Whew!!!!!

[nvspuds]

Tough game but a W is a W..I'll gladly take it.

[student4ever]

Tough game but a W is a W..I'll gladly take it.

Yep. A W is a W. Now, if only our crowd knew how to be loud for the first 39 minutes.

[NEVADAFan1997]

I was shopping and updating the score on my cell phone. Losing to EW would have been a bad omen, good thing they got through it. What were the issues? EW that good or did we play flat or what?

[PackWard03]

8-16 from 3 (including some prayers), some horrible horrible defense sprinkled with some bad reffing and voila!!!

I oversimplified it but you get the jist.

[Packalum04]

This game worried me from watching the guys warm up. They looked lazy and unmotivated, while EWU looked sharp and having fun during warm ups. I said to myself that we might lose this game. I am glad I was wrong. The team looked really tired and lazy in the first half then they picked up the intensity in the second half. Add in the fact that it seemed like EWU couldn't miss a shot. I think we lose this game with Fox as coach. Carter never seems to panic and keeps his players calm. The Pack fought through it all game. Nice shot Brandon!!

[nwp2]

Tough game but a W is a W..I'll gladly take it.

I never caught on that last night was an actual tournament game.Wagner lost to BYU 77-61 and Eastern Washington now goes to BYU. Then Nevada plays BYU in Vegas. That means the Wolf Pack is on TV 12/22, 12/23 and then the Hawaii Bowl 12/24. I think I need to finish shopping for Christmas today.

[jwolfpack]

I think most of the crowd was a bit shocked EWU has having so much success offensively.

First time I have seen Carter nearly blow a gasket over a call.


The Packs D isnt were it needs to be....between lousy D in the paint and at the elbow, and EWU making some "hope it goes in" this was a rough night.

Cukic is looking better and better, his offensive skills are developing and I thought he played better D than the rest of our front court. First time since Chad Bell that I saw a Wolf Pack front court player not get bumped back until he was under the basket and the offensive player had an easy bucket....in another year with some added strength and few more pounds I think Cukic is going to be a heck of a player.

The foul he was called for in the 1st half was right in front of me and was total bunk....delayed whistle too...almost like the official saw that in was a bench player and then decided to call the foul. looked like good D to me...at least it wasnt any more a foul that just about every time luke took a shot from 2 or 3 feet out.

I am exicted to see olsen....btween olsen and cukic I am hoping we have some strong guys down low who will be able to keep Wesley and Webster from owning the paint. I really am not liking Luke's D...offensively he carried the team, but the big fella he had to guard had a very good night.

[student4ever]

I really am not liking Luke's D...offensively he carried the team, but the big fella he had to guard had a very good night.

I thought the guards let the Luke, Dario, and Marko down last night. The bigs had to step out and stop penetration after the guards got beat time and time again and then the guards weren't rotating down to stop the pass. I actually thought the bigs did a great job rotating, but the guards were playing ole defense all night and then not finishing off the rotation on the backside.

[Stuck in Seattle]

I thought the guards let the Luke, Dario, and Marko down last night. The bigs had to step out and stop penetration after the guards got beat time and time again and then the guards weren't rotating down to stop the pass. I actually thought the bigs did a great job rotating, but the guards were playing ole defense all night and then not finishing off the rotation on the backside.

There is simply no excuse for the deterioration of the defense since TJ left and it's continuing under Carter. Pomeroy's stats go back 6 years and this is easily the worst defensive efficiency we've had during that time.

Far less athletic teams are playing far superior D to the Pack and that's what is going to keep this team from the level of success that they have the talent to achieve.

[Nosebleed]

Does anybody know who the guy in the white sweater that was on the pack bench last night? Looked to be a few inches shorter than Olsen, but pretty stocky. I assumed it was a recruit, I thought maybe Evans?

Rick

[PACKFAN22]

I thought the guards let the Luke, Dario, and Marko down last night. The bigs had to step out and stop penetration after the guards got beat time and time again and then the guards weren't rotating down to stop the pass. I actually thought the bigs did a great job rotating, but the guards were playing ole defense all night and then not finishing off the rotation on the backside.


The guards repeatedly got beat off the dribble, and didn't rotate into the passing lane off the screen. A number of times they were using a screen and pop, where our defender would drop under the screen, and they would shoot over the top of the screener. They shot well from 3 because this was giving open looks. Joey got burned on this several times. They were quick and we looked like we had lead in our shoes.

The defense when we had to play defense, read that as the final minute, the defense was good. We held them without a good open look in both possessions, they threw up a prayer right before the clock expired on their last possession. I think the game was more a product of overlooking this team and playing with a "hangover" from finals.

[jwolfpack]

Does anybody know who the guy in the white sweater that was on the pack bench last night? Looked to be a few inches shorter than Olsen, but pretty stocky. I assumed it was a recruit, I thought maybe Evans?

