Huskies lose on road again: Romar’s decisions baffling.
The Washington Huskies went to 0-5 on the road on Thursday night, losing a last second heartbreaker to UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. And, while part of me is tempted to just throw my hands up chalk it up to bad luck on the road, I’m increasingly finding myself questioning the decisions of Lorenzo Romar. Tonight, it appeared that Ben Howland badly outcoached Romar as he took his underpowered roster and found a way to win. Here are my biggest concerns.
Howland Goes Zone
Despite being a man defense team – UCLA went into a 2-3 zone almost immediately tonight, apparently taking a page out of Arizona State’s playbook. The Huskies have struggled against the zone this season, as outside shooting has been sporadic. Tonight the Huskies came out hot and initially shot the 3 with deadly precision, building a nice lead on 3-pointers from Suggs, Turner, and Pondexter. But Howland played the odds, stuck with the zone, and soon the outside shots stopped falling. Once that happened – UW’s offense stalled. Passing the ball aimlessly around the perimeter, it was clear the Huskies did not have any ideas on how to break the zone.
This is frustrating. It is frustrating that Ben Howland can make 1 simple adjustment – going zone when UW expected man – and have it completely disrupt the UW offense for most of a game. The 2-3 zone should be no surprise to the Huskies by now – and they should be better against it.
Substitution Patterns
Last week against the Northern California schools, Romar established a clear substitution pattern. He pared down the rotation and allowed players to gain a rhythm. Tonight, last week’s rotation was turned on its head. I have to wonder if MBA was injured, because he barely stepped on the floor. In the first half of the game, Tyrese Breshers played well for UW, blocking several shots and rebounding well. But in crunchtime tonight, Romar went with Darnell Gant in the post.
UCLA went right at him. 5 of UCLA’s last 7 points came off of Gant, while Breshers sat on the bench.
Pondexter
Perhaps my biggest concern is that Quincy Pondexter was allowed to disappear in the second half tonight. As UCLA rode the hot hand of Reeves Nelson, UW inexplicably went away from Pondexter after his 15 point first half. How was this allowed to happen? There is no excuse. If the offense isn’t getting Quincy the ball – call a timeout and draw up a play for him. Get him involved. In 3 road games in a row now Pondexter has been eliminated from the offense late. That is tough to understand.
Ultimately, I’ve kind of come to the conclusion that this UW team is not consistent enough to be taken seriously. They dominate at home and ride the momentum of the home crowd, but when you take away sheer adrenaline, the basketball fundamentals of this team are mediocre. The offense is entirely dependent on 2 things – rebounds and turnovers. Plain and simple, when UW outrebounds its opponents and forces turnovers, they create extra possessions and speed up the tempo of the game. This leads to a situation like week 3 in conference play, where in 2 games against Stanford and California the Huskies had 57 more field goal attempts than their opponents. Naturally, they won both of those games. But in a game on the road, against a Ben Howland or a Herb Sendek (who are able to get their teams to slow the tempo of the game down and force the Huskies to play a half court offense) UW really struggles.
UW lost a game tonight against a UCLA team that it should have dominated. The best 2 players on the court played for the Huskies. The Huskies were more athletic at almost every position. UW were by far the deeper squad. And despite all that – the Bruins managed to win the game. I have a hard time understanding how that happens.
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Mustafa Abdul-Hamid? WTF?
We may have had the two best players, but the next three were all wearing white and blue. Nelson was easily the toughest player on the court, consistently out-muscling our bigs. Lee had absolutely no trouble with our ball-pressure and played a very mature game. And that Honeycutt is smooth as butter. Throw Josh Smith in there and you are looking at a dominant front line.
From what I could tell, UCLA didn’t play a single possession in man when they had a chance to set their D. And why would they? Our zone offense is pathetic. Quincy was the only player who was even remotely effective. You blame the team for not gettin Q the ball more, but there were a number of times where Quincy had opportunities to attack, but instead chose to swing the ball back out. Since we have exactly one other player who can be consdidered an a scorer going to the basket, this was usually not the right decision.
Once Turner and Suggs predictably cooled off, our offense ground to a halt. The Bruins were clearly aware that IT and Q are our only threats to do anything going to the rim and made a point to cut off all of IT’s perimeter dricing lanes. The Huskies only chance for consistent O was a take-no-prisoners attack from Quincy and to often he was content to be merely another member of the offense.
The diagram for beating the Huskies is out there. If you can weather the defensive pressure by slowing the pace and taking your time offensively, there are weak-side cuts to the hoop consistently available. On D, you zone it up, show on the shooters, but not to the extent that you lose contact with IT and leave him any driving lanes. Sure, Quincy will get his, but you can live with that if the rest of the team combines for 30 points.
I just dont see how things get much better. This a fringe NCAA team. We have one elite talent, a very good player, and a bunch of athletes who can’t create their own shot.
Great read Fig Jam, and Sparko’s response could stand as a blog entry on its own. Not lookin forward to watching the USC game, but will anyway. Mustafa abdul-hamid miiight end up on the no-fly list here in a few days, so hopefully we won’t have to worry about his cool as the otherside of the pillow clutchness in Seattle…
This game and a few others would have been winnable with Nelson (13 ppg) and Oliver (22 ppg). Its one thing to lose players to the NBA, and quite another to lose them to Portland State and San Jose State. The reason coach Romar is still stuggling with his rotation is his roster. It lacks three necessary ingredients: (a)upperclass experience and leadership; (b) a consistent three point shooter; and (c) a serviceable post player. With regard to the 2009/2010 team, those needs have been evident for at least three years, but as near as I can tell we only have two #1’s (Overton and Gaddy), one #2 (Suggs), one #3(QP), and no legitimate #4s or #5s. I’m not quite sure what IT is. Its a good thing we aren’t playing SU at Key Arena on Tuesday, but if the Chiefs come out in a zone, they may take their second Pac 10 scalp of the season. Uh oh; my bad. I guess that’s why they changed their name. Redhawks. Is that any different, or is it a chewing tobacco? In any event look for Cmaeron Dollar to be on the short list when Ernie Kent gets fired.
Why are we not starting Justin Holiday every game? He has been the factor in all of the big wins we have.
how can you expect the dawgs to break a 2-3 zone? its a very difficult and complicated zone to break and figure out. most of these guys probably weren’t even exposed to such a ‘d’ until well into their 6th grade aau seasons anyway…
Romar could simply bring in former Husky coach Tex Winter for a consult on the traingle offense. However, I’m not convinced that the Huskies have the talent to properly execute it. They can dance though.
Well Seattle U’s zone did not present much difficulty.