Rivers and Parker - 57 minutes - zero points and 3 boards - Unbelievable!

[FredsSlacks]

rivers is suppose to be a defensive guy, yet he had no chance of stopping hayes who had about 60 pounds on rivers. So why Rivers played 30 minutes i don't understand.

[NUdiehard]

If Fuller can't get minutes against Wisconsin, then I'm not sure what other team he can get minutes against.  Wisconsin is very fundamentally sound, but it is not the most athletic team in the conf. by a long-shot.  At one point we got down by almost 20 in the second half, yet still no Fuller.  Wisconsin was shooting at a 60% clip for much of that game.  Is Fuller so much worse on defense?  Would Wisconsin have shot 75% if Fuller was in the game?  I find that unlikely.

 

The problem with Rivers and Benny last night was not so much that they didn't score, it was that they are not even a threat to score.  In comparison, Pitchford might miss a few shots, but UW is going to guard him all the way to the 3-point line and beyond every possession even if he misses 10 in a row.  This at least opens the lane for SS and TP and TS, etc.

 

The other (probably even more significant) problem with DR and BP last night is that they combined for 3 rebounds and 1 assist in 57 combined minutes.  If they are not rebounding or getting assists, what is their "role".  Most role players have a role other than scoring, what is their role?

 

If Fuller was in the game, UW would respect him.  If it didn't, then I think Fuller could hit enough shots to make them respect him.  That is a significant difference. 

 

I also think Tarin Smith should play more minutes (probably start) and should be given more of a green light.  Again, it isn't always just about how many points he scores.  The issue is can he make just enough baskets to force opponents to guard him.  I think he can, and this would open up driving lanes for the others.  Frankly, I believe he could be a decent scorer if he approached the game with more of a scorers mindset, but I am not sure he feels that is his role at this point.  Should it be?

 

And what about Leslie and Moses.  So many want to justify our earlier losses on their injuries.  Yet their combined minutes (20) were less than Rivers (28).  In their combined 20 minutes, Moses and Leslie pulled down a combined 7 rebounds and 4 of those rebounds were offensive rebounds.  This means that even though their combined shooting was not good (1 for 6), they actually provided the team 4 extra possessions, so in light of that their efficiency isn't as bad as it initially appears (personally, I think Miles should tell Moses that whenever he gets an offensive rebound he should immediately kick it out to a wing rather than try to put it back in unless he has a wide open dunk).  They also provide more of a presence in the paint on defense and offense. 

 

This team does not have great options, but it does have some reasonably viable options.  I would like to see those options explored a little more rather than always staying with the status quo simply because it is safe and simple.

[MandRHusker]

the problem isn't that rivers and parker scored 0 points. the problem is that they are playing 57 minutes.

Yes, yes, yes...... There will come a time when we can trot out 5 starters who can ALL shoot the ball

You have to have at least two who are very good scorers and at least two others who are legit threats who can go off from time to time.  Who can at least make the defense pay if they don't cover them.  The fifth guy can be a big who primarily defends and gets the occasional rebound put-back or a point who is a good distributor and defends.  I don't think you neeeed five guys who are all big-time scorers.  There won't be enough shots to go around.

 

But if you only have two legit scorers and another guy who's an occasional hot hand and two more who are so offensively limited that the other team doesn't really need to worry about them, that's when you have problems.

 

Now, I refuse to get down on Parker and Rivers because they are who we knew they were and we've known that they weren't big-time offensive producers.  We don't have a lot of options at this point, though.  But, last night, their lack of scoring was as much of a function of Petteway's hot night as anything else.  You're not going to want Parker and Rivers to be taking more than 5 shots collectively if Petteway is burning the nets at 55% from the floor.

 

If you want to complain about someone not getting it done last night, how about Walter Pitchford going 3-8 from the floor including a blistering 1-5 from BTA?  How about Shavon Shields shooting 75% from the floor but calling his own number only 4 times?  If Shields hits his season average, we're in that game to the end.

 

Bottom line:  For us to beat Wisconsin at home, all of the Big 3 have to score well and somebody has to have a career night.  On the road, we did about as well as we could have reasonably hoped.

I agree Norm, David and Benny are who they are. While I am sure there are adjustments Coach Miles sees that I don't, I'm not sure there is much we can do this year. We just need more scorers to compete in a game like the game last night. Beginning next year we should be in a better position to place a complete team on the floor.

[Dean Smith]

 

Last year these guys put up a combined 4 points against Wisconsin in a win.  The big difference was Shields put up 26 and Pitch put up 15.  Shields put up 4 shots last night.  4!

 

Those guys do need to step it up but so did most of the team.

Shavon hasn't looked the same since the beginning of the year. I think teams are keying on him and letting petteway do whatever he wants.

 

Shavon looked great at the beginning of the game, scored or assisted on every early basket then got two fouls. Nobody's scouting report says let Petteway do what he wants. Shields sat and lost rhythm. Third foul was a crime. When Petteway started going off there is only one ball to go around and when he is shooting it, no one else can. When Terran is feeling it he is going to take a lot of shots. I personally feel he got a tad carried away with about 3 heat checks, but you can't blame a guy when the basket starts to look that big. There's not going to be a lot of shots to go around at times like that.