It wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a win, and that’s what we needed most. Wins buy CTB time to figure out what this team’s identity is going to be and who is going to help them establish it, without the slide down the standings or noise of a collective fan base gnashing its teeth that come with losses. He hasn’t figured those things out yet:
On lead changes and taking control:
“To be honest with you, we never took control. We took a step in the right directions in terms of our physicality, our mindset and our patience, but we have a lot of work to do. We have a ways to go, but we’ll just keep grinding away. That’s how we do it. [Angel] Rodriguez is as quick as they come. He got to the lane at will on us and we had no answer. We have to be better than that. But again, good team that is very capable. I like how our guys responded with some physicality and we made plays, but we have work to do.”On making shots over getting stops:
“No we can’t accept that as an identity. You accept that and you’re done. You have to fight to make it hard. We didn’t do a good job with stops and again they are absolutely very hard to guard. We have had trouble with that, but we have to clean things up and get better. I’m the wrong guy if we get that attitude because it won’t work. Our guys have to fight and we’ll figure it out.”
He’s not wrong. I think our biggest problem areas this season have been defending ball screens and locking down the defensive glass. The interior guys did a great job last night: Tonye Jekiri had five points and six boards in 31 minutes, our guys as a unit secured 75% of defensive rebounds (a rate that will always be good enough to win), and the help seemed to get there in time (Miami took only 17 free throws — or .34/shot attempt — down from their usual rate in the mid-40s). Even Ivan Cruz Uceda, a big tailor-made to destroy a Virginia fan’s hopes and dreams with his three point shot, was relatively (2-5 in 22 minutes) quiet.
The perimeter guys’ struggles continued though. Angel Rodriguez (17 points, 3 assists) saw a clear lane to the basket whenever he put the ball on the floor, and Rodriguez is someone you want to convince that shooting jumpers is a good idea — he’s at his best creating things off the dribble and making people miss. While Miami hit only six of 22 threes, we benefited from Miami missing a lot of shots — their misses came more from so-so shooters like Rodriguez and Davon Reed hoisting at will (a combined 3-10) and Sheldon McClellan having an off night (1-5 from deep) than from good rotations and tenacious perimeter defense.
It wasn’t pretty offensively, either. Some parts of it — especially this and very, very definitely this, which I spent about half an hour watching last night — were fun, but the overall offensive aesthetic remained gunked up and sluggish. The starting lineup change (Jack Salt and Marial Shayok in) contributed to a crisp defense to start the game — which was the point — but the new-look group clearly had no idea how to put the ball in the basket. Salt, for all of his brutal screens and “activity,” is very green. We were lifted on O by Mike Tobey (who did yeoman’s work boxing out Jekiri all game), who scored 10 of his 12 and of our 27 in the first half, and then by hot streaks from Malcolm, AG (who was more lively than he was in either loss last week with 15 and 8), and London, who combined to score or assist on 35 of our 39 second half points. It’s a nice luxury to have a roster full of players that can generate points when things go sour, but a.) given what we’ve seen of Malcolm’s shot selection this season, I’m not sure I want him thinking he has to, and b.) our offense is so much better when those guys are getting their points through it naturally and then using the attention they generate to get the Devons, Marials, and Isaiahs points, too. Nothing is moving: the ball is pounding, and players aren’t cutting and screening with any real purpose.
The role players weren’t mentioned much on the telecast, but chipped in here and there. Isaiah Wilkins was almost shut out of the box score, but had a huge tip on a missed free throw that bought us an extra possession in the closing minutes.
I’m not going to keep Debbie Downer-ing our third win over a top-15 team this season, but I’m also not going to pretend that beating Miami is some kind of magical panacea that will lift this team back to where they were in the happier days of December or January 2015. Good win, but there’s still work to do. Here’s hoping for progress against FSU.
