Thursday's Things To Know
Luka Garza's gravity, Indiana's lack of shooting, Christian Bishop and so much more.
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THURSDAY’S THINGS TO KNOW
LUKA GARZA IMPACTS A GAME SIMPLY BY BEING PRESENT
At halftime of Iowa’s 83-70 win over North Carolina on Tuesday, I mentioned that I thought that Luka Garza had been a net-negative for the Hawkeyes.
And, at a basic level, he probably was. He was 2-for-8 from the floor in the first half, and he’s never going to be a good defender, so it seemed pretty clear.
But after rewatching the game for this newsletter, the reason that Iowa was able to get so many open threes, particularly in the first half, was because of the presence of Garza on the floor and the attention that North Carolina paid to him in the post.
(Shout out to Jordan Sperber over at Hoop Vision who got come content out on this already. If you’re not a subscriber over there, you’re missing out?)
Let’s ignore, for a second, whether or not it is sound defensive strategy to send a double-team to a post scorer, particularly when there are three or four perimeter players that all shoot it at at least a 40 percent clip from three.
This possession, to me, is the perfect example of what I mean. Luka gets a post touch, which draws all five Tar Heels to the paint. Specifically, it draws a hard double from R.J. Davis, whose man — Jordan Bohannon, the best shooter in the history of Iowa basketball — threw the entry pass:
Now, double the post from the strong side like this is, frankly, not the best. But it does go to show you how much gravity Garza has when he touches the ball on the block.
This possession may be an even better example.
You can see how much attention the big fellas draws on his first post touch, and with some better ball-movement, Iowa would have had an open three. But Connor McCaffery drops a pass, so the ball is worked around again, and you can get a glimpse of what happens when Garza is allowed to establish position without any help from the weak side.
That’s why he draws as much attention as he does.
But there was more to it than just the threat when the ball is in his hands.
Here, you’ll see a set that Iowa loves to run, a screen-the-screener action. Joe Wieskamp sets a back-screen for Luka, which draws the attention of Leaky Black, who is concerned about giving up a layup.
As a result, he loses track of the best shooter on Iowa’s roster, who gets a wide open look that he missed.
And then there is the simple fact that Luka is a 265 pound yellow wall. Iowa got threes off of this floppy action a couple of times on Tuesday, and Andrew Platek had no chance of getting around that wall.
INDIANA NEEDS SHOOTERS LIKE IOWA
The Hoosiers suffered something of a heart-breaking loss at Florida State on Wednesday night, dropping them to 3-2 on the season with losses to the two top 25 teams that they played.
Now, Indiana and Iowa are not all that different when it comes to how their teams are structured. Iowa likes to play four-around-one more often that the Hoosiers do, but for the most part, they are both teams that are built around an All-American post that is asked to carry them as far as he can.
The one major difference, however, is the amount of space that is created for Trayce Jackson-Davis by Indiana’s “shooters.” Iowa is one of the most lethal three-point shooting teams in America. They’re making more than 40 percent of their threes this season while taking nearly 43 percent of their field goal attempts from beyond the arc.
Indiana?
They’re shooting 28.8 percent from three while shooting just 26 percent of their field goal attempts from beyond the arc.
That’s why you see more possessions for Indiana that look like this than you do with Iowa:
The good news for Indiana fans?
It just so happens that TJD is good enough to do things like this:
He’s why the Hoosiers are a team that will be ranked in the top 25 at different points during this season. I’ve seen three full Indiana games now. I’m convinced this is going to be a team that deserves to be in the 8-9 game in the NCAA tournament at minimum.
But in a state where there is literally nothing but dudes that can shoot that thing, it’s baffling to me that we are in Year 4 of the Archie Miller era and we’ve yet to see an Indiana team that could make even 33 percent of their three-pointers in his tenure.
DUKE LACKS WEAPONS IN BALL-SCREENS
The thing that stood out to me more than anything else in watching Illinois struggle with Ohio and Baylor, especially in the second half, before handling Duke with ease was how inefficient Duke was in ball-screens.
That’s where Illinois can be beaten.
If Kofi Cockburn was good defensively against ball-screens, he would probably be in the professional ranks right now. And don’t get me wrong, he’s definitely getting better — guys his size take time to learn the intricacies of defending out on the perimeter. They’re never asked to be anything other than big and in the lane in high school.
But that very much is where his, and as a result, Illinois’, weakness is. We saw Jeff Boals exploit it for Ohio, and we saw Scott Drew exploit it for Baylor.
Over and over and over again:
Duke tried.
But their guards couldn’t get all the way to the rim and their bigs either couldn’t make an open shot at the top of the key or were unable to finish around the rim:
EFFORT IS A PART OF THE PROBLEM WITH KENTUCKY
There are 15 different conversations that we can have about what’s wrong with Kentucky right now, and I’m not going to run through them all.
But one thing did stand out to me: The effort level. This possession against Georgia Tech spoke volumes to me. Moses Wright beats all five Kentucky players to a loose ball, tapping the offensive rebound out. The ball eventually winds up in Bubba Parham’s hands, and three Kentucky defenders just … leave him open.
Check it out:
There is no way that John Calipari will accept that.
CHRISTIAN BISHOP IS THE KEY TO CREIGHTON’S SEASON
For my money, the guy that is going to determine just how good Creighton is, whether or not they can compete for the Big East regular season title, is Christian Bishop.
Yes, Mitchell Ballock needs to start making the opens threes that he is getting, but that will come. And yes, Creighton needs to manufacture some depth and make sure that Marcus Zegarowski stays healthy all season long, but that’s somewhat out of Greg McDermott’s control now.
Bishop, to me, is the key. A 6-foot-7, 220 pound forward from Missouri, Bishop is averaging 14.5 points and 6.3 boards this season while chipping in with a block and a steal per game. He had three blocks against Kansas. He made a three against Kansas. He was able to create mismatches on the offense end of the floor with his mobility while holding his own in the second half in the post.
That’s when Creighton played their best.
In the first half, however, he was bowled over by David McCormack, who scored 12 of his 14 points before the break.
If Bishop can do what he did in the second half against Kansas all season long, he is the small-ball five that they need to make this system work.
AND SHOUT OUT TO XAVIER
The Musketeers absolutely punked Oklahoma on Wednesday night, putting up 99 points in a 22-point win in the Cintas Center. That comes just three days after they knocked off Cincinnati in Fifth Third Arena on Sunday.
Zach Freemantle has gotten the pub, averaging 18 points and eight boards while shooting 44 percent from three, but what is more important has been the growth of Paul Scruggs, who is starting to look like the kind of game-changing playmaker that Xavier fans have been waiting for for four years. He’s averaging 20 points, 6.5 assists and 4.5 boards in the last two wins.
The major difference here: Shooting!
As a team, Xavier is hitting 39.6 percent of their threes this season. Last year, they shot 31.2 percent from three. Scruggs can exploit the space that is being created, and when he gets a paint touch, he can find one of the snipers spotted up on the perimeter.
I thought this team would finish closer to the bottom of the Big East than the top, but at this point in the season, I think it’s safe to say that the only teams that are definitively better than Xavier right now are Villanova and Creighton, and Creighton hasn’t actually beaten anyone.
Oh, and Ben Stanley is still waiting to get eligible.
Is this the year that Travis Steele breaks through?