U OF M:
Partner: U of M gives foes too much freedom
Tigers “getting lax” on defense, Pastner says.
One day after saying his defense didn’t have many breakdowns and was good at times in a 98-90 road loss at Houston on Wednesday when the Cougars shot nearly 70 percent in the second half, University of Memphis coach Josh Pastner had a much different view Thursday.
“You score 90 points and you gotta win the game,” Pastner said. “When I went back and watched the film of the game, I was not happy with our defense at all. We didn’t shrink the floor like we’re capable of doing.
“I actually thought we played pretty well in a lot of areas, especially offensively. I loved our first half. They hit some
great shots and we didn’t shrink the floor. We did a poor job of having the floor shrunk (Wednesday), which is a key principle of ours defensively.”
So what exactly is floor shrinkage? And is Memphis’ inability to do it lately the main reason the Tigers have gone from one of the nation’s top 25 teams in defensive efficiency three weeks ago to 69th as of Thursday?
Pastner was asked both those questions Thursday at the Finch Center before Memphis (14-10, 5-6 American Athletic Conference), which has given up 75 or more points in six of its last seven games, began preparations for its game Saturday at Tulane (9-16, 2-10).
“The No. 1 thing is our floor shrinking, and the shrinking of the floor means that you’re playing inside-out — not outside-in — and that you start in the proper position. (So) when the guy has the ball, he’s seeing bodies, he’s seeing that it looks crowded,” Pastner said. “I always like to say, ‘Five guys guard the basketball.’ That means you’re closer to the ball.”
The extra room Memphis gave Houston senior forward Devonta Pollard to shoot in the first half allowed Pollard to get hot in a careerhigh 34-point performance. By the time the Tigers attempted to play closer to Pollard and double-team him in the second half, it was too late. He was rolling.
But Pollard’s torching of the Tigers is indicative of a trend for Memphis opponents lately. Pollard and Cougars junior guard Damyean Dotson (21 points) became the seventh and eighth players to score 20-plus points against Memphis in its last 10 games.
“I think they’re getting lax. I also think they’re probably concerned on their guys kicking for 3s,” Pastner said when asked why Memphis isn’t shrinking the floor well lately. “But what’s happening is we’re giving up some 3s, then the floor becomes so open that guys are able to drive us and/or you don’t have that feel that you’ve got that help right behind you where you can crowd the guy. That’s where we have to better.”
The good news for Memphis is that the problem appears fixable, with the Tigers having shown for much of the season that they’re capable of being a good defensive team. The bad news is they haven’t been able to put together two good halves on both ends of the floor since a 71-56 win over South Florida on Jan. 16.
“Our offense is clicking. Our team is still capable of winning a lot of games and being a really, really good team,” Pastner said. “We just gotta put it all together. We just gotta get hot. We gotta get hot. We gotta get on a streak. But you can’t do that without taking care of one possession at a time, and that’s where our focus is right now.”