Florida Atlantic (2/27/25)

[CMJ]

Defeated the Owls last month fairly convincingly, but FAU is very tough at home.  This is probably gonna be a street fight and a win would show a lot.

[GMG_Dallas]

I really hope we can put together 2 good halves in one game. Far too often we have a great first half and collapse in the second. Occasionally, we have a bad first half and a great second half. If we can put together a full 40, there's not many teams who can beat us.

[Matt from A700]

Saw on Twitter that there won't be a pregame tailgate for this one, so hopefully there'll be less of a student presence and homecourt advantage.

Really glad we at least took care of USF. I wanted 20 wins before we went back to Texas.

[Censored by Laurie]

5 hours ago, GMG_Dallas said:

I really hope we can put together 2 good halves in one game. Far too often we have a great first half and collapse in the second. Occasionally, we have a bad first half and a great second half. If we can put together a full 40, there's not many teams who can beat us.

I've been thinking about this a bunch since the USF game...it's funny how our brains work...had the USF game been just a back and forth game, maybe never fluctuating +/-5 points either way, the only talking point coming out of it would be how it was a gritty road conference win. 

have a poor second half and that's what sticks, seemingly forgetting entirely how good that first half was to still get a W. 

meanwhile, we love the UAB comeback, despite having given up almost 50 in the first half. 

[GMG_Dallas]

1 hour ago, Censored by Laurie said:

I've been thinking about this a bunch since the USF game...it's funny how our brains work...had the USF game been just a back and forth game, maybe never fluctuating +/-5 points either way, the only talking point coming out of it would be how it was a gritty road conference win. 

have a poor second half and that's what sticks, seemingly forgetting entirely how good that first half was to still get a W. 

meanwhile, we love the UAB comeback, despite having given up almost 50 in the first half. 

I understand what you're getting at but the reality is, we're not putting together 40 minutes of solid basketball. If we could even put together 35 minutes, I'd be happy. We're letting bad teams get up on us or make comebacks against us. I don't mind a game here and there but it's happening far too often. It's the difference between being good and great right now.

[CMJ]

The deal is I don't think we out talent that many schools in the league - we're not Memphis.  We win by being gritty on defense and playing smart.  Teams like us will rarely blow people out.

[NM Green]

I agree about our games. They are usually nail biters and I feel confident in many of them. That Tulsa game was strange because we really dominated and that was such a change it felt like. 

GMG

[GMG_Dallas]

It's not about blowing people out. It's about not going 8 to 10 minutes without a basket almost every single game. 

[GMG24]

4 hours ago, CMJ said:

The deal is I don't think we out talent that many schools in the league - we're not Memphis.  We win by being gritty on defense and playing smart.  Teams like us will rarely blow people out.

My only point of contention, is when we don't run offensive SETS to get certain players shots during our long droughts and we just remain with ISO ball and too many dribbles before the offense is initiated.  It keeps working, but I feel like we keep playing with fire.  

[NT80]

39 minutes ago, GMG24 said:

My only point of contention, is when we don't run offensive SETS to get certain players shots during our long droughts and we just remain with ISO ball and too many dribbles before the offense is initiated.  It keeps working, but I feel like we keep playing with fire.  

Another issue is when the command is to pound it inside to try and draw fouls we're giving up a lot of turnovers by too much fancy dribbling into the fire.  In control pull up shots from 5-8 feet work too.  They don't all have to be out-of-control layup attempts.

[CMJ]

11 hours ago, GMG_Dallas said:

It's not about blowing people out. It's about not going 8 to 10 minutes without a basket almost every single game. 

I'd counter that with what CBL said earlier about if we'd won a hard fought back and forth game there'd be little of the handwringing.  Let's say the final score is the same, but instead of one prolonged eight minute drought, we had a couple of four minute ones.  I don't think that many people would complain.

 

 

[Censored by Laurie]

14 hours ago, GMG_Dallas said:

I understand what you're getting at but the reality is, we're not putting together 40 minutes of solid basketball. If we could even put together 35 minutes, I'd be happy. We're letting bad teams get up on us or make comebacks against us. I don't mind a game here and there but it's happening far too often. It's the difference between being good and great right now.

I mean, I agree with you...but, I just wonder how many programs are consistently putting together 40 minutes of solid basketball. we are good...we are not great. and I think we're probably two+ levels from great. 

I haven't done a deep dig, but it seems like anyone outside of like the top ten have a loss or two that make you go "huh" (not "uhh", but shout out Master P anyway). just looking at a number of our peer programs in the 50-60 NET range, I've been seeing a bunch of Quad 3 losses, a few Quad 4s...especially of the mid-majors in conference games.   

[UNTLifer]

I would be happy to see Floyd continue his offensive hot streak, Wright to be more aggressive on the offensive end, Walker to do his thing, but also not bypass offensive opportunities and for Sissoko to remain hot but stay out of foul trouble.

