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UK/UF Box score and game thoughts

Mike-McD

Junior
Aug 3, 2022
3,052
7,337
113
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Game Stats
MINPTSFGM-AFG%3PM-A3P%FTM-AFT%OREBDREBREBASTSTLBLKTOPF
UK-8731/68.4565/20.25020/28.71483240662917
A. Reeves, G27198/16.5002/7.2861/2.50011200122
D. Wagner, G36146/10.6001/2.5001/11.00003331011
R. Sheppard, G25142/4.5001/3.3339/11.81805520013
T. Mitchell, F35125/12.4170/2.0002/3.667191002013
A. Bradshaw, F26103/7.4291/2.5003/6.50025702101
R. Dillingham, G1862/7.2860/4.0002/21.00001110041
J. Edwards, G1863/6.5000/0.0000/0.00002201003
U. Onyenso, F1462/6.3330/0.0002/3.66714500002
J. Burks, G100/0.0000/0.0000/0.00000000001

First the bad:

1. Man do we miss Thiero. There is just no substitute for his pugnacious defense, rebounding, and consistent scoring.
2. Edwards is a bust. A BUST. We're almost halfway through the season and he's not improved an inch. He's still soft at the rim and weak on the boards. But hey, go eat a pizza at Cal's.
3. Cal is irresponsible at this point for not starting Sheppard. Bringing him in cold from the bench like that with instant pressure to perform and then not running plays for him is coaching malpractice. Sheppard is the best player on the team; Cal should be focusing on him and running the offense THROUGH Sheppard. Instead he lets DJ play hero ball and flip awkward lefty layups clanking off the rim or simply dribbling the ball to the other team at crunch time. (And yes, I can hear all you Calbois pounding on your keyboards as you read this - "ZOMFG SHEPPARD MADE MISTAKES TOO!" But Sheppard should be handling the ball, that's the major point.

Let me lay this out for you:

A SIXTY PERCENT THREE POINT SHOOTER SHOULD BE GETTING PLAYS ALL GAME TO SHOOT.

Cal is also, as another poster pointed out, mishandling Edwards by starting him both halves. He's not helping his draft stock at all, instead he's exposing him as inadequate.
4. Cal's post up offense reared its ugly head in crunch time again. Watch for that. Cal will revert when times get tense, like in late game NCAA tournament situations.
5. We looked nervous in the first half but we settled down in the second.
6. The refs were ATROCIOUS. Horrible.

Now the good:

1. DJ wasn't all that bad, really. He played pretty well, but he needs to be off the ball. He doesn't look for Shep enough and he plays too much hero ball, and he telegraphs his drive too much. It's obvious when he's about to go bonkers to the rim because he starts jitterbugging with the ball.
2. Mitchell is a hoss. Plain and simple. God bless that guy. We need him so badly.
3. Bradshaw and Shep were the second half heroes. Nice to see Cal pull Bradshaw under 35 seconds on offense so he wouldn't get fouled.
4. Sheppard is the smartest and dumbest player on the team, LOL. He dribbles around burning clock like a boss and then fouls a three point shooter at the buzzer. I guess he'll grow up eventually.
5. Reeves was really good today. He seems to have steadied down quite a bit. Hopefully he'll continue to be reliable in big games.

Final thought:

We all thought we'd get some answers as to how good or bad we really are after this game. I find myself still having serious doubts and uncertainty, and most of it is due to Cal not utilizing his players properly. He still inexplicably benches his best two guards while starting Edwards who should be #8 in the rotation. Maybe it's simpler than that - with Thiero in the lineup we probably coast to a 10-12 point victory anyway.
 
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