Zags vs Santa Clara postgame thoughts and analysis

[GonzagasaurusFlex]

I can’t think of a Zags team that has adjusted mid season and shored up their weaknesses like this one already has After the Alabama loss, many of us decried the one dimensional offense and poor 3 pt shooting. They are humming on offense and shooting lights out from deep now.

Timme is unstoppable. Those midrange hooks he just tosses in are unbelievable.

Such a fun game. Keep the 100’s scores going Zags. Great recruiting weapon

[ZagsGoZags]

So happy we are finding our stride on offense against medium and so so defenses. Both teams that went to the national championship game were intense on defense all the way through the WCC, as if they were practicing that with constant effort, because it was Few's way to keep them focused and intense when playing teams we knew could be lopsided.
Happy with everything today except the defense. our defense allowed SCU 83 points. I am not confident about how we perform against the defenses of blue chip teams in March. We can't sharpen our offensive knife during the WCC season, as well as we can keep sharpening it on defense.
Third game in a row i have felt our offense resembled the offense of last year.

[Hoopaholic]

So happy we are finding our stride on offense against medium and so so defenses. Both teams that went to the national championship game were intense on defense all the way through the WCC, as if they were practicing that with constant effort, because it was Few's way to keep them focused and intense when playing teams we knew could be lopsided.
Happy with everything today except the defense. our defense allowed SCU 83 points. I am not confident about how we perform against the defenses of blue chip teams in March. We can't sharpen our offensive knife during the WCC season, as well as we can keep sharpening it on defense.
Third game in a row i have felt our offense resembled the offense of last year.

So top 20 national defensive ranked team is so so on defense?

[zagzilla]

Last 3 games we have allowed 83, 84 and 83 which feel like a lot. OTOH we scored 117, 110 and 115. We seem to let up in these games but hard to keep up the intensity in blowouts and after your deep bench is in for the last 7+ minutes of the game.

ZZ

[dcc]

If Few is pushing the tempo then that means more possessions for each team. In that case, pts/possession, rather than pts allowed, is the better way to assess defense now vs. earlier in the season.

[TheOtherGreatOne]

My thoughts ? The Zags are pretty good.

[Shanachie]

So happy we are finding our stride on offense against medium and so so defenses. Both teams that went to the national championship game were intense on defense all the way through the WCC, as if they were practicing that with constant effort, because it was Few's way to keep them focused and intense when playing teams we knew could be lopsided.
Happy with everything today except the defense. our defense allowed SCU 83 points. I am not confident about how we perform against the defenses of blue chip teams in March. We can't sharpen our offensive knife during the WCC season, as well as we can keep sharpening it on defense.
Third game in a row i have felt our offense resembled the offense of last year.

You’re right that the offense has been terrific the last three games, but the defense has been pretty good, especially against SCU. Pepperdine’s offense is poor, so on first glance, 83 points does not seem great, but that game had 90 possessions, tied for the Zags’ fastest of the year. The point output was 0.92 points per possession, which is not bad. BYU and SCU are both top 50 offenses. The BYU game had 78 possessions, so BYU scored 1.08 points per possession. Not great, but not bad agains a good offensive team. SCU was another 90 possession game, and the Zags held them to 83 points, or 0.92 points per possession. That’s excellent against a very good offensive team.

[Birddog]

Wattie is really menacing on defense, he is a PIA to the oppo

[coolhandzag]

SC sux

[ZagsGoZags]

Ha! Hoopaholic, thats a good one there, you got me. Will KenPom keep us in the top 20 defensively if we continue to have games like 108 to 83? or would we fall out of the top 20 with this pattern?

You’re right that the offense has been terrific the last three games, but the defense has been pretty good, especially against SCU. Pepperdine’s offense is poor, so on first glance, 83 points does not seem great, but that game had 90 possessions, tied for the Zags’ fastest of the year. The point output was 0.92 points per possession, which is not bad. BYU and SCU are both top 50 offenses. The BYU game had 78 possessions, so BYU scored 1.08 points per possession. Not great, but not bad agains a good offensive team. SCU was another 90 possession game, and the Zags held them to 83 points, or 0.92 points per possession. That’s excellent against a very good offensive team.

Thanks Shanache, that puts our defense into perspective for me. Way better than my subjective impressions. I had failed to consider these games as high possession games and also that SCU has quite a respectable offense.
That leaves two questions remaining for me.
In a high possession game does that necessarily limit how much we could expect to clamp down on opponents? I mean does high possessions mean it would have been extremely unlikely we could have limited SCU to, say 60 points, rather than 83?
Is it anybody else's observation that the 2017 and 2021 teams played with constant zeal and pressure on defense throughout the WCC games? Moreso than other years, average years, or this year?

[mgadfly]

60 points would have been 67 points per 100 possessions. The best defense in the country is giving up 82 points per 100 possessions. If they were an average offensive team and we were the best defensive team, we’d want to give up 74 points. 60 isn’t going to happen very often with the tempo the game was played at, especially to a top 50 offense rather than an average offense (175-180 ranked).

So 60 in that game is beyond an unreasonable expectation for a team.

Even giving up 83 points, if there were 90 possessions, that would help our current defensive efficiency when adjusting for SC’s 111 points per possession norm.

[GonzagasaurusFlex]

Rewatching the game and pretty sure the D they face in practice is a lot better than the D Santa Clara plays. No ball pressure on Zags who look very comfortable running their offense.

Really hope Zags and Kentucky can get a game scheduled. Zags need to face elite athleticism again and remember how to deal w it. Dons speedy guards will be a good test Thursday.

[FloridaZagFan]

Drew Timme just flat out makes it look easy. One thing that is for sure is it is not that easy, he is just that good!

[SunDevilGolfZag]

SC sux

I venture to say they would be in the middle of the pack in the PAC-12

[Chicken Ball]

So top 20 national defensive ranked team is so so on defense?

It is compared to our team’s national championship ambitions.


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