BleedOrange wrote:hammb, after a string of good games, Otis fouled out in 16 minutes. Larson also fouled out, and in only 20 minutes. Reitz attempted 11 free throws, and it was otherwise a lightly called game. Would you say Otis's fouling had more to do with Reitz just being a more experienced, savvy player? That guy eats us up every year.
Madlock had significant minutes. What did you think?
Madlock did okay. His long arms were valuable defensively, and he battles for boards. He still isn't comfortably offensively, but he did get free for a two handed flush after a nice feed by Clements. He's young & raw, but looks like he's got some ability.
As for the centers, you're right, Reitz was just too savvy and too good for our guys to guard today. He absolutely ABUSED Larson whenever Marc was in there. It was actually sickening to watch him try and defend him. I think all 5 of Marc's fouls came against Reitz. He would just back Larson down until he was directly under the basket and he'd make the bucket. Otis did a better job holding his ground but Reitz was too quick for him as well. At least 2 of OP's fouls were not against Reitz though. One was an over the back on a tip-in attempt, and his 5th was stepping out to guard the baseline on a guy driving the basket. Still, Reitz owned both our bigs. Even on the rare occasions where he was well guarded he found a way to fight it up and get a good look or make the shot. One thing that aided Reitz immensely was his savvy. I'm not one to complain about officiating, but he was getting away with a little stutter step before he started his dribble pretty much all game. I think he got it called once or twice, but he was getting away with it a lot...it was especially effective when he was playing against Polk...with Larson he just overpowered Marc. Even a WMU fan that was sitting in front of me agreed that he was getting away with a lot in that regard. That's life on the road, though...
Knight played okay, not as good as I've seen him, and not as bad as I've seen in other games. Once again I don't think WMU had a guy that could guard him in the wing area when he decided he wanted to take a shot. He's a very talented player, but needs to be a little more selfish sometimes. Our perimeter guys were struggling mightily; there were definitely times when Knight could've taken shots in the post and he passed the ball back out.
Our guards REALLY struggled. Moreso than their scoring they actually missed a lot of opportunities to get the ball to Knight & Polk down low. As good as Reitz was offensively, our guys were easily getting position on him down low, but our guards couldn't get them the ball. Jakubowski & Clements really fell below their averages yesterday. They were constantly being pressured on the perimeter and they just couldn't get free enough to score or make that crucial pass.
Miller also had one of his worst games. Like the guards he just couldn't get free. It was one of the first games where I've seen Miller consistently get shut off when trying to get to the rim...WMU's defense was outstanding. To make matters worse when he would drive the lane he was turning it over quite a bit. Travels, carrying the ball, just losing his dribble, etc. Rough game for Nate.
The best bright spot was definitely Moten. I'm thrilled to watch how Brian has developed this past month or two. He's really starting to get comfortable in the offense. He was again good on the break (except the time he was hit from behind and missed a dunk...no foul call). His jumper wasn't there, but he was still finishing well when he had the opportunities inside.
All in all we got whipped. Reitz dominated us inside and WMU's perimeter defense was stellar. What I saw was what is clearly the weakness of the team...when things get tough we don't have that one goto type scorer who can make something happen to bail us out. I don't know how good WMU really is, but they definitely looked damn good yesterday.
