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Some say "turnovers" but that is too simplistic. You have to get to WHY we are committing turnovers. Turnovers aren't the problem, they are a symptom of the problem. And the problem is that when we go to

Larry subbed Nic out of the game with about 6 minutes left in the first half. Between that point and halftime, we scored two points. If we had just scored 10 points in those 6 minutes (that's less than a basket a minute), we go to halftime up by 11 and likely do not look back. Why was our offense so ineffective?

1) When Nic went out, Cincy began to change up the defense. They played behind the ball and they did it with a great amount of discipline. We got 1 basket, a Cannen layup off a nice pass by Emelogu.
2) Then Cincy changed the defense again, by modifying their press to trap at half court. Manuel gets called for a push-off foul.
3) We take timeout and sub Nic back in. Conscious of Cincy packing in tight inside, Nic isn't quite sure what to do. He takes a jumper and misses. Next few times down the court, he elects not to shoot, instead we just pass the ball around until the clock runs down and we have to force up a bad shot.
4) Finally, Nic finds a way to penetrate the defense. Misses the layup but Ben Moore grabs the offensive rebound but passes it out to Moore. Instead of resetting the play, Nic forces up a quick shot, because what play is there to reset?

There were a few turnovers peppered in there, but most of it was simply bad shots coming from not knowing what to do with the defense. That's on Larry for not adjusting the team.

The second half turnovers were a further product of this, as the team started to force things in a last-ditch effort to salvage the game.

How many turnovers did Nic have this game? That guard from Cincinnati picked his pocket at an important time in the game. Let's hope they lower the turnovers.

Rebel10 wrote:How many turnovers did Nic have this game? That guard from Cincinnati picked his pocket at an important time in the game. Let's hope they lower the turnovers.

6 TOs and only 4 assists; not the ratio you want from your PG. Give Ryan credit; he had 3 assists and 2 TOs today

Nic seemed to mentally check out for about 8 minutes half way through the second half, and IMO that cost us the game. Was hoping he had matured after doing that a few times on the road last year, but doesn't look like that's happened yet. Expectations have to be higher for a Wooden Award candidate. Still think it can happen, and hoping this will be the last time that lesson has to be learned.

Kick Memphis [deleted] on Thursday...

Maybe it is time for Manuel to run this team and put Nic on the wing and free him up for more open looks-which he rarely gets at point. Maybe Manuel would control the ball better and have less turnovers than Nic. This team needs a shakeup.

jimhagle wrote:Maybe it is time for Manuel to run this team and put Nic on the wing and free him up for more open looks-which he rarely gets at point. Maybe Manuel would control the ball better and have less turnovers than Nic. This team needs a shakeup.

This team has played better since Coach Brown has started Ryan along with Nic because it gives us 2 handlers and take some pressure off Nic, but no way Ryan gets it done on his own. We weren't as sharp when Ryan and Ben E were running things today. Tough loss today, but still a long season to be played and we haven't seen the end product when Markus, Justin and Ben E. get more comfortable

Bad day for Nic. It happens.

I didn't think it was that bad a day for Nic; he came out strong but they turned up the D pressure to make him work hard for everything and I think they just wore him down

CoxMustangFan wrote:Bad day for Nic. It happens.

Before today -his last 2 games he was 1-7 and 8-20. Not what we need out of him and then throw in the turnovers being up this year too.

They scored more points than SMU

We lost bc my weekend depended on a win

I think one of things that bothered me most watching the game is that I think LB was outcoached. We allowed Cinci to get into the type of game they do best at which is physical, slow, bruising. There was no emphasis on movement, on pushing the game at Cinci.

Terry Webster wrote:I think one of things that bothered me most watching the game is that I think LB was outcoached. We allowed Cinci to get into the type of game they do best at which is physical, slow, bruising. There was no emphasis on movement, on pushing the game at Cinci.

Hard to fathom but I agree.

Cincinnati paper said that Nic was sick also.

Terry Webster wrote:Cincinnati paper said that Nic was sick also.

I thought it looked like Cincy wore him down; that helps explain it because he only played 33 minutes