We are very balanced with our scoring, and don't rely on Royce scoring a ton to win. On Feb 19 we were 8-0 when Royce scored 7 points or less. Shutting him down doesn't give you a huge advantage.
Question for ISU fans
- Thread starter awmuconn
- Start date
Ive only watched a couple uconn games this season but my take on Lamb is that he is going to get his points no matter what, similar to a J'covan Brown type. Even if he is closely guarded and cant get a good shot, he will force something. Sometimes that work out alright, other times, not so much.
Looking forward to the game on Thursday to see how things play out.
Looking forward to the game on Thursday to see how things play out.
Why the silly post? No one has disrespected ISU. We're 8 and 9 seeds. Obviously neither team had the season it wanted. Trust me, Huskies fans are well acquainted with our weaknesses this year.
Maybe Babb is the next Gary Payton. However, I think it's fair, as a guy who has seen all of Lamb's games, to assume he will get off more than six shots. And it's fair to believe he will get his points.
"can't find anything Critical about Uconn'??? Just check our board and any Connecticut paper We are very critical of our team,, People all over Lamd, AO, Shabazz etc
Drummond is not the best big in the Nation and Lamb is what he is an excellent Scorer who seems disinterested at times...
The thing about White is he probably won't kill you scoring but everything goes through him, its not just his size that creates the matchup problem, its how good he is at taking what the defense gives him. He can kill you without scoring a point. He's a pass first PG stuck in a PF body. He's constantly reacting to what the defense gives him, so it makes it really tough to keep him from impacting the game.
As far as Babb vs Lamb, Babb has shut down (or at least held in check) the best the big 12 has to offer. I think Babb matches up better with a long, lanky type of player like lamb than he does with some of the quicker, smaller guards in our conference. Babb's strenght is playing off the ball, if UCONN is looking to get Lamb involved they will have to find ways to get him open. Babb is a good on ball defender but his sucess comes from the other guy just not being able to get the ball in his hands.
As far as Babb vs Lamb, Babb has shut down (or at least held in check) the best the big 12 has to offer. I think Babb matches up better with a long, lanky type of player like lamb than he does with some of the quicker, smaller guards in our conference. Babb's strenght is playing off the ball, if UCONN is looking to get Lamb involved they will have to find ways to get him open. Babb is a good on ball defender but his sucess comes from the other guy just not being able to get the ball in his hands.
how bout uconn fans just watch a replay of one of babbs games. I dont think they realize how he plays defense. He doesnt d up after the player has the ball. He face guards and doesnt even allow the player to get the ball in his hands. Thats how he shuts players down.
When you watch him you will see he has no idea whats going on in the game. He pays no attention to the play, just stares directly at the player hes guarding. Hes like a shadow.
He really is a special player in terms of how he plays d.
When you watch him you will see he has no idea whats going on in the game. He pays no attention to the play, just stares directly at the player hes guarding. Hes like a shadow.
He really is a special player in terms of how he plays d.
That's the stuff we haven't heard much of so far from UCONN fans. Of course I haven't read every post in the treads from today, but most of the UCONN fans have been stating rather matter of factly that no one on our team has a shot at shutting down Lamb and that Drummond is one of the best bigs in the nation and that he will shut down Royce White.
That kind of talk in turn leads ISU fans to tout the efforts of Chris Babb and the unselfishness of White.
That is why someone stated that they hadn't heard any UCONNs provide critical analysis of their team. If any of you had lead with anything resembling minor criticism of your own team then a lot of ISU fans would probably have recieved it better.
Any fair a reasoned analysis is completely welcome here.
Royce is an extremely tough matchup because of his combination of strength/size and ball handling ability. I've yet to see one defender who could both defend him off the dribble and handle him in the post. He took over down the stretch against Kansas with Thomas Robinson and Jeff Withey doubling him so it's not a stretch to say that he'll be able to handle the size of Drummond and Oriakhi. Like everyone else has elaborated on, his passing ability is what makes him special. Just really tough matchup all around.
As for Babb, he just does a great job of making sure to make every shot a tough shot. He will get in your face and contest everything as close as he can without fouling. Lamb will no doubt get his points but they will not come easy and he will likely shoot a low percentage. Should be a great game all around though. Both teams pose significant challenges but I think the Cyclones are going to be really hungry to get this win and make a run.
