UTEP to Play at WCC Perennial Power Saint Mary’s College Tuesday Night

[MineroFanatico]

There may not be any fans in the stands but St. Mary’s is still getting home court love. There were 2 full seconds on the clock when the ball hit the ground on that block.

Fortunately we were granted the bucket that Verhoeven hit with the half of a second they left us on the clock.

 

[MinerManiac]

Where is the help defense. We are so lazy. Disappointing. Nothing’s changed.

Actually, we played pretty well defensively at times last year. What absolutely killed us was the extremely frequent long scoring droughts. If we combine the poor defense that we've seen this year with those long scoring droughts- well, it's going to be incredibly ugly.

 

[TxRdKiller]

Verhoeven and Odigie finally put some defensive pressure on Tass. He had 10 pretty quick and ended the half with the same 10. However, Kuhse really came on once we shut down Tass. Pleasantly surprised to see that Titus has also put 6 on the board offensively including that split second shot to end the half. Nice.

 

[axingfools1]

We gotta go to the rim stronger and get that little PG out of the paint or else it will be more of the same in the 2nd half.

I really like Sjolund. I think he will be big for us in conference

 

[TxRdKiller]

We gotta go to the rim stronger and get that little PG out of the paint or else it will be more of the same in the 2nd half.

Indeed. They also lead us on the boards 16-9. We have to get stronger rebounding in the 2nd half. And, they're shooting 62% vs our 39% from the field. Gotta do better on both ends.

 

[axingfools1]

Announcer talking about how we can't get to the line. Dumb since we have some fantastic free throw shooters.

 

[axingfools1]

Maybe we will see some Hess instead of Vuc in the 2nd half?

 

[MineroFanatico]

Actually, we played pretty well defensively at times last year. What absolutely killed us was the extremely frequent long scoring droughts. If we combine the poor defense that we've seen this year with those long scoring droughts- well, it's going to be incredibly ugly.

I thought we were really good defensively through the NM game but I thought we took a dip from that point on. But like you said, we were good at times.

I think we did enough to make games ugly, which worked to our advantage, but our help defense has never been good under Terry, imo. Just my .02 worth.

 

[rhern514]

I like the energy at the start at this second half finally some 3s start falling in

 

[TxRdKiller]

Game 3 and more of what we've seen from Rodney Terry. Guys that may have played well in previous games are nowhere to be found and guys who are struggling are getting big minutes.

 

[MinerManiac]

Does Saint Mary's ever miss from 3? It doesn't seem like it. We need to defend the perimeter better.

 

[axingfools1]

Game 3 and more of what we've seen from Rodney Terry. Guys that may have played well in previous games are nowhere to be found and guys who are struggling are getting big minutes.

Where is Sjolund? Why is Vuk in there? No Hess? Odigie screwing up because he got pissed that he missed a layup.

We are playing a much better tempo 2nd half, but we are getting dominated in the paint. Now they are hitting 3s

 

[JCorona]

If there was a crowd we would be down by 20+.

 

[miner1liner]

Kennedy and Bieniemy a combined 2 for 18. Ouch.

 

[TxRdKiller]

Where is Sjolund? Why is Vuk in there? No Hess? Odigie screwing up because he got pissed that he missed a layup.

We are playing a much better tempo 2nd half, but we are getting dominated in the paint. Now they are hitting 3s

Yup. Sjolund showed nice ability to shoot and defend but we have Vuk in there now. WTF is CRT doing with his lineups?

 

[TxRdKiller]

I'm going to pretend like nobody has said this yet. Rodney Terry is not a good Xs and Os coach. Wait, let me change that. Rodney Terry is not a good coach. There, that's better.

 

[miner1liner]

How about trying something radical like Sjolund, Hess and Onyema?

 

[axingfools1]

Bieniemy seems to have no offense. I hope he didn't come here to be a scorer.

 

[Lil_Train]

Where is Sjolund? Why is Vuk in there? No Hess? Odigie screwing up because he got pissed that he missed a layup.

We are playing a much better tempo 2nd half, but we are getting dominated in the paint. Now they are hitting 3s

Vuk is lousy but he is the back up point. Hess would come in for Kennedy which I wouldn't hate for at least a few minutes.

 

[MineroFanatico]

33 minutes in and we’re shooting our 3rd and 4th free throws. Sigh...

 

[Lil_Train]

Kennedy and Bieniemy a combined 2 for 18. Ouch.

Seems like last year with Lathon and Hawkins.

 

[rhern514]

Kennedy and Bieniemy a combined 2 for 18. Ouch.

yup those dudes are disappointing a third guy has to step and score only williams and boum seem to be able too.

 

[axingfools1]

Has BW regressed on defense?

 

[axingfools1]

Vuk is lousy but he is the back up point. Hess would come in for Kennedy which I wouldn't hate for at least a few minutes.

Put Boum at PG and Sjolund at the 3. Vuk has done zero in 3 games so far.

Put Onyema in now and see what he can do. Whatever we are trying on D is not working.

