re: Why can't we defend the rim?

I feel like Victor plays aggressive early in games and it ends up hurting us. Once he has to sit early we are screwed in the paint. Either have victor play it safe or have him foul out.. Pick your poison

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I get more upset by the 3 point shots given up by over helping/failing to close out.

Don't mind giving up contested layups, but we gotta start running teams off the perimeter better.

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We did an excellent job of this in the 2nd half. TAMU made a 3-pointer a minute into the 2nd half and didn't make another the whole half until Caruso's desperation 3 with LSU up by 10 point and 15 seconds left in the game.

Because we don't have any true shot blockers...

Same. We really picked up the intensity after that 3-pointer that put TAMU up by 7. We started fighting through the ball screen and even doubling up on the perimeter.

It probably allowed them to get into the paint a little easier, but 3-pointers are huge momentum swings. Once LSU went up for good around the 5 minute mark, it was nice to not see TAMU jack up a 3 and stop our momentum.

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We really picked up the intensity after that 3-pointer that put TAMU up by 7. We started fighting through the ball screen and even doubling up on the perimeter.

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Good point. You can criticize CJJ for LSU being in that situation in the first place, but you also have to give him credit for lighting a fire under their arse and getting the intensity where it needed to be late. Our defense was suffocating in the last 3-4 minutes, which allowed us to keep the lead despite some sloppy offensive possessions in a row (the 2 or 3 straight TOs come to mind).

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Because we don't have any true shot blockers...

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Basically. We have exactly 2 good two-way big men, Simmons and Vic, and they both are great rebounders, great on-ball defenders, and very good offensively ... then we have zero behind them. So we can't really afford to have them risking foul trouble going for blocks when they are all we have and neither is innately good at shot blocking to begin with.

We're gonna allow some shots at the rim, just how it's gonna be. We can't afford to have those guys off the floor. We're just gonna have to get those back on the offensive end. As long as we limit our offense to shots at the rim or Blakeney/Hornsby 3s we should be efficient enough to eventually win out at the end of the game with this combo.