Last four Games without McLemore

[AUGoo 2,659]

I am still sick from Anfernee's injury on Saturday and glad to hear the surgery went well.  Kept hearing the other night how our team just ran out of gas on their comeback in SC.  With Mac gone and Spencer fouled out, more likely we just ran out of Tall.  aTm already took advantage of us due to our size disadvantage as did Carolina.  I can't help but think we were very  fortunate from an injury perspective to have this magnificent run.  But, beginning to wonder how much magic CBP can pull out of his hat with 8 schollie players and the loss of another significant Big.  I had read that we were the 305th tallest team in the NCAA before Mac's injury, wonder where we fall now.  Throw in Bryce not playing at 100% and the next four games are looking even tougher.

Those in the know, what are CBP's options now?  As always make our three's on O, but what is plan B when we struggle?   With even less size, our opponents will just pull back in a zone and make us hit threes.  Will be interesting to see how much our rebounding takes a hit.  Where on D are we gonna make adjustments to handle the other guys' Bigs?  I'm fearing the other teams might be smelling blood in the water.  Because, I'm wondering if I do.

 

[Tiger 8,819]

I had put this in another thread but I'm moving it here as it's more appropriate in this thread:

 

Moving forward, we gotta hit from 3 consistently (which we've already had to do) but now also avoiding foul trouble has now become even more critical. Horace has improved in this area this year but is still prone to fouling a lot at times. This is Horace's moment now and we are going to need him to have a controlled, havoc wreaking energy (which sounds weird, I know) but he is more than capable to fill in. Our depth will take a hit though with just 8 guys.

Where the injury REALLY hurts us is that we were wearing teams down over the course of 40 minutes with high pressure D and relentless O. We usually hit teams with a knockout blow in the 2nd half when teams started getting tired chasing us around -- and that increased our margin for error. Now with Anfernee out our margin for error has been significantly decreased IMO because we cannot rely on just running our opposition ragged with our depth. Now with an 8 man rotation I think we see either a slowed down O or less pressure on D, maybe even some more zone to "rest" on defense. But either way our ability to have an off shooting night and pull a game out has been greatly compromised IMO with the loss of Mac. 

I'm very interested in seeing how we look with 8 men in the rotation. I expect to see a lot more Chuma at 5 which will create mismatches on O some, but when we're on D our rebounding and interior defense will take a hit. It's less than ideal to ask a freshman to have so much on his plate but Chuma is extremely skilled and this will be a great experience for him moving forward.

[AlaskanFAN 1,665]

None of the last 4 games are going to be easy. Bama, Gators, Hogs and Cocky are all playing good ball. We were fortunate The dawgs did us a favor and upended UT and we still hold a 2 game lead and the tie breaker. Now we have 2 on the road and 2 on the road. We need to find this new rotation and identity quick and pull at minimum, the 2 home games.

[steeleagle 2,945]

Some questions and observations:

1. Does Spencer start now, or does he continue to play the same role, but now Okeke gets inserted in AM's spot? Or do we go with Murray and Spencer and then sub Dunbar and Okeke?

2. Harper has to play better. This last game was his worst in managing the team (9 TOs and only 2 made baskets).

3. We have to play better perimeter D. I have noticed we are allowing teams(even at home) to shoot over 45-50%. I know much of it comes from inside strength and our lack of a big presence inside, but no way should there be wide open jumpers. Brown can't be the only in your face player...

4. We have to control the flow better, and not allow teams to get double digit leads especially in the first half. It will be interesting to see how we play against Alabama in the first half. Energy and intensity much match or exceed them...

[boomstick 1,315]

4 hours ago, AUGoo said:

I am still sick from Anfernee's injury on Saturday and glad to hear the surgery went well.  Kept hearing the other night how our team just ran out of gas on their comeback in SC.  With Mac gone and Spencer fouled out, more likely we just ran out of Tall.  aTm already took advantage of us due to our size disadvantage as did Carolina.  I can't help but think we were very  fortunate from an injury perspective to have this magnificent run.  But, beginning to wonder how much magic CBP can pull out of his hat with 8 schollie players and the loss of another significant Big.  I had read that we were the 305th tallest team in the NCAA before Mac's injury, wonder where we fall now.  Throw in Bryce not playing at 100% and the next four games are looking even tougher.

