Games 17 & 18, 2021-22: Saint Louis (1/20 & 23)

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Re: Game 17, 2021-22: Saint Louis (1/20)

Post by Acer71 » Thu Jan 20, 2022 10:06 pm

Solid effort and win. Jones has improved a lot and our guards were solid tonite. I am continually amazed how much coaching Travis Ford does on the court and no warnings from the refs!

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Re: Game 17, 2021-22: Saint Louis (1/20)

Post by Jeff90 » Thu Jan 20, 2022 10:49 pm

Great effort. Wish we saw this more often. Saw alot of Garcia and Weeks tonight haven’t seen enough of that this year. Garcia brings another dimension with his ability to score at the basket and weeks besides getting hot offensively, can play D and rebound.

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Re: Game 17, 2021-22: Saint Louis (1/20)

Post by capezona » Thu Jan 20, 2022 10:57 pm

Great team effort (including the coaching :D ). Got to feel good for Garcia in particular. They did what they needed to do down the stretch.

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Re: Game 17, 2021-22: Saint Louis (1/20)

Post by R&G » Thu Jan 20, 2022 11:03 pm

Fun game to watch. For me, that was the most interesting and entertaining game this season. The offense was way more than just hoping for a high percentage from 3. Good intensity and good D. Well done.

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Re: Games 17 & 18, 2021-22: Saint Louis (1/20 & 23)

Post by MikeUMA » Thu Jan 20, 2022 11:10 pm

Since it's a back-to-back with the same team, let's just keep this existing thread going. Thread title changed.

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Re: Games 17 & 18, 2021-22: Saint Louis (1/20 & 23)

Post by m626t » Thu Jan 20, 2022 11:58 pm

our guys played tough, and for the most part pretty smart, in a tightly contested game against a decent team. If they win the next one, I might have to change my mind set regarding this team and the head coach.
All due respect, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart, I'm gonna pass.

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Re: Games 17 & 18, 2021-22: Saint Louis (1/20 & 23)

Post by 69MG » Fri Jan 21, 2022 12:08 am

This can't be the same team I've been watching for the last couple of weeks. More energy, hustle and grit than I've seen. SLU got 85 (really 83) and we actually played pretty good defense. Not perfect, but pretty good. SLU just has a lot of guys who can score in a variety of ways.

We stayed with them on the boards (30-31) and they are a +7 for the year. Also, we only had 9 turnovers which is a good number for us.

It seemed like MM finally figured out an 8 man rotation and all 8 produced. It helps when TJ and Garcia are healthy. Listed attendance was 1,665. Must have counted ushers, EMTs, concessionaires and anyone else they could find. I doubt there were 1,000.

Let's see which coach is better at making adjustments going into Sunday's game.

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Re: Games 17 & 18, 2021-22: Saint Louis (1/20 & 23)

Post by bunkerhill87 » Fri Jan 21, 2022 5:51 am

This effort is what we all want. Everyone contributed in their own way. Garcia adds a great dimension. Game never got away and we responded and scored when we needed a basket. Highly entertaining. And again so sad to see so few people. On the SLU side Collins is an incredible passer. They are a very good team. Well done Umass.

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Re: Games 17 & 18, 2021-22: Saint Louis (1/20 & 23)

Post by Quann » Fri Jan 21, 2022 7:47 am

Fun game to watch. A lot of back and forth. Won't make too much out of it but a solid win. Fernandes is becoming the go to guy down the stretch in games. Hopefully we can get some fans back in there when the students get back on campus.

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Re: Games 17 & 18, 2021-22: Saint Louis (1/20 & 23)

Post by Old Cage » Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:25 am

A couple of items I have not seen mentioned here:

1. The big guy fouling out sealed the deal. Good that we kept going at him. He had 16 and 7, but only played 21 minutes and was not around when needed.

2. Strange that Travis didn't make any adjustment when it became obvious that we were not going to jack up threes in the second half. Our guys were a half step faster coming off screens and driving to the hoop. Nada from Ford.
"Jack didn’t have any envy in him," Calipari said. "He was the greatest coach to ever coach here."

