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Basketball Recap – Mean Green Defeat Colonels 71-57

Box Score: NT 71 Nicholls 57

GoodRebounding. UNT defeated the Colonels on the board 56-34. That is exactly what I wanted to see. Also take note that it can be difficult to rebound out of the zone. I thought UNT did a fairly good job at going and getting the ball.

Bad21 Turnovers. Part of this is having a group of guys on the floor who aren’t comfortable playing together yet. The other part is just bad basketball and impatience. If you’re a big man you don’t need to try and take your guy off the dribble from the top of the key. I don’t know how many times a UNT big guy put the ball on the deck trying to drive and ended up turning it over.

UglyShot Selection. I get what UNT is trying to do, by forcing the ball inside the paint and trying to get fouls called. That still doesn’t mean you should drive to the hoop and force up some awful prayer. That is just unacceptable in my mind. I hate circus shots and I saw UNT take too many last night. Also if you get a rebound don’t be afraid to kick it back and run some offense. If you a good look at a put back take it, but if not kick it out.

Lucky Nicholls 3pt Shooting. I don’t attribute Nicholls 20% 3 pt shooting night to the defense. Yes they did contest some, but for the most part the Colonels just flat missed shots. They effectively broke down the UNT 3-2 zone and got plenty of open looks. I’m not a big fan of zone defenses, mainly because I think teams that play zone are just trying to mask that they can’t play defense. I’d like to see UNT use the athletes they have to play more man defense.

 

Greg’s Primetime PlayerT.J Taylor. Taylor was great coming off the bench tonight. He had a very silky smooth 14 points. It’s great to see him contributing, because UNT really needs scoring help from its guards.

Final VerdictIt ain’t pretty but at least you left the dance with a girl instead of going home alone, translation a W is better than L even if it’s ugly. UNT had to grind this one out. It never looked pretty and you always felt like Nicholls was one or two 3 pt shots away from making this one really tight. Give credit to UNT for not letting that happen. They kept battling and eventually put the Colonels away. You’re going to have those nights sometimes where nothing is falling and you have to find a way to win. UNT did that last night by getting to the free throw line 44 times. Going forward it will be interesting to see how teams defend UNT. Nicholls chose to go half court man. They pressured the UNT guards very well and forced a lot of unforced errors, but Nicholls put its self in foul trouble by being too aggressive. I really thought Nicholls would have played more 2-3 zone and force UNT to beat them from the outside, but that didn’t happen. UNT is going to see more team’s zone them off I know it will happen. Our opposing coaches will all see that 1-11 from 3 pt land vs. 44 free throws and know that they need to pack it in and force UNT to jack it up. Might even happen tomorrow vs. Delaware St.

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