Select "print" from your browser's "File" menu.

Back to Post
Username Post: Columbia Leads Quinnipiac By Two at Halftime
Columbia 37P6
Postdoc
Posts 2163
12-04-17 09:04 PM - Post#239037    

Lions up by two at halftime against Quinnipiac in a high scoring shootout between two hot shooting teams. Mike Smith, who is clearly the face of Columbia basketball, is having a spectacular evening scoring almost at will and sharing the ball with his teammates. Adlesh is also having a solid evening, but the problem for the Lions is that their defense is lacking and Quinnipiac is beating up on us on the boards as Meisner is playing outside too much, Faulds is not playing enough and Tape is still showing fouling too much. Hopefully, the Lions will defend better in the second half.
Chet Forte
Postdoc
Posts 2958
12-04-17 09:50 PM - Post#239055    

Another disastrous failure to close out what should have been a ten point win. This is no coincidence. No matter who we play, we simply seem incapable of closing out winnable games. The defense was just awful. This was a really bad loss.

cc66
Postdoc
Posts 2201
12-04-17 10:07 PM - Post#239058    

12 from Faulds, 12 from tape, but no defense at all and a disastrous loss.
Columbia 37P6
Postdoc
Posts 2163
12-04-17 10:24 PM - Post#239063    

Columbia loses again down the stretch, this time by an 89-87 score. Once again the Lions are outsmarted by their opponent. This time, Meisner misses the a long outside shot with the score tied and Quinnapiac sets up an easy drive to the basket for the winner. Meisner is a wonderful outside shooter, and if his shot went in, we might be praising him, but it did not, so the second guessing begins. However, notwithstanding another painful loss, there were a number of positive takeaways from tonight's game including the outstanding play of our two centers, Tape and Faulds. Both of them starred on offense. Mike Smith was sensational in the first half and shared the ball well throughout the game. Nate Hickman had one his best overall games. Meisner hit some big outside shots and rebounded well, and Adlesh hit some key shots. Columbia has plenty of guns and it seem just a matter of pointing the guns in the right direction. A change in strategy by the generals seems called for.
Columbia 37P6
Postdoc
Posts 2163
12-04-17 10:35 PM - Post#239064    

Agree with your comments about the defensive lapses. There were couple of embarrassing moments tonight when Quinnapiac's had men open outside for what seemed like eternity. More than that, we did nothing to stop their outside shooters from getting open for easy looks. If we played any meaningful zone coverage, I missed it.
Chet Forte
Postdoc
Posts 2958
12-04-17 10:36 PM - Post#239065    

Agreed. We have talent but it is hard to understand these painful outcomes.

cc66
Postdoc
Posts 2201
12-04-17 11:35 PM - Post#239077    

I don't know if it was so evident on ILDN, but for those of us at the game, it was painfully obvious that Q would isolate one shooter on the wing and wait for the open 3, which they hit at least a 50% rate.

Although the offensive display was intermittently impressive, we're terrible defending the 3, and despite Faulds and Tape, not yet much good rejecting shots inside. Are we one of those teams that plays just below the level of whoever our opponent is, irrespective of level?

If so, it is going to be a long, long season.
Columbia Alum
Junior
Posts 247
12-05-17 01:13 AM - Post#239081    

Hickman had 1DR, 1assist and 1block in 33mins against a poor opponent. He once again had a poor ORAT. We should have beaten Q by 10-15 instead of losing, this game should never have been close to begin with. We need castlin back asap to take almost all of Hickman's minutes. In the meantime I would play stefanini instead who will make some mistakes, get good experience and has more upside as a freshman. We got zero points in the last 3 minutes of the game, this was a coaching loss. Of the 200 minutes available, I would allocate the team as follows:

Smith: 37
Meisner: 30
Adlesh: 30
Faulds: 25
Tape: 25
Stefanini: 20
Bibbs: 12
Hickman: 8
Hunter: 8
Barba:5

Castlin should get 30+ and killingsworth 20 when they return.


