more about getting a pass and going at the bucket and not so much just posting up, he looks to finally get where he is supposed to be during offensive plays, he's been aggressive going up for rebounds. Let's hope he continues to play this way.

 

Stone got 3 mins, we basically payed 7 yesterday. I'm surprised none of the other guards on the bench got any minutes.

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Indeed. But we got to find a way to have an 8-man rotation. 7 is too little. Legs get tired, particularly during tournament time with 7. 

[Green Otaku]

  On 1/19/2025 at 7:05 PM, Glory to the Green said:

I didn’t think about this.  I was frustrated when we attacked the basket after breaking their press, but you’re saying it’s necessary to attack to punish them for trying to press. Thank you for the insight. 

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No problem. Coach's decision on what to do there and how to play it. You have two of their guys trying to trap you right from the inbound, so you in theory when you break the press there should be a 3 v 4 man disadvantage for them and 1 of our guys should be completely open. You can then punish them by scoring a quick and open/easy bucket, and if you do it enough it is a way to discourage them from committing to the press since they are getting punished for it. If they press, and you hold off after getting the ball past mid-court and let them get into their defense they see no reason to stop pressing, you aren't going to punish them for it so why should they stop?

The other side of course is that you don't burn clock, give them more possessions, and if you aren't used to playing quick you might make mistakes when scoring/passing/dribbling. Coaches get paid to make the right choice on what to do in these situations.

[Green Otaku]

  On 1/19/2025 at 7:21 PM, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Indeed. But we got to find a way to have an 8-man rotation. 7 is too little. Legs get tired, particularly during tournament time with 7. 

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Normally Walker would be in there soaking up 20-25 mins on average to make an 8 man rotation, unless you meant in the event that someone else would get injured or sick. It makes me wonder if they are trying to protect anyone's redshirt?

[Censored by Laurie]

  On 1/19/2025 at 10:19 PM, Green Otaku said:

No problem. Coach's decision on what to do there and how to play it. You have two of their guys trying to trap you right from the inbound, so you in theory when you break the press there should be a 3 v 4 man disadvantage for them and 1 of our guys should be completely open. You can then punish them by scoring a quick and open/easy bucket, and if you do it enough it is a way to discourage them from committing to the press since they are getting punished for it. If they press, and you hold off after getting the ball past mid-court and let them get into their defense they see no reason to stop pressing, you aren't going to punish them for it so why should they stop?

The other side of course is that you don't burn clock, give them more possessions, and if you aren't used to playing quick you might make mistakes when scoring/passing/dribbling. Coaches get paid to make the right choice on what to do in these situations.

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another flip side is that you're making a defense really work...it takes energy to press...it takes more to press and then have to defend another 15-20 seconds. 

I'm cool with not always trying to get a quick hoop once we get it across...I just want to see us get into the offense a little quicker once across. just too many late-clock heaves...initiate with like 12 seconds as opposed to 7.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

  On 1/19/2025 at 10:34 PM, Censored by Laurie said:

another flip side is that you're making a defense really work...it takes energy to press...it takes more to press and then have to defend another 15-20 seconds. 

I'm cool with not always trying to get a quick hoop once we get it across...I just want to see us get into the offense a little quicker once across. just too many late-clock heaves...initiate with like 12 seconds as opposed to 7.

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Somebody took over CBL's account today. He's making way more sense than usual. 

[BigWillie]

  On 1/19/2025 at 3:54 PM, NT80 said:

It truly looked and sounded like a high school gym.  Not what we want at all.

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I feel like it can be done in a way to make it feel more tight without making it look like a high school gym. Many examples across college basketball.

  On 1/19/2025 at 10:19 PM, Green Otaku said:

The other side of course is that you don't burn clock, give them more possessions, and if you aren't used to playing quick you might make mistakes when scoring/passing/dribbling. Coaches get paid to make the right choice on what to do in these situations.

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The other problem, and probably one of the main reasons they do it, is to speed the whole possession up. If we did that, it would take us out of our game plan. Maybe a balance and like you say, make it situational.

[NT80]

  On 1/19/2025 at 5:58 PM, Green Otaku said:

I've been really happy about the way Sissoko has been playing the last couple of games. His game has always been more about getting a pass and going at the bucket and not so much just posting up, he looks to finally get where he is supposed to be during offensive plays, he's been aggressive going up for rebounds. Let's hope he continues to play this way.

Fetching info...

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Very much agree with this.  He looks like someone turned the switch to aggressive mode.  I like it!

[BigWillie]

  On 1/20/2025 at 12:58 AM, NT80 said:

Very much agree with this.  He looks like someone turned the switch to aggressive mode.  I like it!

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This was the NIT Sissoko and even better. I wish he would have been this way last year, but beggars can't be choosers! 

[UNTLifer]

I think we all forget that Sissoko is still pretty new to the game of basketball and, as Hodge has stated, probably the nicest guy he has ever met.  Being aggressive may be against his nature, but man he has been playing good lately.

Regarding the game, great job by @Matt from A700 and all the other Mean Green fans for giving us a home court advantage.  Looked and sounded great on television.  The "North - Texas" chant sounded great.

Edited January 20 by UNTLifer

[Jonnyeagle]

@Matt from A700 thank you for all you do my friend.

[Matt from A700]

  On 1/20/2025 at 2:27 AM, UNTLifer said:

Regarding the game, great job by @Matt from A700 and all the other Mean Green fans for giving us a home court advantage.  Looked and sounded great on television.  The "North - Texas" chant sounded great.

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  On 1/20/2025 at 2:39 AM, Jonnyeagle said:

@Matt from A700 thank you for all you do my friend.

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Thank y'all for the kind comments. I love to do it. If I could quit my job and make a living by expanding on this initiative and coordinating ticket, hotel, and transportation packages for damn near every UNT road game throughout the year I would.

[Green Otaku]

  On 1/20/2025 at 2:27 AM, UNTLifer said:

I think we all forget that Sissoko is still pretty new to the game of basketball and, as Hodge has stated, probably the nicest guy he has ever met.  Being aggressive may be against his nature, but man he has been playing good lately.

Regarding the game, great job by @Matt from A700 and all the other Mean Green fans for giving us a home court advantage.  Looked and sounded great on television.  The "North - Texas" chant sounded great.

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From the outside looking in Sissoko seems like a gentle giant, like he doesn't realize he's a beast.

 

Agree on kudos for the fans, even the commentators were saying, "What is this? A UNT home game?"