Game #26 vs Stanford

[Beachcat97]

We just need to peak at the right time. Live and learn.

I mean, that's true of every team.

As this season winds down, we're being reminded of having a weaker backcourt than last season. I know Kriisa's numbers are respectable, but I wonder how many of us are actually confident he can make big plays against good teams in the tourney next month. Ramey and Larsson have been fine, and I like Henderson. Boswell is doing well in the minutes he's given. But Kriisa is the one we brought to this dance, guys. As great as Tubelis is (and at times Ballo), Kriisa has the ball in his hands most of the game, and he's in the most critical position to impact our offense. Tonight, he had one assist. One. And he was 3-10 from the field (all 3 point attempts). That's garbage, imo. If he cuts his 3 attempts in half and adds four assists, maybe we win that game.

[TheCat]

Kerr issue isn't offense as much as defense. They isolated him all game long to either get a shot or easy pass. Our defense abandoned us in this game and Stanford shot and hit open shots. This was a game that provides a blueprint to beat us and it is Tommy job to figure out how to counter. I think he will.

[pc in NM]

Kerr issue isn't offense as much as defense. They isolated him all game long to either get a shot or easy pass. Our defense abandoned us in this game and Stanford shot and hit open shots. This was a game that provides a blueprint to beat us and it is Tommy job to figure out how to counter. I think he will.

Coach Haas put together a really good strategy. Arizona was switching every time, and Stanford just kept playing the switches until they had a positive matchup for Ingram or Jones (too big for a guard, especially Kerr, and too quick for Ballo) who did great, and when they kicked it out, a couple of guys shot threes way, way better than normal. This took Ballo out prematurely. They deserve credit for great execution with a touch of luck.

When we went small, the four guards played very well, IMNSHO; so well, in fact, Stanford was forced to go small in response.

But the timing and nature of the fouls called on Zu effectively took him off the floor a hugely disproportionate amount of time, and, in the end when we had to go small to press effectively, he was useless with 4 fouls, and had to sit.

I just think the odds of any team performing that well for 40 minutes AND Zu only getting two shots (!!!!!), not to even mention how few touches, in the same game are astronomically low.

[Captain Obvious]

Disappointing yet predictable loss. When your point guard has one assist that is not a formula for success. With UCLA holding serve last night in Eugene they pretty much sealed up the conference title. Our ceiling is the Sweet 16. Just too many weaknesses to overcome and the wrong personnel to overcome them with. I'd like to see a little more improvement on defense going forward in lieu of last night's debacle. Excellent effort by the Cardinal.

[Dave]

Here are the Tubelis/Ballo point totals in each of our 4 losses. Utah 42, WSU 40, Oregon 24 and Stanford 12.

[84Cat]

Man the comments are brutal. Fans not liking how Lloyd stuck with the same lineup the whole 2nd half

[pc in NM]

Disappointing yet predictable loss. When your point guard has one assist that is not a formula for success. With UCLA holding serve last night in Eugene they pretty much sealed up the conference title. Our ceiling is the Sweet 16. Just too many weaknesses to overcome and the wrong personnel to overcome them with. I'd like to see a little more improvement on defense going forward in lieu of last night's debacle. Excellent effort by the Cardinal.

Yes, ANY team shooting 60%, AND Zu getting only 2 shots, is just so fucking predictible…

… EVERYONE knew this was gonna happen!!

[BBQ wildcat]

Didn't watch the game, and now am glad I didn't. So can only go by the stats. A few things really popped out

1. Rebounding -- how were we out rebounded so bdly? 33 to 23?
2. Defense -- or lack thereof. Where was the defensive effort the team has had lately, allowing a ridiculous 61% shooting?
3. The team just doesn't have any depth, with only two guys off the bench, even with our star out with foul trouble.

[azcat49]

First half I thought we played very well. That small lineup really gave them fits. Not sure why we didn’t see more of that in the second half.

Just another game where you get every teams best performance against us. ASSU played small in the end and had that big run which seems to be the best way to play them.