 

[MinerManiac]

We desperately needed a board - and were completely out hustled

 

[MineroFanatico]

We don’t have a Tommy Kuhse. We need a Tommy Kuhse.

 

[MinerManiac]

Last year the Miners teased ua early on, leading us to think that it would be a good year, before producing a disappointing season. It doesn't look like we'll be teased this year. We're going to be disappointed from the start.

 

[Lil_Train]

I was mistaken, we beat the spread.

 

[FeralFelidae]

Couldn't get to 60. I guess

We desperately needed a board - and were completely out hustled

The Miners were winning the boards early, with some nice offensive boards.

They looked like they ran out of gas in the second half.

 

[axingfools1]

We lost this game because of poor defense in the paint. Plain and simple. Despite a couple of our guys shooting poorly, I think we scored enough to win in this game.

 

[MinerManiac]

We lost this game because of poor defense in the paint. Plain and simple. Despite a couple of our guys shooting poorly, I think we scored enough to win in this game.

This is one time that I am going to have to disagree with you axing. Not about the poor interior defense, we are in complete agreement on that front. I disagree, however, that we scored enough points to win the game. This year St Mary's is averaging 70.3 ppg. Last year they averaged 75.3 ppg. I don't know how many points the typical Division 1 basketball team averages on a season, but I suspect that it's somewhere around 67 to 70 ppg. We scored 61 points. That won't win us many games. So yes, our defense really hurt us last night. But so did the shooting of every backcourt player not named Souley Boum.

 

[unihorn]

I was mistaken, we beat the spread.

That line was damn close.

 

[Lil_Train]

Just to follow-up on a point made before the game regarding offensive contribution from Bieniemy, Kennedy, and Hess. Bieniemy played 31 minutes and went 1-10 from the floor. Kennedy payed all 40 minutes and went 2-11. Hess did not play. Prior to the season, I felt Kennedy, in particular, was a key to the season because of all the defections from the 2/3 positions. I would have liked to have seen Hess for a few minutes to see if he can hit some shots. Without any production from that spot, it will make it tough to score enough to win. The game last night looked a lot like last year based on the guard play. We did manage to keep the turnovers down, but that was against a team that doesn't really pressure the ball.

 

[MineroFanatico]

Is there any possibility Hess was out due to Covid related issues? Isn’t he one of the two that had to miss the Sul Ross game due to it?

Otherwise, CRT is a completely incompetent buffoon if he just chose not to use him.

 

[utep2step]

Put Boum at PG and Sjolund at the 3. Vuk has done zero in 3 games so far.

Put Onyema in now and see what he can do. Whatever we are trying on D is not working.

I really don't think Vuk is ready for this level of college ball. He is not going to help against the top half of CUSA unless he makes a remarkable turnaround.

However, UTEP did lose to a good team; a team they can beat, but a good team none the less. We need to be better gracious opponents and just admit St Mary's is a good team. Will they challenge the Zag's, no, they look unstoppable; but the Gaels can beat most P5 schools any day, any where.

The "running out of gas" is noticeable too. Tony Barbee had the players constantly conditioning. Some players said they look forward to game time because the running and conditioning was actually less.

 

[utep2step]

Is there any possibility Hess was out due to Covid related issues? Isn’t he one of the two that had to miss the Sul Ross game due to it?

Otherwise, CRT is a completely incompetent buffoon if he just chose not to use him.

We will not know in the past, present or future due to HIPAA.

 

[Lil_Train]

Is there any possibility Hess was out due to Covid related issues? Isn’t he one of the two that had to miss the Sul Ross game due to it?

Otherwise, CRT is a completely incompetent buffoon if he just chose not to use him.

I thought I saw him on the bench last night. He played 16 minutes in the Sul Ross game.

 

[axingfools1]

Is there any possibility Hess was out due to Covid related issues? Isn’t he one of the two that had to miss the Sul Ross game due to it?

Otherwise, CRT is a completely incompetent buffoon if he just chose not to use him.

It was JB and White that were out. Hess and Onyema just got the good ol DNP coach's decision last night.

 

[axingfools1]

This is one time that I am going to have to disagree with you axing. Not about the poor interior defense, we are in complete agreement on that front. I disagree, however, that we scored enough points to win the game. This year St Mary's is averaging 70.3 ppg. Last year they averaged 75.3 ppg. I don't know how many points the typical Division 1 basketball team averages on a season, but I suspect that it's somewhere around 67 to 70 ppg. We scored 61 points. That won't win us many games. So yes, our defense really hurt us last night. But so did the shooting of every backcourt player not named Souley Boum.

Yes you are probably right Maniac. I just thought St. Mary's was so proficient on offense that had we played any semblance of interior D we could have won the game scoring 61.

 

[utep-piggy]

Terry is no better a coach than Dimel when you factor in the history and tradition of UTEP basketball. Terry couldn't coach himself out of a phone booth and he obviously doesn't exhibit the capacity to develop talent. I agree with TxRdKiller; Senter, Dimel, and Terry are all overpaid and they are all mediocre at best and need to be fired.