For those wondering if we had an offensive scheme, I was curious what you all thought of the offense, tonight.
We only turned Houston over 9 times and didn’t have a monstrous rebound edge.
But, we scored in the 80s and only shot 7 more FTs than Houston.
Seems like we lucked into some offensive efficiency.
Well, let’s dive into the numbers (before Niels Boar gets there)…
First, we shot 50.8%, which is pretty good in the 3-point era. Taking good shots and making them. Also shot well from the line (75%).
Second, possession efficiency. I estimate 67 possessions based on the Pomeroy possession formula. We scored 82 points on those 67 possessions. That’s 1.22 points per possession. You’re gonna beat most teams with that kind of efficiency.
That’s coming on the heels of 99 points on 72 possessions against Austin Peay, which is even better efficiency (1.375 ppp). But AP didn’t guard anyone. Houston at least tried.
Speaking of which, Pomeroy has our offensive efficiency for the season at #27 nationally after tonight, with an adjusted efficiency of 1.118 ppp. D is #76 (0.98 ppp adjusted), which isn’t bad. Both those figures are better than last year (#77 O, #90 D). We were one of the unluckiest teams (#334 out of 351) in the country last year, which may help explain 16-16. This year, #80 on the luck factor.
I’m not a basketball expert by any stretch. I love this style. I was a teenager when Nolan showed up in the 80’s and I loved his style. it wasn’t stodgy and boring. I was a huge fan. It broke my heart when he was fired.
I dont know about the offensive efficiency stat and how its measured. It doesn’t really matter to me. All I care about is the eye test and this one passed the eye test. Anyway, the game last night felt like it should. It was exciting all the way through, good shooting, good movement and a good win.
In general terms, we have so many ways to score this year that it will be the rare night when we lack offense. Still we don’t look pretty doing it. Our spacing was at times not very good. There were times when we did not finish well on the break.
But this year we have enough punch in the half court to be a very decent offense night in night out. Last night we made two big runs. The last run came at the end of the game. I am beginning to think we will see big runs throughout the season.
Offensive efficiency rating is pretty much a way to put a number to the eye test. If you’re having a good offensive night, it will pass the eye test and it will also show up as a good PPP number. It also corrects for the teams that like to slow the pace. UH was milking the clock quite a bit, which is why we had fewer possessions than we did against Peay. With that PPP number, if the pace last night had been the same as against Peay, we would have scored 92 or 93.