Bradley (ESPN Events Invitational)

Bradley hasn’t scored in 5 minutes and we still haven’t cut into the lead. We went 4 minutes without a shot attempt.

It’s kinda comical. Yet impressive.

12 FGA to 11 TOs this half. Holy cow, that’s hilarious.

Probably about half and half between steals and careless passes to nowhere.

If we just chucked some long 3s instead of throwing it away, it would still be a close game.

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But most of the steals have been against guys who carelessly dribbled into trouble.

Jack Stanton has star talent but not a star’s mentality. He’s been tightly covered in the second half, sure, but he made two back-breaking TOs even when he could have shot a transition 3 both times. Also, a scorer like him has moves to draw FTs when guys overplay him.

Just a lack of killer instinct. He’s still playing like a scared freshman.

Johnson actively caused his 6 steals, nothing passive about those.

I’d say most of the TOs were forced. But 7-8 weren’t. They’re the same TOs our guys make every game this season.

Despite the 2nd half humiliation, tonight was progress overall. I’m most concerned about that 5 minute stretch where they couldn’t, wouldn’t, were scared to shoot the ball and preferred turning it over. That shows lack of confidence. Take a tough shot and go after the rebound. They were still alive in the game.

I hope Stanton is ready to do what he should have done tonight. Attack the overplay. Pump fake. Lower your shoulder. Get FTs.

PennNation, let me criticize my team as I see fit. I’m seeing guys just dribbling around until someone steals the ball from them or trying to dribble through traffic until they lose the ball or dribbling the ball and completely losing the handle for no reason in addition to guys throwing wild passes to nobody.

Agreed, a decent number of those turnovers were absolutely as you described. But a good handful of the steals were caused by a guard the likes of which Princeton won’t have to face in the Ivies.

A great first half. An embarrassing 2nd half.

Without Davis, we made 24 TOs tonight. Let’s hope they learn by January.

It’s gonna be that kind of season.

I’m sure its happened but I can’t remember Princeton turning the ball over 24 times in 50+ years watching them play. From 6 points up with a few minutes left in the first half to losing by 24. Sheesh

The crazy thing is that Bradley had a 7 minute stretch where it only scored 4 points, yet it still ended up with 48 points for the half.

I just realized that we’re going to face Temple TWICE this season because of this event. And we might face Vermont again as well.

What a weird scheduling quirk. Facing at least one non-Ivy team twice in one season.

Easy to understand why Bradley came into the game only 2-3. They have some really nice players but looked pretty mediocre in the first half and for stretches in the second half against a Princeton team made up mostly of freshmen and sophomores with very little experience.

I still think it’s ridiculous that Bradley has a SIXTH YEAR player in Alex Huibregtse. What a joke.

Can we get Tosan back for his mere 4th year?

I disagree that we should want the Tigers to just go one-on-one when pressured. First, because most of these guys aren’t that good creating off the dribble yet. Second, because we want them to play like they did in the first half and to operate the offense even when under pressure. Be strong with the ball, see the floor, don’t hurry, and off-ball guys have to cut hard to create outlets for good passes and ball handlers have to anticipate where they are going to cut. Sure, if you can dribble around your man and there’s nobody else between you and the basket, drive all the way. But there weren’t many situations like that tonight.

Johnson was the key to the turnaround for Bradley. Until he came back in to play, their pressure was far less effective.

BTW, DII Chaminade has forced 12 turnovers against Washington State in the first half of the Maui Invitational and are up 34-19 with seven minutes left.

That’s a fair point. It’s a case by case basis. There are times we have to accept a bad TO as part of their growing pains. Other times, they had a shot to take but passed it up for a horrible TO. Holding Bradley scoreless for 4+ minutes and not even getting a shot off is unacceptable any way you slice it.

Even the best, most experienced teams need guys to take and make tough shots to win games. Lee had that gear for us. I thought Stanton had it too, but he didn’t tonight. Maybe he’ll play differently tomorrow.

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Great first half (19 minutes).. some of the best ball movement and execution of the season. The second half their pressure sped us up and we did not handle it well. I’m not sure MH approach but I had coaches that would have us take a foul (ice the puck) to get a clock stoppage/substitution when teams were on runs. There were some long stretches of 4-5 guys sitting at the table. You can see the confidence growing in Whitfield, Clark, Huggins.

Another grand daughter soccer game here in AZ; bad video feed on my phone, but enjoyed the first half. Second half, not so much.

I would have loved to see Davis vs. Johnson. Suspect there would have been fewer turnovers and less frenetic passing.

Good learning experience for the younger players, but painful to watch.

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