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WBB - Griz lose to UVU 63 - 50
- Thread starter GrizBaba
- Start date
grizzlyjournal
Well-known member
Just returned from Montana's 63-50 loss to a good Utah Valley team. Here's my take. This was a good game for Montana to play at this time of the season. UVU will challenge for the WAC Conference title, and already have wins over two Big Sky teams (at Southern Utah by 6 and at home over Portland State by 19). Montana played evenly with UVU all game, outrebounding the taller Wolverines 45-37, playing even on assists (11 each) and turnovers (11 for Montana, 8 for UVU). It was an evenly fought battle through 3 quarters with UVU taking a slim 42-40 lead in the first minute of the fourth quarter. Then two major developments triggered a walk-away of sorts for UVU.
1. The major tactical development was coach Holsinger switching to a zone after the Wolverines had taken a 5-point lead early in the quarter. Lights out from there: UVU employed an efficient passing game, got open treys from three different players and a steal & drive for a layup by UVU's polished guard Carvalho, and took a 12 point lead they would hold easily. That's because:
2. Montana, which had been struggling a bit on field goal shooting, shot a dismal 24% from the field in the fourth quarter. Some shots were contested, granted. But most were open looks. In fact, Montana flat-out missed 6 layups off of open drives or low paint, turnaround post up open shots. If you look at the box you'll find that three players that Montana needs offensive production from (Fatkin, Tsineke and Bartsch) went a combined 2-for-20 in the game... with the hard damage coming from Montana's overall collapse on offense with 4-of-16 fourth quarter makes. To rub it in a bit: Montana actually shot 3 more field goals than UVU (63-60) but made only 19 field goals to UVU's 26.
It just sort of comes right down to the basics. While coach Holsinger might fault himself for switching to a 4th quarter zone, he has to rely on his players converting the 2-ft shot. I don't mean to rub this in. The players left a lot of sweat and blood on the floor. The layups looked, for the most part, open drives with good form and largely well-taken. But all but one were soft-choked. Undershot. Puzzling. But basketball is also a mental game.
Montana's on-player defense was solid throughout. UVU didn't have many easy shots, with Montana blocking 6 shots. UVU did have a solid 36-24 advantage of points in the paint, but Montana got a solid 12-16 points on jumpers just outside of the paint, so I'm calling that even.
In short: Montana played another in a line of steadily improving floor game efforts. But you're not going to beat many D1 teams when they shoot 43.3 from the field to your 30.2.
The Griz get a week to work on their layups. A very tough Seattle U team comes to town next week. Another perfect opponent to polish the fundamentals for Big Sky conf. play.
Here's the link to the game story on GoGriz: https://gogriz.com/news/2021/12/9/womens-basketball-utah-valley-knocks-off-montana.aspx
1. The major tactical development was coach Holsinger switching to a zone after the Wolverines had taken a 5-point lead early in the quarter. Lights out from there: UVU employed an efficient passing game, got open treys from three different players and a steal & drive for a layup by UVU's polished guard Carvalho, and took a 12 point lead they would hold easily. That's because:
2. Montana, which had been struggling a bit on field goal shooting, shot a dismal 24% from the field in the fourth quarter. Some shots were contested, granted. But most were open looks. In fact, Montana flat-out missed 6 layups off of open drives or low paint, turnaround post up open shots. If you look at the box you'll find that three players that Montana needs offensive production from (Fatkin, Tsineke and Bartsch) went a combined 2-for-20 in the game... with the hard damage coming from Montana's overall collapse on offense with 4-of-16 fourth quarter makes. To rub it in a bit: Montana actually shot 3 more field goals than UVU (63-60) but made only 19 field goals to UVU's 26.
It just sort of comes right down to the basics. While coach Holsinger might fault himself for switching to a 4th quarter zone, he has to rely on his players converting the 2-ft shot. I don't mean to rub this in. The players left a lot of sweat and blood on the floor. The layups looked, for the most part, open drives with good form and largely well-taken. But all but one were soft-choked. Undershot. Puzzling. But basketball is also a mental game.
