HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2691
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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01-20-24 07:20 PM - Post#361892
Where is Batties?
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2691
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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01-20-24 07:23 PM - Post#361896
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Batties finally enters when Pigge picks up his 3rd foul 9 minutes in.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2691
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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01-20-24 07:44 PM - Post#361906
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Amaker saving Ajogbor from a 3rd foul.
Okpara’s footwork is so good. Need Pigge back instead of Wojcik.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2691
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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01-20-24 08:00 PM - Post#361911
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Fun half.
Ajogbor and Pigge played few minutes due to foul trouble and we more than survived.
Hope Penn continues to post Spinoso vs Ajogbor. Not as futile as DNH vs Zena, but similar.
Guarding Perkins with Okpara was genius. Okpara is just too strong, big and athletic. Love his footwork with the ball near the hoop.
I’m sure Penn will make a spirited run in the second half as this is at the Palestra. Key contest as PYC start 3-0 and look too good.
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CrimsonBlood
Freshman
Posts: 46
Age: 33
Reg: 03-15-18
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01-20-24 08:42 PM - Post#361921
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
It is incredibly frustrating to watch us repeatedly turnover the ball against a basic press.
We just don’t have enough depth/skill outside of Mack and Okpara.
High school teams can break these basic presses… we throw it into the corner twice in a row for easy steals.
SMH.
At least we are winning… not impressed with 2H play though.
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CrimsonBlood
Freshman
Posts: 46
Age: 33
Reg: 03-15-18
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01-20-24 08:55 PM - Post#361922
In response to CrimsonBlood
Is Mack banged up?
I didn’t see the 1H, but he seems lost in second half.
Doesn’t seem to be attacking like he has all season.
Oblivious to the shot clock in a key possession down the stretch.
They don’t seem to be double teaming him either… take them 1x1, set some picks, and get to the bucket!
Tired of seeing forced throws into Ajogbor or turnovers in backcourt.
Ajogbor is such a dismal free throw shooter, I wouldn’t be surprised if teams just start hacking him down the stretch to force him to the line.
This is a must win for Harvard if they want any hope of getting 4th spot in Ivy League tourney.
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CrimsonBlood
Freshman
Posts: 46
Age: 33
Reg: 03-15-18
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01-20-24 09:11 PM - Post#361925
In response to CrimsonBlood
Have to admit the refs helped Harvard tremendously down the stretch.
The missed call in Okpara’s favor… the lane violation on the first miss of a 1x1 was kind of crazy…
But Harvard holds on and keeps dreams alive of Ivy League tournament.
A lot to work on after that 2nd half..
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2691
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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01-20-24 10:07 PM - Post#361927
In response to CrimsonBlood
The refs did get Mack drawing a charge on Spinoso wrong. It tends to even out.
We don’t have depth and that leads to very uneven halves. Only played the second half vs Brown. Important win though.
Have to throw over the press to Batties and Okpara. Not Ajogbor or Ace-Nasteski
Really glad Wojcik has improved his FT shooting.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2691
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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01-20-24 10:11 PM - Post#361928
In response to CrimsonBlood
The refs did get Mack drawing a charge on Spinoso wrong. It tends to even out.
We don’t have depth and that leads to very uneven halves. Only played the second half vs Brown. Important win though.
Have to throw over the press to Batties and Okpara. Not Ajogbor or Ace-Nasteski
Really glad Wojcik has improved his FT shooting.
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mobrien
Masters Student
Posts: 402
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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01-21-24 12:25 AM - Post#361932
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Let's start with the good: we won a game we absolutely needed to in a place where we've only won once in the previous eight years.
The bad is just as obvious: we yet again couldn't come close to putting anywhere close to 40 minutes of good basketball together. The second half today wasn't quite as bad as the first half was against Brown, but it was still horrendous. Beyond our inability to beat a simple press—we need to use our forwards more to advance it further up the court, and go deep from time to time, like we finally did at the end—the offense just totally died.
The things that stood out to me were that we stopped trying to attack in transition, and, after 10 seconds of directionless dribble weaves, ended up in late shot clock situations that Mack wasn't able to bail us out of today. We tried taking the air out of the ball for a whole half, and our offense went with it.
The other big thing was we didn't get the ball to Okpara at all in the second half. He turned it over in the post against an aggressive double team the one time we did, and it was like we stopped trying to get him the ball after that. We can't do that. He's our second-best creator. We need him to be involved.
I liked that we had Lesmond setting more ball screens for Mack when Penn started doubling or hedging hard. That's the easiest way to get a look we want off of that defense. The other thing I'd like to see is maybe stealing one of Penn's sets and using more of a two-man game with Mack and Okpara. The simple set that they used all the time with Brodeur was having the big man do a dribble hand-off at the three-point line for a shooter; either the defense trails and concedes the three or switches and gives up a mismatch in the post to the big. We could run that with Mack and Okpara and kill people. It's the kind of look we could go to when the offense hits a lull and we need to engineer a good look.
As frustrating as that second half was, today was still a step in the right direction. We just have to put it together for both halves. That means attacking the whole time, and maybe calling a few more plays for Mack and Okpara when the offense in general is in a rut.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2691
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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01-21-24 05:59 PM - Post#361969
In response to mobrien
At the under 8 first half timeout Harvard was up 29-20, mostly because Lesmond was 4-4 on 3’s. Ajogbor (2 fouls) and Pigge (3 fouls) were sitting out the remainder of the half. Okpara took over, scoring 11 points in under 4 minutes. Penn, on the other hand, tried to run everything through Spinoso. The defensive combination of Batties, Ace-Nasteski, and Okpara held Spinoso to one basket, about 4 missed shots, and what seemed like a couple of TO’s. Despite Spinoso trying to back in the entire game, he was never effective enough to draw a double team. This allowed Harvard to defend the perimeter, limiting Penn’s 3 point opportunities.
In what was a 6 minute span late in that half, Harvard grew a 29-20 lead to 46-25. That’s where, in my opinion, Harvard won the game.
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