Maui Invitational Game #1: Arizona

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Queens_NYC

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Jan 8, 2017
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Monday, November 21st, 2022
11:30 PM
Lahaina Civic Center
ESPN2

The Bearcats will return to Hawaii this week for their second ever appearance in the 39th annual Maui Invitational (their Maui debut was in 2009).

They'll face off against the #14 Arizona Wildcats (3-0) who are led by 2nd-year head coach and former long-time Gonzaga assistant, Tommy Lloyd.

The Wildcats return two starters from last season's 33-win Sweet 16 team (that lost to Houston 72-60) in 6'5 playmaking wing Pelle Larsson and versatile 6'11 4-man Azuolas Tubelis.

They've gotten off to a hot start so far by winning their opening three games by an average score of 105.3-76.7, but none of their initial opponents finished 21/22 with KenPom rankings about 200.

During that opening stretch Arizona has shot 62.3% from the field as a team and 46.7% from deep.

After Arizona, the Bearcats will take on either Ohio State or San Diego State on Tuesday.
 
If I was a betting man, I'd bet on Arizona to win by more than 8.5.

We are going to be undersized and with our rebounding issues that's not promising. If Lakhin gets into early foul trouble, it's probably over for us. Arizona starts two guys bigger than Lakhin and has two 7-footers on the bench. We need Davenport to get hot and win his mismatch. If their 6'11" guy can matchup with Davenport on defense, he's going to dominate him inside on the other end.

Not sure I'll stay up late to watch this game.
 
skyblade said:
If I was a betting man, I'd bet on Arizona to win by more than 8.5.

We are going to be undersized and with our rebounding issues that's not promising. If Lakhin gets into early foul trouble, it's probably over for us. Arizona starts two guys bigger than Lakhin and has two 7-footers on the bench. We need Davenport to get hot and win his mismatch. If their 6'11" guy can matchup with Davenport on defense, he's going to dominate him inside on the other end.

Not sure I'll stay up late to watch this game.
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This is not the type of matchup we want for JD I don't think. I would probably start Hensley or at least be ready to bring him in early and often. He might be the only guy we have that can guard their PF.
 
Are they redshirting Tolentino?

Surprised we haven't really heard much about him yet. I know he wasn't viewed as super talented yet, but I figured they'd want to get him some floor time before conference games began. It would be helpful to have another big body with fatigue and fouls.
 
sirthought said:
Are they redshirting Tolentino?

Surprised we haven't really heard much about him yet. I know he wasn't viewed as super talented yet, but I figured they'd want to get him some floor time before conference games began. It would be helpful to have another big body with fatigue and fouls.
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Still deciding I think. He was dressed in uniform in the last game I think which was different from street clothes before that. Could come down to injury...if one of the bigs get hurt. But it could also be that Hensley could be a better option right now as an emergency 5. I don't think fouls to give and fatigue should be a big deal with 3 guys available before Sage or Hensley though. 15-20 minutes should not be that hard. Especially if you use 5 minute intervals.
 
This team is huge. Kerr Kriisa is the only major contributor under 6'5", and he's their best offensive player. Their big guys can score and rebound at a high level. Normally I would want to counter that by going small and quick with shooters, but we don't have that kind of roster. I've got no solutions here. No real keys to the game. Just hope that we shoot lights out and they go cold. An awful matchup for us.
 
sedziobs said:
This team is huge. Kerr Kriisa is the only major contributor under 6'5", and he's their best offensive player. Their big guys can score and rebound at a high level. Normally I would want to counter that by going small and quick with shooters, but we don't have that kind of roster. I've got no solutions here. No real keys to the game. Just hope that we shoot lights out and they go cold. An awful matchup for us.
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Agreed. I would like to see some mismatch opportunities but I don't see a lot of good one's for us. Smaller and not very quick. gonna have to shoot the lights out and play good D.
 
We're holding are own so far, everyone besides Ezikpe - who looks like he shouldn't be playing at this level - has played well.
 
I'm not going to read too much into that game. Arizona is better than us at every position. Both teams were crazy hot shooting. Arizona's big men are very mobile and have excellent touch for their size. Between that and the guards shooting, we had to hit a lot of jump shots just to keep up.

It's very clear by this point that Lakhin is our best big man. Hensley is not good on the perimeter, but he showed some fight on the interior. Davenport and Nolley are similar players, tall streaky shooters who don't do much else. Nolley was hot tonight.

