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Tough Tech Loss, but Now UP to #5 in AP Poll
75 Plays3 months ago
Welcome to Episode #42 of the No Conference for Old Men Podcast.
Our Houston Cougars are now 18-4 & 10-1 in the XII, but still tied for 1st in the conference, after a tough OT loss at home to Texas Tech in a strange game where there was a double ejection less than 5 minutes into the game. But turned around with a "just win & move on" triumph in beating a motivated Oklahoma St team without key players in Sharp & Francis. There is no rest for the weary as Houston will continue to be tested this week with a visit to Colorado followed by another Big Monday showdown with heated rival Baylor at home. The 3 Old Men review the 2 games played & preview the upcoming games this week, and respond to the many Cougar fans that are "freaking out" after the loss at home to Tech.
- No Conference for Old Men is available for free via Spotify / Apple Podcast / SoundCloud & the GoCoogs.com website; we're also available via the Republic of Football Podcast feed from the folks at Dave Campbell's Texas Football as their only basketball-centric offering
- Intro / Exit music: Ground Zero provided by FreeBeats.io
- Please follow us on gocoogs.com/old-men/
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Transcript
Introduction and Host Introductions
00:00:08
Speaker
folks, to episode number 42 of the No Conference for Old Men podcast, podcast where three old guys are talking in Houston Cougars basketball with video Big 12 coverage added in as well. And proud members of the Goku's.com network, the undisputed number one Houston Cougars content provider. And we're here today with all three of the old men, Tom Lydiak, former coach, Bill Walker, former player and myself, Steve Chang, analytics guy for this episode.
Analysis: Cougars vs Texas Tech
00:00:33
Speaker
Well, a rare and tough loss to hated Texas Tech at home, 82 to 81 in overtime, with a crazy sequence of events with double ejections of Tech's best player Toppin and Coach McCaslin within five minutes of the game starting.
00:00:49
Speaker
And that just seemed to galvanize your team to perform over their heads in the defeat. And then the team had to turn around for a sloppy but much needed 72 to 63 win over Oklahoma State at home without two key players in Sharpen Francis. Tough, tough stretch for the Cougars and now the team moves on to Colorado on the road, still without Sharpe and then host always tough and heated rival Baylor for another big Monday tilt.
00:01:14
Speaker
things are never easy in the no conference for old Ben big 12. So let's get into it guys in dissecting our tough and crazy loss at home to tech this week. Let's begin with post-game analysis of one of the craziest games I've seen in a long time. Let's start with you first, Tom. What were your thoughts as you took a look at the game from a coach's perspective? Oh boy, a lot to unpack in this game. um ah Let's start off with the you know, the fireworks that started in the first couple of minutes of the game
00:01:47
Speaker
ah When we double team topping, he looks to throw a cross court pass and he karate kicks, uh, uh, Joe, Joe, right. Right. And the family jewels. And then he gets ejected with a flagrant too. And then Grant McCaslin throws a little hissy fit worthy of a worthy of a two year old. I kind of think that was manufactured. as it power I think, I think he knew what he would, he was doing. Um, but I might be the only one.
00:02:15
Speaker
that thinks that ah that possibly could have been intentional on popping because ah they're trying to say that was a natural action of a guy jumping up in the air and trying to throw a cross sport pass. Well, my point is that we double teamed to post. um And if it's a natural basketball action, we'd probably be seeing that at least once or twice a game because we double teamed all the time and guys that are double teamed Throw out of the double team cross court all the time. And this is the first time. And the thing that really irks me on the whole thing is we had Jojo down on the floor in a heap and all of a sudden Texas tech and, and, uh, uh, top and become the victim. Uh, that really just like aggravated me to no ends is that Jojo was the
Texas Tech's Performance and Key Game Moments
00:03:08
Speaker
heat. He didn't do anything illegal.
00:03:11
Speaker
He's playing great defense and all of a sudden he gets a scissors kicked or whatever ah and goes and didn't sit too well with me. Tech shot the lights out. I think we gave up, I think the score was like 41 41.
00:03:25
Speaker
Um, you know, not sure. I mean, not that Texas tech is a dog, but every dog has this day. They might be right now. Uh, this would be the peak of their season along with Arizona. You never know. I mean, in a month, we might be looking back and we could say Arizona tech, uh, they, they, they peaked right now. Uh, there's a lot of basketball to play.
00:03:47
Speaker
Tech has to go to Arizona this Saturday, so one of those teams is going to lose. If it's Arizona, they're going to have two losses. If it's tech, they're going to have three losses. so Like you said, Steve, just a crazy game. A couple other things I'd like to mention you know in regulation.
00:04:04
Speaker
it Looked really good for us. We were up 66 to 60. There was like 345 left in the game Malik is garden Hawkins Elijah Hawkins and He's just dribbling and he's spinning like a whirly dervish and he literally just fell down Malik basically did not touch him Hawkins just fell down and And Malika was called for a foul. So Hawkins makes ah two free throws. So it's a three point. It's a yeah three. Let's see four point game. We come down. We have to LJ has to force up a shot at the at the shot clock. And then on the ensuing possession, I think it's Anderson. I think they're freshmen.
00:04:46
Speaker
um shoots the three and Malika's called for a foul. no They only showed one angle on the TV and it's from the side. Couldn't, you know, it'd been better if there was a view from the back or a view from the front. You really can't tell ah where the contact occurred. It could have been where Anderson just flopped. And I thought those two calls right there, and he made all three free throws. So it's 66, 65. I thought those two calls right there, ah it was, you know, it changed the whole momentum of the game.
