Game Thread for NU vs. Wake Forest

[lou v]

The usual suspects will start for the Cats.

 

[Eurocat]

LETS GO CATS!

 

[GatoLouco]

The camera position and distance makes me feel like I’m watching the game hanging from the ceiling

 

[Hungry Jack]

Cold from the floor

 

[freewillie07]

Given how mediocre we've been closing out on 3s, and Nance's inability to finish near the rim, it feels like a win to be down just 3 at the under 16.

 

[GatoLouco]

Beran better start closing out on Laravia

 

[freewillie07]

Among the stranger Ryan Young baskets I've seen, but hey, at least he finishes at the rim.

 

[12375CAT]

C'mon Big Cats!

 

[Troy4L]

Elyjah Williams has been disappointing

 

[Troy4L]

Elyjah Williams has been disappointing

Happy this aged poorly

 

[GatoLouco]

Williams/Young far better than Nance/Beran and are only given 4 minutes on the floor

 

[freewillie07]

Robbie Beran with a perfect read of grabbing the airball from Simmons, only to badly miss the putback layup. Dude just needs to take a deep breath and play within himself.

 

[TheC]

Why are we over helping so much on defense!!??

Second 8-0 run for Wake this half.

 

[freewillie07]

Absolutely brutal stretch. Solid defense for 20+ seconds only to give up an open 3. Then Buie misses an easy layup. Then Walton hits his 3rd three-pointer out of 13 this season.

Just like that, Cats down 7. I'm sorry, but we shouldn't be losing this game.

 

[SDakaGordie]

That is so true. It’s why we give up open 3s all the time.

 

[TheC]

Our offense is so poor. Does Bajakian coach our hoops team too?

 

[TheC]

Same ol ****. This is pathetic.

 

[Troy4L]

God we need Audige

 

[freewillie07]

We would be tied instead of down 12 if we simply made our layups that should be executed at a 90% clip.

 

[catcrazy]

Can we please hit shots. No more losing to middling teams we should own Wake. Need to win these games. We had 3 years of losing games. This year we need to win these games.

 

[Catreporter]

This is really getting old. Meet a halfway decent team and we fold.

 

[HawkCat]

Here in the arena, it is even more obvious that our perimeter defense is hot smoking garbage. Giving up uncontested threes all over the place.

 

[GatoLouco]

Defense has problems. Sure. But we scored 2 point in a 10 minute stretch

 

[Alan Smithee_rivals156293]

Here in the arena, it is even more obvious that our perimeter defense is hot smoking garbage. Giving up uncontested threes all over the place.

The interior defense hasn’t been bad, but Wake has so many wide open threes it doesn’t matter.
I’m not as worried about our shooting as the shot selection, which has been unnecessarily rushed. Taking poor shots again - almost everyone.

 

[freewillie07]

Dang, hate to see that last second 3 go in from Wake to halt the run, but solid response from the team to cut the deficit to 5 from 12.

More like those last few minutes, please. And we can win this.

 

[Troy4L]

Roper and Simmons are playing so well. Both are some of our best rebounders as well.

 

[EagerFan]

so at the end of the first half it looks like a familiar game with WF players knocking down threes left and right. Cats looking good for stretches, but ultimately giving up a lot of open looks with a little ball movement against them.

I like a lot of what I've seen from the new kids, but lots of n00b lapses as is expected.

It ain't over yet, but WF will need to revert back a bit to the mean on 3s if we're gonna pull this out.

 

[Troy4L]

The interior defense hasn’t been bad, but Wake has so many wide open threes it doesn’t matter.
I’m not as worried about our shooting as the shot selection, which has been unnecessarily rushed. Taking poor shots again - almost everyone.

Think the open threes start with getting beat off the dribble. Happening way too often

 

[catcrazy]

We should beat wake but need to hit shots. The time is now to beat teams we should beat. Wake Forest is due for a long cold stretch in the second half

 

[Alan Smithee_rivals156293]

Little run to reduce the margin at half. We have issues to work on this year, but our basketball team so far has something the football team didn’t. They battle when they’ve dug a hole for themselves. There’s a little grit when they encounter adversity.

 

[HawkCat]

Roper and Simmons are playing so well. Both are some of our best rebounders as well.

Simmons is skinny as heck, but he can really elevate for rebounds.

 

[lou v]

 

[cat inkansas]

Here in the arena, it is even more obvious that our perimeter defense is hot smoking garbage. Giving up uncontested threes all over the place.

Because we don't make 3 pointers doesn't mean others can't. We really need to protect those outside shots. Maybe we need to rethink double teaming 20 feet from the hoop, as we are leaving a lot of opponents with wide open shots. In the first they made more 3's than 2''s.

 

[SimpsonElmwood]

Feeling good about that half given the poor shooting and Nance’s tough half. We can beat these guys. Go Cats!

 

[Jonny2TheP]

Simmons has some work to do on the offensive end (not incompetent, just a little raw), but he is already one of our best defenders. He closes out on shooters better than anyone else on the team.

 

[freewillie07]

Simmons has some work to do on the offensive end (not incompetent, just a little raw), but he is already one of our best defenders. He closes out on shooters better than anyone else on the team.

Agreed. This is valuable experience for him to be picking up while Audige is out. The two of them together on the floor could match up well against guards/wings in the conference.

 

[12375CAT]

C'mon Big Cats!

 

[Alan Smithee_rivals156293]

This team can fight back. Erased that 7 point lead pretty quickly.

 

[freewillie07]

Buie and Nance are playing astoundingly awful basketball right now. Would rather see Greer and Young out there.

 

[SDakaGordie]

I think we play “hurt defense”, not “help defense”. It’s unbearable to watch.