MBB had a win in its hands a number of times, but blew it each time.*
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Sure would help if they could make TWO free throws instead of just the first one. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!
If I was Chambers, I'd go ballistic on the refs until I got thrown out, I'd then make the players shoot foul shoots until their hands bleed. terrible, they could have won in regulation easily.
This 3rd OT....they need to feed Watkins when Bryant wasn't in the game as their is no way he could handle him. The youngsters refuse to give him the ball lots of bad shots.
.....of course the missed foul shots in reg or the first OT would have won it as well. 2nd Big road loss where should have had the W.
.....of course the missed foul shots in reg or the first OT would have won it as well. 2nd Big road loss where should have had the W.
Tonight we were the second best team at the line. Game.
12-11. 4-6. Still a chance to go 8-10 if we learn how to win.
It came down to free throws. On four straight trips to the line, the first was made easily. The second barely caught the front of the rim. As a coach once told me, there is no excuse for poor free throw shooting. Nobody is challenging the shot. It is fundamentals. The guy won 536 games in 24 years. He won 10 District titles. His teams routinely won games down the stretch, by making free throws.
I found it hard to watch. Kept throwing away opportunities--and no killer instinct at all.
I completely agree that Garner had a bad game. No idea what's going on with him. He just does not seem like the same player.
This is a game they could have won but it was a great effort and it's a shame they didn't win. Overall anybody that doesn't see this team is improving just isn't paying attention or just hates Chambers no matter what happens.
While I agree the team is improving and the talent level is certainly up, can someone explain to me how this team continues to take awful, awful low% shots with 10+ seconds on the shot clock at critical times in the game. Tonight it was Garner when the game was in reach in the 3rd OT. At the beginning of the season, OK. At the middle of the season, OK. Nearing the end of the season....
Wasn't the shot as much as picking up his dribble in a bad spot. Indiana was denying all of the passing lanes, and seemed like he thought the fadeaway contested jumper was his best bet. In hindsight of course, better off forcing a pass or using the last TO, but I don't have nearly the issue with the possession as some of those ones in transition when it's not even that clean of a look and there is no one around to get a board.
Two biggest areas of improvement, from a fundamental standpoint, that I hope we see next year with more seasoning are limiting unforced turnovers on offense and shot selection. Those areas have to get better to make the jump from the ~200th best offensive team to a top-100 offensive team.
The problem is that Indiana plays with two big men, while we only play with one big. Also, it appears that Penn State is coached to retreat on an outside shot as opposed to crashing the boards, and they tend to shoot a great deal of outside shots. The good news is that they do a great job of getting back on defense, but they don't get offensive rebounds unless guys are already in the paint.
I agree with this post....You have to have some recognition out their and I know Carr is a Freshman, but he made some really bad decisions down the stretch. The most frustrating was when we started the 2nd or 3rd OT and Bryant was off the court for the first couple minutes for some rest and #20 had no chance to stop Watkins in the post and on 3 or 4 trips down the court didn't look inside but 1 time....the 1 time resulted in a Watkins dunk. should have looked in their right away once they saw the matchup mismatch. Great effort, but really frustrating to watch.
The problem is that there isn't really a go to scorer on this team. In many ways this is a good thing, as the team isn't reliant on one guy to win the game for them like in the recent past. In tight games, however, it will be up to Carr (or Garner if hes PG) to either make a play for themselves or get the ball to someone who can make a play. In the case of Carr, I thought that he took too many early 3 point shots towards the end of regulation. He is pretty good at driving with the ball, could result in: scoring, getting fouled, or passing to open teammate. These are all good things. Stevens did have one bad pass to Moore that was stolen, the time that he lost his dribble and thought he couldn't touch the ball again, and of course those two missed free throws. The good news is that they are both freshmen and will have learned from yesterday's game. I'm sure they won't be perfect, but hopefully they make fewer mistakes in the future.
It makes a statement that you are tired of all the poor calls going against you. Even the announcers say we were shafted a number of times. Why is it that every time PSU drives to the basket, rarely is a foul called yet every time an opponent goes to the basket a foul is called on us.
Last night, better free throw shooting, the game is won in regulation, won in one overtime, won in two overtimes. It was maddening.
Why is it every fan thinks the calls go against their team?
It also sets you up for getting every call against you in future games.. Bottom line is you aren't going to win an argument with an official, right or wrong. Why spend 30 seconds of the time you should be getting your team ready for O.T fighting with an official?
A summation of this years MBB team can be told by:
- improved talent
-no "Go To" person at critical times
-young and aggressive
.........but less than great coaching to overcome youngsters who seem to be making the same mistakes over and over again at this stage of the season!
That was a tough loss to swallow, could've won it in regulation or OT, just didn't make the FTs.
Stand up Tony Carr and Lamar Stevens, played great last night.
Stand up Tony Carr and Lamar Stevens, played great last night.
He may be their most talented player, but his skills are suited more to ball handling and passing than shooting. He's a natural point guard, and will be a very good one before he's done, but it doesn't make him a great scorer.
He's not a great scorer, yet has no problem taking a shot when it's open. To me that's fine, he's great at getting others involved in the game, but when we need a basket, he's actually been pretty good at hitting shots. I can remember quite a few occasions where he hit a big shot to win a game for us or keep us in the game.
They're not good shooters. Incredibly athletic and exciting but poor from the field and poor from the line. They really need some shooters in the next recruiting class.
We're not a poor team from the line. 74% which is currently 64th in the country on the season (so top 20% of teams in the country). And our 3 point shooting isn't awful (not great either, at 35.6% which puts us a 148th out of 351 teams). The biggest issue is our shooting inside the arc, where we're at 44.5% which is 318th out of 351 teams.
Garner and Banks are very good shooters. The key is getting them the ball in a good position.
What PSU really needs is a PF who can score in the paint. That makes defenses collapse and creates opportunities from the perimeter.
Stevens is a SF, not a PF. It also doesn't help that he still has a small freshman frame. Watkins shows a lot of promise but we need another big body. Too bad Hampton didn't work out.
We also need better decision making. The team seems to panic and make poor choices when momentum starts going against them. A lot of those poor decisions are Carr & Stevens. I assume that's a freshman thing that will improve over time.
I wouldn't consider 64th good, and 148th and 318th are horrible. And to the other poster I disagree that garner is anything but an average 3 pt shooter for a 2 guard. They need guys who can drill threes-it's such an important part of the game. Garner could as easily go 1-10 as he could 4-8. IMO He's a good player but hardly a consistent threat.
There are 351 teams, this puts PSU in the top 20%, that's not good?
Granted, if you looked at conference only stats, PSU has not shot as well at the line.
148th is not horrible but is certainly not good. Obviously 318th is. If this team was a borderline top 100 offense we'd be an NCAA Tournament team.
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