Montana's on-player defense was solid throughout. UVU didn't have many easy shots, with Montana blocking 6 shots. UVU did have a solid 36-24 advantage of points in the paint, but Montana got a solid 12-16 points on jumpers just outside of the paint, so I'm calling that even.
In short: Montana played another in a line of steadily improving floor game efforts. But you're not going to beat many D1 teams when they shoot 43.3 from the field to your 30.2.
The Griz get a week to work on their layups. A very tough Seattle U team comes to town next week. Another perfect opponent to polish the fundamentals for Big Sky conf. play.
Here's the link to the game story on GoGriz: https://gogriz.com/news/2021/12/9/womens-basketball-utah-valley-knocks-off-montana.aspx
UV played, that's all there is to it... I think the Griz started the press too late, and were rushing on those missed layups.
I watched the game on ESPN+ and journal's analysis is pretty spot on. A lot of missed close in shots by a variety of players, shots that often seemed rushed.
Utah Valley's players were mostly quite stout and tall and I think intimidated the Ladies on some of those shots and on defense across the board. It was a good game for the Ladies at this time and I think they will take away some lessons from it that will benefit them down the road.
Utah Valley's players were mostly quite stout and tall and I think intimidated the Ladies on some of those shots and on defense across the board. It was a good game for the Ladies at this time and I think they will take away some lessons from it that will benefit them down the road.
Watched most of this game. Very impressed with UVU. Inside post was strong and skilled with both hands. PG was very good. Strong with dribble could shoot pass and played good defense Lady Griz played well throughout but didn't shoot it in 4th quarter and UVU did.
Most encouraging to me was catching the last couple minutes and OT's between MSU and MSU Billings right after the LG game. MSU won it in 2nd OT but the whole pace seemed slower with both those teams also struggling shooting. If you ask me both Lady Griz and UVU looked like they'd take it to those two teams. Lady Cats by no means a "favorite" this year when they face Lady Griz...and future seems brighter in Missoula.
One more comment....may come back to haunt me...... Lady Cats' PG Stevens palms the ball more than any player I've seen (should be called every now and then!) and is drama queen with a look at me attitude .
Most encouraging to me was catching the last couple minutes and OT's between MSU and MSU Billings right after the LG game. MSU won it in 2nd OT but the whole pace seemed slower with both those teams also struggling shooting. If you ask me both Lady Griz and UVU looked like they'd take it to those two teams. Lady Cats by no means a "favorite" this year when they face Lady Griz...and future seems brighter in Missoula.
One more comment....may come back to haunt me...... Lady Cats' PG Stevens palms the ball more than any player I've seen (should be called every now and then!) and is drama queen with a look at me attitude .
I just realized the Nyah Morris-Nelson didn't play (the GoGriz article mentioned she wasn't available). I'm not going to say we would have won with her, but she's been really hot from the 3-pt line these last few games... this was a game it would have been nice to have her in with everyone being so cold. She seems to play pretty good defense too.
BigSkyBreakdown
Well-known member
Josie Williams put a lot of pressure on the Lady Griz defense last night. Lady Griz switched to zone early in the 4th. 3 straight 3's and an offensive rebound put back. That was the difference in the game. Here are some clips to show how that happened.
Poor shooting did not help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saCZcWGv4bs
Poor shooting did not help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saCZcWGv4bs
GrongaGriz
Member
Thanks for the footage of critical 3's against our zone BSBD! I don't know the defensive rules we were using for the post touches, but our defense broke down on the post touches when one our guards crashed down to the post. The crash was ineffective, and put us at a disadvantage, as the post moved the ball before the double team could really get there. Abby is a very solid post defender so I'd look for us to change that scheme and let the posts defend the paint one on one. Great film to see what went wrong, and hopefully how to correct it moving forward. The Big Sky conference has some strong post players but I am not sure if any of them are better than Williams (#40).
BelierPeaux
Well-known member
Great Analysis in this thread. Have really loved watching the LG this season! I think the Ladies learn a lot from this one and it's not like we lost to a bad team. We just went uncharacteristically cold when UV got hot. At least we weren't taken to double OT by a DII school...