00:05:18
Speaker
Not having sharp, healthy is really hurting us.
Impact of Injuries and Roster Management
00:05:21
Speaker
JVA left the game when he kind of got whiplash there and yeah he gets the concussion. ah We're so much better with JVA on the floor defensively. We have those two big so you have, you have rent protectors. You know, Emmanuel's second leading scorer, he's underrated a defensive player, even though he did make a bad mistake. I think we were up by three and Tech threw the ball down to the right sideline and a manual when it originally went out to close out on the shooter and then for some reason he goes to run to a guy in the corner who was already guarded leaving the ball and I can't remember who it was drain drain to three and I think it tied it up and that was a killer but You know overall crazy game
00:06:10
Speaker
You know, it's one loss. I predicted us to go to 15 five in conference and win it all. I didn't figure Arizona to only have one loss this late in the conference season or tech only have two losses, but a lot of people.
00:06:24
Speaker
ah You know, their expectations, I think are just way too high. They, they expect us to play perfect. And then we also set a precedent early in the conference season by just killing teams, hold them to what was the point till it was like 55, 57 points or something like that. Uh, that was back when we were healthy. Yeah. And now we have sharp out and you know, JVA Smith, miss parts of some games, uh,
00:06:48
Speaker
Uh, so, you know, we have, we have one conference loss where we're tied for the conference lead. We got Colorado coming up and we win that game. And, uh, let's say Texas, uh, let's say Arizona loses the tech. Uh, they have two losses tech has two losses and we're, uh, you know, we're, we're back in first place. I think the whole key here is, uh, for sharp to get healthy and get him ready for the, you know, the stretch run and, uh, and March and just you cross our fingers that none of our, and you know, all our big stay healthy too.
00:07:17
Speaker
But just like you guys said, just, just a crazy game. I'm sure Bill will have, um, tidbits that I left out. Um, but yeah, it's a loss.
Game Officiating and Its Impact
00:07:28
Speaker
At home, I mean, you know, tech tech's really sixly playing well right now. Yeah. And I will say one last thing. ah Progress success, success is not linear. You know, it's not always going to be a curve where you're always going straight up. You know, there's going to be some dips and potholes along the way. And there's a lot of basketball left. We have like ah a month and a half to hit our peak. Yeah. Well said. How about you, Bill, from a player's perspective with the tech game?
00:07:58
Speaker
I've got to well a couple of things I was going to talk about. One, I will hold off on until we ah approach the next segment. So I'm not going to talk about, as I typically do, players, statistics, ah you know who's to doing what from the field, assists, turnovers, everything.
00:08:18
Speaker
the one thing I want to talk about is officiating. And I still can't tell how egregious Toppin's flagrant too was. I've watched it several times, whether he should have been ejected. Honestly, I'm leaning toward no. With that said, I'll put a few things out here and see if they add up and if they make sense. First is post-ejection Kirby whole cut text ad allegedly received communication from the big 12 office apologizing for the call. Not sure I necessarily believe this, but it could have happened. but What I did see was during the second half, a 20 to one free throw disparity at one point.
00:09:06
Speaker
I saw a sharp late in the game. And this happened right below where I was sitting, right below the seats, Steve. He got his face just crushed. There was no call, no post-call review. I saw zero. This goes to another game. and I saw zero ah fouls called in the Kansas, Iowa State first half. And I mean, that game was brutal to begin. And even Fran Fraschilla and John Chambi, the the yeah ESPN announcers, were both referring to it and only 28 fouls were called in our game against Oklahoma State the ah following game and only 12 on us. So it's really either very interesting or it's extraordinarily coincidental. I don't know if
00:09:59
Speaker
A mandate came down from the Big 12 to the officials and said, look, you know this these games aren't about you guys. Stop blowing your whistles every two seconds. But but you either way, we lost the game. We had in hand. And that's that. Now, here's one question regarding officiating, I guess, that I wanted to ask you guys, because honestly, apparently, I don't know the answer.
00:10:28
Speaker
When Toppin threw the pass and he kicks Tuggler, you know, ah Tech hit a three off of that pass. The play gets reviewed, flagrant two, so it's clearly a foul on the pass. Toppin gets ejected. The three never came off the board, ever. It stayed. The three was good.
00:10:56
Speaker
now Like I said, I'm not sure, but but if it's. In retrospect, if it's a foul on top end, wouldn't a foul, an offensive foul mean the ball goes immediately to us and whatever happened after he threw the ball should not count. But that three, that three stayed, it was never removed. Do either of you know anything about that or why that stayed there? Because I, I'm.
00:11:28
Speaker
I'm not sure what the rule is on that bill. I'm not sure. Cause the call wasn't made till after, right? The play had concluded. And so I can see why it counted, right? Cause they let, they played on until they scored the three. Right. And then it was a subsequent review. Uh, right. And I've had, yeah, I've had that conversation. I just thought that if they're
00:12:14
Speaker
even retroactively assess the foul to top in. It would seem to me, it seems logical anyway, that play stops at that point and it would become U of H's ball and anything that happened after that should have been a non-issue. Just shouldn't have been part of the game, but the three scored. So I just wanted to ask about that and see if either of you had any insights into that or maybe if someone had brought it up on the message boards or and anything
00:12:47
Speaker
nothing yeah Okay. yeah so okay Well, so anyway, that's about what I wanted to bring up. That's the point that I wanted to bring up now, just the officiating, the fact that since the call on top and the the officiating was pretty brutally one sided in the second half.
