Heron

[Sani-Freeze 552]

12 hours ago, AU64 said:

No doubt.....checked the stats and the Georgia game on Feb 10 was the last game where the team shot well.....and after that, the averages were trending down the rest of the season.  They were lights out against TAMU, Vandy and Georgia....and the next game with UK and thereafter, the shooting was irregular and nobody was consistent from then on.  And,  recall that when AMac was still playing in the South Carolina game we were down by nearly 30 points in the first half...looked like the Clemson game yesterday.   We made a run but could not turn the corner.  

The last good shooting game was at Georgia and the 9 or so games after that were a struggle with long cold streaks and some amazing comebacks but nothing consistent. Makes me wonder if something happened in early Feb that changed things......other than AMac getting hurt..

Bryce Brown's injuries (foot and shoulder) also occurred right around this time - he was never the same after that, and it seemed to really cripple the offense. 

[Tiger 8,822]

1 hour ago, AuburnNTexas said:

I think the real issue started when Bryce Brown initially hurt his shoulder and then his ankle. He basically had one Bryce Brown type game after that.  It affected his defense so we lost numerous easy baskets, it affected his lift, and after a few bad games I am sure it affected his confidence. He was our one pure shooter on the team. When he was hitting it opened up so many other players. His tough D would force guards to try and get rid of the ball often near half court where Murray and Heron would have defensive advantages against bigger men out on the floor. They would get steals that led to easy baskets.  Those easy baskets besides scoring allowed us to setup on defense for the next series.  Next you add McLemore injury and it was more that just his loss but it affected the whole rotation and forced more players to play out of their normal position. Okeke played really well for a freshman but asking him to play 5 for long stretches was to much it got him away from his slashing on O you quit seeing the quick slash and finger roll.

As good as Heron is and he is better than McLemore we could have replaced him easier than McLemore because Okeke and Dunbar both fit that Role better than the 5.  The position of the injured player hurt the most as we were already thin there with no backups beside Horace who plays hard and is a great short duration sub but is not a starting SEC 5. 

When you loose your best shooter (Brown) he was there physically but injury impaired him, your best perimeter defender (Brown again) and your center it makes a team of over achievers average at best. All of this impacted Harper the most he couldn't rely on Brown in the same way as before and McLemore scoring. McLemore scored three ways once or twice a game hitting the three bring the big man outside with him, then a quick flash from outside beating his big man with his speed usually ending in a dunk that got the team fired up and put backs. he shot right at 40% from 3PT range and 53% overall about 8 points a game 2-3 blocked shots a game and he forced a bunch of missed shots that often led to fast break easy baskets.

The loss of easy baskets was the biggest reason for the change after Brown  and McLemore injuries. Those baskets change the whole dynamic of the game both offensively and defensively.

Bingo

[AU64 10,122]

4 hours ago, Sani-Freeze said:

Bryce Brown's injuries (foot and shoulder) also occurred right around this time - he was never the same after that, and it seemed to really cripple the offense. 

Injured  shoulder in the Tex A and M game...

[boomstick 1,315]

8 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Injured  shoulder in the Tex A and M game...

And the foot in his next game back late in the 2nd half against Kentucky.