Memphis Part II

[Queens_NYC]

Tuesday, February 15th, 2022
7:00 PM
Fifth Third Arena
ESPN+

The Tigers' (14-8, 8-4 AAC, NET #44, KenPom #39) trip to Cincinnati marks the first of 3 consecutive home games for the Bearcats that will be played out over the next 6 days.

Memphis enters tonight's contest as the hottest team in the league having won 5 straight games - most notably a 69-59 upset at Houston over the weekend that snapped a 37-game home winning streak for the Cougars.

UC is expected to see a few new faces who didn't feature in their first match-up in Memphis, such as 3rd year 6'9 F Deandre Williams (11.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg) and 4th year 6'0 PG Alex Lomax (6.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.5 apg). The status of star freshman forward Emoni Bates is still uncertain after he has missed the Tigers' past 3 games.

The Bearcats are 3-point underdogs on their home court.

 

[waterhead]

Tuesday, February 15th, 2022
7:00 PM
Fifth Third Arena
ESPN+

The Tigers' (14-8, 8-4 AAC, NET #44, KenPom #39) trip to Cincinnati marks the first of 3 consecutive home games for the Bearcats that will be played out over the next 6 days.

Memphis enters tonight's contest as the hottest team in the league having won 5 straight games - most notably a 69-59 upset at Houston over the weekend that snapped a 37-game home winning streak for the Cougars.

UC is expected to see a few new faces who didn't feature in their first match-up in Memphis, such as 3rd year 6'9 F Deandre Williams (11.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg) and 4th year 6'0 PG Alex Lomax (6.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.5 apg). The status of star freshman forward Emoni Bates is still uncertain after he has missed the Tigers' past 3 games.

The Bearcats are 3-point underdogs on their home court.

I have a very good feeling about tonight. After a very bad feeling going to Tulsa. We will see tonight if we are going to cave or keep digging in like we have all season. Let's see if Wes still has the locker room sold on never giving up. I don't think it's time just yet to put younger guys in for more minutes. But if we lose tonight then I think we can play the season out trying to get some back of bench evaluation.

I would really like to put another loss on Penny...in a hard way

 

[Queens_NYC]

I have a very good feeling about tonight. After a very bad feeling going to Tulsa. We will see tonight if we are going to cave or keep digging in like we have all season. Let's see if Wes still has the locker room sold on never giving up. I don't think it's time just yet to put younger guys in for more minutes. But if we lose tonight then I think we can play the season out trying to get some back of bench evaluation.

I would really like to put another loss on Penny...in a hard way

I didn't have a good feeling about tonight, then I looked at how we've responded after our last 4 losses (all conference losses)

SMU - up 17 at halftime(after losing to Tulane)
ECU - up 20 at halftime (after losing @ Memphis)
@ECU - up 6 at halftime (after losing @ Temple)
@USF - up 9 at halftime (after losing to Houston)

Granted, 3 of those 4 games were against mediocre teams, I hope we do continue the trend of starting off strongly following a loss.

I do worry about how we will finish though.

 

[waterhead]

I didn't have a good feeling about tonight, then I looked at how we've responded after our last 4 losses (all conference losses)

SMU - up 17 at halftime(after losing to Tulane)
ECU - up 20 at halftime (after losing @ Memphis)
@ECU - up 6 at halftime (after losing @ Temple)
@USF - up 9 at halftime (after losing to Houston)

Granted, 3 of those 4 games were against mediocre teams, I hope we do continue the trend of starting off strongly following a loss.

I do worry about how we will finish though.

My good feeling is subsiding

 

[Queens_NYC]

We're completely outmatched in every facet of the game and Penny's game plan is absolutely curb stomping whatever Wes had planned for us.

 

[Bcatfollower]

We're completely outmatched in every facet of the game and Penny's game plan is absolutely curb stomping whatever Wes had planned for us.

I’m not sure Wes ever has a plan other than how much gum he is gonna chew. Total disaster of a coach.

 

[waterhead]

We're completely outmatched in every facet of the game and Penny's game plan is absolutely curb stomping whatever Wes had planned for us.

That trap with long players is a killer. I hope we are headed in that direction

 

[Bcatfollower]

Is 10% from 3 a new record?