Rick

Malik Story

[backsthepack]

Does anybody know who the guy in the white sweater that was on the pack bench last night? Looked to be a few inches shorter than Olsen, but pretty stocky. I assumed it was a recruit, I thought maybe Evans?

Rick

Matt Simpkins?:D
http://vmedia.rivals.com/IMAGES/PROSPECT/PHOTO/MATTSIMPKINS7_23150.JPG or http://www.fullctpress.net/i/t%20SoCal%20PR/Jerry_Evans.jpg

[backsthepack]

Malik Story
He sure dresses sharp. I only made it to two games this year so far, but that's what I've come away with.

[jwolfpack]

The guards repeatedly got beat off the dribble, and didn't rotate into the passing lane off the screen. A number of times they were using a screen and pop, where our defender would drop under the screen, and they would shoot over the top of the screener. They shot well from 3 because this was giving open looks. Joey got burned on this several times. They were quick and we looked like we had lead in our shoes.

The defense when we had to play defense, read that as the final minute, the defense was good. We held them without a good open look in both possessions, they threw up a prayer right before the clock expired on their last possession. I think the game was more a product of overlooking this team and playing with a "hangover" from finals.


noticed teams often run the same play against the pack where they send everyone to the bench side of the paint (right side) and then drive thier quick guards around to the left....Pack consistently gets beat on that play...Luke looked like he had that play defended last night but got called for a foul.

EWU also learned to break the Packs full court press for easy buckets....I have yet to see the Pack break another teams full court press for an easy bucket


Lots of concerns for this team right now. Defense just looks horrible. i realize EWU had a season hightlight game from beyond the arch, but they better solve the defensive issues if they want to dance in march.

[Blueblood]

Does anybody know who the guy in the white sweater that was on the pack bench last night? Looked to be a few inches shorter than Olsen, but pretty stocky. I assumed it was a recruit, I thought maybe Evans?

Rick

I didn't see him but I believe someone mentioned that Richie Phillips has been with the team this year, possibly as a coaches assistant intern type role?

[Posturedoc]

I didn't see him but I believe someone mentioned that Richie Phillips has been with the team this year, possibly as a coaches assistant intern type role?

Blue, the question was already answered. The person in question is Malik Story.

[Nosebleed]

I didn't see him but I believe someone mentioned that Richie Phillips has been with the team this year, possibly as a coaches assistant intern type role?

After checking the photos, I believe it was Malik Story. Cool.

Rick

[Blueblood]

Blue, the question was already answered. The person in question is Malik Story.

Gotcha, didn't see that at the time I posted. Thanks for pointing it out.

[Stuck in Seattle]

The guards repeatedly got beat off the dribble, and didn't rotate into the passing lane off the screen. A number of times they were using a screen and pop, where our defender would drop under the screen, and they would shoot over the top of the screener. They shot well from 3 because this was giving open looks. Joey got burned on this several times. They were quick and we looked like we had lead in our shoes.

The defense when we had to play defense, read that as the final minute, the defense was good. We held them without a good open look in both possessions, they threw up a prayer right before the clock expired on their last possession. I think the game was more a product of overlooking this team and playing with a "hangover" from finals.

The Pack pretty much stopped trying to fight through picks a couple of years ago. Now they all just run around the screen which is exactly what a good shooting team wants. If we played D like this against Jaycee Carroll he would have scored 40 points a game on curls and pick and pops. It's lazy and ineffective vs teams that can shoot. In other words, pretty much every good team.

[jwolfpack]

The Pack pretty much stopped trying to fight through picks a couple of years ago. Now they all just run around the screen which is exactly what a good shooting team wants. If we played D like this against Jaycee Carroll he would have scored 40 points a game on curls and pick and pops. It's lazy and ineffective vs teams that can shoot. In other words, pretty much every good team.

Kyle Shiloh learned to fight through those screens and became and extremely effective defender....I'd like to see armon, brandon and joey do a better job of that

[Posturedoc]

The Pack pretty much stopped trying to fight through picks a couple of years ago. Now they all just run around the screen which is exactly what a good shooting team wants. If we played D like this against Jaycee Carroll he would have scored 40 points a game on curls and pick and pops. It's lazy and ineffective vs teams that can shoot. In other words, pretty much every good team.

I generally like it when defenders fight through the screens, but I'm not sure I would chalk up how the Pack plays up top as lazy defense. Given the frequency with which these switches happen and Carter's apparent lack of irritation with them, I can only conclude that this is how he wants it done. Maybe he feels forced to run his D this way because he doesn't think his guards guard tough enough to play through the screens.

I think playing D this way can be effective, at least against teams without multiple dominating bigs, if the big up top is athletic enough (Dario for sure, Joey too and Luke on some guards) to guard up top and commits to it when the switch is made, the guard immediately switches to the big who set the screen and prevents him or at least slows him on the pick and roll and the remaining players, especially the big on the low block, rotate to protect the the pick and roll or guard penetration. Nevada may not be athletic enough in the front court to make it work with all of their players (Cucik), but they seemed to do a better job of it last night on those rare occasions where they decided to play defense.

