Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to Privateer Island Fan Forum. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
UNO trying to fix first-half scoring woes
Topic Started: Feb 17 2018, 12:17 PM (76 Views)
secoer
Member Avatar
Senior
[ *  *  *  * ]
Something we have all noticed with the team this year. But if you had asked me to predict their position at the beginning of the year I wouldn't have them near the top due to the change in players. I hope we can finish out the year with a bye going into the tournament. It is going to be tough but I like the fact that we are even having this discussion at this point in the season......

GO PRIVATEERS!!!!


http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/sports/article_da4260fe-134a-11e8-b26e-2b831919c1c6.html


Travin Thibodeaux hit a jump shot on UNO's initial possession against Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday night.

Then, as has happened a few too many times for the Privateers, the offense went kaput. UNO scored 3 points in the next 9:30, 2 points in another six-minute-plus stretch and trailed 40-17 at the break in a loss that all but eliminated its margin for error in the Southland Conference.

To have any chance of repeating as league champion, UNO (13-12, 10-4) must solve its first-half woes, starting with Saturday's 4:15 p.m. tipoff with McNeese State (9-14, 6-7) at Lakefront Arena.

The Privateers buried themselves before halftime in three of their four conference losses. They trailed Central Arkansas 40-23 in a lopsided 81-57 home defeat in January. They scored 6 points in the first 8:30 against Nicholls at home, fell behind 35-23 at the break and never cut the deficit to single digits.

Their performance in Hammond followed the same pattern, leaving them two games behind Nicholls and one behind Southeastern and Stephen F. Austin in the loss column with two weeks left.

"When you get 25 games into the season, you've tried a lot of approaches and you've tried to push buttons to figure out stuff," coach Mark Slessinger said. "We have to remedy it (the horrible starts) at some point."

Thibodeaux, who had scored in double figures in every conference game and is UNO's only player averaging in double figures (16.3 points), made one of his last seven attempts against Southeastern. He finished with a season-low 5 points.

"I went to my normal post moves that I use every game, and I had a couple of shots that just went in and out," he said. "It was tough trying to crack the lid on the basket."

Thibodeaux blamed himself for not being aggressive enough, pointing to his one free throw attempt. He thought he should have taken the ball to the basket and tried to draw more fouls.

Slessinger disagreed.

"He had a couple of opportunities to score, but at the start of the game we got 10 good looks in the paint, and we just didn't finish," he said. "That was the difference in the game. We've prided ourselves the last two seasons on being ridiculously unselfish in a lot of ways and really giving up good shots for great shots for teammates."

If the Privateers can figure out how to start faster, they still fancy their chance of finishing strong. They likely will have to sweep McNeese, Nicholls, Sam Houston State and Southeastern to earn a share of the championship, a tough task that will become impossible if they keep playing from behind.

UNO outscored Southeastern 47-31 in the second half, pulling within 6 in the final minute.

"All the teams that we lost to, I know we can play with them and definitely match up well with them," Thibodeaux said. "We just have to stop ourselves from getting into that big of a hole."

No one has a good explanation for the icy starts, but Slessinger is not panicking.

"The rest of the way, every night's a championship game, and we've got to put together long runs of good minutes," he said. "We played 20 or 22 good minutes of team basketball (against Southeastern). We needed 25 or 30. We have to figure out how many good minutes we need to win the game and exceed that."

LAGNIAPPE

UNO beat McNeese 82-75 in overtime on Jan. 6, getting a career-high 31 points on 10-of-13 shooting from guard Bryson Robinson. … McNeese is a game out of eighth place in the Southland and needs a victory to give itself a better chance to qualify for the league's eight-team tournament.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
reduno
Senior
[ *  *  *  * ]
AGREED, certainly the predictions are never even close but few thought we'd have won 8 in a row for sure. However, Coach is right,......after 25 games, one would think some of the issues would've been fixed....and going cold for 8 mins is not a fix.

I'm all for looking for the best shot available but waiting till there are 7 seconds on the shot clock to set up offense usually means a bad pass or a rushed shot.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
« Previous Topic · UNO Sports Main Board · Next Topic »
Add Reply