BYU versus Iona Analysis

I haven't had a lot of chance yet to review Iona, but from what I can tell early on, this matchup looks an awful lot like strength against strength.



BYU has a height advantage and should be able, with a healthy Noah, to play strong inside. Iona doesn't play a lot of defense and we should be able to score against them.



Iona has one of the best guards in the Country and will absolutely abuse any of our guards we put out there. Iona has one of the best offenses, especially from the perimeter and we'll have our hands full trying to stop them.



What do you see?

Iona has two of the best guard combos that we will face: Machado (assist phenom and Wooden Candidate finalist - played with Brazilian National Team) and Jones (former UofA player) who is very fast and can fill it up. This will be a challenge for Carlino and Winder. Iona is also the leader in points/game - but they are strictly an offensive focused team.



BYU has two inside players that can dominate in Harstock and Davies. Iona's front line has no player taller than 6-7, and the team is not strong in the paint nor on defense. We should be able to abuse them inside if we focus on feeding our bigs coupled with some outside shooting (not necessarily 3s) to loosen up the inside.



If this turns into a run-n-gun, we could be in trouble because we don't shoot from the outside that well and our perimeter defense has been lacking.



I believe that we will prevail because Rose has a better record than Iona in the tourney (they are 1-9) so that familiarity by the players should help to solve any first-time jitters.

We need to go man on defense, and run the ball on offense. The best way to beat an offensive team is to get into the open court, and make them worried about the defensive side of the court.



Steals, and long rebounds = breakaway layups and easy fouls in the paint.



Any time we don't have the break in our favor, slow it down and bang it DOWN LOW. Not posting15-18 feet out! Davies will have to be a major contributor cause I'm not sure how well Noah is going to be able. He has just looked really bad his last 2 outings. He wasn't all there yet, not even close. Maybe a couple weeks off has given him a spring in his step, if that is the case, we win handily. If not, then the game falls directly on Davies' shoulders. He needs to stay in the game, and dominate early, and often. No stupid fouls.

I'd concur with what's been said so far. We are playing a team that is a scoring machine and if we let them surge ahead, we're dead, as we'll never catch them. I am amazed that even though they are an offensive juggernaut, they do not have any quality wins:



Nov 17 vs Purdue 21-12, 6th Big Ten, (neutral floor) L 91-90

Nov 18 vs Western Michigan 14-20, 3rd Mid-American, (neutral floor) W 94-88

Nov 20 vs Maryland 17-15, 8th ACC, (neutral floor) W 89-63

Nov 23 vs St. Joseph's 20-13, 5th Atlantic 10, W 104-99 2OT

Nov 28 vs LIU Brooklyn 25-8, 1st Northeast, W 100-84

Dec 2 @ Canisius 5-25, 10th MAAC, W 69-57

Dec 4 @ Niagra 14-19, 6th MAAC, W 98-62

Dec 7 @ Denver 22-9, 2nd Sun Belt, W 80-78 OT

Dec 11 @ Marshall 21-13, 5th C-USA, L 82-63

Dec 14 @ Richmond 16-16, 9th Atlantic 10, W 88-79

Dec 17 @ U of Vermont 23-11, 2nd America East Conference, W 73-72

Dec 21 @ William & Mary 6-26, 10th Colonial Athletic Association, W 83-65

Dec 29 @ Hoffstra 10-22, 11th Colonial Athletic Association, L 83-75

Jan 3 vs Sienna 14-17, 6th MAAC, (neutral floor) W 95-59

Jan 6 vs Niagra W 73-61

Jan 8 @ Marist 14-18, 8th MAAC, W 100-76

Jan 12 vs Manhattan 20-12, 3rd MAAC, L 75-72

Jan 15 vs Loyola-MD 24-8, 2nd MAAC, W 74-63

Jan 20 vs Rider 13-19, 5th MAAC, W 91-71

Jan 23 @ Sienna, L 65-62

Jan 27 @ Fairfield 19-14, 3rd MAAC, W 71-62

Jan 29 @ St Peters 5-26, 9th MAAC, W 64-40

Feb 2 vs Canisius, W 105-86

Feb 4 @ Manhattan W 85-73

Feb 10 @ Loyola-MD L 87-81

Feb 12 vs Marist W 83-74

Feb 15 @ Rider W 75-62

Feb 18 vs Nevada 26-6, 1st WAC W 90-84

Feb 24 vs Fairfield W 77-72

Feb 26 vs St. Peters W 98-61

Mar 3 vs Marist (tournament) W 87-63

Mar 4 vs Fairfield (tournament) L 85-75



They played 3 NCAA tournament teams and are 2-1 (split with #15 seed Loyola (MD) and beat #16 seed Vermont)

Nevada is a common opponent.



we beat them 76-55 at the MC.

