UTRGV’s Weakness

There is a clear weakness with our team, one that so far has only been exploited by Utah Valley University. This exploitation eventually led to our downfall during Saturday’s game losing 76 – 64 and could potentially lead to problems in future games. Yet UTRGV has only been exposed once during our Western Athletic Conference (WAC) play. If we can avoid these 3 factors, the UTRGV Vaqueros can win the WAC tournament. 

Our first problem was that Utah Valley had a clear height advantage over our team with 2 skilled big men standing at 6’11 and 6’10 while our biggest defenders in the starting line-up were Forward Lesley Varner II and Terry Winn III both standing at a small 6’7 when compared to Utah Valley. Yet during the game Head Coach Lew Hill tried his best to combat against this problem by giving 12 minutes to Forward Ndene Gueye, who stands at 6’10, and also test-driving Center Johnny Crnogorac, who stands at 7’1, to see if they could at least give the Utah Valley big men some problems. Yet, UTRGV allowed a total of 16 points and 12 rebounds to the Utah Valley big men and a total of 34 points in the paint during the game. This clearly highlights one of the weaknesses of this very talented UTRGV squad: skilled big men around the rim that can work the low post and get buckets without the help of a pick and roll to get an easy layup or an open dunk, and the lack of interior presence. 

Still, it makes you think about the other teams with skilled big men that we have beaten this season like Grand Canyon University with Alessandro Lever who is averaging 13 points per game this season and Michael Finke with is averaging 10.6 points per game. 

The reason why UTRGV was able to neutralize both of GCU’s big men in their February victory unlike Utah Valley’s big men in their Saturday night loss was the effectiveness of Lew Hill’s full court press. The full court pressure defense that Lew Hill has installed is one of the best in Division I and you can see the fruits of it with Guard Javon Levi leading the NCAA in steals, 81, and UTRGV being 3^rdin the country when it comes to steals with 263. However, Utah Valley was able to make the full court press a non-factor. They were able to not only set up their offensive set in the half court with ease but also get a lot of free buckets at the rim due to UTRGV defenders playing catch up to the seemingly always running offense of Utah Valley. 

This presents the 2^ndfatal flaw of this UTRGV squad. The same cliché that applies to “Live by the 3, die by the 3”, can be applied to a full court press, “Live by the full court press, die by the full court press”. Simply, Utah Valley was able to exploit the very reliable UTRGV full court press that has not only kept UTRGV in close games this season but has also won games as evidenced in their victories against GCU and CSUB. Maybe Saturday’s loss was just an off night for the Vaquero’s full court press, or Utah Valley was able to find a weakness in the seemingly unbeatable UTRGV press. If this weakness or lack of focus becomes a greater problem in the following weeks due to fatigue or lack of tenacity, not only are opposing teams going to be scoring more points, but UTRGV will be scoring less on the offensive end due to the ineffectiveness of the full court press. 

This leads perfectly into my 3rd point. Do you remember that excellent scene from the movie ​Coach Carterbefore the first game when the following conversation takes place? 

Coach Carter: “Now, I know you’re all concerned that we didn’t work on our offense during practice. We have all season to do that. But what did we do in practice, Mr. Stone?” 

Kenyon Stone: “Run”
Coach Carter: “That’s right. So, what do you think I want you to do on offense tonight?” 

Kenyon Stone: “Run?”
Coach Carter: “Correct again. I want you to run. I want you to run every second…” 

This scene perfectly explains UTRGV’s main offensive strategy. Run. Run. Run. Yes, I understand that they have set plays for their half-court offense, but their primary method of getting points is by outrunning the other team. In their 5-game winning streak leading up to Saturday’s loss against Utah Valley, these were UTRGV’s totals in points off turnovers: 

• Chicago State: 26 Points Off Turnovers 
• UMKC: 19 Points Off Turnovers 
• GCU: 12 Points Off Turnovers 
• CSBU: 17 Points Off Turnovers 
• SU: 25 Points Off Turnovers

Against Utah Valley, the Vaqueros were only able to score 8 points off of turnovers. The Vaquero’s constantly count on their points from their intense defense. When it is made ineffective the Vaquero’s struggle to score points in the half court setting. This was made apparent in Saturday’s game with poor spacing on offense and continually waiting until the final 5 seconds of the shot clock to put up, at best, an average shot. 

With the 5-game winning streak ending on Saturday, the UTRGV Vaqueros have a chance to start a new winning streak in their following game against Western Baptist University at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. In addition, by seeing how intense Coach Lew Hill is, we can expect a big bounce back. Despite this minor setback against Utah Valley, this is still a very talented UTRGV squad that can make a lot of noise in the WAC and even win the WAC tournament coming March.