While we have lot to be thankful for, the week of Thanksgiving was a tough week for the Broncos. It was a reminder that our schedule has more quality opponents than in years past and each game is a battle.
It was a strong weak. Strong that we crushed TCU to go 5-0 and weak in that we were manhandled by both Fresno State and UC Irvine. Playing three games in five days with a short roster was too tough to overcome. Our starters averaged nearly 36 minutes in the last two games.
Without Josip Vrankic and already short on bigs, we faced two teams with good big men and we paid the price. Our defense made a strong showing that kept us in both the Fresno State an UC Irvine games, but we just couldn't muster the "legs" to finish those games. Shots that usually fall, didn't. Ball movement stalled and assists were down. Defense lapses happened as we tried to adjust. Rebounds, our Achilles Heel so far this season, were difficult to come by. We gave up 9 second chance points to Fresno and 16 to UC Irvine on 14 offensive rebounds.
It didn't help that both FSU and UCI were slapper, scrappers. Their active hands knocked away balls and shoved and held our guys trying to back door their overplaying our passing lanes. When we did get penetration into the lane, their bigs were waiting to make shots around the rim hard to convert.
Both FSU and UCI used high ball screens to create several appealing scoring options. Their quick guards were better at scraping our guys into their screens and creating switches and mismatches that were hard to handle. We wound up with their guards on one of our bigs and one of our guards trying to stop their bigs rolling to the basket. Their guards got good looks and when they missed, there was a 7' big in the paint rebounding against our guards for put backs. Tough to win those battles.
Despite al this, we had our chances to win both games; a credit to the will and fight in our team. Their tired legs showed up late against UCI who had a 13-0 run to vaporize our 7 point lead with about four minutes to go.
The road ahead in pre-season is a mix of more very good teams and those we should handle. However, with a short roster anything can happen.
Hawaii presents another "big" challenge. Ranked 197, they play 10 deep and everyone can score. Their two bigs are 7'0 and 6'10" and are very efficient scoring inside or getting fouled. They have four capable guards that can drive and dish. Look for the same action with ball screens that we've seen and will see in all our games. If we have another short roster situation tonight, this will be a tough W. All in all, if we defend and move the ball on offense, I like our chances.
Louisiana Tech from Conference USA comes to Leavey on Saturday with a 4-2 record. Their two losses were against tough opponents, Alabama and NC State. They are ranked in the top 100. They are very good offensively led by 6'7" 275 lb Freshman Ken Lofton at 18 ppg. We match up well in size, but one of their strengths is offensive rebounding. Defensively they are just OK and that's our opportunity. If we can score it as well as we did against Nevada and TCU and hold the line on offensive rebounds and second chance points, we can keep the Leavey advantage going with a W.
Should be exciting. Hoping for a 2-0 finish this week with a strong 7-2 record and momentum moving forward.
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