Game Thoughts After the Loss

Game Thoughts After the Loss

Big Picture: The Loss and What It Means

Losing happens, especially in a tough league like the Big 12. While frustrating, this loss could be beneficial in the long run by exposing key weaknesses we need to address before tournament play. Many championship teams have taken losses along the way—what matters is how we grow from them. Being undefeated in conference play isn’t as important as building a team that can make deep tournament runs.

Milos Missed Free Throw: Not the Real Issue

Yes, Milo missing the free throw was the deciding play, but expecting anyone to be perfect from the line every time is unrealistic, the best ft shooters in the nation don’t shoot 100%. Jamal missed some crucial ones in his day. The bigger issue is that we put ourselves in a position where one free throw determined the outcome. The game should never have come down to that moment if we are talking about a team that can win it all.

Sharp’s Struggles and Rotation Adjustments

A month ago, Sharp was in the conversation as our best player. Now, he’s been the least impactful player in the rotation—no rebounding, poor defense last game, and if he’s not scoring, his presence on the court is questionable. Some argue he’s a floor spacer, but Terrence provides spacing too. If injury is the issue, we need to either rest him or adjust the rotation because others (Jwan, Tugler) have played through injuries and still contributed.
Sharp still remains the biggest untapped potential of this team!

Lack of Experience Playing From Behind

Our team hasn’t been tested enough in terms of playing from behind. We’ve dominated most games, even in losses, so we lack experience in climbing out of deficits. This game showed that when the pressure was on, only Jwan consistently stepped up. Others hesitated—passing off shots or forcing bad looks. The team needs to develop the mental toughness to stay aggressive and unpredictable when trailing. By March, we can’t afford to be this predictable. Opponents knew exactly where the last play was going, which makes us easier to defend.
Us being so good has created a weakness, we have a variety of scoring options, but those player are only used to taking those shots up 14 were miss or make didn’t define the game. They haven’t built the muscles of playing under pressure in less than ideal situations, the last few games jwan and clear out even if open.

Over-Reliance on an Injured Jwan

It’s concerning that an injured Jwan had to carry us. No one else stepped up in key moments. That’s a huge issue.

Spacing Issues and Potential Adjustments

Our spacing is horrendous. At this point in the season, we have to accept the shooting limitations of our bigs, but running the offense through Jwan in the post while allowing teams to double him isn’t smart. Maybe experimenting with a four-guard lineup could help?

Roster Concerns and Lack of Trust in Lath

Tugler (4 fouls), Francis (4 fouls), Jwan (injured),- Midseason - and still, we had no faith in Lath to play even 3-5 minutes. We only have three true bigs, and this could become a major issue in foul trouble games where we need size. This is also a big concern for next season.

Officiating and Trash Talk

The refs impacted the game way too much—officiating was terrible. That said, what annoyed me most wasn’t the loss itself but the trash talking afterward. I really hope we crush them in Lubbock.

The Blue Jersey Superstition

The blue jerseys didn’t cause the loss. We don’t wear them every game, and it’s a fun once-a-year tradition. Hopefully, we bring them out next year against a weaker opponent so the superstitious fans can relax.

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My thoughts are they shot the ball out of their minds, they out hustled us especially on the boards early in the game, the ejections added fuel to the fire and motivated them, they flat out beat us period. Their fans suck, but the atmosphere was electric, loud, and we had to stand up most of the game due to the intensity of the game

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I agree with that with one caveat…

I feel like we intentionally got ticky-tacked after the ejections as a quasi makeup call…

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we were shooting fts to go up 5 with 30 seconds left in the game. the statement makes it seem like they blew us out

we beat them on the boards, they owned the 1st year but we adjusted enough the 2nd half and dominated them the 2nd half in any hustle stats…

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Technical question I know it’s been alluded to before, but can we find a way to stop running out bigs out for screens beyond the arc? It’s an easy double team on the guard forcing usually Cryer to give up the ball, since our bigs are absolutely no threat out there.

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Every game someone is on and someone is off offensively.

Last night LJ was on, why didn’t he get the ball more.

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I think we should start having the guards set screens for each other. Traditionally, this doesn’t make sense because it forces a switch between two guards, rather than creating a mismatch. However, since our guards don’t drive much, a guard-on-big matchup isn’t a major advantage for us, and we don’t have “blow-by” guards.

For us, screens should be used to create a small shooting window or to set up a pick-and-pop for shooters in a double-team situation. Which can be done with guards

But based on how we’ve played the last three games, it seems like we’re actually welcoming double teams on screens because they create an opportunity to get the ball to J’Wan.

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I know this analysis is not directed specifically at LJ, but LJ is who I thought about. I keep wishing LJ is the player he isn’t.

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CKS presser was right on. We did not match their intensity. In close games any coach will tell you that you have to at least the opponent’s intensity. We di not and at times it was not even close. Pesik pointed out. To rely on an injured player is one of the worst case scenario for a coach. teetech deserved to win. Winning against UCF and kansas took out a lot from us. We could have easily lost these games.
When their HC was ejected it gave teetech another oxygen bottle to use. It motivated them even more. This reminded me when we played against ucla at the Rose Bowl. Boneheads Kingsbury and sumlin decide to go on 4th down and long. I was by field level. Neuheisel and the entire ucla bench and team looked like they got electrocuted. The rest of the game was a U of H debacle with Case and another QB (can’t remember his name) getting injured.
We are banged up, severely banged up. Gotta get healthy fast.