00:13:08
Speaker
There was nothing called in the subsequent Iowa State, Kansas game. There were only 12 fouls called against us last night. And so I don't know, you know, conspiracy theory, whatever you want to say. It seems like I said, it could be entirely coincidental, but ah yeah, a lot lot fewer fouls called other than the overwhelming number called on us in the second half of ah the tech game. But you know what, it's a loss and we'll move on from it. and
00:13:45
Speaker
we'll We'll address that shortly.
Fan Reactions and Team Capabilities
00:13:47
Speaker
OK. I mean, from an analytics perspective, looking at the tech game, there's very little separating the two teams, as you'd expect in an overtime loss. But it was clear that tech was motivated over the questionable calls at the beginning. On offense, tech was blistering from the field. Effective field goal percentage at 53.7% and 40% from three-point rage. Not surprising coming from the second best shooting team in the conference.
00:14:12
Speaker
That's still crazy against our defense. Our only saving grace to keep the game manageable was forcing them on turnovers on 19% of their possessions. Exact opposite happened to us on offense where we shot poorly across the board. 49.2% effective field goal percentage, only 35.7% from three point range where we'd been elite up to this point. 48% from two point range, also below our norms. What allowed us to be semi-effective on offense was our offensive rebounding rate of 42% for the game.
00:14:45
Speaker
Defensively, it was a constant challenge for us to keep tech contained in this game. Tech's kids were jacked up after the two injections and responded positively versus losing control of the game. And I would never suggest tech would be better after losing their best player in Toppin, as well as their head coach in McCaslin early in the game. But it did force them into a small lineup of shooters. And honestly, that caused issues for us in trying to defend the arc where they killed us.
00:15:14
Speaker
with one of our two bigs in our preferred lineup always being a bit late closing out on threes. I would never question Coach Sampson's tactics, but this was one of those games where I would have liked to have seen Arsenal play maximum amount of minutes.
00:15:28
Speaker
He played over 30 as it was, but he was in our lineup as we made our run to take the lead late ah when he was playing the four position. And I would have preferred to have kind of rode that horse until he fouled out at this point. He did a better job of closing out on three-point shooters yeah when he was playing the four position versus Roberts or Tuggler during the game. And he was our only player that could really create and get his own shot whenever he wanted.
00:15:58
Speaker
You dig in deeper on the player-specific advanced analytics, and there were some surprise key contributors that rose to the occasion for tech. Obviously, Chance McMillan and Darien Williams picked up the pace and did their damage, as you would expect, because they're elite players. However, the difference makers for them that really killed us was point guard Elijah Hawkins, who we just could not control. He shot 57% from three-point range when he usually only shoots 33%, and he was just breaking down our defense at will with his quickness. And Kerwin Walton,
00:16:32
Speaker
who took up the bulk of the minutes after the top-end ejection shot 67% from 3 and ended up as a player box score plus-minus plus 16.9 when he's usually only a plus 1.6. Check just played out of their minds in this game.
00:16:50
Speaker
For UH, Sharp played injured, and it was really just tough to watch. He lacked his usual quickness, couldn't get his three-point shots off with Tech's quickness on defense. And as we all talked about, had hoped that we'd just start resting him you know for this game and then the two subsequent games. Choir was the only one of the starters that could match the intensity of the Tech players. Though Roberts scored 18, he gave up a lot of open threes on the other end.
00:17:15
Speaker
No, they talked about wanting to play arsenal more in this game. He was a player box score plus minus plus ten and a plus four point four on the defensive side guarding the four position. Only he, along with Blake Wilson, who was also a plus eleven, were able to break down Tex Deed to get open looks inside. But we learned from these types of games, as Kellan Sampson said in postgame interviews with Goku's dot com. So expect some adjustments for the final stretch as we get ready for March Madness.
00:17:43
Speaker
Now the one question I wanted to pose for you guys, and thanks for kind of holding off on some of the points related to the tech game. But there were lots of our fans on the various message boards losing it after this loss at home to tech.
00:17:59
Speaker
And so the question becomes, OK, let's get a perspective from each of us, right? Is this team not as good as we think or or as good as the advanced analytics suggest? Do we just beat up on the marginal teams on the schedule and wilt when we play offensively strong teams like Tech? Are we at risk of losing early in March Madness? I mean, these are some of the questions. And Bill, why don't you go first with your immediate reaction?
00:18:27
Speaker
to kind of the fans' outrage, I guess I'll call it in quotes after this loss. Sure. And this, yeah, this was what my second point was going to address.
Coaching Strategies Amid Criticism
00:18:39
Speaker
Yeah. Specifically about the sky falling, Calvin can't coach, especially down the stretch. You know, we we should be playing different defenses. UH's season is over after We lose to tech by one point in overtime. but It's one loss, one loss. We're still atop the big 12. We're, we're ranked inside the top five and all the analytical polls were ranked fifth in the AP and the coaches poll. And you know what? We'll probably lose another game. It obviously stinks that, that we lost ah it.
00:19:28
Speaker
To me, it just sucks that we, that the longest home winning streak is over, but you know what, teams lose. This team has injuries. The officiating, as I previously mentioned was, and I'll say this in air quotes, bizarre at best. And you know what, we lost to a good team.