Don’t really understand Furd. Haas seems like a very capable coach but they underperform every year. I don’t think the have been in the tourney in his time there

[U.P. Zona Fan]

My goodness,

I wonder if there has ever been a game where a team shoots 61% and 56% from three, and didn't win the game.

We were outrebounded because we didn't have any bigs in there, we were missing the leagues leading scorer and rebounder for 23 min and when he was in the game after the first five min had elapsed, he was not the same, just looked tentative.

Their small ball lineup just looked bigger than ours and won lots of rebounding battles. It was especially apparent on all their missed free throws, (the one stat furd did not excel in) that even played to their advantage because they rebounded what seemed like half of their missed at the line then shot freaking 61%

So they actually scored more points by missing the free throws snagging the board and throwing up some garbage.

This game is a super anomaly, and if any team puts up these numbers against us again, they deserve to win.

Now, that's great for them, they got a huge win. Congrats Stanford for having a truly incredible performance.

Now, for goodness sakes!!! Win More Games in the non con so you aren't dragging the conference into mediocrity by deciding to turn it on 4 times a year.

Their coach is on one of the hottest seats in the country, they've lost a lot of games this year to not good opponents, and I'd be utterly shocked of they make the NIT.

So happy you won your Superbowl this weekend.

Play like this more often!!!!! And not just against us!!!

So frustrating to lose to teams who underperform all freaking year just to pull a great game out of their tookas when we come to town.

[Dave]

Nice write up! I sure don’t want to see them in the PAC Tourney. They look like a bad matchup to me. This week is going to be interesting because I feel like Utah and Colorado both know how to hang with us.

[KaibabKat]

I would like to see us beat Utah this week and meet , and beat, Stanford in Las Vegas. That way we can say we beat everybody we played all season.

[Beachcat97]

Bench Kriisa, win more games.

[Merkin]

No one on the team has better court vision than Kriisa. Boswell is a much better defender, but misses the open man a lot, especially during Stanford when Zu was constantly double covered.

I thought Ballo had a much worse game than Kriisa and Larsson who seem to get blamed a lot of this loss. 4 boards in 28 minutes? 4 Stanford players had more rebounds. The Stanford offense was based on setting screens to get Ballo to cover a guard at the 3 point line leaving them wide open.

The coaching staff also needs a lot of blame for the loss. Stanford doubled Zu daring the Cats to beat them shooting 3 point shots, and the Cats fell for it, chucking up 35 3s. I rarely see any adjustments at half time, and usually the Cats come out then making a couple of turnovers, at least in half the games to start the half.

[Beachcat97]

No one on the team has better court vision than Kriisa. Boswell is a much better defender, but misses the open man a lot, especially during Stanford when Zu was constantly double covered.

I thought Ballo had a much worse game than Kriisa and Larsson who seem to get blamed a lot of this loss. 4 boards in 28 minutes? 4 Stanford players had more rebounds. The Stanford offense was based on setting screens to get Ballo to cover a guard at the 3 point line leaving them wide open.

The coaching staff also needs a lot of blame for the loss. Stanford doubled Zu daring the Cats to beat them shooting 3 point shots, and the Cats fell for it, chucking up 35 3s. I rarely see any adjustments at half time, and usually the Cats come out then making a couple of turnovers, at least in half the games to start the half.

Thanks for this analysis, Merk.

This is one of the more stinging criticisms of the coaching staff I've seen this season. It's indeed troubling to be this late in the season and have some of the problems we saw on Saturday. I've always felt like the way you get deep in the tournament is by gradually elevating the quality of your "worst game." If a team, by March, can establish a kind of baseline performance, where certain things are almost certain to happen (defensive hustle and adjustments, FT shooting, bench production, etc.), they can probably survive a bad shooting night in the NCAA tournament.

I'm still not convinced on Kriisa. I don't think his positives outweigh his inconsistency and overconfidence.