[Shark84]

2 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

I would be happy to see Floyd continue his offensive hot streak, Wright to be more aggressive on the offensive end, Walker to do his thing, but also not bypass offensive opportunities and for Sissoko to remain hot but stay out of foul trouble.

We need to get BLo going again. Hopefully a return to his old school will do the trick!

[MeanGreenTexan]

7 hours ago, CMJ said:

I'd counter that with what CBL said earlier about if we'd won a hard fought back and forth game there'd be little of the handwringing.  Let's say the final score is the same, but instead of one prolonged eight minute drought, we had a couple of four minute ones.  I don't think that many people would complain.

 

 

I'll piggy back here... and I know this particular issue gets hashed-over here quite a bit by the same guys who complain about said scoring droughts, so my point may have already been made by someone else, some other time...   
Our offensive style (which is one that is absolutely necessary in order for our defensive style to work), is an extremely slow-paced, deliberate one that will lend itself to exaggerate our scoring droughts, just like it exaggerates our opponents' scoring droughts (I believe someone brought up the unbelievable game VS Wisconsin where we held them scoreless over the last 9-10 minutes of gameplay to come back & win).  That is unheard of for most teams..., but we can do that. 

Point being:  If you like the results of our unorthodox style, you're gonna have to get used to some unorthodox, sometimes maddening, stats.

[UNTLifer]

5 minutes ago, Shark84 said:

We need to get BLo going again. Hopefully a return to his old school will do the trick!

Yep.  Thought of him as well after I posted that.  Jossell needs be more consistent as well.  He started the year hot, but seems inconsistent with his shot.  I love his jab step, step back from the elbow.  He shoots better when in a rhythm, much like Wright.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

We need Atin Wright to head fake more and get to the free throw line. When he's being aggressive and we're able to get 5 or 6 made free throws + his standard two 3s and jay, we are hard to beat assuming production elsewhere stays pat. 

[GMG_Dallas]

From about 15:11 to 4:51 we scored 5 points. This isn't about offensive styles or anything else. We just had a terrible 10 minutes. Want to win the conference? Don't do it again. 

[NT80]

Our season will end not because of defense, but because of lack of offense at some key point. 

[CMJ]

2 hours ago, GMG_Dallas said:

From about 15:11 to 4:51 we scored 5 points. This isn't about offensive styles or anything else. We just had a terrible 10 minutes. Want to win the conference? Don't do it again. 

Our pace of play is so slow that droughts, both good and bad, tend to get elongated. If you take 20-25 seconds to shoot the ball, and your D forces your opponent to do the same, droughts can get pretty long.

 

Edited February 26 by CMJ

[GMG_Dallas]

1 hour ago, CMJ said:

Our pace of play is so slow that droughts, both good and bad, tend to get elongated. If you take 20-25 seconds to shoot the ball, and your D forces your opponent to do the same, droughts can get pretty long.

 

2/17 shooting

3 turnovers

[CMJ]

9 minutes ago, GMG_Dallas said:

2/17 shooting

3 turnovers

Yeah, and for other teams that go through a 2 for 17 stretch it won't last ten minutes because they play faster.

[GMG_Dallas]

59 minutes ago, CMJ said:

Yeah, and for other teams that go through a 2 for 17 stretch it won't last ten minutes because they play faster.

It's still a horrible stretch. I don't care if it's bad, not too bad, very bad, or only bad on Tuesdays. Fact is, it's bad and we do something similar almost every game. 

[BigWillie]

57 minutes ago, GMG_Dallas said:

It's still a horrible stretch. I don't care if it's bad, not too bad, very bad, or only bad on Tuesdays. Fact is, it's bad and we do something similar almost every game. 

I think there is something to be said for not getting into a rhythm with the deliberate pace we play at. Basketball is a rhythm game. Same can be said for the other team also. 

There is a reason even teams in the Grant era had this problem. Even with great shooters like TP.

[MeanGreenTexan]

13 hours ago, GMG_Dallas said:

From about 15:11 to 4:51 we scored 5 points. This isn't about offensive styles or anything else. We just had a terrible 10 minutes. Want to win the conference? Don't do it again. 

... and starting that same game, from 20:00 - 10:06 in the first half, USF scored 7pts.  A terrible 10 minutes... for them.
Want to win the conference?   Keep doing that.     Right? 

If so, we have to stick to the script of incredibly tough defense, with offensive sets that take a long time so guys can catch their breath some & get back after it on defense.   It's not unheard of for 5-6 possessions to come away empty (for any team).  If we happen to dictate pace (and we often do), that same 5-6 possessions can stretch 8-10min... easy, because both teams don't get shots off until the last 3-4 seconds of shot clock.   If we were an up-&-down, transition-style team, those same 5-6 possessions may only take ~4min.
It is what it is.   If this team were immune to scoring droughts, we'd be undefeated and ranked.