Interesting stats from UTSA Game

[thebigabd]

Austin Reaves played the most minutes, took the most shots, and scored the most points (tie with Harmon). Sends a message about his role on the team. He took 20 shots, which is a considerable amount. Also had 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal.

Harmon had a great shooting/score stat line... 23 points, 8-13 from the field, 3-6 from 3, 4-4 from the foul line... Very impressive opening game. Didn't have an assist somehow, and had 4 turnovers. Other than that, perfect night.

Manek/Harmon/Reaves all played more than 30 minutes. Bienemy only played 22, same as Alondes and Jalen Hill had 19 minutes...

Victor played 25 minutes... probably due to Doolittle being out. 7 points and 6 rebounds is a great opener for him. You couldn't get 7 points and 6 rebounds out of Hannes Polla after years of development, so this is clearly an upgrade and a guy who is likely a future star.

Kur only played 10 minutes... but had 6 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 blocks in that time.

Team Stats
5-25 from the 3pt line... that needs to get better
Gave up 15 offensive rebounds... which has plagued the team in recent years
Had 8 blocked shots, which is awesome
Had a negative assist/turnover ratio... needs to improve

 

[daqman]

Manek was 0-5 from 3 and most of those weren't even close to going in.

The tide really seemed to turn when everyone started hustling and getting easy layups instead of settling for 3s.

 

[WichitaSooner]

I was a bit surprised Kur didn't play more given Doo's absence, especially based on some of the reports about how he has looked in practice. Could be a matchup deal, maybe LK thought we were better going small against this opponent. I think JB's minutes were that low only because of foul trouble, he picked up his second fairly early and sat the rest of the first half.

As for Reaves, the best sign is that he did all this while shooting poorly. Doesn't surprise me, but I know a lot of people thought of him as simply a shooter. Obviously everyone's roles will be a bit different with Doo back in the lineup, but I will be surprised if Reaves doesn't lead the team in shot attempts frequently. LK said postgame that in the exhibition game and scrimmage, he wasn't as aggressive as he has been in practice for the past year, but last night was much more in line with what they have gotten used to from him. I will watch the replay this evening, but I can already tell that he played with a freedom that Gregg Marshall simply didn't allow. Reaves has never publicly said why he left, but I think the different coaching styles and personalities of Marshall and Kruger are the primary reason.

 

[mict085]

Alondis gave us a boost early when the offense was struggling. There’s a lot to like about this team. Would like to see us rebound better. We need to do a better job of limiting the opponents offensive rebounds. Shooting comes and goes but defense and rebounding will carry you through and win a lot of games.

 

[daqman]

Alondis gave us a boost early when the offense was struggling. There’s a lot to like about this team. Would like to see us rebound better. We need to do a better job of limiting the opponents offensive rebounds. Shooting comes and goes but defense and rebounding will carry you through and win a lot of games.

It's too bad I didn't get to see Williams' "boost".
On the replay last night at 10:00, we were down. After a commercial break, about 4 minutes had passed and both teams had scored a bunch of points but we didn't get to see it.

 

[BCSooners]

It's too bad I didn't get to see Williams' "boost".
On the replay last night at 10:00, we were down. After a commercial break, about 4 minutes had passed and both teams had scored a bunch of points but we didn't get to see it.

Yeah I was upset about that as well.

 

[AdaSooner]

News alert! Austin Reaves and De’Vion Harmon are the real deal!

I knew Harmon was really good. I have followed his career since he was a freshman at Denton-Guyer. I was convinced Reaves would be good, too, based on the reports I was getting from posters here and people I trust.

After watching a replay of the game this morning, I saw it with my own eyes. Austin did not have his usual shooting night from three, and he still scored 23. And, as WichitaSooner has told us numerous times, he’s far more than a shooter. That bounce pass he made to Manek at around the seven minute mark was a thing of beauty!

There’s a lot to like about this team! They came out of the locker room ready to play in the second half and put UTSA away with more energy, better defense and hot shooting. I’m anxious to see what is in store for us this weekend!

 

[Northbase]

Just watched some highlights, and Reeves has some nice abilities that I did not anticipate!

 

[Zimwillett]

I am encouraged by what this team might be able to do on offense. Manek and Reaves are not going to combine to go 1-13 from 3 on many nights. Add in Doo's ability to stretch the floor, and I think this team can spread and open up lanes for Harmon to get to the rim with regularity.

Unfortunately the trade off for the "stretch" bigs appears to be lack of size and rebounding. I hope I'm wrong, but I think OU is going to struggle with this all season.

