The Ivy League is going to stop wanting to visit Charlottesville: Harvard and Yale combined for 65 points and 0.55 points per possession in their 2014 and 2016 treks to JPJ.
A friend of mine couldn’t make it to Charlottesville today and tasked me with distributing her four lower level tickets, which I gave to a buddy with two kids. Today’s first half made me worry that the kids would never come back — not just to JPJ, but to basketball, period. Our guys were content to lazily float the ball around the perimeter and settle for 18 footers, and when we did get a good look, it missed. Yale took advantage of our sluggishness and some questionable defensive rotations and made enough open shots to lead a few times in the first half and trail by just a touchdown (28–21) at the break.
The first half wasn’t fun to watch, but it wasn’t that worrisome. It’s a movie we’ve seen plenty of times under the Bennett administration: labor some on offense for a half, take a lead into the locker room that is smaller than it should be, and then come out for the second half and make up for lost time. You could feel the big run coming before the break — the first half ended with some separation thanks to a 9–2 run sparked by Marial Shayok, who was hunting offense all game (15 points on 14 shots) — and it arrived soon after the first media timeout of the second half. Kyle Guy (eight) and Shayok (six) combined for all of a 14–0 run that spanned more than eight minutes and turned a 37–33 lead into 51–33 and ended the competitive portion of the afternoon’s programming. The lineup that catalyzed much of the big run was an unconventional Hall/Guy/Shayok/Reuter/Diakite group that used their length and quickness to cloud the passing lanes key to Yale’s offense, protect the rim, and elevate for good looks on offense. One constant all game was our dominance on the glass, where we grabbed 44.4% of our own misses and more than three quarters (75.8%) of Yale’s.
This year’s team isn’t going to be as dialed in to the Pack Line as prior groups because they haven’t played together (or at all) as long, but what they’ve shown from three games is that they could quite possibly be more disruptive. Balancing their inexperience with quick feet, long arms, and good-to-otherworldly leaping, we’re going to block more shots and deflect more passes than previous editions — something that can be the linchpin of an effective defense in its own right.
Mamadi Diakite alone blocked four shots today, and three of them came in very different situations: one came from behind on a break, one came as a stuff at the rim, and one he blocked backwards by reaching his arm back behind his head. That one forced a shot clock violation. It’s hard to say if it’s Diakite’s highlights or his knowledge of the scheme (he’s already an expert hedger) are more impressive, but his play has been undeniable. He finished today with five points, seven boards, and those four blocks. It’s only a matter of time until he (and Guy, too) stakes a claim to more minutes.
Speaking of Guy, I mentioned in the preview for this game that I want to see him shoot more, and I got my wish in the second half. His first three was a beauty of an open look and his second came off a Staples-esque baseline sprint for daylight where he caught a pass in rhythm and went right into his shooting motion. Guy coming off of a screen and rising into a jumper is the kind of play that makes people compare basketball to poetry or a saxophone solo.
Notes:
- Jack Salt must stop bringing the ball down after the catch on offense. Hopefully keeping it elevated when he scored on a putback in the second half clicked for him.
- Isaiah Wilkins’s best games see a stuffed box score, and he did his thing today: five points, nine boards, three assists, two steals, and a block.
- London only scored eight and continued his slump (2–7) from deep, but had seven assists without a turnover in 30 minutes.
- Devon missed all five of his shots and is off to a 3–14 start to the season. I think some of the evident discomfort he’s showing on offense stems from playing alongside Darius when I feel like both saw the majority of their minutes last year as the third wing alongside London and Malcolm.
Grambling St. is up next.