[Stuck in Seattle]

I generally like it when defenders fight through the screens, but I'm not sure I would chalk up how the Pack plays up top as lazy defense. Given the frequency with which these switches happen and Carter's apparent lack of irritation with them, I can only conclude that this is how he wants it done. Maybe he feels forced to run his D this way because he doesn't think his guards guard tough enough to play through the screens.

I think playing D this way can be effective, at least against teams without multiple dominating bigs, if the big up top is athletic enough (Dario for sure, Joey too and Luke on some guards) to guard up top and commits to it when the switch is made, the guard immediately switches to the big who set the screen and prevents him or at least slows him on the pick and roll and the remaining players, especially the big on the low block, rotate to protect the the pick and roll or guard penetration. Nevada may not be athletic enough in the front court to make it work with all of their players (Cucik), but they seemed to do a better job of it last night on those rare occasions where they decided to play defense.

Yes, Carter is switching more than Fox did, but that's not generally considered the best way to defend from what I've read, but it's been the natural evolution.

When TJ left the guards still fought through screens, in Fox's first couple of years the defense regressed a little (mostly in the post) but we still fought through screens, then when Ramon and Shiloh left we tried fighting through screens, but it wasn't working for crap so we started hedging more (quite poorly most of the time) then early this year we were hedging but then went to switching. It's been a steady progression of lowered expectations of what is acceptable defense IMHO.

Defense is effort and technique plus quickness. You aren't going to convince me that AJ and Fields aren't quick. What does that leave?

Is the Pack less athletic than Utah State? Nevada is 196th in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency while USU is 47th. That equates to about 8 points per game at our pace.

[geezer1]

Don't think these guys will ever be a "great" defensive team. Not a ton of quickness, and when you figure in that the starters have to play over 30 minutes each, fatigue, rubbery legs, slow feet, and just saving some energy for the O end of the court all come into play.

[Stuck in Seattle]

Don't think these guys will ever be a "great" defensive team. Not a ton of quickness, and when you figure in that the starters have to play over 30 minutes each, fatigue, rubbery legs, slow feet, and just saving some energy for the O end of the court all come into play.

I don't buy the first argument at all. AJ and Fields are as quick or quicker than Ramon and Shiloh. And they are super quick when they have the ball. I don't think holding the ball imparts magical powers of speed and agility.

There have been and are very good teams that only go 8 deep. It certainly doesn't help and it affects the second half defense to some extent. But that doesn't explain it all or how the D has regressed over the last several years. I certainly hope that Olsen is able to contribute.

[geezer1]

I don't buy the first argument at all. AJ and Fields are as quick or quicker than Ramon and Shiloh. And they are super quick when they have the ball. I don't think holding the ball imparts magical powers of speed and agility.

There have been and are very good teams that only go 8 deep. It certainly doesn't help and it affects the second half defense to some extent. But that doesn't explain it all or how the D has regressed over the last several years. I certainly hope that Olsen is able to contribute.

Had you seen the little EWU guards blowing by AJ, Shaw, and Fields all night with double fakes and cruising to the bucket, you might see it differently. Nevada has some quickness, but not all the guys could snatch a fly out of mid-air, so to speak. Makes me wonder why we don't use a zone more often.

[Stuck in Seattle]

Had you seen the little EWU guards blowing by AJ, Shaw, and Fields all night with double fakes and cruising to the bucket, you might see it differently. Nevada has some quickness, but not all the guys could snatch a fly out of mid-air, so to speak. Makes me wonder why we don't use a zone more often.

EWU isn't the first team to do that so I'm quite familiar with the concept. Joey is certainly not quick enough to keep up. And guards always have the advantage on offense. But then you have to rotate. Other teams with less length and quickness do it. Why can't the Pack?

And a good zone might be an improvement. But it's a little late to change over and be good at it. We need an identity on defense and the players need to buy into it. I don't see that right now, or last year, or the year before that.

[AJ fan]

Had you seen the little EWU guards blowing by AJ, Shaw, and Fields all night with double fakes and cruising to the bucket, you might see it differently. Nevada has some quickness, but not all the guys could snatch a fly out of mid-air, so to speak. Makes me wonder why we don't use a zone more often.

ahh what game were you at? We came out flat had a few defensive lapses in the first half. These would have been nulified if Luke and Dario would of helped out earlier BTW. In the second half we played good "D" most of the half only for them to throw up some really lucky three's way behind the line way deep in the clock. I forget the names and numbers but at least two of their players had great games and played above their talent level it's going to happen. Did we have a good night on defense? no but I did not see these guards blowing by AJ, Shaw, and Fields all night I saw EU players making difficult or contested shots.