It’s on NBC Sports Washington here…or WatchESPN
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Haven’t seen any blocker mover yet, interesting development. Of the 6 possessions, by my count 4 have been the continuity ball screen offense we established last year, and 2 have been a spread the floor and throw it inside concept.
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11-0 run could have easily been 20-0. Brick City from 3.
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2-9, hit one more of those and this is a different game at 14-7. 2 more and we’re up 10.
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How about Chase getting meaningful run here? Gotta go ahead and put that kid on scholly right? And love the Morsell pull up game. He can get that shot anytime he wants. What makes him effective in late clock situations.
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The 3 that didn’t count by Morsell could be huge. Follows that up with a nice bucket. Confidence builder.
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They’re doing a great job on Lamb so far, mostly just good individual defense by Key and Diakite rather than sending a lot of help. Diakite and Huff need to be ready for the dig downs when they post up, already a couple of turnovers from that.
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Bad start to the 2nd, especially on o. Not getting anything from Huff in the lost and they’re squeezing on the ball screens cuz we can’t hit threes. Gotta hit some shots. Bennett, after not using blocker mover at all with Huff and Diakite in the first half has used it the last 3 possessions.
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Mamadi lost on the pick and roll right now.
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Lamb just hitting shots. Their whole team was shooting under their career average from 3, so this is some regression to the mean all at once.
Kihei is starting to make plays.
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haha…Shades of Carson Edwards. Fun game. Now find a way to pull out the W.
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Great response so far! 2 years in a row, a freshman gets a high five from Coach Bennett after forcing a backcourt turnover, I could get used to this being a tradition.
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Props to Diakite. Lamb didn’t score after he switched back to guarding him.
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VT is solid team guys. knew would be battle with or without heroics from Lamb. Think he hit 5 in a row from same spot. Not ideal
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I wondered where he was and of course the announcers don’t mention this…not even Cory who has an inside track to UVA.
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I liked seeing mamadi start taking ownership of the team. It was refreshing seeing him embrace that role
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He had a great game all-around, looked really comfortable shooting the ball from deep. The 4 established guys (Clark, Key, Diakite, Huff) all had really good games. Clark showed a lot more scoring punch and was making plays off the bounce, Key hit some 3s also, and Huff was a difference-maker on the offensive boards. Still waiting to see who can step up from the rest of the guys to give some offensive support.
Scheme-wise, they went almost exclusively spread ball-screen for Clark down the stretch. The re-screen by Huff was getting a little predictable; would like to see him roll hard on the first screen, because the lane was open a few times. I thought the bigs could have looked to shoot or attack more from the slot when in continuity ball screen. Not sure blocker-mover is going to be the offense that fits best for this personnel if the movers aren’t threats to score off the pindown; they can run it for post-ups, but that’s not the most efficient approach. In my opinion, the scheme has been pretty decent on the offensive end, as there have been some clean looks, just need some shots to fall.
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Oh and Mamadi had a “friendly chat” with Lamb after one sequence; I’m guessing Coach Bennett feels differently, but I love that kind of stuff (as long as you don’t get T’d up).
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That was a high level November game, 2nd half anyway. Exactly what they needed. Still questions to be answered but I think the four vets are proving they can get it done in new featured roles. All of them were great tonight, and with game pressure. Big step for Morsell too. He still didn’t shoot it well and looked very awkward a couple times, but he earned his stripes being out there in crunch time making plays defensively. The high five was my favorite moment.
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maybe most interesting stat of the game. VT was 3 for 3 from FT line. and that was on fouled 3 by Lamb who made them all. Thats an huge positive
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