Now that round one is behind us and move on to round two which takes place later tonight against Nebraska. In the past four years, the second round game has been our bugaboo. In 04, we lost to LSU, in 05 to OSU, in 06 we needed a late run to get past St. Johns and last year was the debacle to Ole Miss. Let's hope the Coppin State game is our close game for this two-game session.
Nebraska is coming off a win over Xavier in which they led big early and then held on at the end. Overall, they are 21-11 and have lost to Ohio State and Oklahoma both of which we beat. They average 70.1 points per game and allow 62.8. They have only cracked 80 seven times this year and allowed 80 or more three times, which translates them to being a defensive minded team. The Huskers shoot 44.6% from the floor and 31.3% from three. They allow opponents to shoot 40.5% from the floor and 34.7% from behind the arc. NU shoots 68% from the line. They outrebounded opponents 38.5 to 35.3 and turn the ball over 17.8 times per game.
The Huskers are led by 6'2 forward Kelsey Griffin. She is averaging 15.5 points and 7.2 rebounds (leading the team in both categories), blocked 25 shots and has 37 steals (second on the team in both). She doesn't shoot 3s, but will use a variety of moves in the paint to get her shot off. Danielle Page (6'2) is second on the team in scoring at 12.2 per game and grabs 6.6 rebounds, while leading the team in blocking shots. She will shoot the three if left open and has taken the most shots on the team. Next is Cory Montgomery (6'2), who comes off the bench and averages 9.4 points and 4.5 rebounds. Her game is more away from the basket as she likes to run off a screen for a three. Yvonne Turner (5'8) is one of their starting guards and averages 7.9 points per game. She leads the teams in steals and assists. She is also one of the team's main three-point shooters knocking down 30.5% of her attempts. Tay Hester (5'10) is another starting guard and more of the slasher and streaker that gives us fits. She's taken 26 threes all year and 165 other shots. Dominique Kelley (5'7) is their last starting guard and she is more of a combination of Turner and Hester. Kaitlin Burke (5'7) is their main three-point shooting threat off the bench. Nicole Neals (5'6 guard) will also come off the bench as well as Kala Kuhlman (5'8 guard) and Nikki Bober (6'4 center). Neals will shoot the three, the other two not so much.
After watching Nebraska on Sunday, I noticed the following:
they press off made baskets
will sub liberally.
I didn't see them trapping much, but if we make quick smart passes we should be able to beat them down the floor.
They like to pop out their forwards and post players for long range shots.
They don't rebound the ball well as Xavier outrebounded them.
We have to watch the double down by their guards and Griffin in the post in an attempt to steal the ball from our post players.
Their guards will help rebound.
Keys to winning the game
Defensively, we may either play a box and one or triangle and two that way Coleman can guard Griffin and Harper possibly on Page/Montgomery. If we go man, Coleman on Turner, Strickland on Hester, Toliver on Kelley, Langhorne on Page, Harper on Griffin.
A win has us against Vanderbilt on Saturday in Spokane. A big thanks goes to the NCAA for giving us the late game so we have no time to prepare for Vandy, who will probably have practiced three times before we get there.
Lastly, Coach P didn't like our booing last night so I think tomorrow would be a great time to show her that Sunday was tame. Come early, be loud and remember that ASU's colors are variations of Maryland's red (maroon) and yellow (gold).
0 comments:
Post a Comment