00:19:48
Speaker
Again, by one point in overtime, I would tell everyone to lighten up. We're right in the midst of the Big 12 schedule. And actually, I was going to bring this up as it pertains to our next game. But, ah you know, it's a.
00:20:05
Speaker
you know, everybody's losing right now. So we've only got one loss. I mean, even crazy, a coworker of mine, Danny, who I've talked about once before, he's learned a lot of basketball. He's even admitted by listening to the podcast, charged into the office and announced, where's the D?
00:20:24
Speaker
ah We're right in the middle of a long conference schedule. It's a grind. This game went to overtime, by the way. We'll get healthy. We'll be fine. We've also got tech again. Granted, it's the Monday right after we beat ISU, and that will not win that game either. ah So we're OK. Well, bold, bold statements there. Love it. How about you, Tom, from a coach's perspective? Is the sky falling? well
00:20:57
Speaker
As a coach, the minute you start listening to the fans is the minute you'll be sitting with the fans. It's just ridiculous. Now, a couple of things about the tech game I forgot to mention is that I think we're up by three. Milos is on the free throw line for a one-on-one. If he makes those two free throws, game's over. And I think that's when they came down and they hit that three. I think that's when Sharp left. He left the shooter to go cover the man in the corner.
00:21:22
Speaker
who was already guarded and it was it was yeah he nailed a three to to tie it up so that's how close that's how close you were to winning and if milos hits those free throws we're talking about oh what a gutsy win blah blah blah and all this uh it's one loss like i said i predicted us to go like 15 and five uh you know we're we're gonna lose more games uh another thing about that a tech game is Juwan, right before the end of the game, ah TV show the replay, he rolled his right ankle bad. Yeah.
00:21:58
Speaker
um I'm not sure yeah how he went back in the game, I guess the way they tape ankles and all that. And then on that last play, when we went for the win, he tried to spin and it was on that right foot. And that's when he lost control. I just don't think he could have planned it. So you could say if some butts were candy nuts, you know, that, that old saying if Juan doesn't roll that ankle, he probably is able to make a spin move and fake and then go back to his left hand and score, get foul.
00:22:26
Speaker
There were a lot of people saying, why did we give the ball to Juwan? He's going to get fouled. He's a 58% free throw shooter, blah, blah, blah, and all that. But he also was the guy who won the UCF game and the Kansas game, you know, look at that game, what he did down the stretch, all the buckets he made against Dickinson. And free throws, right? Against KU and free throws. He hit his free throws at critical times too. There was so much in that tech game that could have gone right for us.
Evaluating Recent Performances and Player Contributions
00:22:51
Speaker
Look at Texas Tech. Texas Tech has lost two home games already. Yeah. ah You know, Iowa State beat them by one. I think it was overtime game. And then they lost the UCF of all people. Yeah. And now look how they're playing. They're playing really well. And like I said, they might, they might be at their peak right now. You you just never know. ah ah You have to go back at the end of the season and look at, you know, look at how everybody did.
00:23:16
Speaker
But right now it's almost like recency bias. Okay, right now it looks like Arizona's playing the best looks like Texas Tech's playing the best What's going on with Houston? Well, look at Iowa State. Look at Kansas. They both have four losses right now, you know, ISU fan bases having a meltdown so it's uh, you know when you in this day and age with social media and internet and all that kind of stuff and You know, coaches, players, they're living in a fishbowl and everything's magnified. Um, you know, 40 years ago when we were watching basketball, we probably had one or two people we could talk ball with, uh, after a five slam a jam a game or whatever. Uh, but nowadays with social media, you can talk to literally thousands of people, uh, on social media. So, uh, typical overreaction of a fan base, um,
00:24:10
Speaker
But like I said, one loss and you got to give credit to tech. I mean, they, they hit big shots. They did. You talked about though, uh, their small Texas tech, small lineup reminds me of that loss we had against, uh, Alabama for Tita a couple of years ago. We were up, I think 15 in that game. And then, um, they went small and they just, uh, sliced and diced as they were penetrating their sprain of all all the place and knocking down three. So.
00:24:37
Speaker
You know, kind of reminding me of that game, but Kelvin's the hall of fame coach. Uh, you know, he didn't take a dummy pills the night before the tech game. Uh, so he's the hall of fame coach, you know, uh, good coaches, they can see, you know, a mistake.
00:24:55
Speaker
They can recognize it, great coaches, they see the mistakes, but they can fix them. And Kelvin is in that second category. you know He's gonna look at that film the next time we play him and he's gonna see what needs to be fixed and he'll get it done.
00:25:10
Speaker
Yeah, I completely agree. And for me, as I stated on goku.com or the Veer message board, my only quote unquote complaint was that I wish we had kept Terrence in until he fouled out, basically maxed out his minutes. With him at the fore, he was quick enough to get out to challenge text shooters at the arc with their spall lined up. We made our run to get a lead late in regulation with them.
00:25:36
Speaker
with the game at the fourth spot. And he and Malik were the only ones that have the quickness and athleticism to get open shots during this game. It's my opinion that Arsenal is actually the most complete and athletic player on our team this season. And in order for us to make that national championship run in March, I actually think he needs to be in the top four in minutes on the team. He's currently kind of in that five to six slot, almost tied with Tuggler in terms of minutes.
