Irish Player Notes: Liberty

Our post-game review of each Irish player in Sunday's 91-72 win over Liberty.

A full game-film review will generally appear in this space following televised Irish games. Below is a player-by-player breakdown for Sunday night’s 91-72 Irish win over Liberty.

Luke Harangody

• Shot-fake and running one hander from straight-away for first Irish points
• Spinning shot fake and short jumper from 8-feet
• Takes charge out top
• Hits open wing 3 (spot-up) on a feed from Jackson
• Goes hard and is fouled on missed dunk attempt (hits both after timeout)
• Another spot up 3 (no hesitation) on pass from Jackson (right wing)
• Goes to the floor for a loose ball and hits Jackson to start a fast break (Peoples fouled on layup that drills the bottom of the rim
• Draws a very hard off the ball foul from Antwan Burris (hits both) . Two possessions later, Burris elbow leads to two more free throws. 20 first-half points for the big man.

  2nd Half:

• Just rips the ball away from defender under the hoop for a bucket.
• Tremendous spinning layup (left-to-right) for bucket off the glass
• Rolled in fade away from 8-feet.
• Incredibly soft touch leads to “jumping” 5-footer off the rim and in. No one hits more awkward shots consistently as does Harangody
• Another spinning shot in the lane (6-feet straight-away)

Ben Hansbrough

• Help D in lane (chops down for steal) and misses layup after a nice drive on the other end
• Drive and pass across the lane to hit Abromaitis for a wide-open corner 3. Abro had shown patience passing up a shot slightly out of rhythm early in the possession.
• Steps into and drills open 3 from top-right. Feed from Abromaitis.
• Rare turnover on drive and feed (caught in the air) leads to a transition basket for Liberty

  2nd Half:

• Draws (hard) foul coming around the circle for a wing 3 (hit all 3)
• Ranks as the team’s new defensive conscience, and by “new” I mean “first in seven years”
• Drew two quick fouls on charge/attempting to take a charge
• Nice drive and find (Jackson) for a contested layup underneath. Hansbrough might be the team’s best passer this season (at least in terms of executing the pass in traffic).

Tory Jackson

• Denies 3 with on-ball D
• Spin-move and kick-out on secondary break to Harangody for a spot-up wing 3-pointer
• Easy drive and reverse layup (left to right) for bucket.
• Missed open 3 from left wing but nice release this time
• Two defensive boards underneath in 3 possessions

  2nd Half:

• Telegraphed a pass (stolen) on advantage break.
• Strong baseline move for layup and steal on ensuing defensive possession
• Spent most of half keeping young players involved in one-side contest.

Tyrone Nash

• Help-side blocked shot (but gives up board/bucket)
• Nash called for sloppy, needless moving pick
• Brey chastises for not offering a post-target for entry pass
• Drive down right elbow to draw a foul (good use of off hand) 1-2.
• 1 of 2 again in bonus after being held in the lane
• layup. Good effort to get to the hole (right to left drive through the paint) and draws the 2-shot foul (hits both).
• Nash with dumb foul No. 2 off the ball (offense).

  2nd Half:

• Offensive board and turnaround bucket after Abromaitis missed on in close
• Determined move off post feed for bucket and foul fading away (badly bricked free throw)
• Missed awkward set shot from 18-feet (wing)
• Strong finish (left side) on post-entry across the lane from Scott. Bucket and the foul (way short)

Jonathan Peoples

• Misses short pull-up to start game
• Hits open wing 3 on a drive and kick from Jackson
• Three-ball put in his eye by Kyle Ohman but Peoples responds with drive and dish to Nash for an easy layup.
• Misses dribbling three (in rhythm) of half-court offense
• Hits 1-2 free throws after a foul on the break. Peoples has to be an 80% knockdown free throw shooter this season (as he was earlier in his career) to make up for offensive shortcomings.

  2nd Half:

• Diving steal into press row but Irish don’t convert
• Leaping steal of entry pass two possessions later
• Steal and score from midcourt. Good job playing the passing lanes.
• Works off pick-and-roll with Jack Cooley for pull-up jump shot (pick not solid though)

Tim Abromaitis

• Entered contest at 14:08
• Draws (questionable) foul call on shot fake and baseline drive (hits both) - Abro has great compact shooting form for those of you yet to see him play.
• Next possession, cuts down the right side of the lane and finishes a backdoor pass from Harangody
• Came around pick up top and took the ball down the pike for a pull-up 4-footer. Soft shot, but didn’t look that strong with his left hand
• Good position and defensive board in traffic

  2nd Half:

• Nice entry pass to Harangody on the low block for an easy bucket
• Called for a very cheap charging call attempting to finish a fast break feed from Jackson
• Drains yet another spot-up 3 from the corner on a feed from Peoples (secondary break after made free throw by Liberty)

Carleton Scott

Entered contest at 14:08. Offensive rebound (might have been a pass) of Harangody airball for bucket
• Misses open 3 from top on nice drive and pass from Peoples
• Called for a foul with arms raised; Jackson points out the correct form to avoid the cheap call
• Beaten on a drive (didn’t move his feet) and called for a foul at the basket with :32 remaining.

  2nd Half:

• Contests at the rim midway through the first half leads to Harangody rebounds
• Good finish (tip-in) at the hoop after Nash missed a 3-footer on a feed from Peoples
• Leaping one-handed board with 6 minutes remaining. He needs to do that outside of garbage time though.
• Way off with top-of-the-key 3 on driving pass from Brooks
• Misses (front rim) alley-oop after a sweet no-look pass in the lane from Jackson

Joey Brooks

• Checked in at 11:05 timeout
• Goes hard to bucket (from right wing) after a missed Abromaitis 3 attempt for offensive rebound and foul (air-balls first to the right and misses 2nd deep but Scott snares the offensive board). Possession goes off Brook’s outstretched hand out of bounds (bad pass though).
• Solid help D on baseline
• Back in with just over a minute in the half

• 2nd Half:

• Checked in at 10:46 in 2nd Half
• Offensive board (eventually) leads to a Jackson free throw
• Strong, patient coast-to-coast finish after a Broghammer steal and outlet pass
• Had shot blocked on a decent drive right (and offered commentary: “ooh” after block…)
• Switched to point guard for a few possessions at 6:30 mark
• Down to the floor for a loose ball
• Steal and score (solid finish) coast-to-coast late

Mike Broghammer

• Checked in at 10:46 in 2nd Half (75-49)
• Aggressive after rebound on offensive glass (Brooks ends up with it on the ground)
• Good post position and feed from Harangody but Brog babied the shot (rimmed out) from in close. Looked like he considered a drop-step dunk and was too far away.
• Another offensive board but rushed and missed layup attempt
• Missed open baseline J and then a driving baseline J on next possession

Jack Cooley

• Checked in at 9:54 with Harangody.
• Over-the-back after missed Broghammer layup
• Nice move but no finish in the post
• Rebound goal under 2:00 underneath

Tim Andree and Tom Kopko

• Entered at 2:00 mark. Andree missed contested layup but Cooley rebounded for score
• Kopko hits driving pull-up from 5-feet and on next possession hit Cooley for a contested (missed dunk) with a nice pass on the break.