STrib: Tre' Williams shows he's ready for more minutes after upset of Ohio State

[BleedGopher]

per Marcus:

With a tough schedule to open the season, Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino wasn't able to play his freshmen as much as he wanted to give them experience before going into Big Ten play.

That's why Pitino was so encouraged by what he saw when guard Tre' Williams was forced to play a career-high 27 minutes in Sunday's 84-71 upset over No. 3 Ohio State, with starter Payton Willis injured.

"He's a freshman, but I think he's going to be a good player," Pitino said of Williams. "Payton's really consistent, but that's what having a good team is all about. You've got to be able to turn to that bench."

With Willis' status uncertain for Saturday's game for the Gophers (5-5) against Oklahoma State (8-2) in Tulsa, Williams might be called upon again for extended playing time in a big game.

Willis, who is averaging 11 points per game, leads the Big Ten with 2.7 three-pointers per game and a team-best 27 made threes this season. The junior guard nailed a couple threes in the first half against Ohio State, but he left the game after tweaking his previous injury early in the second half and didn't return.

Gophers freshman Tre' Williams shows he's ready for more minutes after upset of Ohio State

Williams to play more while Willis' leg heals.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[Chico Gopher]

I see a bunch of folks here wondering why the freshmen don't get more playing time to gain experience this season. In 40 years of covering sports, I've discovered that the one thing that coaches value the most (immediately after hustle/playing hard) is consistency.

Most of the good coaches I've covered over the years hand out playing time based on what a player does in practice. And probably the main thing those coaches are looking for in practice is: Are you doing things correctly on a consistent basis, every day, every practice? Talent is great and necessary, but everybody has talent at this level. The difference is consistently playing the game right.

If I can't trust you to do the right thing in practice, I sure as heck am not going to trust you in a game. If a game is out of hand, I might give you a couple of minutes of floor time as a favor, if I'm feeling generous. But if the game is tight and I don't have confidence in your ability to make the right play, because you haven't shown me in practice that I can trust you to do so, I'm probably not putting you in.

My guess (since I can't attend most practices to see what's happening there) is that Williams has shown over the past month or so in practice is that Pitino can count on him to make the right decisions on both sides of the ball. I have no doubt that the other new guys can also get to that point, but maybe they aren't there yet, therefore, only play when it's an emergency.

Very rarely have I seen a good coach just start throwing mud up against the wall, hoping something might work, when the team is struggling. Mostly, they'll stick with their guys, because they believe they'll figure a way to play through it, because he's seen them do it in practice consistently.

 

[bga1]

I see a bunch of folks here wondering why the freshmen don't get more playing time to gain experience this season. In 40 years of covering sports, I've discovered that the one thing that coaches value the most (immediately after hustle/playing hard) is consistency.

Most of the good coaches I've covered over the years hand out playing time based on what a player does in practice. And probably the main thing those coaches are looking for in practice is: Are you doing things correctly on a consistent basis, every day, every practice? Talent is great and necessary, but everybody has talent at this level. The difference is consistently playing the game right.

If I can't trust you to do the right thing in practice, I sure as heck am not going to trust you in a game. If a game is out of hand, I might give you a couple of minutes of floor time as a favor, if I'm feeling generous. But if the game is tight and I don't have confidence in your ability to make the right play, because you haven't shown me in practice that I can trust you to do so, I'm probably not putting you in.

My guess (since I can't attend most practices to see what's happening there) is that Williams has shown over the past month or so in practice is that Pitino can count on him to make the right decisions on both sides of the ball. I have no doubt that the other new guys can also get to that point, but maybe they aren't there yet, therefore, only play when it's an emergency.

Very rarely have I seen a good coach just start throwing mud up against the wall, hoping something might work, when the team is struggling. Mostly, they'll stick with their guys, because they believe they'll figure a way to play through it, because he's seen them do it in practice consistently.

Good post.

A few games back, Ihnen came in really early, perhaps 5 minutes into the game. He immediately got a rebound, but instead of going back up with it, late in the shot clock he dribbled back out and the shot clock expired.

He sat the rest of the game. I learned two things from this. 1. Ihnen must have been playing well in practice to get in that early. 2. Pitino was ticked at his lack of awareness of the situation and also his interest in playing soft under the rim. If he goes right back up, he scores or is fouled. Instead he got out of dodge. Pitino was going to make him learn that he has to play tougher and be aware in order to get real playing time.

Ihnen will start to play more as the season goes along and he will begin to shine. But as you say, he's going to have to show it consistently in practice first. Williams is ready now.

 

[GophersInIowa]

I liked what I saw from Williams against Ohio St. He made mistakes like most freshman do but they're correctable. The talent is there.

 

[Otis]

I always play the guys who do the right things defensively and show the most hustle.

Can't stand players who think they are scorers and give substandard effort defensively and in the intangibles (diving for balls, cutting off passing lanes, shading to the play when their man is away from the play to help)

 

[howeda7]

Sounds like Willis is out tomorrow. Williams (and probably Greenlee) will have to step up.

 

[GopherBlood777]

Sounds like Willis is out tomorrow. Williams (and probably Greenlee) will have to step up.

It would be interesting to see if Greenlee gets some extended minutes at the point with Carr playing off ball for this game

 

[sal]

Hurt will likely get some minutes as well.