They beat them 90-84 in Iona



so they scored 14 more points against them than we did. and gave up nearly 30 additional points. it's just one game, but defense wins friends.



According to the venerable CougarStats Iona is 129th in Defensive efficiency. BYU is 28th. Iona is also #1 in scoring offense. We're 25th. it gets better. We're 5th in tempo. They're 13th. Given that they haven't played that many good teams, our defense may be the tipping point here.



2 great offenses. 1 great defense.

We could go 4 guards and a Center (Davies/Hartsock rotation). Bring in Harrison for D. Abouo can guard a 6' 7" forward. We will need Speed. On offense pound inside to the C. Our guards need to take mid range 2's and hit them. We really don't need to hit 3's especially at a low percentage. Just keep scoring to slow them down and then contest their 3 attempts.



Start Davies, Abouo, Carlino, Winder, Harrison.

Defense wins championships.



I hope Rose focuses and refocuses on this as it will be our defense that wins this game not our offense. If it gets to be a shoot out, they win.



Instead, we need to focus on getting stops and grabbing boards then pushing it down the court. As already said, if it turns into a half-court set we pound it inside.



Great thing about BYU is we have bigs that can run the floor. Davies and Noah getting down court given their size advantage should be huge for us. Get it down court, inside, score, and back on D for another stop.



Iona will likely pressure our guards to no end. Unfortunately, this will likely draw our bigs away from the hoop. Davies and Noah need to be disciplined and stay down low while Abouo and Zylstra act as the facilitators to Davies and Noah. Carlino shouldn't try to split the defense and this isn't a game for him to show off is ball handling skills or lack thereof.



Look for Iona to try and get our Davies and Noah in foul trouble. If they can get one of those guys on the bench early with fouls, we're in trouble.



Winder needs to come up big on this and not foul. Starting line up should be:



Carlino

Winder

Abouo

Hartsock

Davies

The honest truth is that I don't know what to expect seeing as I felt that BYU would match up well against Gonzaga in our conference tourney and then we didn't. I don't know if we've had such a Jeckle/Hyde type team like this 2011-12 squad in many years. They have the talent to beat Iona and, I believe, Marquette, but for them to have two games where everything clicks that should, I don't have much hope. We should beat Iona, but I'm not holding my breath.



I'm glad I'm not a betting man. It's a game I'd never touch.

In agreement with analysis so far. I think we need to keep a fresh defensive body on Marchado and prevent him from getting the team into an offensive rhythm and distributing the ball. IMO we need to use a taller, quick, athletic defender on him. This is where Winder and Harrison can help out. Jones needs to be denied the ball and kept from shooting - Abouo and Carlino can help in this regard. If Davies and Harstock get their bigs in foul trouble and keep them off the boards, we dominate inside scoring. My fear is that because we both like to run, Carlino can become undisciplined along with Abouo and start jacking up wide open 3s with poor efficiency. We can run, and I encourage it, but with high percentage layups and short range jumpers. Oh yeah, we better come out focused (not like we did versus the Zags), as alluded to by Harstock, or we will get blown off the court.



In the long run. I am worried about our depth, as it appears Rogers re-injured his knee in practice and is out. We do not have reliable 3-point shooters, so we better stick to solid, uncontested mid-range shots.



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EM_Puma wrote:
The honest truth is that I don't know what to expect seeing as I felt that BYU would match up well against Gonzaga in our conference tourney and then we didn't. I don't know if we've had such a Jeckle/Hyde type team like this 2011-12 squad in many years. They have the talent to beat Iona and, I believe, Marquette, but for them to have two games where everything clicks that should, I don't have much hope. We should beat Iona, but I'm not holding my breath.



I'm glad I'm not a betting man. It's a game I'd never touch.

A healthy Noah changes everything. We slaughtered the Zags at home with a healthy Noah. Then went 0-2 against them with a non-healthy Noah. Blame it on dumb luck, and the stupidest conference scheduling that I have ever seen in 20+ years of watching college basketball.



If Noah is 100%, I would bet my entire house and life savings on this game.



If he isn't we will have to have major contribution from Davies, and good contribution from 2-3 other players to win this one.