Those in the know, what are CBP's options now?  As always make our three's on O, but what is plan B when we struggle?   With even less size, our opponents will just pull back in a zone and make us hit threes.  Will be interesting to see how much our rebounding takes a hit.  Where on D are we gonna make adjustments to handle the other guys' Bigs?  I'm fearing the other teams might be smelling blood in the water.  Because, I'm wondering if I do.

 

We did score 50 points in the second half Saturday with the 8 guys we have available now. Heck, when we got it to 5, we had back-to-back possessions to make it a one-score game and had 2 turnovers and a missed Brown 3. And we killed SCar on the boards in the second half. Running out of steam might be right, but we also had some unforced miskates with the game in the balance that I don’t think had to do with running out of steam. 

Offensively, I don’t see a whole lot changing. I hope to see a little less dependency on the 3 and a little more emphasis trying to finish in the paint. A lot of times we drive looking for the kickout 3, which is good because we’re good at shooting that shot, but sometimes I’d like to see us keep the ball and try to finish at the rim.

 Defensively, I think we will add a little more zone in to give our defenders a little bit of a break and try to take away some of the foul risk. I think we will still try to push the pace when we can. Big thing for us is making shots. That allows us to get our defense back and set up or set up a press. Part of our issue Saturday, even before Mac’s injury, was the live ball turnovers and the significant number of missed shots. We were constantly letting SCar run at us in transition. We need to do a better job of crashing the boards as well, but making some shots or getting to the FT off of penetration would help our defense a lot. 

[boomstick 1,315]

3 hours ago, steeleagle said:

Some questions and observations:

1. Does Spencer start now, or does he continue to play the same role, but now Okeke gets inserted in AM's spot? Or do we go with Murray and Spencer and then sub Dunbar and Okeke?

2. Harper has to play better. This last game was his worst in managing the team (9 TOs and only 2 made baskets).

3. We have to play better perimeter D. I have noticed we are allowing teams(even at home) to shoot over 45-50%. I know much of it comes from inside strength and our lack of a big presence inside, but no way should there be wide open jumpers. Brown can't be the only in your face player...

4. We have to control the flow better, and not allow teams to get double digit leads especially in the first half. It will be interesting to see how we play against Alabama in the first half. Energy and intensity much match or exceed them...

1. I think Chuma starts and Horace stays in his same role. I think Dunbar splits between spelling Heron and Murray. Okeke will bounce between the 4 and 5. 

2. No doubt. We need him to have his best games going forward. 

3. Best way for us to limit their paint touches is good perimeter pressure. Gonna be tougher now with only 8 in the rotation. 

4. Completely agree. We have to dictate tempo on both ends to help our depth. Like I said above, making shots, getting to the FT line, or getting ORBs for extra possessions will really help us limit opponents in transition. 

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

The good thing is Tennessee still has 3 tough games too. Ole Miss will not pose much of a threat, but they still have to go through Florida, Miss St, and UGA again. Every time they lose, it’s like a win for us. No team will back into the title this year- if Tennessee take it from us, they will have well deserved it. 

[AU64 10,122]

On the positive side, quite a few teams play with 8 players in their rotation so that alone is not such a big issue....

IMO the issue is who that missing 9th player is and where he fit into the scheme of things.....and of course there is the issue of fouls and how the team can play when refs are calling them ticky tacky and the fouls mount up.

What we really need is to get our shooting eyes back and come out with offense clicking .....100% ready to play.   We spend a tremendous amount of energy on those comebacks and it would be better is we can get off to a good start and not have to play the second half at such a frantic pace trying to erase a big deficit. 

[Beaker 2,457]

If we manufacture a win tonight, we will only lose 2 more before the NCAAs.    

I would not trade coaches with anyone considering the tall task in front of us.  Coach Pearl could motivate me to sell off my kids I think.