tonight's game

[Minermojo]

3 point shooting

Boum -- 58/142  = 40.8%

Bienemy -- 23/75 = 30.7%

Kennedy -- 15/66 = 22.7%

Sjolund --  30/64 = 46.9%

Williams -- 17/61 = 27.9%

Agnew  -- 9/40 = 22.5%

Sjolund is so close to 50% and that's phenomenal. I'd tell the guys to start feeding him and Boum the ball and that would free up the lane for Williams or whomever can feel that need. That's what I'm talking about when you recruit a player, forget how many points he makes concentrate on his shooting percentage. That's where it's important.

[SisyphusMiner]

I felt this was a really good game for us.  In a nutshell, we ultimately got beat by a better team with a better coach.  Not a negative -- this is Kansas.

Overall it showed that we can play with the big boys when BW shows up.
BW absolutely does not play with this intensity every game and if we did we would be in the top one or two in conference.
Verhoeven played a superb game defensively.  One of the best I've seen from a UTEP big in a very long time.

KU guards >> UTEP guards.  Our guards got exposed for the sloppy ball handlers that they are.  In CUSA most teams can't take advantage of that but KU certainly did.  At the start of the season I thought Bienemy was one of the best ballhandlers and distributors in the pantheon of UTEP great PGs.  I was wrong.  He is decent, but dribbles around way too much, and leave the ball exposed when changing directions.  He is still a huge upgrade over what we had last year.


Bil Self >> CRT.  I thought CRT's gametime coaching was pretty decent.  He seems like he takes nights off too, just like BW, but he was engaged in this one.  Where it showed the most was our awful, virtually nonexistent ball screens.  If we had anything approaching a legit ball screen offense we might have pulled it off.

Last thought -- I'm a huge believer in the psychological aspect of the game.  If Efe had thrown down a monster dunk when he got that wide open layup it would have been tremendously demoralizing to KU and another psychological boost for us.  Instead the candy ass 3 inch jump and soft layup did nothing psychological for either team.

[Chanson]

I gave UTEP an "A" for that performance, however when Kansas picked up the pace on D like they did with Baylor,there is no stopping that team.
Not too many times we play that team, but when we do, we always play them to the wire.
In the end, we got outcoached. Terry should have used every time out to stop their momentum. I'm not kidding, but if UTEP plays like that in the CUSA Tourny, we should win it.
Our defense was really good. It was good even in the 2nd half, but Kansas started hitting hard shots & free-throws. What would you expect from a team loaded with 5☆ talent.
All in all, I was not sad when we lost this nail biter. I was thrilled our team came alive like I've never seen them.

[ATL-Miner]

Despite the loss, it was still a great game for us. They'll learn from this game and gain confidence, knowing they really should have won this. Our margin for error against a Kansas team is so small, the turnovers in the second half were our undoing.  And we didn't shoot as well as we're capable  of in the 2nd half.

BW was outstanding. I think he got screwed on his 3rd and 4th foul calls, very questionable compared to how they were letting them play earlier. I think Tydus played outstanding,  sans the brick he had no business shooting from that far out and a couple of careless turnovers. His defense was great as were the 5 blocks. The all around team effort was there, but I thought our guards would do a better job of handling the ball though, some better shot selection too. You got to give Kansas credit, they turned it up on us and we didn't handle it too well.

I hope all our guys play with that intensity in the tournament.  We've got a shot if they do.

[kyyote]

I thought the team played great. I humbly admit that I don?t know what I might have done differently. I meant to say we needed to stop their big from abusing Verhoeven but Verhoeven was playing too well to put anyone else in for him and any other way I can think of has other consequences.  I came down to just saying it was a helluva game that I wish we could have won but it was about a winning as a loss can be.

[SisyphusMiner]

it was about a winning as a loss can be.

I like this.

[SisyphusMiner]

And so ends another mediocre season of colossal mediocrity.

3/18 from 3-point range for 16.7%.  Kennedy, a 24% shooter from that range jacks up 5.  Sjolund, who shoots 47% from that range plays 5 min and shoots none.  Live by the 3, die by the 3.

I assume BW will be heading to Europe.  I certainly would in his shoes.  No point risking injury for another year of this.

I will say that I think we are in better shape now than when Terry took over, so I guess that's saying something.


Now to eagerly anticipate football in the hope that our team in 2021 achieves mediocrity.  They aren't there yet, they are still worse than mediocre, but maybe this is our year.

[Chanson]

Why couldn't we play with intensity like we did against AZ, AZ St, & Kansas. It is hard to understand this team. That's why I quit on the OPT.
Agnew had a horrible game. The kid is supposed to be a SG, but he has the worst shooting percentage on the team. Also, I really wish Terry implemented a cutter in the lane when BW got the ball. It would have been a great outlet for him to pass out of that double team.
Terry has been here 3 years & did no better than last year. I wish all the luck in the world for BW, but Terry needs to go. I think we can chalk down Rab's & Terry as busts.

[SisyphusMiner]

This team did not have overwhelming talent, but it did have decent talent.  The problem is that the offensive schemes we were running did not favor the talent we had.  We had two 3 point shooters, and one inside scorer.  The others were athletic slashers.

Other teams learned to double BW.  We did nothing to create one on one opportunities for him.

Boum is best shooting as a spot up shooter.  We did nothing to create spot up opportunities for him.

Sjolund was at best an afterthought despite being by far the best 3 point shooter we have.  No matter what his defensive liabilities may be, how do you not play him 10 minutes or so with plays designed to get him looks?

CRT is actually worse than Rabs.  What's frustrating is that it was common knowledge when we hired him that he was not good at Xs and Os and had a mediocre record at Fresno.  Why would we think that was going to work here?

[kyyote]

Well I don?t know anything and find out I know less each year but I did come to kind of like this team. But it was what it was and that was just not quite enough. I am a Haskins student of the game. I therefore start and damned near finish with defense and the team played hard nosed defense and they did with heart. On more than one occasion I found myself wishing Verhoeven was stronger but he is who he is and works his ass off to do what he does. And you can say that about each man on the team. We wish our shooter could shoot but he does so much more. If only this guy could do this but he does this so well. BW is a scoring machine but couldn?t make the first team all conference. It is because he needs help and when it is there he is unstoppable but if he is trying toddfend against a monster he gets worn down doing  it. Our team is good when the machine is running well.  Indulge me in an analogy please. A 1965 Mustang with a stock 289 was fast. Quick and fast. A 1965 Plymouth with a 383 was faster. We are a pretty well running 289 but we are playing against 327s and 383?s.