Exactly. We do that to every team we play. I was surprised we couldn’t figure it out.
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And San Diego St. and Villanova. But I’m not bitter…
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I figure from reading over some of Saturday’s game thread posts-- " the game has passed CKS by ". 
. Be the main reason. 
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That didn’t kill us. It was Cryer’s disappearing act in his first Big 12 road game as a Coog. Dude had solid looks but he could not hit the broad side of a barn.
How many turnovers did we have like 16? Shead had 4 or 5 himself, it didn’t help, their defense was as good or better than ours
@2002Coog Our doubles vary in effectiveness as we are often iffy on deploying them. Sometimes we try to do it up high, like beyond the 3 point line or half court, and those never end well. We also tend to hump the every loving crap out of the guy we are trapping, which is frustrating as it’s often unecessary. Sometimes it feels the team lacks a concept of proper defensive spacing. King is particularly atrocious and egregious on teh contact but the frequency with which it’s called varies by game. I don’t only expect Houston to handle it (better), but I also expect us to get called for more fouls. Usually our best traps are with Ward and Watson on the floor. These are two agile defenders, with length, that are better players than traditional stats indicate.
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Beat Texas !
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Finally figured out how to quote the whole post, lol.
You can say that about a lot of teams. Something I like to look at is EFG, which is often an extension of good shot selection and/or a team’s ability to shoot. If you take good shots, be it open 3s or good drives to the lane, it is usually high. Sometimes poor 3 point shooting, which can often come as a result of poor shot selection, drags those numbers down. Neither Houston or Iowa State are very good shooting teams, with pedestrian numbers across a lot of offensive categories. Houston though, is superior at guarding the 3 with one of the better percentages allowed during conference play. The difference between us is that your starters are a bit stronger at rotating and flashing than ours are. Guys like Lipsey and Gilbert are good, but Milan, King, and (to a lesser degree) Jones are either slow or not attentive enough at times.
To be honest we have only been REALLY good at one thing during conference, and that’s creating TOs. We have the largest (Houston #2) different in TO% and TO created in the league. We’ve won a lot of games simply by virtue of having (a lot) more possessions. We are either hot or cold from three, and while we are pretty adept at getting to the lane our bigs are poor finishers. We are also terrible at finishing in transtion (we had like three blown 3 on 1 breaks last game).
Keep on eye on Hason Ward. He’s one of those guys who doesn’t flash great traditional stats but is a game changer on the defensive end. You know, one of those guys that alters a lot of plays or shots without the steal and blocks to show for it.
What will really do us in is the defensive rebounding. Being one of the worst defensive rebounding teams in basketball going up against one of the best, at home, isn’t a good combination. If we don’t (decisively) win the TO battle we will need to get to and shoot well at the line (not great at either) or have a good day (with good shot selection) from 3.
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Yeah, but Iowa State had 12, so it wasn’t like some massive margin that we couldn’t overcome. See KU as an example. We won the TO margin 17-2 and lost by 13. Cryer’s lowest output of the season leading up to that game was 9 points. He scored 5. Had he just scored his previous lowest output, we’re talking about a completely different outcome.
I wasn’t really talking about the first game but, along with the other comment I responded to, every team can say that in a given game: “If player such and such had just…”, that’s almost every game for every team.
At the end of the day the big difference in the first game is Iowa State just made more shots, which you expect when a team is at home. Now, from ISU’s perspective I think the team is playing it’s best ball, with guys learning to play with each other as basically Lipsey is the only guy back in the same role (playing the same minutes…Jones is back but he went from being the worst statistical player in conference play to above average this year…not really a good comp there). At the end of the day I think ISU will need to win the turnover battle (decisively), make their FTs, and mitigate (within reason) your guy’s advantage on the boards.
I’m not a homer, am very realistic, and expect a loss. My hopeful expectation is to keep the game close and make Houston earn the W at home. Doing so would continue the progress of the team being able to consistently perform away from Hilton, something it’s had issues with in the past.
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Do you get your tickets ?
Bringing value to the Big 12 with our brand already… 
He should stick to what he knows…
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Exactly and why would he go to such extent? That makes no sense.
Idk… But the way that conference 
is trending… It seems like they could use a program, and brand, like UH… 
Exactly.
Waiting for approval on the Cougar FB ticket exchange. If I don’t get it soon I will probably just pull the trigger on seats through an exchange.
Good luck.
I think a big factor is the Sat - Mon turnaround with travel. That’s one big thing I don’t like with the schedule in the big 12
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I went ahead and pulled the trigger on some 102, row 5s for 150 a piece. Normally I’d be cool with waiting it out but with the time change (which could persuade or dissuade) and a potential increase in demand should both teams win tomorrow, I thought it was a fair price considering the circumstances.
Thanks for all of the help. Much appreciated!
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