Tennesse fan scouts Iowa

When inside the paint, I'm not sure I agree on the bolded above, I'm wondering how much is our perimeter guys having confidence with the guys in the paint. While Gabe has shown flashes, it's usually off rebounds or a wide open shot. Woody has only just begun to show that he has moves around the paint. I have no clue as to why Mel doesn't get the ball inside more... that part I do agree with.

For one thing, the Hawkeye guards and wing players are not that good at feeding the post. Watch how DeAndre Kane does it. He uses the bounce pass at times, and his passes to Niang and Ejim are usually perfectly placed where they can make a post move right away. Of course, Niang and Ejim have better positioning skills than the Iowa big men, and they know what to do with the ball when they get the entry pass.
 
It has been poor shooting % the last 7 games, period. Even playing some bad defense the hawks make a few more shots and we have the lead, we are milking the clock, and forcing the other teams to foul at the end.

It has been that simple.

That TN dude must have been reading the HN threads as he captured it pretty well.

Of course it's always good to make more shots. But Iowa's offense (outside of the Illinois and Northwestern games) has performed at levels close to what it was before. It is the defense that has fallen off the edge of the cliff. Iowa went from having a Top 30 defense (in terms of defensive efficiency) a few weeks ago to 125th in the country today. That is hard to do.

Here the shooting comparisons the last 6 games:

Minnesota
Iowa: 21-39 on 2's, 10-25 on 3's. Minnesota made 30-49 shots (61%), 11-19 3's (58%). The offense was plenty good enough in this game. The defense was an embarrassment.

Indiana
Iowa, 34-69 FG's, 4-19 3's. Indiana shot 30-58 FG's, 6-15 3's. Another very bad defensive performance. Indiana had the 132nd best offense this year in terms of efficiency. In other words, they weren't very good on offense.

Iowa vs. Purdue
Iowa: 28-57 FG's, 6-18 3's. Purdue made 26-60 FG's, 5-16 3's. The only semblance of passable defense, and Iowa won the game.

MSU
Iowa: 28-60 FG's, 7-20 3's. MSU: 28-48 FG's, 10-17 3's. It's impossible to beat the Spartans giving up 10-17 from the 3-point line. Losing to MSU in East Lansing isn't bad. Another in the string of bad defensive games though.

Illinois
Iowa: Made 24-54 FG's, 6-17 3's. Illinois made 25-54 FG's, 7-19 3's. A truly putrid defensive effort against the 181st ranked offense in terms of efficiency. Illinois is terrible on offense and Iowa made them look above average.

Northwestern
Iowa: 20-62 FG's, 6-24 3's. Northwestern: 23-44 FG's, 11-23 3's.
A total team collapse. Northwestern is the 312th best offensive efficiency team in the country, and it made over 50% from the field and 11 3's against Iowa. This was bad, bad, bad.

The last two games Iowa could have won with better shooting, but the defense is to a point now where it's so atrocious that Iowa has to play impossibly well on offense to compensate. Allowing those offensive numbers to Illinois and Northwestern is truly awful.
 
All good points here. The defense has been very poor and play in the post has been poor on both ends. It's been so frustrating to watch other teams get the ball down low into the post for easy baskets while we seem incapable of doing the same thing. When we first got Woodbury's commitment to Iowa I had visions of him getting the ball low into the post and making an easy hook shot/jump shot or passing it off to another slashing post player for an easy layup or slam or passing it outside to another player for a wide open shot. Granted some of these passes were made but shots were missed. However Woody has got to step up is offensive game to become the type of threat that will draw defenses to him and leave other players wide open.

I understand that it takes longer for the BIGS to develop but part of that is due to playing time their first two years. Woody propensity to foul has hurt him quite a bit. Incidentally most fouls are caused by a players inability to move their feet quickly enough to be in correct defensive position. Maybe next year the light will finally come on and Woody will be the BIG we were all hoping to have. Would prefer to see it against Tennessee. In fairness to him we really haven't seen this type of play from anyone in four years so is it player inability or coaching technique that is lacking?
 
Too bad Mr. Davis can't be on this staff to help develop the Big Men and help develop an inside game feeding the post with the bounce pass.
 
Too bad Mr. Davis can't be on this staff to help develop the Big Men and help develop an inside game feeding the post with the bounce pass.

This is when I've seen us play our best. When Basabe, Woody and Gabe have been involved offensively.
 
This is when I've seen us play our best. When Basabe, Woody and Gabe have been involved offensively.

I really think the big men will need to get quite a few shot attempts against Tennessee and hit the boards very hard to seek garbage putbacks. If they don't, it will be a tough night for the Hawkeyes.
 
I think all of this is SPOT on...

Regarding Marble.

I think you really have to watch the game to understand how RDM positively helps us. His percentages are down, yes, but he puts up double digits and is reliable with the ball... The Illinois game is totally disappeared in, I'll say that.
 
Tennessee's weak spot looks to be the 4. The starter is 6'8", slow and can't jump, and the backups are tall guards. If McCabe plays a lot at the 4 or if Aaron White is not really involved, it takes away the advantage we have at that position. If White, Uthoff, and Basabe are aggressive and assertive, it will be a huge boost and will take pressure off of Woody and Gabe playing against Jarnell Stokes. Probably would be wise to speed them up, as their half court defense has been mean lately.
 
When inside the paint, I'm not sure I agree on the bolded above, I'm wondering how much is our perimeter guys having confidence with the guys in the paint. While Gabe has shown flashes, it's usually off rebounds or a wide open shot. Woody has only just begun to show that he has moves around the paint. I have no clue as to why Mel doesn't get the ball inside more... that part I do agree with.

It's not about the guys in the paint shooting. It's about making defenses collapse or at the very least make the perimeter defenders turn to help. That gives the perimeter shooters and extra step of clearance to shoot and increases the accuracy.
 
That guy knows his hoops - that's an incredibly astute breakdown for just looking @ stat sheets.

That said, stat sheets can only tell so much of the story - I think the individual stats are leading him to underestimate RDM and overestimate White.

Another thing the stat sheet can't sufficiently convey is mental state - I think this team is in a dumpster mentally, whereas Tennessee finished very strong. I think if Tenn comes out of the gates aggressive & sets the tone early, they will find themselves in a very winnable game.
 
Another thing the stat sheet can't sufficiently convey is mental state - I think this team is in a dumpster mentally, whereas Tennessee finished very strong. I think if Tenn comes out of the gates aggressive & sets the tone early, they will find themselves in a very winnable game.

Exactly. Come tournament time--especially a play in game--the mentally stronger team has to be considered the favorite.

It's too bad we have such a propensity to lose close games, as I could see us competing with anyone on our side of the Midwest.
 
We really don't go to the pain that often when we should. Basabe seems to really get rolling when he gets the ball down low.. I've seen games where White just screams for the ball down low and they ignore him it's crazy.
 
i noticed this line... finally somebody who agrees with me.


"It's baffling why Marble is shooting so many more shots than their big guys. He's way less effective. He leads the team in minutes and possessions used."
 
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