I thought TJ’s half-time comments last night would be compelling to any potential recruits. His clarity and focus in laying out the character of the team he recruits and coaches seemed compelling. No window dressing, just telling what he demands and gets: intense, focused play on both ends, and a never let up attitude.
His game management stood out: offensive sets, handling of the press and in-bounds situations, intensity of switching defenses, and especially player rotations. Kunc played 33 minutes; the other bigs had 15 fouls to give over 47 minutes and did a good job countering and even besting Carolina’s vaunted bigs. Grill led all with 38 minutes on the court, obviously with his offensive explosion, and again with stellar D. Holmes was a steady leader at both ends in 29 minutes, Lipsey continued to show maturity above his age, Kalscheur contributed as a ball handler and scoring threat NC had to acknowledge, and with outstanding D. The two steals from Bacot by Kalscheur and Jones in the final two minutes were beautiful demonstrations of Otzelberger ball.
Edit: Jones has sneaky quick hands, and physically, clearly backs down from no one - actually an attitude characteristic of the whole team.
Will be interesting to see how the rotation changes after Tre King becomes eligible on December 18th. Current YTD minutes played, Grill leads among guards with 32.6 pg, then Holmes 31.2 pg, Kalscheur 25 pg, Lipsey 24 pg and Watson 11.4. In the posts, Kunc averages 29.4 minutes pg, Osunniyi 18.6 pg, Jones 17.4 pg and Ward 12.4. Eli King and Hawley have negligible minutes in clean up time.
His game management stood out: offensive sets, handling of the press and in-bounds situations, intensity of switching defenses, and especially player rotations. Kunc played 33 minutes; the other bigs had 15 fouls to give over 47 minutes and did a good job countering and even besting Carolina’s vaunted bigs. Grill led all with 38 minutes on the court, obviously with his offensive explosion, and again with stellar D. Holmes was a steady leader at both ends in 29 minutes, Lipsey continued to show maturity above his age, Kalscheur contributed as a ball handler and scoring threat NC had to acknowledge, and with outstanding D. The two steals from Bacot by Kalscheur and Jones in the final two minutes were beautiful demonstrations of Otzelberger ball.
Edit: Jones has sneaky quick hands, and physically, clearly backs down from no one - actually an attitude characteristic of the whole team.
Will be interesting to see how the rotation changes after Tre King becomes eligible on December 18th. Current YTD minutes played, Grill leads among guards with 32.6 pg, then Holmes 31.2 pg, Kalscheur 25 pg, Lipsey 24 pg and Watson 11.4. In the posts, Kunc averages 29.4 minutes pg, Osunniyi 18.6 pg, Jones 17.4 pg and Ward 12.4. Eli King and Hawley have negligible minutes in clean up time.
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