We have to play exceptional perimeter defense if we plan to win this game. We need to shorten the bench and only give Cusick and Zylstra limited minutes. Defense will have to be relied on



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I agree with the lineups but I think put Abouo on Machado, Winder or Carlino on Jones, and Davies on Glover. Machodo is going to drive and try to dish to glover or kick out to jones. Looking at the stats I can tell that is what he does. Play man and stick to them and we should be just fine. If Rogers could go, that is even more hieght to throw at them. But I don't think they would have an answer for a healthy Hartsock. Davies will already be trouble for them so with Noah, they are going to have to win the game with pure runaway offense. Good thing our guys run the court well (most of the time).

Keys to success for the game:



1. Contain their 3-pt. shooting - don't let them get into a grove shooting the ball. I really worry most about their outside shooting.

2. Force Machado, Jones, Glover (big 3) into fouls and turnovers

3. Davies/Harstock dominate the paint on offense.



We can't play zone againt these guys as they are too good at shooting the 3 ball (40%) on par with Saint Marys and they rely on it for most of their scoring. We need a team of players (by committee) to hound/harrass Machado as he has the ability to find guys to take open shots. He is the catalyst to their offense like Dellavadova (SM) and Pangos (Zags).



Possible other scenario than my previous post is to have Abouo on Machado using his 6-5 frame and physicality to keep Machado from penetrating and dishing. A frustrated Machado would probably lead to Abouo forcing turnovers.



Stick Winder/Harrison on Lamont Jones to keep the second scorer under wraps and keep him from beating slower types (Cusick, Zylstra) off the dribble.



Carlino could get some rest by defending one of their other spot up shooters.



On offense, I sure hope that we stick to our bread and butter (assuming a healthy Noah) and work the offense through the post - getting it inside early and often. Davies and Hartsock have very good inside games and should be able to dominate. If they are doubled, we should take outside shots from kick-out passes but not necessarily 3s. We need to be able to hit the shot on the kick out consistently so that they respect the outside shot.This is where Zylstra can show up big by hitting open threes. We will also keep them honest if Carlion and Abouo are able to slash to the basket when there is an opening on the kick-out pass and get assists on the dribble drive or point blank short shots.

byucougar1 wrote:

On offense, I sure hope that we stick to our bread and butter (assuming a healthy Noah) and work the offense through the post - getting it inside early and often. Davies and Hartsock have very good inside games and should be able to dominate. If they are doubled, we should take outside shots from kick-out passes but not necessarily 3s. We need to be able to hit the shot on the kick out consistently so that they respect the outside shot.This is where Zylstra can show up big by hitting open threes. We will also keep them honest if Carlion and Abouo are able to slash to the basket when there is an opening on the kick-out pass and get assists on the dribble drive or point blank short shots.

Some solid 3-point shooting would be awesome, but I wouldn't count on it coming from Zylstra. Iona has an RPI of 40. Zylstra can only hit open shots against sub-50 RPI teams.



Agree on the slashing and shooting from Abouo and Carlino. That will keep Iona's deffense honest. Would be great if Winder decides to show up and go 6/6 from behind the arc like he did before. Abouo, IMO, will be the X-factor. Any word on his hand?

I would expect our bigs to get doubled. Game plan where the open man will be and get some layups or short range jumpers. They will be rotating so we should be able to crash the boards for rebounds. And a couple guys getting back on Defense. We should be able to put some points on the board.

I agree with most of what's been said, but I think it's wishful thinking to keep zylstra on the bench. Coach rose has not shown the same distrust in Zylstra that most of us feel. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see him starting tomorrow. I agree the lineup should be: Carlino, winder, abouo, Davies and Hartsock (aka "HartsTock" by many national media types).



In fact, I think the safest bet for tomorrows game is that one of the announcers will be regularly calling him HartsTock, and my second prediction is that Davies will become Davis.

Zylstra can play the 4 position.

scott715 wrote:
Zylstra can play the 4 position.

Against this team that is actually true. Why we would do that unless Hartsock is unavailable I have no idea.

Go small. They play 3 guards, we can do one better and go 4 without getting hurt inside.

Maybe I'm naive, but I'm not scared of Iona. This game could be like the Gonzaga game last year in the tourney. The Zags made the mistake of wanting to get out and run with BYU. That's a mistake - even this year without Jimmer and our shooting woes.



BYU still wants to run and if you want to run with BYU, it doesn't bode well for you. And Iona has the name of a team that Zylstra won't be afraid of. I think BYU can win an up-tempo type game.