Chet Forte
Postdoc
Posts 2958
12-05-17 07:17 AM - Post#239083    

Hickman made a crucial three but also missed a bunny and two FTs in crunch time. He plays hard but is really not suited to being a starter. He is best coming off the bench for a few minutes at a time. Castlin has to get back for the Ivy season and start in place of Hickman. And our failure to defend the three point shot is really a coaching failure. Right now we have some talented guys but the whole is less than the sum of its parts.

LionFan
Senior
Posts 398
12-05-17 07:43 AM - Post#239084    

Third night in a row they got torched by guards. Smith is a defensive enigma ... great speed and quickness, gets into passing lanes for steals, but is beaten too easily one-on-one. QU's bulk was a lot for CU to handle, as well. I suspect the exam break is going to be a two-week symposium on defense - how to help out and rotate, keep a couple of bodies between the ball and the basket, without losing a shooter on the perimeter or a weak-side bandit near the basket.

A question: Eberle and Klores were on the bench but not dressed. No visual evidence of injury. They still could be hurt, but is there a league or NCAA rule limiting the number of players who can dress for a game?
internetter
Postdoc
Posts 3399
12-05-17 09:58 AM - Post#239096    

http://www.nycbuckets.com/2017/12/columbia-fall s-t...
west coast fan

TheLine
Professor
Posts 5597
12-05-17 12:47 PM - Post#239115    

Heartbreaking loss.

I didn't see the game, was just following along, but sounds like more of the same. In the games I have seen, there are far too many breakdowns in defensive discipline. Players are out of position constantly, not making good reads, and eventually leave someone on the other team wide open.

I'm looking at the numbers and the starters logged a lot of minutes. Was it warranted? Did they tire down the stretch?

Unfortunately this was the easy game before the break - Stony Brook and Navy are competitive teams, then there's BC.

cc66
Postdoc
Posts 2201
12-05-17 01:27 PM - Post#239119    

One important gem of information is buried in this otherwise sensible analysis, namely, that they hope Castlin will be back by the start of the Ivy season. Although he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt at the game last night, it appeared as if there was some kind of brace on his arm. We will be a significantly improved team with him, especially since the 1st years will have had some substantial experience as his replacement.

Now, if only someone else would let it slip what's happened to Killingsworth, we would be fully informed....
Chet Forte
Postdoc
Posts 2958
12-06-17 10:30 AM - Post#239204    

One alternative explanation: Engles really doesn’t know what he has yet with all of the young players and is using the OOC schedule as a long preseason to get ready for the Ivies. That is the explanation given to me by one administration insider. Take it for what it’s worth.

LionFan
Senior
Posts 398
12-06-17 11:03 AM - Post#239208    

Chet, in a post game interview, Engles said the defense is having communications problems that leave players out of position. He said he played some of the youngsters less because they hadn't proved yet that they would be effective in the defensive scheme. That seems to support the gist of your conversation.
TheLine
Professor
Posts 5597
12-06-17 11:31 AM - Post#239211    

That's consistent with what I've seen in other games but the starters logged a lot of minutes against Quinnipiac and none of them are Freshmen. Same results.

roarlionroar
Freshman
Posts 55
12-06-17 07:49 PM - Post#239261    

Castlin will be back for the Ivies, Killingsworth is likely out for the year.

Cant relay much more than that.
Columbia Alum
Junior
Posts 247
12-07-17 05:06 AM - Post#239453    

That sucks about killingsworth, he was hitting his stride this year. Getting castlin back will be a huge boost for us. We'll be right there in the top 4 mix with him.



Copyright © 2004-2012 Basketball U. Terms of Use for our Site and Privacy Policy are applicable to you. All rights reserved.
Basketball U. and its subsidiaries are not affiliated in any way with any NCAA athletic conference or member institution.
FusionBB™ Version 2.1 | ©2003-2007 InteractivePHP, Inc.
Execution time: 3.509 seconds.   Total Queries: 15   Zlib Compression is on.
All times are (GMT -0500) Eastern. Current time is 01:19 PM
Top