WBB vs SVSU game notes (exb)

Submitted by jplwhite on November 3rd, 2023 at 7:56 AM

Hey all, so my wife and I have season tickets for women’s basketball and are planning to go to the home games and watch the away games. I figured I would take these notes and publish them. I do not claim to be a journalist and would direct you to the Michigan Daily if you would like more of a recap of each game. Anyways, here’s what I saw last night. 

Opponent: Saginaw Valley State (exhibition)

Date: 11/2, Home, 95-41 win

Starters: Laila Phelia, Lauren Hansen, Whitney Sollom, Taylor Williams, Jordan Hobbs

Injuries/inactive: Chyra Evans and Elissa Brett did not dress, though neither had visible injuries

Offense: 

  • Hansen struggled early against full court press and was subbed for Macy Brown
  • Phelia did a nice inbounds play to Sollom and back to Phelia for a corner 3 (reminds me of an inbounds Maddie Nolan would do last year)
  • KBA had mentioned in an interview that Taylor Williams is the quickest on the team at grabbing a rebound and then getting out in transition, which was evident. Taylor took a few coast to coast real quick

Defense: 

  • In her first game, Macy took a charge of the variety KBA loves to see
  • Michigan tried a 2-2-1 full court press a few times and got one ten second violation while generally hounding the ball handler effectively
  • The team had a couple notable steals taking it straight out of SVSU hands
  • Forced 2 shot clock violations that I counted, but defense was solid

Game trends: 

  • Game was functionally over by end of first quarter
  • No cohesive “first team” yet, I would expect KBA to give quite a few people minutes this season
  • The team took quite a few threes and finished with a decent shooting percentage, I want to say in the high 30’s, though I obviously should have written it down while I was there

Notable stats: 

  • Macy finished with 4 points, 6 assists, 0 turnovers
  • Phelia scored the first 9 points for team, finishing with 23 total
  • Alyssa Crockett had 4 assists
  • T. Williams had 9 rebounds
  • Cam had 16 points
  • 26 offensive rebounds for the team, which seemed like a positive trend
  • 17 turnovers, which I hate to see after last year
Basketball

bacon1431

November 3rd, 2023 at 8:22 AM ^

Turnovers just seem to be inherent to KBA teams. Frustrating to watch at times but we typically win on the boards to create second chances, which helps make up for some of those turnovers. 
 

Really excited for Phelia this year. It’s get team this year and I think she’s going to take the next step. 

Joined: 07/26/2008

MGoPoints: 25294

enlightenedbum

November 3rd, 2023 at 9:45 AM ^

They seem pretty endemic to the women's game.  Iowa's offense is amazing and Clark is incredible as their primary ball handler, but they still averaged 14.2 turnovers. Beilein would have gone nuts with that number.  We were at 16.1, which does feel low from what I remember watching.  FWIW: Colorado State was the only team in the nation under 10.

Joined: 06/06/2009

MGoPoints: 64438

HenneManCrush

November 3rd, 2023 at 9:58 AM ^

You might have been a bit more bull-ish on the defense than I was. Seemed like they got beat off the dribble and on ball screens more often than in the past. Some of that might be new pieces trying to gel together, but I remember seeing Hansen get beat multiple times.

Chyra Evans being in street clothes is not ideal.

One thing I noticed is that there doesn't seem to be hesitancy from any player to score. Lots of players were very aggressive on offense.

I agree with bacon: the turnovers are just baked-in at this point. Far, far too many passes deflected, stolen, or outright overthrown.

Joined: 07/06/2008

MGoPoints: 1366

jplwhite

November 3rd, 2023 at 10:18 AM ^

That's fair. There were definitely a few slip ups that led to very open baskets for SVSU. I guess my thoughts are more that this was a good starting point, given the time needed to make a defense gel. I expect the defense to get better from here, hopefully with added depth from Evans and Brett. 

Joined: 03/30/2015

MGoPoints: 1880

matty blue

November 3rd, 2023 at 11:08 AM ^

great recap!

i was there as well - 30 minutes of stupid, dead-stop construction traffic oustide grand rapids made us miss the first 5 minutes, though.  anyhoo:

  • macy brown looked great at the point, including a smooth crossover ankle breaker in the second half.  she also stayed away from doing anything freshman related with the ball in her hands, which will (hopefully) keep KBA from doing her annual thing of trying to convert someone into a primary ballhandler.  hansen isn't really a point.
  • taylor woodson is going to be a star.  fearless, high-IQ, and capital P Physical.  unlike most frosh, she looks like she's been in the weight room for a while already.
  • hansen looks to be as expected - a versatile, willing scorer but defensively meh.
  • defense in general did have some lapses, but the lineups were exhibition-type weird...i expect it was mostly about communication.  i expect those to tighten up once the games start and as roles become more defined.
  • i liked that 2-2-1 press, too, and we're deep and athletic enough to pull it off going forward.  it reminded me of naz' frosh season, where she came in off the bench and KBA put her as the knife edge of a truly nasty press.  taylor williams and elise stuck could fulfill that role.
  • individually, woodson, brown, and taylor williams looked like solid individual defenders.
  • we definitely got sloppy with ballhandling in the third quarter.  KBA teams have not been great in this regard, as has been noted, but we also had some unusual, "wait, WHO is the point right now?" lineups. we'll never get to elite level, but i'm willing to play wait and see a bit here.

all in all, about as expected for a far-overmatched opponent.  tune in monday as KBA continues to try stuff.

Joined: 08/01/2008

MGoPoints: 39217