Lack of recognition...

[urohawk]

is what killed us down the stretch. Late in the second half when OSU made the comeback there was a stretch when Lauderdale sat for about 3 minutes. We did not recognize this at all and continued to largely avoid the lane. We had some chances to make some hard drives w/ him out and didn't take the opportunity instead settling for 3s (often desperation). Not to call anyone out but I think Fuller let the early Lauderdale block affect his level of aggression. He didn't play terrible because he rebounded very well but he didn't attack the rim as much even with Lauderdale out.

Also OSU was playing a 4 guard lineup all night. Several times they had Lighty guarding Cougs. Cougs did not touch it on the block once. Cougs is skilled enough to reverse pivot and shoot a 10 foot jump shot over him (see ISU game for this). But again we did not recognize this matchup.

A game like this is definitely a learning experience. Tremendous effort and at times some very good basketball played. I hope that Fuller doesn't regress offensively because of this game. I think Fuller can do some work against Michigan. Continue to improve and these will be wins next year.

 

[storminspank]

I think the issue with that is OSU went into that extended zone. Iowa was starting its offense about 30 ft from the basket. It was hard to get the ball down low in that case. Iowa needed to take a timeout and get a different offensive mindset at that point. Their zone D won the game for them, it started that 12-0 run or whatever it was with 5 min to go.

 

[urohawk]

I agree that the zone towards end made an impact but I distinctly remember twice Fuller catching the ball about 15 feet from the basket with under 15 seconds to go on the shot clock, Lauderdale not in the game, taking 1 or 2 timid dribbles like he wasn't sure if he should make a move, then passing it back out. Both possessions ended up in deep 3s.

I think it was a case where Fuller was having a little bit of an off night. As the season goes on I hope Fuller starts recognizing that in those situations he really is our best option to get a good shot even if he has missed a few early. Definitely part of the transition from going to a role player to a go to guy that I think he can be.

 

[FlybyHawk]

Most of the second half it seemed Iowa went "big" with Cougil and Cole while OSU had 4 guards and Lauderdale on the floor. I believe Cougil drew the smaller defender yet not once did he go down low. That is probably coaching. If you have both Cougil and Cole on the floor don't you want to pound the ball inside? Especially if the other team has a small lineup out there? Cougil could have posted up and just turned around and scored against a much shorter defender but instead was basically roaming around the 3 point line with a guard on him(going 0-4 from 3). If you are just gonna have him roam around like that why not put Wink or even Lil Lick in, better 3 point shooters, especially when Wink seemed to be "on" last night hitting 2-3.

Then you also have a mismatch at the defensive end with either Cougil or Cole having to match up against a guard. This just straight up confused me. Somebody help cuz that made no sense last night.

 

[urohawk]

Totally agree, I thought they wasted the opportunity to post our center on a guard. Cougs is a good enough passer that if they double him he could pass it out. Maybe they haven't practiced this enough to feel comfortable with it but I do think it is in his skill set to catch turn and shoot.

To address your other point you play Cougs over Bawinkle or Lickliter for defensive rebounding. I thought Cougs did a pretty good job with that. I do think last night I would have played Bawinkle more in the second half because it appeared his shot was on last night.