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Re: Games 17 & 18, 2021-22: Saint Louis (1/20 & 23)

Post by minutefanjsf » Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:34 am

Old Cage wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:25 am A couple of items I have not seen mentioned here:

1. The big guy fouling out sealed the deal. Good that we kept going at him. He had 16 and 7, but only played 21 minutes and was not around when needed.

2. Strange that Travis didn't make any adjustment when it became obvious that we were not going to jack up threes in the second half. Our guys were a half step faster coming off screens and driving to the hoop. Nada from Ford.
Travis doesn’t make adjustments to style just pressure. Never has. It’s why he didn’t succeed in the big 12.

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Re: Games 17 & 18, 2021-22: Saint Louis (1/20 & 23)

Post by Juice Stand » Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:47 am

This game shows that we're capable of playing with the A10's top tier...if their is high level effort. And that has been a big if. Hopefully this gives them the confidence and the kick in the pants to dig like this every night. They really played a full 40 minutes, and it's been a long time since that's happened. There were no big St Louis runs to put us away, we somehow had an answer for everything they threw at us.

Credit goes to McCall for two things in my mind. One is the way he switched up the defenses. We used a lot of zone and it was effective, but that last sequence with TJ's block was man to man. He seemed to push the right buttons defensively. And the second is getting in guys faces when they weren't giving it 100%. Trent was lazy on defense and rebounding, and McCall let him hear it. Loud and clear. That seemed to get him going.

It's nice to see that these guys haven't quit on each other or the coach. We know they can shoot 3's, and now I know that when they want to, they can drive to the rack, get to the line, and put pressure on other teams. Hopefully the zone becomes a staple of their defense because it has been working. I expect a loss on Sunday, just because it's a second game w/ St Lou and on the road, but then we have a nice stretch with some winnable games.

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Re: Games 17 & 18, 2021-22: Saint Louis (1/20 & 23)

Post by InnervisionsUMASS » Fri Jan 21, 2022 9:07 am

UMass won because they did things they haven't done all year:

-Being aggressive to the hoop more often than not
-Not solely relying on the 3 (note: that doesn't mean not taking any 3s, just that they didn't jack them on every possession/at terrible times during possessions)
-Mixing up defensive schemes throughout helping prevent long runs by SLU, thus keeping us in the game (note: yes, we still gave up a TON of points, but that sort of is-what-it-is at this point... see next line)
-Getting defensive stops at key moments - what a breath of fresh air to see that block and steal on consecutive possessions!


These are things we haven't seen this team do all year, and really during the McCall era. If we can see these things more often as the season goes on, we might have something here.

The only monkey wrench to this is that we play SLU again Sunday. Ford will have his team prepared for our adjustments, plus we are on the road. If things don't go well on Sunday, I won't panic that this was a flash in the pan game. I want to see these (or these types of) adjustments against La Salle, GM and URI to know if maybe McCall and this team has turned a corner.


Overall, last night was a lot of fun to watch... these moments feel good! As always, Go UMass!!
Stop waiting for UMass to do something big and help UMass do something big. - Shades

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Re: Games 17 & 18, 2021-22: Saint Louis (1/20 & 23)

Post by Juice Stand » Fri Jan 21, 2022 9:17 am

IV, on your second point about better 3's and being more selective. I noticed there were probably 8-10 times that Trent received a pass outside the 3-point line and looked like he really wanted to pull the trigger, only to pull it back down and pass it off. Although his defensive/rebounding effort is an issue, it was clear to me that he was much more aware of the flow of the offense and looking to make the right play instead of the splashy play. The coaches are in his ear, no doubt.

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Re: Games 17 & 18, 2021-22: Saint Louis (1/20 & 23)

Post by InnervisionsUMASS » Fri Jan 21, 2022 9:21 am

Juice Stand wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 9:17 am IV, on your second point about better 3's and being more selective. I noticed there were probably 8-10 times that Trent received a pass outside the 3-point line and looked like he really wanted to pull the trigger, only to pull it back down and pass it off. Although his defensive/rebounding effort is an issue, it was clear to me that he was much more aware of the flow of the offense and looking to make the right play instead of the splashy play. The coaches are in his ear, no doubt.

It could be Twitter or UMassHoops in his ear for all I care... what you reference was HUGE and hopefully a good sign moving forward.
Stop waiting for UMass to do something big and help UMass do something big. - Shades

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