Duke-UNC --- Keys to the Game

[timo0402]

dp
This post was edited on 2/19 11:49 AM by timo0402

 

[dbav]

Originally posted by aah555:


To be fair, I honestly don't think we could have rebounded any worse than we did in the 2nd half (i don't have the 2nd half stats, but I think UNC must have rebounded about 50-60% of their misses in that half). I think the problem was that Jahlil was getting drawn out of the paint on screen-and-rolls, and didn't have the quickness / mobility after the ankle injury to get back into position to rebound --- and, with Okafor out of the lane, UNC's size / athleticism at the other positions really showed. With how Okafor was moving and how UNC was shooting, a zone seemed the obvious choice. My guess is we didn't go to the zone b/c, in the end of the day, K wants this to be a man-to-man team come March -- and, with that in mind, he seems to have made the decision that we were going to win or lose this game playing man.

I thought the ankle injury had a big impact as well. We were doing very well on the defensive glass prior to the injury. It seemed like Okafor just did not have the mobility after that. Many of the offensive rebounds in the 2nd half were swats back out to the guards. I think Okafor would have gotten more of those with better mobility and lift, but that's just my opinion.

I honestly though that the Okafor injury had a very large impact on the second half. Our rebounding and his offense just weren't the same after that. I just don't think the effect can be overstated.