Stanford point of View on the game
Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2015 1:46 pmInteresting to get the Stanford Fans point of view from The CardBoard - we are evidently a "Mouthy" team:
In the first real test of whether we can measure up to decent-or-better teams, we got a firm answer: No. With the game tied at 16-all not quite midway through the half, SMU went on a 15-3 run and it was never close again. The Mustangs were ahead by eight at the break, by 17 five minutes into the second half, and more than 20 for a prolonged period of the second half. About all you can say for Stanford is that the team never gave up and managed to creep within nine with just 1:22 to go, but that was as far as we got.
I didn't keep track of points in the paint, but they leaned lopsidedly to SMU, I'm sure; that's where the game was won and lost. The Mustangs played a tight man-to-man that really kept us from getting the ball inside -- Reid Travis, our best scoring threat, got only nine shots. A lot of our attempts to penetrate ended in turnovers (10 in the first half), which in turn ended in transition baskets for the Mustangs: They outscored us 17-1 off turnovers in the first half.
They scored a big batch more on lobs to men who got behind the Stanford defense in the halfcourt set, including several demoralizing alley-oops. For the first time this year, we defended mostly man to man. Two minutes into the second half, with the game slipping (okay, galloping) away, we switched to zone. Neither one worked at all. SMU got off 61 shots to our 48, hitting about 53 percent in the first half and over 60 in the second.
The good news, to the extent we had any, was the return of Marcus Allen. Though he didn't start, he played about 24 minutes and led the team in scoring with 18. His ability to repeatedly draw falls while forging into the lane -- he was nine of 13 from the line -- was the primary factor in cutting the SMU lead in half at the end of the game. The ESPN folks said Grant Verhoeven was available last night, too, but I never saw him leave the bench.
Random notes:
** SMU is kind of a mouthy team. One of their players jawed stupidly at Travis after he made a good play to tie the ball up; another, popping out of a big tangle of players under the basket, said something sufficiently testy to get called for a technical in the first half. What he said remains a mystery, but he didn't look at all surprised by the technical. And once, the ESPN cameras even caught two of the SMU guys yelling at each other during a timeout, very strange when they had a big lead.
** I was surprised, and delighted, when ESPN's Doris Burke said suspended SMU coach Larry Brown was lucky to have a job after being implicated in his third scandal for academic improprieties. Aside from the brain-fried Bill Walton, ESPN college basketball announcers never have anything bad to say about coaches; even the most wretched of them always "has the team moving in the right direction." And to call one out over academics is just unheard of. Hey, teejers! Still think we should have hired Brown?
** The string of televised Stanford nightime sporting events featuring shots of brightly lit University Avenue was snapped at 12,011 during tonight's game. All the evironmental shots were from San Francisco. I don't mind, particularly, but it was disconcertingly odd. On the other hand, ESPN didn't make the usual effort to disguise the profligately empty stands at Maples. This has gotta be the worst attendance at non-conference games since the days of Doctor Tom Davis.
In the first real test of whether we can measure up to decent-or-better teams, we got a firm answer: No. With the game tied at 16-all not quite midway through the half, SMU went on a 15-3 run and it was never close again. The Mustangs were ahead by eight at the break, by 17 five minutes into the second half, and more than 20 for a prolonged period of the second half. About all you can say for Stanford is that the team never gave up and managed to creep within nine with just 1:22 to go, but that was as far as we got.
I didn't keep track of points in the paint, but they leaned lopsidedly to SMU, I'm sure; that's where the game was won and lost. The Mustangs played a tight man-to-man that really kept us from getting the ball inside -- Reid Travis, our best scoring threat, got only nine shots. A lot of our attempts to penetrate ended in turnovers (10 in the first half), which in turn ended in transition baskets for the Mustangs: They outscored us 17-1 off turnovers in the first half.
They scored a big batch more on lobs to men who got behind the Stanford defense in the halfcourt set, including several demoralizing alley-oops. For the first time this year, we defended mostly man to man. Two minutes into the second half, with the game slipping (okay, galloping) away, we switched to zone. Neither one worked at all. SMU got off 61 shots to our 48, hitting about 53 percent in the first half and over 60 in the second.
The good news, to the extent we had any, was the return of Marcus Allen. Though he didn't start, he played about 24 minutes and led the team in scoring with 18. His ability to repeatedly draw falls while forging into the lane -- he was nine of 13 from the line -- was the primary factor in cutting the SMU lead in half at the end of the game. The ESPN folks said Grant Verhoeven was available last night, too, but I never saw him leave the bench.
Random notes:
** SMU is kind of a mouthy team. One of their players jawed stupidly at Travis after he made a good play to tie the ball up; another, popping out of a big tangle of players under the basket, said something sufficiently testy to get called for a technical in the first half. What he said remains a mystery, but he didn't look at all surprised by the technical. And once, the ESPN cameras even caught two of the SMU guys yelling at each other during a timeout, very strange when they had a big lead.
** I was surprised, and delighted, when ESPN's Doris Burke said suspended SMU coach Larry Brown was lucky to have a job after being implicated in his third scandal for academic improprieties. Aside from the brain-fried Bill Walton, ESPN college basketball announcers never have anything bad to say about coaches; even the most wretched of them always "has the team moving in the right direction." And to call one out over academics is just unheard of. Hey, teejers! Still think we should have hired Brown?
** The string of televised Stanford nightime sporting events featuring shots of brightly lit University Avenue was snapped at 12,011 during tonight's game. All the evironmental shots were from San Francisco. I don't mind, particularly, but it was disconcertingly odd. On the other hand, ESPN didn't make the usual effort to disguise the profligately empty stands at Maples. This has gotta be the worst attendance at non-conference games since the days of Doctor Tom Davis.