JBears
Senior
Posts: 334
Reg: 06-06-12
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11-23-22 05:18 PM - Post#347031
Another good challenge for a Bear team still establishing an identity and style of play. UMass Lowell beat Columbia by 27 points and also played Rutgers tough before losing by a very respectable 8 points. They come into the Pitz with a 4-1 record.
As noted by others, great ball movement is leading to open shots and nice opportunities around the basket. If that continues and the confidence grows, the Bears should get their share of W’s. They still need to continue to improve their FT shooting and reduce their TO’s.
IMO, Kloman has earned a spot in a 7-man core group, with his shooting ability, court savvy, and energy. He has been a real pleasant surprise. Conversely, Ferrari and Cowan are off to slow starts. Ferrari plays great pressure D at a frenetic pace. Unfortunately, he is shooting frenetically, too. He is heaving the ball at the basket before he barely catches the pass. He needs to slow down just a bit on the offensive end. Get off the floor from a good base. Relax his shoulders and shoot off his finger tips. As for Cowan, I never realized how little arc he has on his shots. He shoots line drives. He is shooting poorly from the field and the line.
This a winnable game the Bears need in order to gain confidence in each other and to add another W to the record while still early in the season. Hopefully Martin can keep the Bears on a upward trajectory.
Edited by JBears on 11-23-22 05:20 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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Ever True
Junior
Posts: 255
Age: 28
Reg: 02-02-15
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11-25-22 12:13 AM - Post#347066
In response to JBears
JBears, the things you highlighted as problem areas continue to be just that. After closing the first half on a 23-9 run, the Bears proceeded to score 23 in the entire second half. Bruno turned the ball over on 32% of their possessions. UMass Lowell got 27 points off of turnovers. Brown also shot 4-10 from the charity stripe - we are shooting ~52% on free throws this season, which is good for last in all of D-I. The D-I average is around 70% and our opponents are shooting 77% from the line through 5 games.
We are a decent defensive team - we force turnovers and have done a good job of limiting offensive rebounds thus far. We are a sub-par offensive team - understandable given the players we are trying to replace - but our biggest offensive problem is not holding on to the ball, which then compromises what we are able to do on D. Nana and Friday in particular need to tighten up with the ball. Next two games are ones we should win, although Maine could be tricky, given that they've already upset BC on the road.
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Old Bear
Postdoc
Posts: 3992
Reg: 11-23-04
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11-25-22 02:36 PM - Post#347070
In response to Ever True
The FT problem will continue to hurt. Friday wasn’t a factor, perhaps because he missed a week l but we need him. Lilly was 1-6 from 3., although he was more effective on D than he had been.
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JBears
Senior
Posts: 334
Reg: 06-06-12
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11-25-22 04:10 PM - Post#347072
In response to Old Bear
UMass really increased the defensive pressure in the second half and made it difficult for Brown to get off a shot. They are the more athletic and experienced team. Besides Lily, the Bears do not have a true “scorer”. At best they will be in a number of close games where they will need to hit FT’s and take care of the ball in order to win. No Bear blowouts this season. And little room for error in order to secure wins.
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