 

[Bcatfollower]

So many wasted possessions due to terrible shots

 

[sedziobs]

I thought we played ok in this one. Our three point shooting was bad and Memphis shot it well from three. If I had known that going in, I would have assumed it would be a blowout. But we outrebounded them and fought hard in the post. Davenport was especially active on the boards. Committing 11 turnovers and giving up only 5 offensive rebounds against Memphis is pretty good.

 

[waterhead]

I thought we played ok in this one. Our three point shooting was bad and Memphis shot it well from three. If I had known that going in, I would have assumed it would be a blowout. But we outrebounded them and fought hard in the post. Davenport was especially active on the boards. Committing 11 turnovers and giving up only 5 offensive rebounds against Memphis is pretty good.

It's hard to question our effort this year Sedz. I think we can all be proud of that. In a more perfect world we are playing MAW and Newman about 15-20 minutes and trying to hide JD a little bit on D. In a perfect world you have a low post scoring option so you can play inside out or outside in. We have a team full of guys that have at least one significant disadvantage other than DDJ who really just has the height mismatch problem and gets posted up from time to time.

I think we start to fix that next year with Skillings and Reed and if we can continue to recruit that way...we will be okay to great in years to come but we are at least a couple years away IMO. If Wes can continue to recruit like he did this year...I think his style can work and I will patiently await the returns. I am at least content that we are competitive until then.

 

[Queens_NYC]

What doesn't sit right with me still, is how we're allowing these teams to go on massive runs early in the game on our home floor. That's the third time that has happened in conference play now.

I don't know if there's a primary cause that someone can identify but I do know that our play often looks the opposite of what Wes has been preaching about since he's taken over the program.

 

[waterhead]

What doesn't sit right with me still, is how we're allowing these teams to go on massive runs early in the game on our home floor. That's the third time that has happened in conference play now.

I don't know if there's a primary cause that someone can identify but I do know that our play often looks the opposite of what Wes has been preaching about since he's taken over the program.

There was some hot shooting but several times where a player shot a ball when nobody was within 15 ft of him. I have seen some breakdowns on D before but that was hard to watch. And those plays killed us...they did not miss. That is target practice and even gramma can make those. As well as the uncontended layups that had nobody within 5-10 ft.

 

[skyblade]

One thing we seem to lack is a defensive floor general. In the past we've had guys like Tre Scott, Gary Clark and Jacob Evans who didn't just play their role, but could cover for other guys. They understood the defense and could spot problems before they arose and communicate to the other guys to fix them.

Part of it is not having a guy who has been in Wes's system for an extended period of time. Part of it is a bunch of guys who haven't played together for a long time. Part of it is just losing focus. We hit a big shot, start to celebrate and in those few moments lose focus on defense and Memphis was able to bring the ball up quickly and take advantage.

 

[waterhead]

One thing we seem to lack is a defensive floor general. In the past we've had guys like Tre Scott, Gary Clark and Jacob Evans who didn't just play their role, but could cover for other guys. They understood the defense and could spot problems before they arose and communicate to the other guys to fix them.

Part of it is not having a guy who has been in Wes's system for an extended period of time. Part of it is a bunch of guys who haven't played together for a long time. Part of it is just losing focus. We hit a big shot, start to celebrate and in those few moments lose focus on defense and Memphis was able to bring the ball up quickly and take advantage.

Yes there was an easy answer for a lot of our big plays. Wide open players. Lost focus for sure.

 

[skyblade]

Yes there was an easy answer for a lot of our big plays. Wide open players. Lost focus for sure.

Yeah, but that is also where a floor general would come in. Calm the guys down and get them back on task.

Our leaders in Davenport/DDJ just aren't that guy right now. Davenport is one who seems to let his emotions distract him at times and lead to a loss of focus. DDJ is quiet and also not great on defense.

Perhaps next year Davenport, Newman or MAW will take the next step of being able to lead on the defensive end. But as with everything else at this point we are waiting and hoping to see improvement.

 

[sedziobs]

I agree. It's a problem on offense too. This team doesn't have anyone who looks capable of being a leader like Rashad Bishop or Troy Caupain who knew what everyone was supposed to be doing and kept things together.