I found the January game on YouTube and buzzed through it last night. Here's some thoughts based on rewatching the game, the box score, and Collen's postgame presser.
1) Sedona Prince - she had a massive game in January. The box score says she had 24 points, 14 boards, and 3 blocks. Offensively, she was able to score with variety; on rebound putbacks, midrange shots, and she was very effective on the high pick and roll. Defensively, she held Netty to one of her worst games of the season with 4-11 shooting, and note that Netty was probably 2-2 when Prince was off the floor, so really she was about 2-11 against Prince. All of those missed shots were altered or rushed by Prince's defense, and in addition I unofficially counted another 5 missed shots from other players (Buggs, Andrews, Felder) which were not blocks but were also altered by Prince contesting. If we were trying to play downhill and get into her to create foul trouble, we were not successful. Prince played 37 minutes and only had 3 fouls. She's also fairly mobile for a 6'7" player, so she's excellent as a help defender.
WHAT CAN WE DO DIFFERENT? - Collen talked about changing angles on shots near her, and pulling up for midrange instead of taking the ball to her. Specifically with Netty she talked about increasing the height of her release point; often Netty was trying to pivot around Prince and get wide and her shot release was near her shoulder, which allowed Prince to alter it. In the 2nd half, Netty had success a couple of times playing bully ball; she power dribbled while bumping her butt directly into Prince's body to gain a couple of feet, and then after bumping Prince off she elevated while Prince was off balance. There's risk that could be called a charge, but it was her most effective move. Defensively, we must communicate better on the pick and rolls. There were perhaps 5 times during the game when we were terrible on our pick and roll defense, either doubling the ball and letting the picker roll clean for a layup, or by not picking up the ball at all and giving a clean layup. One more observation about Netty - she's an elite finisher from the low post, but the length of Betts from UCLA and Prince from TCU gave her fits. Netty rarely passes out of the low post; I'm guessing it's because she's able to score at a 60% rate, so the higher percentage shot is normally for her to take what she can get. But it seems that if she's going to elevate her game to win against the very best, she needs to add the element of passing out of the low post and finding spot up shooters.
2) Emma-Nnopu - she quietly had an outstanding game. She had 12 points (and was a perfect 3-3 from 3 point line), she had 10 boards, and played solid defense. She was scrappy and physical, she blocked out and got contested 50-50 balls.
WHAT CAN WE DO DIFFERENT? - Box out. We were outrebounded 45 - 34. Several of Emma Nnopu's rebounds (and Van Lith's rebounds) came because we had too many players standing and watching. It often felt like Netty and Prince were in an epic battle, Buggs was going for every board, and everyone else was spectating. We gotta get body on body from all 5 players. If Emma-Nnopu is perfect from the 3 point line again, we'll tip our hat to her, but we can't let her get clean to the boards.
3) TCU Spacing - TCU has such great perimeter shooters that defenses must play them honestly, so it's shocking to see when Prince comes out for a high pick and roll how often the entire lane is empty without a soul within 4 feet. This allowed them to get a high number of one-on-one drives to the hoop, especially off the pick and roll.
WHAT CAN WE DO DIFFERENT? - This is a problem for every TCU opponent, and I don't have a brilliant solution other than perhaps (a) we need the weak side defenders to squeeze another couple of steps toward the lane?, and/or (b) clean up the pick and roll defense. At the end of the day, against great opponents we often must make a choice on what to shut down and what to concede. Perhaps we're willing to concede 3 point shots by Bigby and Hunter and Emma-Nnopu, but we want to chase Conner and Van Lith off the line? Perhaps we're willing to concede midrange shots to Prince, but not low post?
4) Pace of Play - our 2nd half comeback was triggered when we went small, with a 3 Guard lineup, and began pressing. It seemed to change our energy. We scrambled a little harder to help on defense, we scrapped a little harder after loose balls. Note that the one statistical advantage we had was Turnovers; we caused 16 from TCU, but only committed 4. We ran the floor a little harder in the 2nd half, which led to a sequence when Sarah made back to back 3's, Buggs got loose for a fast break bucket on a nice pass from Sarah, and Matharu stripped Van Lith for a breakaway layup.
WHAT CAN WE DO DIFFERENT? - Push the pace. Collen discussed this in the presser, and thought that we were more effective when we pushed the pace of play. To my eye, it played into our advantages a little better because we could at times beat Prince up the floor to take her out of the defense, and it allowed us to utilize our quickness advantage over Conner and Van Lith. Pushing the pace and creating a more chaotic game may not be possible if Buggs and Bella are both out, because we'll effectively have a short bench and may not be able to afford the fatigue and foul trouble.
They kicked our ass for 2 1/2 quarters in January, and were up by 21 at one point before we came back and closed to within 5. It encouraged me that we can beat them. I think we learned some things in those back to back losses v UCLA and TCU, and we've run off 9 straight wins since, including v West Virginia, Iowa State, and KState. We feel like a different team now, more confident and making smarter decisions. It feels like our defensive intensity is much better. I'm hoping both Buggs and Bella are healthy and on the floor on Sunday, but it may just be Netty and the Smurfs. I'm still interested in watching that game, because our small ball quickness will be a challenge for them.
