Popes defense

[Creed Bratton]

I have no doubt he'll get better athletes. They don't seem to fight through screens, they don't recover, they leave 3 point shooters wide open, and just stand there. Effort is my worry

Speaking of screens was it just me or did it seem like Oklahoma set an illegal screen or multiple illegal screens on every offensive possession. They either weren't set and were moving, would throw a hip into the defender who was running by or they would shove our guys who were being screened to knock them off their path.

 

[bigbluefan81]

Soft? It’s non existent.

A lot of BS in this thread from either trolls or fans that don't know jack... So we have been begging for fluid offense and offensive sets and we have that now you want a defensive oriented team... Look there is give and go. These guys are playing their butts off and the last few games have moved up tremendously in defensive stats. We don't have the athletic guards to play "elite" defense that will come.. Why don't you guys enjoy the ride because Pope certainly knows how to coach and will only get better as he gets better players from portal and guys to stay.. Shaking my head at some of these posts.

No one is asking for elite defense, this team isn't athletic enough for that. There are issues with effort on defense, for instance they don't fight through screens, they just stand there while players drive in, instead of trying to block the shot, when a player has a wide open three, they just stand there, instead of running out there and atleast trying to defend them

 

[K_TIME]

This isn't rocket science....

Oklahoma, as well as most teams, tend to score above their seasonal averages' vs UK. This is a combination of things like rebounding, lack of steals, shot blocking, as well as the obvious too many fouls, struggle to guard ball screens consistently, etc....