In one of the boldest strokes of Steve Shields' career in Little Rock, he started four true guards and an undersized power forward against a team from the respected Missouri Valley Conference, and came away with a scrappy win. It was ugly, but it counts.
The strength of this team is 3-point shooting, and so presumably Shields decided to go with his strength. The result was a solid 36.4% from the arc, with the team taking over half their shots from outside - something that is hardly ever seen from a Shields team. In the meantime they perhaps found their stride in perimeter defense and held Bradley to a respectable 33%. Predictably, we got killed on the boards 50-33, but also predictably, since we started two point guards, we committed only 8 turnovers. One of the most interesting stats of the game was the Trojans' ten blocks distributed among six players. Roger Woods, as the only quasi-big starter, had a very solid all-round game with 17 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks.
Shields stayed away from the size on his team. James White played only 19 minutes, Mareik Isom only 6, Maurius Hill only 3, and Gus Leeper did not play at all. It was a head-scratcher as to why this total reversal of strategy, but evidently Shields was committed to playing smallball, and stayed with it since it was working. Now, Bradley is not a very good team, but they are from a pretty good conference, and a win is a win, however it comes.
The most puzzling issue is why James White did not start and only played 19 minutes. Maybe a look at the results will tell the story. White has been off his game. In the last five games (counting Bradley), he is shooting a miserable 33%, and when you have a team full of good 3-point shooters, post players who are not shooting well are a problem. James is going to have to turn his game up a notch.
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