18 foul shots by TTU is under the norm that most teams get. So, the fact they shot 17-18 there, that was the difference with just looking at the scoring. But that isn’t the reason for the loss.
We got up 16 at halftime and gave up 53 points in the 2nd half. We only scored 30 points in the 2nd half. What happened because it wasn’t the refs. They weren’t great but not the issue.
We caused no turnovers in the 2nd half. We ended up turnover happy making bad passes because our offense stalled as TTU changed the way they were playing defense. But, our offense isn’t built to change for anything. And, we went cold from 3 land as their pressure made us rush shots and miss easy shots as well. Because we kept shooting long 3’s we were not going to go to the line much. Game after game this is true and yet, the one dimensional Jim complains only about the refs. Refs didn’t lose this one.
Bad defense in the 2nd half. Did anyone ever see much switching like we normally do? Made it easy for them to go one on one into the lane. The defense lost this one. We looked slow and reacted slowly. Caused no turnovers.
This was so much a winnable game. Just score 32 in the second half and play solid defense without bad passes. Ugly turnovers with weak slow passes.
I didn’t see the game. Looking at the box score I noticed Waterman didn’t play. I understand he had a concussion. That hurts the depth. It seems BYU can’t seem to have all of their rotation healthy for a whole game anymore. Why no Atika today? Was he hurt too or was it just a coach’s decision to sit him based on matchups? I noticed Traore and Knell both played but Knell didn’t start. I assume neither of them were anywhere close to 100%.
Looks like BYU played a great first half and a poor 2nd half and Tech played great the second half. Maybe BYU ran out of gas.
We had no answer to their pressure defense. We have the one offense and that’s it. Our defense can’t stop the one on one. Hurt us. Fouls were lopsided but not the reason for the loss. We simply did not switch on defense and we didn’t have enough assists. Really bad passes and they go 6 more turnovers that lead to baskets. They hit their free throws and big 3 point shots.
Dude had 4 points in 35 minutes with 0 assists. Worse than that is he played matador defense on Pop Isaacs who went off for 32. I don’t know how many turnovers he had, but it could have been half of BYU’s 12 total. Take away those and the turnover numbers are even. 6 rebounds is okay but they were balls that came to him, not ones that he went after. Even a blind man could see what a disaster of a performance on both sides of the ball Johnson had. He played all but 5 minutes of the game and contributed absolutely nothing. It’s unfortunate because he was so good last game. As good as he was then, he was 10 times worse in this game. If not for Khalifa and Saunders, BYU would have been blown out.
Many times a loss can be the result of poor team effort but not this time. I don’t like singling out an individual player but that was a terrible game by the supposed leader of the team.
Lastly, what happened to all the depth that BYU is supposed to have? Where are some of these guys that had minutes earlier in the season?
Johnson had 2 turnovers. Fooss had 4 and Hall had 3. Robinson 2. Sister Conaway brought up that we made only one 3 point shot in the 2nd half. I don’t remember if it was that bad but I know it was terrible. Shooting decisions changed in the 2nd half.
Johnson wasn’t the only one lost on defense. We quit switching and that gave their players a half step on our defenders. We lost track is their outside shooters who unlike other games they played made 50%.
Stewart and Atiki didn’t play. Knell should have been out there to score more. We needed that in the 2nd half. Atiki must have been hurt. Or, he and Stewart are in the dog house. We will never know as they keep that in house.
Hall and Robinson were 2A and 2B on not having too good of outings
After all that Hall praise by Pope, Hall reverted back to the slow footed, non athletic point guard.
Robinson showed glimpses of former self but has yet to adjust to speed and physicality of this top- to bottom, been nothing like it league.
I’m continually impressed with The Pharaoh. Just gets better and better. (I was going to with a mummy themed moniker but came up empty!)
Maybe the best portal transfer Pope got.
Good news? They have been in EVERY game - home and away.
