Tough loss tonight, but certainly not an embarrassing loss; VU just got beat by a better team tonight, but there will be many, many teams losing to the Jayhawks this season. At the end of he day, I think VU clearly showed that they were the 2nd best team in the tournament, and have a lot of upside. Anyway, some thoughts on the action tonight.
1. Got off to a great start, in part because VU was able to get the ball inside for some good looks, and the early 3 point baskets by Kornet, who was certainly feeling it early on. Kansas could get nothing going inside, but were staying in it by knocking down threes, particularly Seldon, who was just lights out all tournament, and had to be the MVP in Maui. Unfortunately for VU, they could never establish any rhythm on the offensive end, as they just could not knock down any threes in transition, and were unable to set it up much going inside and then back out.
2. Kansas got it done on both ends of the court in the 2nd half. That dribble-drive was just killing VU, and the switching, while working well against most teams, was creating mismatches that Kansas exploited time and time again. Meanwhile, VU continued to struggle, just not getting shots to fall, in part to improved defense by Kansas, but also I think VU fell in love with the outside shot way too much, instead of going inside and taking advantage of its superior height advantage; I imagine CKS will address that in the coming days. For the night: VU was 17-29 inside the arc, and 6-27 outside the arc.
3. Individually:
Jones had his 2nd straight impressive game (17 points, 10 boards, 2 assists, 3 blocks). He was also 7-10 from the line, which gave him his second game in a row where he shot well from the charity stripe, which is very good news. He played smart, intelligent basketball on a consistent basis these past two games.
Justice, ladies and gentlemen, is going to be a serious baller during his VU career. Thought he played very well overall, seemingly with a poise you don't often see in a true freshman. He will be fun to watch.
Kornet got off to a great start, but at times disappeared during stretches of the game; looked as though he may have slightly tweaked his ankle again at around the 8 minute mark of the 2nd half, but didn't seem overly serious. I wish he had tried to go inside a bit more often; seven of his twelve shots were 3 pointers. Still, he had a good game, and blocked 4 more shots tonight. Looking forward to continuing to see his game evolve.
LaChance is going to have to adjust his play defensively; otherwise he will find himself in foul trouble more often than not, as officials are going to call those fouls this season that they haven't been calling in the last several seasons. Going to have defend with his feet, not his body.
Baldwin had some good moments, but, on several occasions, he went "playground mode", and it hurt a lot more than it helped. There are times to drive and take it the hole; however, he really put the team in tough spots with his decision-making. Just got to be a bit smarter than that, which will come as he matures.
MFD and Roberson, simply put, had games that they will just need to put behind them and move on. Combined stats for the two: 0-6 from the field, 2 boards, 4 assists, 1 block, and 2 turnovers.
When VU got down 12, it could have been easy to mail it in from that point, but that's not what good teams do, and VU is a good team. They fought back, kept plugging away, and almost made it back. Congrats to the team on what I consider a pretty successful trip to Maui. The season holds a great deal of promise.
1. Got off to a great start, in part because VU was able to get the ball inside for some good looks, and the early 3 point baskets by Kornet, who was certainly feeling it early on. Kansas could get nothing going inside, but were staying in it by knocking down threes, particularly Seldon, who was just lights out all tournament, and had to be the MVP in Maui. Unfortunately for VU, they could never establish any rhythm on the offensive end, as they just could not knock down any threes in transition, and were unable to set it up much going inside and then back out.
2. Kansas got it done on both ends of the court in the 2nd half. That dribble-drive was just killing VU, and the switching, while working well against most teams, was creating mismatches that Kansas exploited time and time again. Meanwhile, VU continued to struggle, just not getting shots to fall, in part to improved defense by Kansas, but also I think VU fell in love with the outside shot way too much, instead of going inside and taking advantage of its superior height advantage; I imagine CKS will address that in the coming days. For the night: VU was 17-29 inside the arc, and 6-27 outside the arc.
3. Individually:
Jones had his 2nd straight impressive game (17 points, 10 boards, 2 assists, 3 blocks). He was also 7-10 from the line, which gave him his second game in a row where he shot well from the charity stripe, which is very good news. He played smart, intelligent basketball on a consistent basis these past two games.
Justice, ladies and gentlemen, is going to be a serious baller during his VU career. Thought he played very well overall, seemingly with a poise you don't often see in a true freshman. He will be fun to watch.
Kornet got off to a great start, but at times disappeared during stretches of the game; looked as though he may have slightly tweaked his ankle again at around the 8 minute mark of the 2nd half, but didn't seem overly serious. I wish he had tried to go inside a bit more often; seven of his twelve shots were 3 pointers. Still, he had a good game, and blocked 4 more shots tonight. Looking forward to continuing to see his game evolve.
LaChance is going to have to adjust his play defensively; otherwise he will find himself in foul trouble more often than not, as officials are going to call those fouls this season that they haven't been calling in the last several seasons. Going to have defend with his feet, not his body.
Baldwin had some good moments, but, on several occasions, he went "playground mode", and it hurt a lot more than it helped. There are times to drive and take it the hole; however, he really put the team in tough spots with his decision-making. Just got to be a bit smarter than that, which will come as he matures.
MFD and Roberson, simply put, had games that they will just need to put behind them and move on. Combined stats for the two: 0-6 from the field, 2 boards, 4 assists, 1 block, and 2 turnovers.
When VU got down 12, it could have been easy to mail it in from that point, but that's not what good teams do, and VU is a good team. They fought back, kept plugging away, and almost made it back. Congrats to the team on what I consider a pretty successful trip to Maui. The season holds a great deal of promise.
