Remarkable three game stat!

Cougar Basketball
1

The first three games our opponents have hit just 6 for 47 from three point range for a whopping 12.8%.

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2

As is holding all 3 below 20 points in the first halves.

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3

God bless good defense.

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4

Have not trailed in any of the first three.

5

Trailed Boise for 23 seconds

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6

Also impressed with our FT shooting.

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7

yes, this is a difference maker down the stretch …

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8

That’s what kept Tech at bay late more than anything. Much improved from a few seasons ago.

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9

It’s been very refreshing to see a Cougar team shining at the FT line…at least so far this year. They are so important in close games.

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10

Our FT defense has been pretty stout so far as well

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11

Don’t jinx them or you may end up in that Dr. Pepper court.

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12

Solid FT shooting could swing 2-3 games this year.

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13

Truth

14

With Solid Free Throw shooting we would already have a title

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15

And would have beaten Michigan a few years back and had a shot at the final four!

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16

lol…that’s the reason I had a disclaimer. I made no prediction like the guy in the commercial.

17

After three games, several things jump out at me:

  1. FG shooting is pretty meager at 41% while FT shooting is great at 82%.
  2. Rebounding is awesome at +19 per game and TO Margin is not bad at +3 per game, which combine to lead to 10 more shots per game than foes.
  3. Assists per make are way down this year (35% vs normal Sampson 50-55%). Strange considering all the guards. More one-on-one/isolation this year?
18

Not sure what the precise definition of assist is for college, but I have seen a lot less catch and shoot this. year. There’s been plenty of distributing, but the recipient usually takes a few dribbles, drives or steps back then shoots. I wonder if the dribbling is killing the assist numbers?

Another crazy cool stat is that we’re +21 in offensive rebounding margin this year. The Tech game was close. We were +2 in that one. But were +9 against Lamar and +10 against a Boise team that had a significant size advantage. That is really impressive!

19

Interesting to note that since the 2017-18 season, our FG% and 3PT% have essentially dropped or remained steady every year. Our FT% has remained about the same. The dramatic stat weighing in our favor is our defense.

Since the 2017-18 season, the average FG%, 3PT% and FT% of our opponents have all dropped as well. The dramatic drop off is 3PT% allowed, especially this season.

This indicates to me while our offensive production hasn’t changed significantly since the 2017-18 season, the defense has allowed fewer and fewer points every year…

As I’ve stated before, there are two ways to win a game. Either outscore your opponent or give up fewer points. The stats reveal that our defense is the real obstacle for our opponents to overcome, not our offense.

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20

I think what you said about our defensive trends line up with what CKS emphasizes!I think every in coll bb final four teams are very good defensively!