Was the defense in the post as bad as it seemed?
Short answer: no.
For all the love that the ACCN guys gave to State’s 6’9”, 275-poundish DJ Burns, the big fella had a modest six points (3-of-6 FG) and four assists in 22 minutes.
Backup Ben Middlebrooks had eight points (4-of-4 FG) and seven boards in the other 18 minutes at the five.
Virginia’s guys at the center spot – Blake Buchanan, who started and played 23 minutes (four points, five rebounds), Jake Groves (two points, zilch on the boards in 12 minutes) and Jordan Minor (six points, three boards in seven minutes) were decently productive.
The shooting numbers at the rim: State was 13-of-18, Virginia was 14-of-24.
Ten misses at the rim; you like getting 24 attempts there, but, just gotta make the bunnies, especially when State only had two blocked shots on the day.
I don’t get the inconsistent minutes for Groves
I understand not starting Groves because of the size discrepancy with Burns, but only 12 minutes?
Tony Bennett used Groves for 34 minutes in the win over Louisville mid-week, and he held his own (seven points, nine rebounds) against UL’s bigs.
Groves got three minutes after halftime.
Whatever value he has comes with him on the floor stretching defenses with his ability to shoot.
We need Jordan Minor to be Jordan Minor
I was glad to see Minor getting some minutes late, and I liked what I saw from him in those minutes.
We keep thinking the jury has come back with its verdict on Minor, but I’m still holding out hope that he can get some rotation minutes.
He doesn’t have to be the guy who averaged 17.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game at Merrimack last year, but if he could get 12-15 minutes, give you a couple of buckets, grab some rebounds, set some screens and play position D, that would be a plus for this group.
This team misses Dante Harris
Dante Harris was only getting 19.5 minutes per game, and wasn’t all that productive (3.5 points, 1.3 assists per game), but he’s been out since Thanksgiving, and I assume he would have continued to develop, and at the least would give Bennett another option in the backcourt.
And TB needs another option in the backcourt, because Andrew Rohde, who had two points (1-of-6 FG) and two assists in 31 minutes on Saturday, just isn’t getting it done.
The St. Thomas transfer, who averaged 17.1 points and 3.6 assists per game as a freshman last season, is averaging 4.0 points and 3.6 assists in his last seven games, and his shooting in that stretch – 11-of-45 from the field (24.4 percent), 6-of-28 from three (21.4 percent) – is downright atrocious.
Alchemy
Bennett is still clearly trying to figure things out with his rotation.
Some ideas:
- more Elijah Gertrude (0 points, 0-of-2 FG in eight minutes on Saturday).
- more Taine Murray (0 points, 0-of-2 FG, four rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench on Saturday)
- going bigger by moving Ryan Dunn to the third guard spot, alongside Reece Beekman and Isaac McKneely, getting minutes from Murray, Gertrude and Rohde off the bench, and going with two bigs – from among Buchanan, Groves and Minor – as the base lineup.
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Chris Graham
