Oakland Game thread

[longliveskip]

FG per cent scoring is bad, free throw shooting is bad, 3 point per cent is bad....scoring is at its worse....

we shot over 40% for the game. 3 PT FG % was bad - that's correct. but not our FG%. we shot 77% from the line. how is that "bad"?

we simply didn't DEFEND. when this team locks in on D, they will have a chance to win. they didn't against Oakland and if there's one thing I know Sean will/can fix, that will be it.

not gonna sugar coat it - it was a BAD loss. but it was the defense. it will get better.

[skyhops]

77% is solid from the line, but as Miller pointed out it was missing three in a row late in the game (two were one and bonus) that were not the mark of a clutch team. Up 3 with 4:00 to go at home and allowing Oakland to go on a huge run is unacceptable. Lazar and Gytis are terrible defenders and don't see them getting better anytime soon and Ciani is a work in progress. Ouchman fouls too much and can't stay on the floor for more than 10-15 mins a game. Miller is going to have to figure something out because having Claude guard the 4 won't work either. Xavier will be 6-5 limping into the BE schedule, so Miller has his work cut out for him.

[pdxmuskie]

I see this game a bit differently than most. The defense was probably the best the team played all year. The stats say the opposite but Oakland kept hitting contested shots all game long. There were defensive breakdowns for sure but fewer than in prior games. I do agree with whomever mentioned a failure to front guys and making it a bit more difficult to make entry passes but X played good fundamental defense. In the face of the shooter on most shots.

Officials were not great but X got the benefit of more calls than were penalized by them. 2 calls that stand out were charges by each team that were called blocking fouls.

X lost this game partly because Oakland was making well defended shots on a fairly consistent basis - mostly just the 2 players. Missing front end at the FT line, especially late in the game did not help. A number of silly turnovers sealed the loss. Oakland deserved to win this game.

Miller was also mostly absent. I suspect he figured Oakland would start to miss contested shots and opted to not make adjustments. That might make sense for the first half but as soon as the 2nd half started and Oakland continued to hit contested shots, changes should have been made. There were a few moments of double teams which had some success but I don't recall it being employed on any regular basis. I also don't recall much zone being applied.

The good news is that Trey found his shot. This game has little impact on how I expect the bigs to play in the BE. BE bigs are bigger and often less mobile than the Oakland forwards. There will certainly be matchup problems in conference but that happens every year. I'm certainly less confident the team will make the tournament but it is still possible. Miss the tournament this year and it is completely reasonable. There is plenty of upside for this year and beyond.

[skyhops]

We lost the game because our bigs can’t guard a lamppost not to mention crumbling down the stretch. We can’t guard a 6’6 power forward? Houston we have a problem.

[pdxmuskie]

Sky, are you referring to the guy Claude guarded? He may be a power forward by position but he is no power forward. He plays like a wing and was guarded by a wing. Claude was in his face on almost every shot, the dude was just locked in. If you are referring to the other forward that shot a great percentage, I'm not sure who guarded him but recall very few uncontested shots.

Oakland executed at a very high level. They deserved the win. Washington and now Houston beat Xavier but neither team deserved to win. Xavier unfortunately also didn't deserve to win in either of those games as they were just poorly played and officiated games.

[skyhops]

Xavier didn’t deserve to win last night they lead for 51 seconds. Townsend was a forward. Tre Green needs to be our PG sooner than later, McNight is a liability