00:26:05
Speaker
to But I think his kind of next level ah ability to create his own shots is what we're going to need when things bog down in March, right? And all the defenses end up being really tight. Now for my reaction to the loss perspective, disappointed, yes, but it doesn't change how I feel about this team. I actually think it forces the coaches to tweak some more as we head into this final stretch. And thank God we're now resting sharp for a week.
00:26:34
Speaker
As you had highlighted, Bill, guess what? KU, ISU, and a slew of other top 25 teams lost on this last bloody Saturday. Advanced analytics wise, we're still number two in Kenpong. We're actually still number one in both Haslam metrics and Bart Torvik, even after the losses. Coach's poll, guess what? We stayed steady at number five. AP poll.
00:26:57
Speaker
Folks, we actually moved up one spot to number five after the loss to Tech. So fans, really stop freaking out. Watch how our Hall of Fame coach continues to tweak things heading into March. I still truly believe we have the pieces and the coaching to win it all this season. So just be patient, folks.
00:27:17
Speaker
Now, just a ah quick, maybe, summary on the subsequent game after this tough, tough loss. We had Oklahoma State at home. Tom, you want to go first and provide your coach's view on that game? Sure. Before I talk about Oklahoma State, one thing I just thought of back when we played in the American, even the year we went to the Final Four, good grief. We lost to, like, East Carolina. I think of that Final Four a year. Or I know we lost to Tulsa. I know of Tulsa lost.
00:27:47
Speaker
I think the Tulsa loss was the final four year. That was Caleb Mills last game, but I know one of those years we lost to East Carolina. We lost to UCF at home, ah Memphis a time or two. Um, can't remember who else we lost to in in the American, but yeah, I just think it's expectations are unrealistic. I think a lot of fans expect us to play almost like perfect every game, whole teams, though, like below 50 points or whatever.
00:28:16
Speaker
Now going on to the Oklahoma State game. Rough start, I thought defensively, I think Oklahoma State had like a 20 to 18 to nine lead, 20 to 12. It's a good thing basketball games are 40 minutes and not 10. After that slow start, I think it was the next 20 minutes, we really, ah really poured it on. And then we kind of slacked up again and they kind of got back within striking distance.
00:28:44
Speaker
um JVA didn't play, Emmanuel didn't play. And like I said, I think that affects us defensively um if they're playing too big because we don't have a rim protector in there and we're going small. But I think it's good for Terrence ah to get in there. And it just seems like when he's forced to play a lot of minutes like he did last night, ah we see a more aggressive Terrence offensively. you know he boy He made some plays ah as just a playmaker. He made some really nice passes and made some nice drives and all that.
00:29:21
Speaker
Now, when we get Emmanuel back and the team's all healthy, if we can throw in ah an aggressive Terrence, that's the X-Factor, I think, that's gonna make this team ah so much better.
Player Performance Review
00:29:31
Speaker
But it seems like he just takes a subservient role. you know When we have our whole squad together, ah just seems like he's not as aggressive, yeah not hunting the shot or not trying to make as many plays, he's kind of playing it safe. So hopefully with E-Man out and Terrence getting more consistent minutes,
00:29:49
Speaker
We'll see that happen. Kind of like with Malik. Malik started playing well when he was forced. We had to play him minutes. no one And it's almost like Malik knew that, OK, I'm definitely going to get some minutes. so I'm not just like ah two minutes here and two minutes there. And we saw how Malik played last year and the way he's playing this year. off Offensive rebound. And I think we had 13 offensive rebounds in the first half. Yeah. It seemed like we owned the boards.
00:30:19
Speaker
ah You know, we ended up winning by nine. I think, uh, when we played them, Oklahoma state, what was the final? I can't remember how much we beat them, uh, and, and still water 16 or 14, 60 to 46. Yeah. 60 46. Okay. Yeah. And, and I think our biggest lead in this game was 17, 19 points there. I think we missed a bunny that could have put us up by like 19. I think it was. Hmm.
00:30:47
Speaker
So it's a W, but we were short handed a little bit and we sure miss Emmanuel. That's all. That's all I'm going to say about that. Yeah, most definitely. How about you, Bill, from a player's perspective for the OSU game? Yeah, I predicted a 38 point win.
00:31:04
Speaker
ah But in a weak attempt to save face, I did so assuming we'd have a full team. I still thought that without Sharp and Francis, we'd win by 25. And for a while, like you mentioned, Tom, it looked like we'd get there. What I simply did not anticipate was an absolutely horrendous shooting team like Oklahoma State to shoot 51% against us. And they missed their final three shots of the game.
00:31:34
Speaker
Another thing that I probably should have considered, and I touched on this when we were talking about the overreaction to the tech losses, is that we were playing our fifth game in 13 days and our third game in six days. This isn't to say that a grueling schedule doesn't affect other teams, including Oklahoma State, but we're right in the midst of ah the conference schedule, a 20 game conference schedule. but We're playing short-handed.
00:32:01
Speaker
And you know it was a far less than pretty game. In the end, we're 10 and 1. We're still top the big 12. This may have been as poor a shooting game as I've seen from U of H. We're 26 of 62 from the field. However, that equates to 36 misses. Of those 36 misses,
00:32:23
Speaker
We offensive rebounded half of them. We had 18 offensive rebounds, and that certainly makes up for some poor shooting. And for the game, we out rebounded them 40, 24, which was huge. Cryer at the game was name player of the game, but it was clearly used on.
