How are we going to get Nick back on track? We need him!
He needs to play within himself and stop pressing.
Make the easy play and forget the ESPN Top 10 high light reel stuff. The alley oop lob was the wrong play give the ball up early and get it back or watch Council dunk the ball.
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Nick needs to just keep playing. And TRY to let the game come to him. He did try that more today. But he is still trying TOO hard…which doesn’t help.
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He will have a break out game vs Kansas. I thought his D was strong against Illinois. Had a beautiful steal
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Candace Parker made a good point in the pregame segment. She said Nick likes to take and make tough shots and question is can he make those when lights are on. Today he didn’t but I think he can and has done so all his life. Today was not his day. He didn’t play in the last part of the game. Just hope it is not the sore knees.
He committed the turnover that led to a steal and dunk that pulled them within 5, trying to pass over a trap. Muss pulled him then. I don’t think it had anything to do with anything other than he turned it over.
What I saw was a great player who doesn’t have the experience and that led to bad decision making. He seemed unaware of the shot clock on several occasions. He doesn’t like to drive to get fouled. Even with the clock running down, he passed to put Devo in a bad shot situation rather than driving and taking the shot himself or getting fouled. The lob that wasn’t was another where he seemed to not understand the situation and made a bad decision. But, he is a great player and just needs to be reminded to understand the game situation, including the shot clock. I predict he will score double digits against Kansas.
With two minutes to go, my wife said, “Smith needs to sit the rest of the game”. And, he did. It’s like when you are having a conversation and SIRI picks it up and all of a sudden you are getting emails and texts about what you were talking about!!
He got pulled after he turned the ball over against their press, which followed the bad decision alley oop.
He had a bad game. I suspect he will bounce back with a good one against Kansas.
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