The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Donnie Marsh Blog
2/9/2010 12:00:00β―AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 9, 2010
We enter this "off week" 19-4; 7-2 (C-USA) and still very much in control of our own destiny. Seven (7) games left - 4 at home, 3 on the road. This past week we went into Memphis and uncharacteristically broke down defensively at crucial times. When we score 75 points we expect to win those games. We did a poor job handling individual tendencies defensively. We weren't very sharp in our defensive principles. And our defensive discipline was missing in action as well. We knew transition defense would be a huge key vs Memphis. More importantly taking care of the ball & limiting turnovers that lead to transition opportunities would be critical. Memphis converts long misses & turnovers into points as well as any team in the country. We didn't handle any of those areas well and it cost us a game that we were in a position to win. We have made a habit of coming up with key stops when we had to have them. We didn't do that either. It was strange in that normally when you are scoring you get a little more juiced up on the defensive end. That wasn't the case this time. We played 5 or 6 possessions of zone as a change of pace and for the most part it was effective. The big "3" Kemp hit in the second half came against our zone and was simply an untimely breakdown that our kids recognized immediately after he hit the shot. That happens sometimes. But with the effort our guys have given on the defensive end all year I had no doubt that they would respond the next time out. We had a very intense film session on the day following the Memphis game and I think we made some good strides against Rice last Saturday. We are a team that relies on our energy, our principles and our discipline on the defensive end. We had to get back to some basics that tend to get lost at times during a long season. That's one of the reasons I am excited about this "off week". We have a chance to get back into the "lab" - the practice floor - where we can reconstruct our defensive mentality & focus; re-emphasize our defensive principles & discipline; and rejuvenate our enthusiasm & intensity for this exciting stretch run. We can also continue to work on our offensive improvement; we can get some much needed rest for our guys; and most importantly we have a chance for our guys to get caught up and to work ahead academically.
We have entered the "grind it out" portion of our season. February is a grind for any team that has its sights set on doing something special. That's the point we made to our guys at half time of the Rice game. Don't expect any game to be easy or for any team regardless of their record to go down without a fight. The teams that mentally and physically prepare themselves for this "grind", then go out and battle for 40 minutes each night, are the ones standing as March rolls in. You can't look ahead; you can't look past anyone; you can't fear anyone. You have to "bring the fight" every night. The next opportunity for us to do that is Saturday against a tough Marshall team. We need to have another incredible environment that can help fuel our guys for the push to be 1-0 in our last seven (7) games. Hope to see and hear you in Bartow. GO BLAZERS!!