[84Cat]

On Thursday CTL said that Kriisa has been sick earlier in the week. I don't think he was up to full strength this week. Now I'm not the biggest Kriisa fan because I think his game is just too one dimensional. In fact, Corey Williams was on Bramlett's podcast and said his main worry was our ballhandling. If a team really pressures us and takes us out of our gameplan, we have no real counter. Boswell is better but Kriisa just doesn't have the skills to really get the ball up the court and into our plays like we need him to. We saw this play out on Saturday. Utah did it to.

[Beachcat97]

Boswell is better but Kriisa just doesn't have the skills to really get the ball up the court and into our plays like we need him to. We saw this play out on Saturday. Utah did it to.

Bringing Larsson off the bench has been arguably Lloyd's best adjustment all season. Do the same with Kriisa. Let Boswell start the game. If this doesn't happen, it's not too hard to predict the final game of the season. Our opponent in the tourney does a terrific job of denying post entry to Tubelis, Ballo gets in early foul trouble, and Kriisa goes 3-13 from 3 with 2 assists.

[CardiacCats97]

Bench Kriisa, win more games.

Will benching Kriisa keep our best player out of foul trouble?

Crazy if true.

[Merkin]

Our opponent in the tourney does a terrific job of denying post entry to Tubelis, Ballo gets in early foul trouble, and Kriisa goes 3-13 from 3 with 2 assists.

This team more than any other I have seen recently might lose in the first round due to that. Double Zu and make Arizona beat you from outside.

Agree on Larsson off the bench. I actually thought he did a pretty good job defensively, and he was key in getting the UA to make a run in forcing turnovers.

Kriisa reminds me a lot of Jason Gardner, just streaky AF shooting the ball, with doing much better at home than away.

[Beachcat97]

Our opponent in the tourney does a terrific job of denying post entry to Tubelis, Ballo gets in early foul trouble, and Kriisa goes 3-13 from 3 with 2 assists.

This team more than any other I have seen recently might lose in the first round due to that. Double Zu and make Arizona beat you from outside.

Agree on Larsson off the bench. I actually thought he did a pretty good job defensively, and he was key in getting the UA to make a run in forcing turnovers.

Kriisa reminds me a lot of Jason Gardner, just streaky AF shooting the ball, with doing much better at home than away.

But JG didn't have the same hubris and erratic style. JG was indeed streaky, but when his shot wasn't falling, he'd impact the game in other ways. When Kriisa's shot isn't falling, he just keeps throwing up brick after brick. Those misses are effectively turnovers.

[Merkin]

Seems to me JG shot the Cats out of several NCAA tourney wins although you are correct about hubris and erratic play. Neither are/were NBA material.



https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pl ... elog/2000/
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pl ... elog/2001/
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pl ... elog/2002/
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pl ... elog/2003/

[Beachcat97]

Seems to me JG shot the Cats out of several NCAA tourney wins although you are correct about hubris and erratic play. Neither are/were NBA material.



https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pl ... elog/2000/
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pl ... elog/2001/
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pl ... elog/2002/
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pl ... elog/2003/

Wow. I'd forgotten how poorly JG shot in those games. Yeesh.

Yeah, that's what I expect from Kriisa in the tourney this year.

[dovecanyoncat]

Bench Kriisa, win more games.

And fire Lloyd if he doesn't bench him. Yeah, that's the ticket! Yeah!

[pc in NM]

Seems to me JG shot the Cats out of several NCAA tourney wins although you are correct about hubris and erratic play. Neither are/were NBA material.



https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pl ... elog/2000/
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pl ... elog/2001/
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pl ... elog/2002/
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pl ... elog/2003/

Wow. I'd forgotten how poorly JG shot in those games. Yeesh.

Yeah, that's what I expect from Kriisa in the tourney this year.

Steve Kerr was the worst in the Final Four!! Remove him from the Ring of Honor!!

[pc in NM]

Our opponent in the tourney does a terrific job of denying post entry to Tubelis, Ballo gets in early foul trouble, and Kriisa goes 3-13 from 3 with 2 assists.

This team more than any other I have seen recently might lose in the first round due to that. Double Zu and make Arizona beat you from outside.

Agree on Larsson off the bench. I actually thought he did a pretty good job defensively, and he was key in getting the UA to make a run in forcing turnovers.