00:32:42
Speaker
He had 17 points, five assists, zero turnovers against a fairly aggressive defense. I, you know, I really got on Usan last week at West Virginia for lacking aggressiveness. And last night I thought he looked great. The Roberts had a double-double. Terrence shot really poorly, but he dished out six assists in his, in his increased minutes. And my league.
00:33:08
Speaker
also shot really poorly or relatively poorly two of eight, but, uh, four rebounds, three steals, a block. He came in but when we were down early and, uh, really set the tone defensively. And I thought he was outstanding. Again, interestingly, 12 fouls called against us and, you know, 16 for, for Oklahoma state, which coincidental, you know, I don't know.
00:33:37
Speaker
on a fly and a win's a win and we're on to hopefully getting healthier and closing out the conference. Yeah, exactly. I'm with you guys. I actually called this game kind of a just a win and move on type of game, right? Just take the win, move on to the next game. We had two key players out. I did Sharpen Francis, like you guys said, both reference. And so I'm actually not going to get into the you know, advanced analytics here because it's somewhat meaningless. We were under our standard across the board and as you guys had highlighted as well, Oklahoma State, who's a very poor shooting team, ended up blistering right from the field. 58.16% from effective field goal percentage, 60% from two point range. Our saving grace was offensive rebounding at a 45% clip.
00:34:31
Speaker
And that was really the difference maker for us. We were playing with a bunch of lineups that we haven't really played before, but I'm happy for that, right? It actually got Malik and Arsenal a lot more minutes and getting more comfortable being aggressive and playing with the starters and more frequently. So.
00:34:53
Speaker
As you had highlighted, Oozan was clearly the the best player from a player box or plus minus perspective of the starters. But you know, after Oozan, the two best were Terrence Arsenault at a plus 8.4 and then Malik Wilson at a plus 8.3. So those are going to be valuable experiences as we get ready for the most important part of our season heading into March.
Game Recaps and Upcoming Matches
00:35:18
Speaker
So again, take the win and move on.
00:35:21
Speaker
Now, why don't we pivot to the other big 12 game we zeroed in on? And that was the ISU at Kansas game on big Monday. Bill, why don't you go first and highlight kind of your, I guess, elevator pitch on that game.
00:35:37
Speaker
Yeah. Kansas state beat Iowa state, 69 52 Kansas, not Kansas state, kansasas Kansas, Kansas over Iowa state state. Yeah. 69 52. This to me in the first half looked like a pickup game and I referenced it earlier. There was tons of physical play, no whistles at all. And as I previously mentioned, there were 26 files called for the entire once again is like.
00:36:07
Speaker
Hmm, you know, I don't know big 12 mandate. Yeah. Coincidence. You know, who knows? Iowa State cannot win if they can't shoot. Three of 21 from three, which equates to 14 per little over 14%, 30% from the field for the game.
00:36:26
Speaker
If they have issues in March, it's because they rely way too heavily on the perimeter. Montsilvitch coming back whenever that happens will help, but that's more perimeter shooting. They were just relying on it too much. And after giving up 60 second half points in their loss to Baylor, Kansas really more so than Iowa State needed this. Except for U of H, another win at the fog. Yeah. Wow. How about you, Tom?
00:36:55
Speaker
from a coach's perspective. Boy, interesting game. ah You know, I would say desperate for a win and they didn't get it. To me, they looked almost unrecognizable. They only scored 52 points. um And I know they're playing without mom Cylovich. I'm not sure how much that's going to help when he comes back. ISU faithful or they think that's going to be, they think they're really missing him really bad.
00:37:22
Speaker
ah Lipsie, he's playing with a broken thumb. So I'm sure that's affecting. Last year he had that shoulder issue. Now he's got a broken thumb. I'm sure that's it affecting their play. But yeah, it was weird watching ISU play the way they did. You know, Kansas, like you mentioned Steve before, really, really good ah defensive team. And I would say they were never in the game. Curtis Jones has kind of come down to earth.
00:37:53
Speaker
Last what two or three games or so his three-point shooting I thought he was like six for his last 27 or something like that from three-point land so They're getting their hats handed to them But these are the dog days of February and for most teams you kind of see this it's a long season and we'll we'll see how it plays out for Iowa State, but Some people will say, I would say it wasn't really that good to begin with. So their non-conference schedule wasn't that tough. And we'll just have to see how it plays out. I think there's, what, nine more conference games left? They've got they got four losses. Kansas has four losses.
00:38:36
Speaker
So we'll see. Yeah. Fun, fun race. From an advanced analytics perspective, KU dominated this one. And they needed to, quite honestly, after two tough losses with epic collapses versus us, and then subsequently at Baylor. But they left no doubt in this game as Coach Self went with his veteran in Adams instead of the dynamic freshman, Badunga, in the starting lineup to win big from wire to wire, 69 to 52.
00:39:04
Speaker
leaving what we believe to be a stellar ISU team to deal with basically a three-game losing streak. Who would have thought that? If you look at the advanced analytics, KU really dominated on off-fronts offensively and defensively. KU shot, effect of field goal percentage, 55.5% to ISU's putrid, 33%.
00:39:27
Speaker
and KU shot 50% from three point range where ISU shot 14.3% from three. The difference on offensive efficiency was so great in favor of KU that it didn't matter that ISU forced turnovers on 21% of KU's possessions or that the offensive rebounded 44.8% of their misses. It was just a royal buck kicking by KA to show the nation that they still need to be in the discussion come March Madness. Now on to our two upcoming games for UH this coming week. And you guys can cover both games when you get into it. At Colorado, and then hosting heated rival Baylor for another big Monday matchup for UH.
