BlueGold Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 Ugh, another road disaster. 30 turnovers, 25 percent shooting, 1-16 from three Tennessee pressed us and didn't let up on the press much and we actually seemed to handle it better than when we were playing in our half court offense, which much have been offensive to watch. In the half court we kept throwing the ball over our own heads on passes and kept getting it stolen when trying to go into the post. The turnovers are bad enough, and when you shoot the ball as bad as we did, well, it's a recipe for disaster. Poor Vicky McIntyre, having to put up with getting double-teamed constantly and trying to play defense when she isn't getting a lot of help inside defensively and failing to get consistent entry passes. She fought hard and had another double-double, leading us with 10 points and 13 rebounds. In the opener against Baylor she had 10 and 17. Freshman Jordan Doyle played a team-high 37 minutes and had nine points. She was the one that had to deal with the press head on the most. Hopefully the heavy minutes she got in these first two games against elite competition will help build her up and toughen her up for the games that lie ahead. Faith Ihim, another freshman, put in her second straight nice effort off the bench with seven points, three rebounds and two steals in 18 minutes. She's an energy player and has given us a lift in both games so far. Last Friday at Baylor she came off the bench to score eight points and grab five rebounds in 20 minutes of play. We can't really be this bad. I'm hoping it's more of a matter of us playing down to our competition in these first two games. Not exactly a piece of cake, playing at #8 Baylor and #4 Tennessee to start the season. And at times in both games we had three or four freshmen on the floor together. Tough, very tough. Coach Cussen's postgame quotes: "We're just turning to ball over too much. We had the same storyline happen 72 hours ago when we were in Waco. We have just got to take care of the ball better. Obviously, that was a huge issue for us this evening. I felt like, with new personnel coming in, we knew what we needed to do in order to take care of it. It was just hot and cold. Our freshman point guard, Jordan Doyle, she did a really nice job of handling the pressure. Really, I kept getting surprised. That's kind of how we felt offensively, too. We didn't recognize when the pressure was beaten in the full court and when we needed to slow down an execute in the half court. "I thought our shooting reflected that. I thought we missed a lot of open shots the way we shot the ball tonight. There were a couple of times I had Vicky [McIntyre] and three freshmen on the floor. One time, I had Bernadett [balla] and four freshmen on the floor. That's probably a little bit to be expected when you come to Knoxville and you've never been here before. "You're probably wowed a little bit with where they are and what they're doing, but we're going to be a good team this year. I think as that freshmen class gets more experience--and tonight, I had a couple of seniors that struggled that don't usually struggle. So, it was kind of a group effort to have that offensive output that we had tonight. Not a very eloquent opening statement, but it wasn't a very eloquently played game either, so that's what you get." We have three-plus days to clear our heads and clean things up in practice before we take on Tulsa this Friday (Nov. 21st) at the Mabee Center in the women's version of the PSO Mayor's Cup. Game time is 7pm for those that can make it out there and support the ladies as they look to avenge last season's loss at TU and bring the Cup back to 7777 S. Lewis. Go Eagles!! Beat TU!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 disappointing that this is another year where they can't play competitive for even the first 5 minutes of a game against a BCS level school. not sure if it was as bad as the game against Arkansas where they could not even get the ball past half court most trips. but looking at the boxscore it was pretty bad. until they learn to value the basketball, it will be another long season for the ladies. 30 turnovers....wow. this is what happens when you have multiple recruiting classes all but wiped out several years in a row. i hope this freshman class will stick it out and build something together. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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