Scoring Droughts

[DP5555]

The single biggest reason the Hawkeyes struggle. This was a huge problem last year, and we've already seen it surface again in the first big game of the year this season. They absolutely can't continue to make a habit of going on 5+ minute scoring droughts and expect to win big basketball games. It kills them. They lose their flow. They lose their confidence. They start to force stupid shots and the other team takes all of the momentum and runs with it.

I've been trying to pinpoint the primary cause of these droughts. A number of different things come to mind, but I primarily place the blame on a lack of quality PG play. It's the PGs job to run the offense. It's the PGs job to create when nothing else is available. Whenever you go 5+ minutes without scoring a huge part of that blame needs to go on the PG. Gesell, Clemmons, and Dickerson all played terrible last night. I honestly don't even think Dickerson should be getting minutes. He just looks lost, and a little overwhelmed at this level. Gesell and Clemmons had awful nights as well, but at least they have experience.

Uthoff is a scorer. Clearly he can hit shots. White is great at finding holes in the defense. Olaseni and Woodbury can get into good position down low. The PG just needs to figure something out here. The lack of flow completely falls on their shoulders.

Thoughts?

 

[Eyedoctim]

Well since you asked. I was thinking the same thoughts last night regarding these offensive naps that we seem to take. How many times have we come out and put a beat down on ranked opponent in the first half in the last 2 years. Only to come out and lose intensity and offensive production 2nd. Obviously Fran knows how to get these guys motivated for these games, cause we usually come out and kick *** right out of the gate. But is there something lacking in the locker room at half time? I know the coaches don't take the shots and don't play the defense, but it looks like we are consistently not focused in the second half. And that is on the coaching staff. Not to take anything away from the Texas kids this game. They had some talent, and factor that in with I don't think they missed any shots that they took the first 4 minutes of the second half. Missed opportunity for the hawks.

 

[Xerxes]

I would also include what basically amounts to the exact opposite of a scoring drought for the other team during long stretches of the game that is killing this program.

Last night it went from 1:00 minute left in the 1st half and continued for the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half. Texas scored on nearly every possession. In that stretch they went from 20 points to 46. This has been going on for quite a while as well, not just the last month or so of last season.

 

[DP5555]

Well since you asked. I was thinking the same thoughts last night regarding these offensive naps that we seem to take. How many times have we come out and put a beat down on ranked opponent in the first half in the last 2 years. Only to come out and lose intensity and offensive production 2nd. Obviously Fran knows how to get these guys motivated for these games, cause we usually come out and kick *** right out of the gate. But is there something lacking in the locker room at half time? I know the coaches don't take the shots and don't play the defense, but it looks like we are consistently not focused in the second half. And that is on the coaching staff. Not to take anything away from the Texas kids this game. They had some talent, and factor that in with I don't think they missed any shots that they took the first 4 minutes of the second half. Missed opportunity for the hawks.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying. I want to be clear too. I didn't start this thread to whine about the Hawks. I said before the game last night that I hope we don't have a meltdown regarding the team if they lose to Texas. That Texas team is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Taylor, Turner, Holmes, and their bigs are a lot to deal with. I think they can make a serious run at a B12 title and go a long ways in the tournament so I'm not overreacting regarding last night's loss.

I was just very disappointed to see the Hawkeyes once again go on a massive scoring drought in a big game. Texas gets some credit for that of course, but this has been a trend by the Hawks and they have got to address it or they aren't going to make the kind of progress that's expected by themselves and by us fans.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

It doesn't all fall on the pg, we have a team of reluctant shooters. White is very selective with his shots, he passes up a lot of good looks, but that's who he is at this point and I don't see that changing much. Uthoff is also extremely reluctant to shoot. Clemmons is not a real good outside shooter and I don't think him and MG will give us enough scoring from the backcourt this year to be able to be starting together all year. The strength of this team is going to be it's frontcourt, I still think we need to get the ball inside to Woody more. He had a couple great passes last night, two of them were great hi-lo looks, one to White and one to Uthoff. That's something that we can run against almost any team. Woody may look awkward as hell making some of his moves, but he's getting better and better at them and we don't have a great alternative on the perimeter.

 

[JG10Hawk]

In my opinion, this falls on Fran for not countering. He should have went with some post offensive sets for Woody/White as their perimeter defenders were playing tight defense and staying home to deny the kick out passing lanes. Score a few times with 1 on 1 post moves and they will start to leak into the lane to help defend. That's when you can find an open guy on the perimeter and cause the defense to break down. Instead Fran stuck with his motion offense and the tight defense that denied kick out lanes that forced our guys to drive towards their bigs. As we found out, their bigs are some of the best in college basketball at protecting the rim. Not a recipe for success against a team like that.

I really hope Fran starts to use Woody and White more in the post game. Give them some post isolation opportunities. It would give the defenses something else to defend and could provide a nice boost during scoring droughts.

I'm no expert but that is my opinion.