As for Babb, he just does a great job of making sure to make every shot a tough shot. He will get in your face and contest everything as close as he can without fouling. Lamb will no doubt get his points but they will not come easy and he will likely shoot a low percentage. Should be a great game all around though. Both teams pose significant challenges but I think the Cyclones are going to be really hungry to get this win and make a run.
Defending Napier is the main problem. I'd expect to see Chris Allen on his to start the game, but I don't feel like Allen has lived up to his defensive reputation coming from MSU. We have had all kinds of problems keeping quick guards (Pierre Jackson, Phil Pressey, Tyshon Taylor) out of the lane this year. If Lamb doesn't come to play and Napier is killing us, I actually wouldn't be surprised to see Babb move over on to the hot hand in the second half.
Why would you want to defend Drummond without fouling? He's shooting <30% from the FT line on the season, and frankly hasn't been there very often at all. That said, we do need to keep White out of foul trouble, so I wouldn't be surprised to see White on Oriakhi and Ejim on Drummond. Ejim is a better defensive rebounder and help defender than White also.
Lamb could go off, but he will have to work hard to get himself open. Babb is good at ball denial.
Here is a link to the leading scorers this year:
http://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/individual/136
According to this Lamb averages 17.7 ppg, that's pretty impressive. With that said, I would set the over under for Lamb's scoring in this game at about 15...that is no disrespect to Lamb, but I just don't think they will expect anyone on ISU to be capable of defending him and that's when it will happen...
Soon.
http://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/individual/136
According to this Lamb averages 17.7 ppg, that's pretty impressive. With that said, I would set the over under for Lamb's scoring in this game at about 15...that is no disrespect to Lamb, but I just don't think they will expect anyone on ISU to be capable of defending him and that's when it will happen...
Soon.
THIS. Watch the fella in the yellow shoes. He guards his man like a fat kid on cake. Like stink on sh**. Like Scooby loves scooby snacks. Like . . .
Seriously though, he's a great defender.
All I know is that Babb constantly holds the best of the Big 12 to shooting percentages and scoring averages way below normal. If you can convince me that Lamb is better than the best of the Big 12, then go ahead.
As far as White goes, I think he can be stopped, but it depends on what you view "stopped" as. He looks to pass first anyways, so scoring will only come if he can't get off a pass. With White, you just need to stop the drive and get him to shoot from 7 feet or beyond and you will stop the scoring. That can probably be done by a talented guy. But you will never stop his passing. He is an amazing passer.
As far as White goes, I think he can be stopped, but it depends on what you view "stopped" as. He looks to pass first anyways, so scoring will only come if he can't get off a pass. With White, you just need to stop the drive and get him to shoot from 7 feet or beyond and you will stop the scoring. That can probably be done by a talented guy. But you will never stop his passing. He is an amazing passer.
You, as a Uconn fan, shouldn't be really worried about stopping White. You need to be concerned about keeping him from getting into the lane and setting up shooters.
When UConn is on offense, you need to hope that whoever Christopherson is guarding has the ball and can get into the lane and that UConn can get Ejim/White into foul trouble. That is your recipe to winning.
To me, whether Lamb has 5 points or 20 points won't make the difference in the game, it's how UConn defends ISU's three point shooting and how ISU keeps UConn's quicker guards out of the lane.
When UConn is on offense, you need to hope that whoever Christopherson is guarding has the ball and can get into the lane and that UConn can get Ejim/White into foul trouble. That is your recipe to winning.
To me, whether Lamb has 5 points or 20 points won't make the difference in the game, it's how UConn defends ISU's three point shooting and how ISU keeps UConn's quicker guards out of the lane.
After looking at both message boards I am surprised how confident both fan bases appear to be. The majority of both expect to win on Thursday by a decent margin. I think it'll be a great game most likely but either team could run away with it as well.
I think someone also needs to make the case that if UCONN goes up and gets lulled into false security ISU can pull right back in it with threes. I don't know much about UCONN other than they are streaky, they have off and on stretches. If they try to play lazy I think ISU will have their way. See KSU game for reference.