Probably thinking of Cotton Turner. He backed up Keenum. Terrance Broadway and Austin Elrod got some snaps in that game too.

You are right. What a debacle. All of our Hollywood actors were there. I could not believe that kingsbury and sumlin would do this. And ucla was not even good that season. Speak about taking care of Case…quite the opposite.

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It’s all our players. At the end of regulation, Uzan had a wide-open three to win the game but forced the ball to J’Wan, who was double-teamed. Terrance has passed up open shots in recent close games late. There’s no point in defending Tugler late in tight games—he simply won’t shoot. LJ will take a floater if he has a weak defender, but against good defense, he’ll just pass out of it.

Our success has played into this issue. We don’t have the reps, and our players aren’t conditioned to perform under pressure because we’ve dominated most teams. If we had been tested more, we would have evolved beyond just giving J’Wan the ball every play—it’s too predictable. Our guys would have developed confidence in taking big shots, eliminating the hesitation we’re seeing now. It’s the double-edged sword of success.

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I thought our team is more dangerous when we were combining our classic defense with an offense that shoots 3s and chases down rebounds. I hate the way we play in close games where we are completely going away from the 3s and forcing everything inside to Roberts.

How do we have a couple of the best 3 point shooters in the nation and we shoot 16 less 3s than our opponent? And they weren’t just jacking up shots on their end they were finding good looks and made 7 more 3s than us. And this team that takes 16 more 3s than us is also getting to the damn free throw line 7 more times than us even with their coach handing us like 6 free throws all on being ejected?

The analytics stink. We aren’t shooting the 3s, we also aren’t getting our guards to the free throw line, Terrance comes in and likes to shoot jumpers like 2 feet inside the 3 point line. Gotta put an emphasis back on shooting 3s or finishing in or around the paint.

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Careful!
I mentioned this during the UCF game and took quite a bit of flak for it here.

Lack of depth is my biggest thought. Prior to the season we supposedly had the deepest roster in school history. But other than in blowouts, we don’t play more than 8 and 3-4 of those 8 were playing injured yesterday.

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Let’s look at the depth:
Walker - Injured
Miller - Freshman, deemed not ready to play significant minutes.
Lath - Role player; very limited basketball skills
Jefferson - RS Freshman; does not play significant minutes.
McCarty - Being redshirted.
McFarland - Injured and out for season.

Francis’ injury makes it crucial that Roberts and Tugler stay out of foul trouble. Subbing Lath for a few minutes to eat up clock may be necessary if Roberts and Tugler can’t help themselves. If Lath subs for Roberts, that essentially kills UH’s frontline offense.

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How do you know those wimpy colored blue unis didn’t cause our loss. They may have subtly caused a mental lack of drive and fight. They probably caused the many missed 3 pointers and Uzan’s miss of an game cinching FT. Yeah, they were Luv you blue colors; but that was another losing team that never won the Super Bowl, did they even go to the Super Bowl? Regardless, I hate them. I tolerate the Black unis, but that’s it. At least black isn’t a wussy color.

BTW, I’ve never heard of a “one-year tradition,” well maybe at aTm.

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Every player has an important role to play on this team. Everyone plays hardnose defense, rebounds, and hustles their butts off to earn playing time. That’s “non-negotiable” as Sampson always says.

The reality is that even the best players have off nights and go through slumps. Sometimes This is due to lingering injuries, as the case with several players on the team. There are also times when other teams shoot lights out and can’t be stopped. We saw that last year with Kansas and ISU.

Overall this year, the defense has kept us in every game despite the output on offense. Last night was just an example of another team shooting lights out, the refs injecting themselves into the game too much, and having certain players banged up enough to limit their play on both ends of the floor.

With that said, it’s pretty clear Sharp isn’t himself due to injury. We not only miss his outside scoring threat and ability to drive the lane, but he’s one of the best free-throw shooters in the country, not to mention a really good perimeter defender.

I think it’s also fair to say TA needs more playing time. He’s been a little inconsistent on the road but at home he’s been one of the best players on the floor in limited minutes. I understand Cryer is a good shooter, but when you go to the well too many times it becomes predictable for opponents.

Case in point, the sets for Robert’s. They just doubled him the minute he took the ball to the basket. This is why I thought the sets needed to run through TA and not Roberts, who is hobbling around on one foot. Oh well.

Hopefully the staff will start to see what a lot of us saw from TA last night. When he decides to be aggressive, he’s hard to stop.

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Pesik, appreciate the analysis. Curious if the basketball savants on here have thoughts on how we can start getting easier baskets to take some pressure off LJ and J’Wan. Our offense gets very stagnant at times, with little effective movement. LJ often seems to have to work hard to get good looks. That said, it was good to see Terrance get a couple of buckets at the rim off of good feeds from Mylik and J’Wan.

I think it also shows how important Francis is to the team. He was part of the group that turned the game around with rebounding and steady defense in the 2nd half. He usually rebounds better than Tugler and has a good enough offensive game to be a factor in games like this.

He and Tugler are a great complementary team, and we need both sides of it in tough games.

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