00:40:12
Speaker
Tom, you can go first from a player's perspective on both games. I'm the player. Oh, sorry.
00:40:22
Speaker
From a coach's perspective, Tom, you can go first. I said that in air quotes, by the way. That's funny. I'm confused now. OK, so you want me to go. Sorry. Colorado.
00:40:35
Speaker
To be perfectly honest, and not like I'm honest all the time, but all I know about Colorado is their 0 and 10. I did see a little bit of their Iowa State game when they played at home. you know they led They led Iowa State for quite a bit of the game and then just wilted like the last, I think it was like eight minutes or so. So I'm not sure a whole lot about Colorado, but it's it's a road game. As Kellan says, all road games are like rock fights or street fights.
00:41:04
Speaker
ah were kind of banged up. So you never know. It's the most important game of the year because it's the next game. ah Moving on to Baylor. We saw what Baylor's capable of doing. And the last, I don't know, what was it? 15 or so minutes against Kansas. Kansas had that 21 point lead. Baylor came back. And what was yeah the weird thing about that game was after Baylor came back from that big deficit, the 21 point deficit, Kansas went back up by 10.
00:41:33
Speaker
Oh, did they? Baylor had to come back again, and then they ended up winning by 10. So it was just a weird fluctuation of points and runs. But Baylor showed what they can do in those stretches against Kansas, who's, like we just mentioned, a really, really, really good defensive team. ah You know, they got the freshman edge comb. They have, I think his name is Robert Wright III or something like that. He's really good. He's really, really dynamic.
00:42:00
Speaker
You know, so it's Baylor games can be a tough one, but Colorado first got to take care of the Buffaloes and then to move on to Baylor, which, like I said, ah could shape up a lot like a Texas Tech game. Yeah, exactly. That's what I'm worried about. Bill, how about you from a player's perspective?
00:42:21
Speaker
Well, Colorado's Saturday at three on, you guessed it, yeah ESPN+, my favorite. Colorado's going nowhere this year. They're nine and 12 overall. And you mentioned 0 and 10 in the conference, Tom. And they're at Utah tonight. That could actually be an interesting game, but Utah should, I would imagine will come away with a victory. They're their best games.
00:42:48
Speaker
You know, unfortunately I can't talk about any good with wins for Colorado. They had the 10 point loss to Iowa state and they lost at UCF by only a point 75, 74. Uh, I think Steve you'll get into it. They're right around a hundred and 10 Tom. Their, their offense is pretty mediocre. Their defense, I think is less than pretty mediocre. It's a little better and they, and they give up the ball.
00:43:16
Speaker
This team went to the NCAA's last year, but five new starters, they've got new reserves, the chemistry probably isn't nearly what it could ultimately be. But, you know, they've done a good job battling and playing hard. They've had some close losses, but they have all been losses. They only have two players and double figures. So it shouldn't come as any surprise that they only score 71.8 points per game. They are not a high scoring team. but They do have.
00:43:47
Speaker
a good player. They're led by Julian Hammond. He's a 6'2 guard. He's averaging a whopping team-high 13.5 points, but 3.5 assists, 1.2 steals, 2.5 turnovers per game, which is quite high. He's almost a 39% three-point shooter, which which isn't bad at all. ah There are other double-digit scores, 6'8 senior forward, named Andre Jakimovsky, and he averages 10 points for boards pretty much inside. Not a good shooter, Colorado.
00:44:23
Speaker
is averaging and I mentioned that they, they give the ball away. They're averaging 15 turnovers per game, which is high. And that's, that's going to play into what happens here. They don't protect the ball. They're not a great rebounding team. They can go through outside shooting slumps and U of H can certainly cause those use on as I mentioned in the the previous game last night, he was aggressive versus Oklahoma State. And I imagine we'll continue to be aggressive versus Colorado. but It was great to see him do that, get into the lane, either put up shots or
00:45:04
Speaker
get the ball to the perimeter shooters once they become open, or get the ball to Robertson Tuggler, who I think will be able to dominate inside. We create turnovers, rotate to their shooters who aren't especially good anyway, and we'll hopefully be seeing more of Mercy and said in this game, I have a winning 72 to 55.
00:45:28
Speaker
okay 17 point win. nice Baylor. Baylor. comes up a couple of days later on Monday, it's on e ESPN. Baylor, Baylor is a tournament team. They're 14 and eight, six and five in the big 12. They're in sixth place. So they're clearly in the tournament, especially after the Kansas win. But God, this is really a schizophrenic team. As you were talking about, Tom, they're down 19 at home to Kansas. And then they outscore them 60 to 30 in the second half and win by 11 last night.
00:46:02
Speaker
they They could even hit the number that they scored in one half against Kansas and lose to Tech, 73-59. They're still, I don't know, 25-26 in Ken Palm. ah They're a great offensive team. They're actually a solid defensive team, but they do turn the ball over a lot. The players here to watch, and they've got a number of them. And since we're gonna be playing them twice, and since they are a definite threat to win, I'll mention some of them.
00:46:33
Speaker
uh, Norchard O'Bear, the 6'8 power forward transfer from the U, uh, for Miami, 15 and a half points, 10 and a half boards, almost three turnovers a game. He shoots 54%. Uh, Baylor, a lot of the time runs four guards. So and look for probably Juwan. And this is where I'd like to see maybe more of Arsenal playing and Juwan.