I try not to overreact one way or another to a game like this, but based on the smallest possible sample size, I am cautiously optimistic about this team. I expect some growing pains, but if/when the shooters start hitting at or near their career pace from 3, I think this is easily a tournament caliber team.

 

[BoulderSooner]

I am encouraged by what this team might be able to do on offense. Manek and Reaves are not going to combine to go 1-13 from 3 on many nights. Add in Doo's ability to stretch the floor, and I think this team can spread and open up lanes for Harmon to get to the rim with regularity.

Unfortunately the trade off for the "stretch" bigs appears to be lack of size and rebounding. I hope I'm wrong, but I think OU is going to struggle with this all season.

I try not to overreact one way or another to a game like this, but based on the smallest possible sample size, I am cautiously optimistic about this team. I expect some growing pains, but if/when the shooters start hitting at or near their career pace from 3, I think this is easily a tournament caliber team.

i agree with almost all of this .. and i would be that manek+reaves combine for over 35% from 3 for the season

which would be making 4 or 5 3's not 1 so another 9-12 points .. and a even bigger win

 

[coolm]

It's too bad I didn't get to see Williams' "boost".
On the replay last night at 10:00, we were down. After a commercial break, about 4 minutes had passed and both teams had scored a bunch of points but we didn't get to see it.

I noticed that on the replay and thought "they wont get to see Williams' come alive". That was a weak move by FSOK because the time was taken up by post thunder game BS that meant nothing.

 

[Zimwillett]

i agree with almost all of this .. and i would be that manek+reaves combine for over 35% from 3 for the season

which would be making 4 or 5 3's not 1 so another 9-12 points .. and a even bigger win

Reaves is almost 44% for his career from 3. Brady is right at 36.5%. So yeah. I think it's safe to assume positive regression to the mean for both these guys. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

 

[Eielson]

I was a bit surprised Kur didn't play more given Doo's absence, especially based on some of the reports about how he has looked in practice. Could be a matchup deal, maybe LK thought we were better going small against this opponent.

I hope your speculation is correct, but my guess is that he's just another one of Kruger's project bigs with similar results.

 

[tmeyer3307]

How did Harmon not have an assist?? Looked like he may of had one to Manek on a and 1 I thought. Doolittle will add another half court ball handler/distributor which will be nice.. Harmon needs to average 6-8 assists per game this year though! I figured Kur would get 20plus minutes tonight, also thought that was weird.

 

[BCSooners]

How did Harmon not have an assist?? Looked like he may of had one to Manek on a and 1 I thought. Doolittle will add another half court ball handler/distributor which will be nice.. Harmon needs to average 6-8 assists per game this year though! I figured Kur would get 20plus minutes tonight, also thought that was weird.

Not really with Bienemy, Reaves, & Doolittle's playmaking ability, I'd guess that Bienemy leads the team in assists. This isn't going to be like TY's year where he was the only one making plays for others.

 

[oudna]

Harmon needs to average 6-8 assists per game this year though!

Nah. This isn’t the NBA.

Outside of Trae Young, we haven’t had a guy average 7+ assists in 30 years (Grace ‘88).

The leader is usually 3-4 pg.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Nah. This isn’t the NBA.

Outside of Trae Young, we haven’t had a guy average 7+ assists in 30 years (Grace ‘88).

The leader is usually 3-4 pg.

Yeah that's the one statistical category where the difference between NBA and college is most pronounced. With shorter games and a longer shot clock, plus not nearly as many good shooters to convert good passes into buckets, it's hard to average more than about five assists in college. I think Harmon and JB will both put up decent assist numbers by college standards, and Reaves could end up with quite a few, too, because he'll have the ball in his hands a lot.

 

[pnkranger]

I hope your speculation is correct, but my guess is that he's just another one of Kruger's project bigs with similar results.

Germany honestly looked like a better prospect at this point.

 

[pnkranger]

How did Harmon not have an assist?? Looked like he may of had one to Manek on a and 1 I thought. Doolittle will add another half court ball handler/distributor which will be nice.. Harmon needs to average 6-8 assists per game this year though! I figured Kur would get 20plus minutes tonight, also thought that was weird.

He did have an assist ... just didn't get counted for some reason. He threw the pass on Brady's first and-one.

 

[AdaSooner]

I wouldn’t worry too much if Harmon had one assist or ten. He makes good decisions in running our offense, and I see that as a lot more important than how many assists he had.

As others have already pointed out, this team is blessed with an unusual number of playmakers. We saw that in our 25-5 run to take control of the game in the second half. JB and Reaves brought the ball up the floor some during that stretch. Hill and Williams are good ball handlers too. It will not be easy to press OU this season.