UCSB vs. Davis Game Recap

Last night was a nice win for the Gauchos. Courtesy of channelsurfing.net, TGM was able to catch the second half of the game.

The game was a bit of a snoozer. UCSB was in complete control the entire game, but there is plenty to comment on, both good and bad. One of the highlights of my viewing experience was hearing Don Ford utilize the phrase "bonehead," or some variation, on more than one occasion. You just don't get that honest opinion when you listen to ESPN or CBS. Keep up the honest work Don.

Secondly, I was disappointed that UCSB refused to push the ball up the court on offense. On the two or three occasions when the Gauchos pulled down a long rebound and the guards pushed the ball up the court they had numbers each time. This is the type of offense that I'd love to see the Gauchos get into.

Roy Williams' teams are notorious for this. They play some of the fastest basketball (measured by pace) in the nation. Currently, the Heels are 7th in the nation with an astonishing 77.0 possessions per game average (kenpom.com). Take a look at the clip below. Notice how the Heels, when pushing the ball up the court are beating the defense down the floor.



I believe smallish teams, like the Gauchos, can employ this style of play to their advantage. First, you increase depth by necessity because you have to have a deep rotation. Second, you run the other teams off the floor and third, it forces teams that don't play that style into bad possessions.

When the team was on offense, it seemed very stagnant. There were very few screens and when there was a screen, it was often just one pick and roll screen. The players were standing around on offense and just running to a different spot on the court. More offense could have been generated in the half-court if the team ran some more off-the-ball screens for their teammates. The few times that off-the-ball screens were used and the team employed multiple screen plays they looked great. Too often, though, the team seemed to rely on a one-on-one game with a guard trying to take their man to the hole or a post player taking it up.

And, for the statistical (sort of) analysis.

1. Field Goal %

Season Averages - UCSB 46.1%, Davis 44.4%
Game %

UCSB: 48.9%
Davis: 34.8%

The Gauchos did a good job of holding Davis well below their season average. Our three-point defense has been phenomenal as of late (save Pacific). Holding Davis to 22.7% on 5-22 will go a long ways toward victory every time.

Meanwhile, UCSB wasn't much better shooting the three with a 31.6% on 6-19 shooting. However, as the astute readers of this blog can figure out, UCSB was superior inside the three. UCSB did a fairly good job of penetrating the lane and hitting their shots.

If you look above, you'll see that I think the Gauchos should be increasing the tempo they play at. If they do, look for them to increase their shooting % in their upcoming games.

2. Offensive Rebounding

Season Averages - UCSB 9.6, Davis 7.2
Game

UCSB: 6
Davis: 13

We don't have a stat for second chance points, but the fact that the Gauchos got out-rebounded on the offensive side of things but still won by 15 is a good indicator of how well they shot. Most impressive is that Davis had a 7 footer on their team who got 5 of those offensive boards.

On the flip side, the Gauchos really need to improve their rebounding deficit. Over the last couple games, the Gauchos have been losing this battle, although the season average on the offensive glass says otherwise. In the close games where the Gauchos shoot a poor percentage, this is going to hurt them.

Our guards are doing a good job rebounding the ball defensively. Each time Joiner got an offensive board in the second half, he immediately pushed it and it opened up the floor. That was impressive.

3. Free Throws

Season Averages - UCSB 248-315, 78.7%, Davis 234-313, 74.8%
Game

UCSB: 10-13, 76.9%
Davis: 8-10, 80%

This was the same old story. Everyone was stellar from the line tonight.

The only complaint I have on this end is that we should have visited the line more often. Davis turned this into a walk it up-the-court type game. This forced the Gauchos into a stagnant half-court offense. If there was more off-ball movement and screening, the Gauchos would have gotten more wide open looks and drives to the basket with the potential of heading to the line.

4. Turnovers

Season Averages - UCSB 15.8/game, 19/game opponents, Davis 15.9/game, 15.2/game opponents

Game

UCSB: 11 turnovers
Davis: 16 turnovers

Again, we had a nice game here last night. We dropped our turnovers by a good amount and forced Davis into a lot of sloppy plays in the second half.

The one thing I noticed by the Gauchos was some sloppy ball-handling in the half court set. This seemed to be caused by the stagnant offense which forced the primary scorers and ball handlers into creating their own offense. A couple of times I recall a Gaucho dribbling the ball off his foot.

Looking back at this game, the Gauchos had a very good performance, winning three of the four categories. While it might be hard for the Gauchos to win the Big West based on what we've seen through 7 conference games, I think it's not an out-of-reach goal. UCSB has to work on pushing the ball up the court to create their offense. Last night proved that it can work.

Second, the Gauchos need to improve their half-court offense. When I was in high school, one of the first things the freshman team was taught was the "scramble" offense. It wasn't really an offense. The idea was that when no play is called, everyone needs to be moving around and setting picks for each other. The coach told us that if we were standing still something was wrong. UCSB needs to adopt this half court philosophy if they aren't going to run set plays. Running some set plays for Al Harris could help him avoid the physical abuse that defenders are throwing his way during the games (reducing the possibility of injury and increasing his shooting opportunities).