 

[drew003]

We have scoring droughts because against athletic teams because we don't have top-end players. It's that simple. Basketball, almost always, is that simple.

Half-court basketball is hard. It's hard to "execute" offense in the half-court set each time. It's much easier to score in the half-court when you have highly-skilled, athletic players capable of creating and making shots either within or outside the offense.

We don't lack "shooters." We lack shot creators. Our shooters don't have space to shoot in the half-court because we can't consistently create good shots against athletic teams. We don't threaten teams of the dribble, because our players are not good enough to do that. It puts a premium on ball movement and execution. We need an athletic combo guard that can attack the basket. We need an athletic wing that can attack the basket.

We also play a style of ball that accentuates talent difference. We play tempo basketball with all teams. Tempo increases possessions per game. The more possessions per game, the more likely the team with the better players will win. It's one reason that Fran's teams generally beat the teams they are better than and lose to the teams with better players. It's also the reason Wisconsin can get beat by PSU one week and turn around and beat MSU the next.

I don't this is a negative post either. I think we will win games this year. And we will be a bubble NCAA team. Because not every team we play is Texas. And because while we lack high-end shot creators, we play good defense, our front-court is strong, we rebound pretty well, and we are good in transition.

 

[ibahawkeye]

To be a top team in college basketball... you need multiple guys who can score on their own.

It can be a situation when you are just swinging the ball around the top and a guy is covered but can knock down a 3.

It can be a guy who can go off the bounce to get to the rim.

It can be a guy who can take a couple dribbles and pull up.

I don't think this even implies to just scoring droughts but offense just in general.

I think guys over value the skill of our players. I just don't think we are that skilled offensively.

 

[LASBUR]

utoff, Jok, and Ogolsby, need to hit some 3s. Their confidence seems so fragil. If they do the inside game will be pretty hard to stop. I agree that our PGs looked pretty bad last night. Dickerson is going to have to grow up quick or wait until next year

 

[HawkPrdatr40]

It doesn't all fall on the pg, we have a team of reluctant shooters. White is very selective with his shots, he passes up a lot of good looks, but that's who he is at this point and I don't see that changing much. Uthoff is also extremely reluctant to shoot. Clemmons is not a real good outside shooter and I don't think him and MG will give us enough scoring from the backcourt this year to be able to be starting together all year. The strength of this team is going to be it's frontcourt, I still think we need to get the ball inside to Woody more. He had a couple great passes last night, two of them were great hi-lo looks, one to White and one to Uthoff. That's something that we can run against almost any team. Woody may look awkward as hell making some of his moves, but he's getting better and better at them and we don't have a great alternative on the perimeter.

I agree on White and it's getting me so frustrated, he passes up lots of really good looks. I've never understood that especially these last year. This is the same person they said lives in the gym. I will never understand. Grrr

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

I agree on White and it's getting me so frustrated, he passes up lots of really good looks. I've never understood that especially these last year. This is the same person they said lives in the gym. I will never understand. Grrr

I don't know if he's worried about keeping his shooting percentage up or what, but sometimes teams need a guy to be a volume scorer, there are games where going 9 for 20 is better than going 4 for 7 when the alternative is a lesser player taking those shots.

 

[bogeyman]

A stud PG would help this team tremendously and create shots for everyone else. It is the biggest glaring weakness the last 5 years. I like MG, he's a nice kid but I just don't think he is panning out to be the player that Fran thought he would be when he invested so much time and effort in recruiting him. A great PG would open up good looks for White/Uthoff/Woody as well as be able to create and end scoring droughts. Its just killing us.

 

[Eyedoctim]

We have scoring droughts because against athletic teams because we don't have top-end players. It's that simple. Basketball, almost always, is that simple.

Half-court basketball is hard. It's hard to "execute" offense in the half-court set each time. It's much easier to score in the half-court when you have highly-skilled, athletic players capable of creating and making shots either within or outside the offense.

We don't lack "shooters." We lack shot creators. Our shooters don't have space to shoot in the half-court because we can't consistently create good shots against athletic teams. We don't threaten teams of the dribble, because our players are not good enough to do that. It puts a premium on ball movement and execution. We need an athletic combo guard that can attack the basket. We need an athletic wing that can attack the basket.

We also play a style of ball that accentuates talent difference. We play tempo basketball with all teams. Tempo increases possessions per game. The more possessions per game, the more likely the team with the better players will win. It's one reason that Fran's teams generally beat the teams they are better than and lose to the teams with better players. It's also the reason Wisconsin can get beat by PSU one week and turn around and beat MSU the next.

I don't this is a negative post either. I think we will win games this year. And we will be a bubble NCAA team. Because not every team we play is Texas. And because while we lack high-end shot creators, we play good defense, our front-court is strong, we rebound pretty well, and we are good in transition.

This sums it up pretty effectively. We need more offensive threat than just a run and gun style of play. It has to be no secret that you shut down the run game for Iowa, you shut down Iowa.