Wake at Vandy: Final Analysis

Obviously there have been considerable distractions over the last 18 hours, and so for those of you interested in my comments regarding last night’s basketball game against Vanderbilt, I apologize for getting so thoroughly sidetracked (thought I probably shouldn’t think so highly of myself).

Since that situation seems to be settling down quite nicely (and quite favorably for us) I am excited to get back to the task at hand – writing about our performance on the hardwood last night.

Let’s start with some cold hard facts. We lost the game 83-80, giving up 23 more points than we have to any other opponent this season, but also scoring more than we have in any game other than Fairfield. Considering the fact that Vanderbilt had scored over 90 in their previous two games and averages over 80, our defense did a pretty good job. Before the game I would have said that we would need to hold them under 80 to win. If we had done that we would have won, but we didn’t and that’s the way it goes. I was very impressed with Vandy’s A.J. Ogilvy who scored 23 points and gave our defense fits (particularly Chas when he was in there). On the season Vandy’s been shooting just over 50% from the field and 43% percent from beyond the arc. Last night they only shot 44% from the field and 33% from outside. Although they definitely missed some open shots they probably don’t usually miss, some of that credit should go to our defense. It wasn’t our best defensive night of the season, but it certainly wasn’t the worst and it should have been good enough to win.

James Johnson looked like our leader on the floor last night (LD still played well, but did it more quietly than usual) but although he scored plenty of points (18) his 5 of 16 shooting from the field is disappointingly low – I didn’t even realize it had been that bad. He was 0-4 on 3-pointers, including the miss from the top of the key that would have tied the game in the final seconds. He did contribute 13 rebounds and played a solid game overall, but I would love to see his shooting percentage improve. Some may not like it, but I didn’t have any problem with James bringing the ball up the floor on fast breaks. He looked calm and comfortable doing it and was quite successful on several occasions. He just needs to work a bit on his shot selection in those situations.

It was great to see Harvey Hale bust out of his slump last night. He was 4-6 on 3-pointers and 8-10 overall, matching James’ 18 points. When he shoots well like that we will stay in basketball games. I saw people saying it on the message boards, and I’m starting to believe it’s true – as Harvey goes, so does the Deacon offense. LD was also 3-4 from beyond the arc and scored 11 points, but was quiet on the boards and surprisingly quiet on the defensive end.

Ish is frustrating me for the most part, but then every once in awhile he makes it hard to be mad at him. His shooting is pretty terrible overall (5-14 overall, but 2-5 for 3) however he hit a couple of clutch shots. Considering his 5 turnovers (which I think mostly came in the 1^st half, so he improved late) I was more frustrated than happy with him last night. He just seems out of control and isn’t taking good shots.

Jeff Teague got the start over Harvey Hale last night and played alright, scoring 10 points but only shooting 30% from the field. If coming off the bench helps Harvey play better for any reason, than I’m all for sticking with Teague in the starting lineup. Chas did not have a good game last night, only playing 9 minutes due to foul trouble and generally poor play. Hope to see him bounce back this weekend. Jamie Skeen did a pretty solid job off the bench, however all of his shots were three pointers (he made 3 of 8) and scored nine points. Not a bad spark to have, and I think we’ll see more of him Saturday.

As a team we shot almost 45% from beyond the arc (which was actually better than we shot from the field overall), a huge improvement over what we’ve been doing (27%). That’s an encouraging sign as well.

I said before the game that a loss by less than ten points we prevent me from being overly upset, and true to my word I’m not. It is frustrating to think that we could have had 4 easy points if Ish would just lay the ball up and not get unlucky on the slip (I don’t think I can actually blame him for that) then we probably when the game. Even so, we went into a tough environment on the road and played a game that was better on the whole than probably any game we’ve played so far this season. This is a great encouragement to me, and I look forward to getting a win on Saturday against Georgia.

We aren’t going to be in the ACC cellar this year. No way.