Come Get Some: A Handful of Notes, Observations, & Numbers

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What a big time win last night.  Even though we didn’t face the finished product in Kansas, we still played a really, really good version.  This win should put us under the spotlight now, and if we want to get recognition nationally we have to follow up with a win or a strong showing against Iowa tonight.  Iowa, while not getting the national recognition itself, has quietly put together a great start and is a very good basketball team – ranked 7^th per kenpom, where we are ranked 19^th.  But let’s talk about last night.

• On the night, we held Kansas overall to .89 points per possession.  For the season Kansas’ adjusted ppp is 115.7.

• While turnovers and pressure were keys to Villanova’s first half lead, the biggest story was on the defensive glass.  Kansas missed 19 shots but only collected 2 offensive rebounds.  That’s an OR% of 10.5%, and Kansas on the season has been collecting over 30% of its missed shots.

• After we battled and arguably dominated down low all game against a front line that features a 7 footer and two first round picks in the upcoming NBA draft (Embiid and Ellis), I don’t want to hear any announcer talk about us being thin or small up front anymore.

• Bell, Hilliard, and JVP were the MVP’s last night.  In the first half Hilliard was great, but he seemed fatigued in the second half.  Bell and JVP struggled offensively a little bit, but they kept fighting and were both tough as hell on the defensive side of the ball.  Numbers aside it was the effort, confidence, and determination from all three of them that kept us in this game.

•  Our bench was also awesome last night. 

o   Ennis continued to show that he can provide the necessary offensive spark for us, and especially some necessary outside shooting, as he went 4-5 from the field, 3-3 from deep, with 2 assists, 4 rebounds, a block, and only 1 turnover in 20 minutes.

o   Chennault added hustle and the ability to create shots for others in his limited minutes, chipping in 2 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals in only 10 minutes of action.

o   Hart was strong defensively and added in 2 threes and 6 rebounds in a little over 20 minutes.

o   Jenkins might not look terribly big, but he played really well down low in limited minutes showing that in a pinch he can help out up front if Ochefu gets in foul trouble again.

• Ochefu continues to struggle.  After I pointed out that he had a rather low fouls committed per 40 minute number as a Freshman, he has fouled at an alarming rate.  For the season he is now fouling 7.5 times per 40 minutes, up from his 4.8 number a year ago.  He bites on almost every pump fake and goes for the block on every shot.  Offensively, he is quickly becoming a liability.  He needs to understand that the reason teams are not guarding him, and the reason they are forcing him to make plays offensively is because he just isn’t very good on that side of the ball.  He has taken 18.9% of the teams shots while he is on the floor, way too high for a poor offensive player, but the worst part is that he is turning the ball over on 34.9% of his total possessions.  That has to stop.

•  Arcidiacono came up big when it counted, but otherwise struggled.  He was 0-5 from the field before he took and made the final 3 to win the game.  Of those 5 attempts prior to the final shot, he did not have a single attempt from 2.  I continue to believe that against the better and in particular more athletic teams, Arcidiacono needs to play off the ball more.  He is simply not quick enough to get around his man or a high ball screen to penetrate and initiate the offense.  Hopefully with Ennis now getting playing time can share that role with Hilliard come crunch time.  But Arcidiacono is tough as nails, and his confidence in his ability is why he is actually playing at this level, and he showed it last night.