The other side of that coin is, In this league they could lose every game - home and away. Saw the end of the WVirg Kansas game. That was a fun watch. So WV is not a gimme.
Probably NCAA will take something like 8 maybe 9 B12 teams in March, so leaving out Kstate that’s 13 teams, that can beat any of the other 12, competing for 8 or 9 spots. So 4 to 5 very good teams will be left out. Teams that could do well in the tournament. Tough,tough league
With all that said, I am WAY WAY more invested on watching this year. So much fun actually competing against these teams.
Gonzaga and St Mary’s are distant memories. We have now arrived in the promised land.
And yes Houston comes to Provo Tuesday. How great is that!!!
Both Hall and Johnson played poorly in key areas. Especially on defense. They didn’t keep their man in front of them well enough. On offense, Johnson was poor again and Hall made bad decisions. The only players that played both half’s well was Khalifa and Saunders. 2nd half was a head scratcher.
I was wondering why Atiki didn’t play and I noticed Foos got 12 minutes and Khalifa got 28. Since they play the same position I guess Foos got the minutes Atiki would normally get. Looks like it was a coach’s decision to sit him. Foos had 8 points and 8 boards in 12 minutes and that is great production. The only problem is he got 4 turnovers in only 12 minutes. That is terrible. Looks like all his great production was negated by too many turnovers.
It seems Foos has always had issues with turnovers. The ball goes to him in the low post and there is a good chance he scores or turns it over. He has to learn to kick the ball out when the defense collapses.
I think Waterman being out really hurt. For all his inconsistency scoring he is the team’s leading rebounder and he plays some good inside defense at times.
Fooss has been trying to pass like Khalifa and the speed on his passes isn’t quick enough.
We gave up 53 points while scoring 32. Better defense leads to better offense.
Johnson played 35 minutes of bad basketball. Knell hit a couple 3’s but only played half the minutes Johnson did. If Johnson just would have contributed something it might have been a different outcome. For a guy with as much exp[erience as he has, he looked lost out there most of the game. There must have been something outside basketball that was bugging him.
Did good the first half. Gave up 53 points the 2nd half. Bad defense leads to bad offense. The team wasn’t playing together and couldn’t keep their man in front of them. There wasn’t the switching that we’ve seen in the past. Johnson and the rest missed all their 3s except one in the second half. Yet, we were still in the game to the end. Tuesday, we have to play two great half’s to beat Houston.
Love it, great name. Was that your’s or someone else gave him the name?
Super hard to cover their best man and turn on your offensive mind. No Doubt, Johnson had a forgetful night. The lack of Waterman killed us, Robinson is still not the confident guy he was before the foot injury.
The Big 12 starts and ends with defense to set up the offense, BYU is running that concept in reverse. It may be that we need a Ques Glover after all. To lead all Big 12 games by 10 points or more and lose is just monumental break down.
BYU lost the game on 2 fronts. TTU converted 12 TOs into 22 points. and nobody could stop Issacs.
3 if we look at TTU’s near perfect FT shooting
Turnovers happen. It was the kind of turnovers that hurt that gave them fast breaks and some uncontested. Also, we didn’t cause any turnovers in the 2nd half. Did you see any switching going on or doubling up on Issac? We made no adjustments. I think Pope felt like we could get to 80 or 85 playing the way we did and still win. But poor defense leads to poor offense. For TTU, good defense lead to great offense.
Austin Collie and Jimmer gave some good advise. Not saying that Pope hasn’t already done these:
Collie said they had problems like problems after long timeouts or halftime when he played with Manning. In practice, simulate scrimmages where the team sits together like at halftime then come out and play with the same or more effort and intensity.
With Collie’s suggestion, when they come out of the simulated, Jimmer said make it 5 on 8 so the offense has to keep the intensity and focus:
In the 2nd half, do what other teams are doing, have the one who is scoring in the lane and can get fouls called on the other team take over in the lane. Could be Khalifa or Robinson who is deadly in the lane and midrange.