Game Thread: Butler vs Kansas State (11/30) (BE/B12 Battle)

Understand Wilmoth dressed. Saw Thompson is practicing.

 

Time to build momentum and get healthy going into conference play. Hopefully, at a minimum, Wilmoth can play the next 3 and Jalen can play at Cal before UConn!

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I am still trying to wrap my head around why Butler has been giving Manny the ball at the top of the key. I would understand a pick and roll to get him going towards the basket ... When they get him the ball under the basket his shooting percentage has been outstanding, but we haven't been consistent in getting him the ball down low.

 

Myles did dress. JMM looked taped but was moving freely.

Fun to see Kellen Dunham, Henry Baddley, Aaron Thompson, Campbell Donovan, and Ty Groce at Hinkle tonight.

 

Great game! Great play! Great team!

We had so many more opportunities to feed manny and find Simas either cutting or for a kick out 3. Also I think we’ll see manny make better decisions defensively to stay home on his man instead of going for blocks to limit opponents rebounding the inevitable miss. Either that or our team will get better rotating and block out Manny’s man. Either way I love how much we have to still learn from this game on film.

Now we get a cupcake on Saturday, a manageable home game against Yale, before our trap game on the road to Cal. Gotta get people healthy and it appears we’re doing just that with the news about Wilmoth and Thomas.


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Also very interesting that Tate didn’t get a single minute tonight considering how short our bench is. Hell, KSU even had a player who was 5’8” and he still didn’t see the floor.


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Good news: butler had a lower turnover rate against K State than every team K Stated has played thus far other than Nevada. (Bad news: it’s still too high.)

Good news: that was K State’s worst outing of the year on the offensive glass.

Good news: that was *by far* the lowest offensive free throw rate for K State of the year. (3 attempts at the FT line is nuts.)

 

It is becoming evident that TM is developing mental toughness by the lack of substitutions. Pushing players past their physical fatigue and beyond their limits.

 

And the 13 turnover’s included 3 traveling violations in about 3 minutes. The errant passes need to improve a bit as well. Fortunately, The our defensive intensity and good shooting prevailed.
A solid game and fun to watch!


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That is not him my friend lol

 

I love watching Simas' passing. That one no look pass to EHJ last night sure was pretty. Dude has amazing vision. Had 7 assists last night. It will be fun to watch him continue to develop and grow with this coaching staff.

 

Yep, our starters(especially Manny) absolutely have to stay out of foul trouble for this team to have a chance against quality teams. It certainly seems to be the case now with such a short bench and it remains to be seen if it will still be the case if/when we get injured guys back.

 

Funny quote from Matta:

"(Hunter) was cramping with 9:23 to go," added Matta. "Ralph (Reiff) said we should give him some fluids. I said 'I will, in nine minutes and 23 seconds."

I didn't get to watch a ton of the game, but generally have the same thoughts as everyone else. Still a little too loose with the ball at times, Bates still occasionally goes for blocks when he'd be better off staying at home and rebounding, and Butler is so much better with Bates on the floor. I also think Turnbull, while drinking from the firehose a bit right now does at least give a flash or two of good play during his time.

 

I’m encouraged by the little we’ve seen from Turnbull. Does he look like a freshman? Yes. Is he ready to play heavy minutes on a good team? No. Can you see a solid player in time? Yes. He’s not totally out of his element such that you see little chance to develop into something, like you see from some freshmen.

 

I mean that was rather a fun watch last night but when looking at the box score it screams how desperately we need more abled bodies. Thad played 6 guys last night (not counting Turnbull's one minute) and eventually that is going to catch up if it continues that way. You're just going to have to take spot minute small risks here and there or these dudes are going to crumble from fatigue.

Again, good times and play last night but if we aren't thicker in a couple weeks we're going to get run out of the building(s) when BE play starts. Except for gtown, they are terrible.

 

Some of the lack of subbing is due to necessity. Some is Thad trying to build some toughness. I like it.

Thad every game:

 

Amazing the number of runs in the 2nd half last night. Butler’s lead went from 12-14-5-20-8-16-12.


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Some of Thad’s most successful teams routinely had only 7 guys playing more than 3-4 minutes.


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Wondered last night if traveling was a point of emphasis for that crew. Were they all travels—probably, but some of those normally don’t get whistled. Never see that many (both teams) in one game. The one on JT when he cramped up you could tell he was looking at the ref—wonder if he was going to call time out but couldn’t get it done in time before the shuffle.

 

My observations:

1. The offense looked much better. Crisper ball movement, fewer turnovers.

2. Simas and Chuck looked a lot better. Simas made a few bad decisions, but also several good ones. Plus, I no longer cringe when he puts up a 3. I really like Chuck as a spot-up shooter and opportunistic driver more than anything else.

3. Jayden is starting to look more and more like the go-to-guy on the perimeter. Fortunately, he didn't have to take on that role this time around, but I'm coming to trust him more and more. His jump shot looks much improved and the game seems to be really slowing down for him.

4. Our rough shooting night against Penn St is starting to look like a fluke. We'll have rough shooting nights, but they shouldn't be an every-game occurrence like they seemed to be last year.

5. Manny Bates returned to looking like a monster. It was nice to see that against a P6 team.

5. We played well, but K-State played like garbage, especially in the first half.

6. Butler played tough, both physically and mentally, for the full 40 mins. Considering all the injuries and what we grew accustomed to seeing the last 5 seasons, that really means something. It's good to see a return to the Butler basketball we all know and love.

7. Pierce continues to play well off the bench. Turnbull had a decent showing with the couple minutes he was given. Tate didn't play at all, which I agree with, but still found slightly odd.