Kriisa reminds me a lot of Jason Gardner, just streaky AF shooting the ball, with doing much better at home than away.

But JG didn't have the same hubris and erratic style. JG was indeed streaky, but when his shot wasn't falling, he'd impact the game in other ways. When Kriisa's shot isn't falling, he just keeps throwing up brick after brick. Those misses are effectively turnovers.

This last comment is just too dumb, and blatantly counterfactual, to merit anyting other tan an insult!

FU!!

[Beachcat97]

Not a Kriisa fan, guys. What can I say?

[PHXCATS]

is this real life?

[Dave]

When a team like Stanford decides to guard the paint like they did you basically have one option. Bomb three's! Almost half of our shots were 3pt attempts. When you let a team shoot 60% FG and 60% 3PT nothing matters. Your cooked!

[pc in NM]

When a team like Stanford decides to guard the paint like they did you basically have one option. Bomb three's! Almost half of our shots were 3pt attempts. When you let a team shoot 60% FG and 60% 3PT nothing matters. Your cooked!

Can you please tell me exactly the strategy Stanford deployed that held Zu to two shots for an entire game?

[EastCoastCat]

When a team like Stanford decides to guard the paint like they did you basically have one option. Bomb three's! Almost half of our shots were 3pt attempts. When you let a team shoot 60% FG and 60% 3PT nothing matters. Your cooked!

Can you please tell me exactly the strategy Stanford deployed that held Zu to two shots for an entire game?

It’s called the “get the refs to call imaginary push off fouls” strategy.

[azcat49]

Looked to me like Furd was dropping the weak side guard into the middle of the paint and taking away the lob on the high low.

Not sure that limited Zu as much as the foul situation. He was simply not aggressive and we saw that last year in the tournament.

I have no doubt we will see similar defenses thrown at us going forward but Zu just needs to be aggressive like he has been for most of the year.

What concerns me most is what we do on defense on those switches. That’s where we got toasted

[Merkin]

Zu was doubled every time he set foot in the paint. That obviously leaves one Cat open, daring to beat them with 3s.

I haven't read anything, but I keep wondering if Zu had the same bug Kriisa had. Even on the court, he did not run well, and like has been noted, he was very passive.

We all recall how Zu faded the last few weeks of the season. Hopefully he gets his head on straight if he isn't sick.

[TheCat]

Well it seems like nothing really changes here after a loss. I stayed away till today but I guess it needs to be longer. Please step forward if you believed we would have the record we do now. We have lost to some teams we should not have but overall I am very happy with our record.

I think where we need to improve is to recapture that 4-5 game defensive intensity we showed. Maybe it was just fleeting but I saw what I thought was real improvement. We have 3 weeks to go and I hope to see confidence and defense in each game going forward.

Now I know what Kansas felt like after losing 3 in a row and it only takes one here.

[Dave]

They were front guarding Ballo a decent amount. Any player with the ball in the low post was double teamed.

[pc in NM]

When a team like Stanford decides to guard the paint like they did you basically have one option. Bomb three's! Almost half of our shots were 3pt attempts. When you let a team shoot 60% FG and 60% 3PT nothing matters. Your cooked!

Can you please tell me exactly the strategy Stanford deployed that held Zu to two shots for an entire game?

It’s called the “get the refs to call imaginary push off fouls” strategy.

Nah!! That’s giving too much credit to both Stanford (Too smart to stoop to manipulative ) and the refs (Those calls were random incompetence )…

[dovecanyoncat]

When a team like Stanford decides to guard the paint like they did you basically have one option. Bomb three's! Almost half of our shots were 3pt attempts. When you let a team shoot 60% FG and 60% 3PT nothing matters. Your cooked!

Can you please tell me exactly the strategy Stanford deployed that held Zu to two shots for an entire game?

It’s called the “get the refs to call imaginary push off fouls” strategy.

Haase said in the huddle to find ways to go downhill and I'll take care of the refs. That extended to the pushoff calls that stymied the high low game. Everything clicked for Furd. Time to move on.