Skillings and Reed both showed potential. Honestly I'd like to see a DDJ/Skillings/Reed/Hensley/Lakhin lineup just to see what we've got.
 
I agree with this. Let our freshman get some more PT. We know what we have with JD, MAW, etc., Reed and Skillings definitely are showing some promise. Which gives me hope after I had to sit in Truist Arena and watch us get our butts handed to us.

Hope Vic is okay after that spill there at the end.

Overall though, I thought we battled hard, we just were clearly oversized and outmatched at every position. They weren't a 33 win team last year for no reason.

Hopefully we bring the same energy and grind tomorrow against OSU and come away with a win!
 
Arizona put on a clinic offensively - especially in the 2nd half.

We were a much more competitive team with Vik on the floor than without him.

We'll have to accept that the 4-position is going to be a lost cause against good teams as Davenport can't defend a statue and Hensley is a black hole on offense.
 
Queens_NYC said:
Arizona put on a clinic offensively - especially in the 2nd half.

We were a much more competitive team with Vik on the floor than without him.

We'll have to accept that the 4-position is going to be a lost cause against good teams as Davenport can't defend a statue and Hensley is a black hole on offense.
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The lack of a backup for Vik is our biggest issue. It's a massive drop-off from him to Ody/Kalu. It seems like Wes sees that and it was reflected in him putting Vik back in with foul trouble with tons of time left in both the first and second half.

We can debate if Ody or Kalu is better (personally I prefer Ody), but in the end it doesn't matter as neither is good enough to deserve any minutes. I'm ready to burn Sage's redshirt and/or play Hensley at the 5, something has to change. If the backup center is going to suck regardless, they might as well suck while giving experience to a guy who will be back next year.

I had high hopes that Ody would improve during the off-season (my expectations for Kalu were quite low). Turns out neither Ody or Kalu panned out and that leaves us with a massive void.

If we had a real backup center we could also give Lakhin some minutes at the 4 when we need size and to show the other team a different look (like Arizona did with Tubelis).
 
skyblade said:
The lack of a backup for Vik is our biggest issue. It's a massive drop-off from him to Ody/Kalu. It seems like Wes sees that and it was reflected in him putting Vik back in with foul trouble with tons of time left in both the first and second half.

We can debate if Ody or Kalu is better (personally I prefer Ody), but in the end it doesn't matter as neither is good enough to deserve any minutes. I'm ready to burn Sage's redshirt and/or play Hensley at the 5, something has to change. If the backup center is going to suck regardless, they might as well suck while giving experience to a guy who will be back next year.

I had high hopes that Ody would improve during the off-season (my expectations for Kalu were quite low). Turns out neither Ody or Kalu panned out and that leaves us with a massive void.

If we had a real backup center we could also give Lakhin some minutes at the 4 when we need size and to show the other team a different look (like Arizona did with Tubelis).
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Kalu gets more disappointing with each game. I admittedly drank the kool-aid during the offseason in hopes that he could take on a sizable role this year, but I don't see it happening.

Credit to him, he tries to make plays, but he is definitively not a viable option at the 5 for a competitive high major team.

EKU game aside, Ody looks like a shell of the junkyard dog that brought great energy to both ends of the court last year.

I'd be on board with trying Hensley as the back-up 5.
 
Put me on the Hensley at the 5 train. Part of that is because Hensley has not developed a perimeter game either on offense or defense so his game is more suited to the 5.

I think Nolley and Reed can play some at the 4.
 
This game was so discouraging. Didn't matter what kind of shot AofU took: 3 pt, dunk, falling away, turn around...they seemed to hit them with ease.

For being a coach known for defense, I don't see Miller's team being very effective. When they score north of 100, you have to ask if you are really disrupting anything.

And not that we were hitting FTs, but I'm surprised we didn't try to get to the line more. Chucking up long distance shots can happen from anyone.
 
sedziobs said:
Put me on the Hensley at the 5 train. Part of that is because Hensley has not developed a perimeter game either on offense or defense so his game is more suited to the 5.

I think Nolley and Reed can play some at the 4.
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You simply have too many guys that don't belong at this level. It takes real coaching to fit all these mis fits together. Still in disbelief we took the Indiana kid over my nephew Eric Gaines. He would've provided same D with more athleticism and ability drop 30s.
 

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