2017-2018 Rhody MBB's Achilles Heels
With the 2018 NCAA tournament on the horizon, Rhody MBB needs to realize what all of their weaknesses are and do whatever it takes to fix them. At this point in the season, the team's Achilles heels are listed below.
1. Too many turnovers during important stretches of the game - When the game is hanging in the balance, URI can sometimes turn the ball over too much. For instance, their narrow road win at UMass showed their deficiencies against the full-court press late in a ball game. In addition, the majority of their 14 turnovers at Nevada and their 12 turnovers at Alabama were untimely. By and large, the team's 11.1 turnovers per game are not awful but the timing of their turnovers tends to be unfavorable.
2. Free throw shooting - As a team, the Rams are shooting 73.7% from the free throw line and they make approximately 13.8 free throws per line. For a team that scores nearly 14 points from the free throw line on a nightly basis, they need to increase their shooting percentage from the charity stripe. I would expect that a team that wants to be a Final Four contender would shoot at least 80% from the free throw line.
3. Not enough clutch shot-making ability - Jared Terrell had a remarkable game winner against Seton Hall but that appears to be an exception to the norm for Rhody. In the pivotal conference battle at Saint Bonaventure, they could not find a person to seal the game away with clutch shots in the final three minutes of play. Coinciding with the previous Achilles heel of this team, they struggled to hit clutch free throws in that game (i.e. Jeff Dowtin missing his front end of a 1-and-1).
4. Not enough hustle on rebounds - Go back and watch the URI at Saint Bonaventure game. The Bonnies' grabbed the majority of their offensive rebounds because URI's players kept standing around and staring at the ball before chasing after it.
5. Standing around too much - On offense, there is not enough movement sometimes because all of Dan Hurley's players are not in constant motion. On defense, there are times where players lose track of their matchup as a result of not keeping track of them.
6. Not attacking the paint against zone defenses - URI has had its fair share of struggles against zone defenses because they are prone to falling in love with the jump shot and not driving deep into the teeth of the zone defense.
