guess i mis-posted this.
They missed some shots but I felt we were more active and therefore better. They still got open a bunch. Rebounding stood out, have not seen the stats. Honestly all things considered the difference was Kapita and Smith just being clutch a handful of times.
Kapita is active around the rim like no one else, sometimes overzealously. Clearly one of the “motors” of this team that includes DSJ, Rowan, Markell. We’ll never be a great, even “good” defense team under Gott, but the energy guys with their individual talents helps address gaps.
We need more penetration and pounding the paint, while albeit will be more difficult against big, athletic teams like Miami, but we shouldn’t shy away. We saw this last year too, long, missed jump shots that turn into breakouts, essentially 4-5 point swings.
An important area of improvement? Patience + taking care of the ball. We regularly hit 15 turnovers a game. Against Duke? Under 10. The book on us thus far is “disrupt the offense and they are cooked”. And the longer you have the ball, the more they work on defense, and the less opportunities they have to score. Hopefully they are getting the message on this and can apply this during even the most stressful situations (opposing teams “runs”).
