Again, typical ISU hyper-aggression. Fouling on breakaway layups when foul conservation is more important, ill-advised doubles, and bodying guys 5 feet beyond the basket.
Otz needs to adapt his defense. The sad part? Thr adjustments arent that hard, the defensr would be more effective, and guys wouldnt be in foul trouble (as much).
The irritating part is if he hasnt figured it out by now he’s not going to.
I like what Otz has done, but tou cant really battle those individual points. I love tough defense, but far too often we go full Wayne Morgan in the half court and create unnecessary trouble. Play tough man and smart help defense. Recognize the proper situation to trap when opportunities present itself. But there have been no less than 10-12 dumb fouls from the above. Some those those things will happen in a game, but 6 to 8 fouls is a big deal. Thats more minutes from key players, a greater ability to play tough d late in a game, and it wipes out a lot of unecessary free throws. None of this is unreasonable or unattainable with proper coaching.
With that out of the way, this is a great win. Momcilovic usually struggles away from Hilton, but he was on today. Our perimeter defense, when in man (not scrambling from trap/help recovery) is much better than a year ago. Batemon and Toure give more consistent effort than Gilbert/Jones (especialy Jones) and it shows.
If Lipsey is out for any length of time its a killer. If so, it will be more important than ever for Otz to finally figure out the above. This team commits a lot of unecessary fouls from how it is coached. He needs to make the much needed adjustment.
Hes not nearly athletic enough. Hes a 4 year college player who likely will not make it in the NBA. Nothing he does is remotely quick enough to translate, unfortunately.