Game 4 vs Bellarmine Observations:
- First half had a hard time establishing the pace. I thought Corny needed to do a better job of staggering Nate and Oak. Need at least one of them out there for 95% of the game. Not loving the Fricks at the 5 minutes.
- I could probably say something positive about the defense every game. It's the lifeline of this team. Wasn't perfect as they still have miscommunication on switches and the aggressive nature leads to backdoor cuts often, but they play so damn hard and aggressive that they generate so many turnovers and don't allow you to get in your sets easily. The full court press really got to them. Forced 15 TOs and Bellarmine shot 36% from the floor and 27% from deep.
- I thought offensively this was the fastest the Herd has played all year. Mingo is so valuable as a primary ball handler and his pnr passing has become such a luxury for this team and especially for Nate and OAK. He also had a lot to do with Speer getting going as they created many open c&s 3s and 2s. Allowing Speer to play off-ball a lot will benefit his scoring.
- Speaking of Speer, that was exactly what we thought we were getting from the transfer. He was awesome tonight and brought a level of scoring that this team needed desperately. Awesome game for him and hopefully it continues.
- 19 points of turnovers was a giant plus in this game.
- Fouls are still an issue. It was bad again at the end of the first half. The streak of games with 20 plus fouls continued. 22 tonight.
- This has a lot to do with Speer, but this was the highest % Marshall shot from 3 in a game vs a D1 opponent this year (36%). Just generated good looks from deep last night.
- Nate Martin is one of the best bigs I've seen wear the green and white. He is an absolute warrior that brings it every night. His physicality wears opponents down and he never stops attacking and being aggressive. Let's not take his final season for granted.
- Not a great night for Fricks. He was pretty bad last night.
- OAK was super solid and I liked his shot diet. Not forcing the action and he honestly played incredible defense both on-ball and on the weak-side. Was impressed by him.
- The rotation is rounding out and it seems like Corny is rolling with 10 guys. Nutter went down so that opened up mins for Spears.
