Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Breakthroughs and Breakdowns

 

     

The first week of WCC league competition for the Broncos included a breakthrough win over USF and a loss versus St. Mary's.  A game we let slip away.  

With the success USF has had against us the past six games we've played them, followed by St. Mary's, an 0-2 start was staring us in the face.  With the USF game tied at 38 at halftime, the Broncos went on a gallop in the second half sparked by Braun and Bediako knocking down 10 of 14 shots and Podz burying 7 of 12 to cap a 62% FG shooting display that sent the "Don's" looking for Luca Brasi to bail them out.  Result, Broncos win it by 12.

Saturday, we had a huge opportunity to knock off St. Mary's', # 16 in the NCAA NET rankings on our home court.  We saw first hand that experience is huge as the Gaels used a 13-3 run mid second half to win.  Frustrating, in that St. Mary's had a a season worst shooting percentage, but found others ways to win.

Pregame, our coaches wanted to accomplish three things critical to stealing the win.

#1 Rebound:  We had more overall rebounds (38-35) but they had 15 offensive rebounds that resulted in 12 second chance points.  

#2 Get through their high ball screens to prevent two-way mismatches that result in a quick guard against our bigs and an SCU small guard on their bigs:  Their ball screens are Velcro, they catch us and force switches.  Randy Bennett used his best guards, Aidan Mahaney and Logan Johnson, to take advantage of the two-way mismatch described above resulting in 5 layups plus 8 assists from that duo.

#3 Defend the 3 ball, especially against Mahaney and Ducas:  Although we held their team well below their shooting averages, Mahaney and Ducas were 5 - 10 combined from three.  BTW, their other main shooters were 1-11.

Credit St. Mary's using their defense and experience finding ways to win on the road while having the worst shooting game of their season.  It will be a much harder challenge when we play them again on January 21st in Moraga.

The road ahead is full of more great opportunities and potholes.  Three of the next five games are away:  this Thursday at Pepperdine, the 14th at Pacific and the 21st at St. Mary's.  We are home on this Saturday vs the Zags and the following Thursday, January 19th, against BYU.

Pepperdine on the road is a big challenge.  At 7-8 on the year, they are much better than their record.  They, like SCU, beat UC Irvine and then shot 52% from 2 point and 40% from 3 point range and lost to Gonzaga by 23!  BTW, the Zags shot a gaudy 61% and 46% from 3 point range in their 111-88 win.  Pepperdine can flat out shoot it. They can and will score inside and from deep up and down the roster.  We'll need every bit of grit we can muster.

Saturday night we get the Zags at Leavey.  Another chance for a breakthrough win.  The Zags have all but one of their main pieces back AND more talented newcomers.  We've played them tough at home and must play our best 40 minutes to have a good chance.

Expect a big dose of Drew Timme as the offense likes to run through him in a variety of sets.  There are few great defensive options and our coaches will have to pick their poison.  My guess is we might double Timme and the other bigs in the post and force them to kick it out for a long two or three point attempt.  Timme shoots 66% around the rim versus everyone else who shoots it at 38% from three.  

We have to pressure and contest the threes without fouling and basically hope they miss.  Gonzaga loves to run and beat you in transition just like us; so should be fun to watch.

Last season, after 25 years, we had a breakthrough season earning an invitation to the N.I.T.  We'll need another two breakthrough wins and can't afford breakdown losses.  I'm still going with "eight is enough" wins in the WCC to get us into the conversation.  I like the fight in this team.  Each player "expecting" the other to get it done and are vocal with each other when we are not.  Accountable. 

Let's hope we have something great to "count on" this week!