00:47:01
Speaker
guarding O'Mear, I think he can, he can play him pretty well. He's certainly athletic enough. Uh, Edgecombe, Edgecombe did not play in their loss to tech, but he should be back against us. Six, five freshmen, five star ah shooting guard, 15 points, five boards, three assists, two turnovers and 39% from three. So good shooter, good score.
00:47:28
Speaker
It was the ankle that he injured and like I said, didn't play against Ted, but he should be back. Robert Wright, he wasn't playing a ton. He was playing, but not a ton until their point guard. I'll mention him first, Jeremy Roach, the point guard who was the transfer from Duke. He's come over 12 points, three and a half assists. He's an average shooter.
00:47:50
Speaker
He's been injured. He missed four games in a row. And then he came back last night for the tech game. And while he was out, that's where Wright really stepped up. He's a freshman, 6-1 guard, 6-1 point guard, 13 points, five assists, couple of turnovers for him as well. And he could score, but he's not a great shooter. And then the only other guy that I'll mention in the event that Edgecombe doesn't play a lot is Josh.
00:48:18
Speaker
Ojian Waunu, Wuna, 6'10", 230-pound Power Ford from Nigeria, seven boards a game. If he scores, it'll all be inside. And quite honestly, I hope he does play because it's a better matchup for us. I agree. If he's being guarded by Tuggler and Roberts can play O'Mear, if Francis is healthy, then yeah, I like that.
00:48:43
Speaker
You know, interestingly, Baylor only shot six of 20 from three in that epic comeback. When versus Kansas six of 20 for the game. They did a lot of damage on the boards and at the free throw line against tech. Again, they shot even worse. They just shot really poorly. And obviously they only scored 59 points, but they got a lot of their points again at the free throw line. So when we play them one, we need to limit fouls versus their penetrating guards. And especially versus a very offensively active.
00:49:20
Speaker
O'Mear. We can't let them get to the offensive glass, which they've done well, even when they play four guards. And we need to go inside to Roberts and draw fouls on them. Draw fouls on O'Mear instead of him drawing them from, from you know, whoever's guarding him. We need to protect the ball. Yuzhan needs to remain aggressive. And I think we'll be fine. We're we're going to be healthy.
00:49:46
Speaker
We should be healthy. We'll be at home. We'll win. 74-60. Nice.
Closing Remarks and Follow Us
00:49:53
Speaker
So from an analytics perspective in both games, Colorado first, they're just awful this year and may be heading for a coaching change this offseason. They're 102 now in Ken Palm, close to where Oklahoma State is, but it's windless in the Big 12 so far, as you guys had mentioned, at zero and 10.
00:50:10
Speaker
They're number 150 in adjusted offensive efficiency and number 86 in adjusted defensive efficiency. While we're now still a season high, number eight in adjusted offensive efficiency and now number two in adjusted defensive efficiency this season. So theoretically we should be fine without sharp yet again.
00:50:28
Speaker
Colorado has got a lot of red in its advanced analytics profile being over number 175 internal for percentage and offensive rebound percentage on offense and not being able to turn opponents over on D ranking 210 internal for percentage D.
00:50:43
Speaker
Colorado should be overmatching this matchup with us and we should be more in tune with game two without Sharp and France is supposedly back in the rotation. Based on the metrics, this is projected to be a 14 point win on the road for the Cougs based on Ken Palm.
00:50:59
Speaker
I view this as another just win and move on type of game. So I'm projecting this to be a closer 65 to 55 10 point win on the road. Now onto Baylor, this is going to be a much tougher game for the big Monday matchup. Baylor is dealing with some health issues themselves as well. And they've been up and down as you guys hit highlighted, but they are always dangerous coming in.
00:51:21
Speaker
at number 26 in Kenpong. They're number 12 in adjusted offensive efficiency and number 16 in adjusted defensive efficiency, so always a tough defensive assignment for the Cougars. An offense baler's not shooting it as well as they have in the last two years, but like us, our great offensive rebounding team, number 25 in offensive rebound percentage in Kenpong, but where we need to take advantages on offense where they are a lot of weak spots this season with Baylor's D. They're number 241 in effective field goal percentage D, and they're especially bad from three point range, ranking 217th in the NCAA. Plus, they don't defensive rebound. They're number 217th in Ken Palm. So expect us to exploit them from the arc with hopefully sharp back healthy.
00:52:11
Speaker
and pound the offensive boards like crazy. Based on the metrics, this is projected to be a 10 point win at home for the Cougs by Ken Palm. I think this team will be focused, healthier, and with a bench stronger than ever. So I've projected a 72, 58, 14 point win at home.
00:52:29
Speaker
So that's it for our 42nd episode of the No Conference for Old Men podcast. Hope you all enjoyed it. And again, we'd really appreciate it if folks would follow, subscribe, or collect our podcast, depending on your podcast platform of choice. We're also available via the Republic of Football podcast feed from the folks at Dave Campbell's Texas Football as the only basketball center podcast. We're at the Goku's.com website for those that prefer to digest the content that way. We appreciate the continued support from all. Also, please give us a follow on our Twitter account, No Conference for Old Men.
00:53:00
Speaker
Thank you all again for listening and be on the lookout next week and download and listen as our next episode drops. Take care, everyone.