Did you realize that the Herd only missed 1 shot (FG) the last 12 minutes of the game with Ohio?
I was at the Panther's game Sunday, watching Carolina move up in the NFL draft, and therefore didn't watch the Marshall v Ohio basketball game until that evening. I had noticed in the stats that Marshall only missed 5 shots (FG--we also missed 3 FTs) in the 2nd half. So, when my son and I watched the recording that night we counted the 2nd half misses. With the Herd up 50-45, at the 12:16 mark, West missed the 4th shot of the 2nd half. For the last 12 minutes of the game, the Herd missed only one shot. Knowing that fact, we were surprised we only won by 14 points, increasing the lead only by 9 points, yet missing just 1 shot the rest of the game.
First, we only took 11 shots during those 12 minutes. Therefore, we made 10 of 11 FGs to end the game. However, during that same span we committed 7 Turnovers--nearly half of our 15 in the whole game; had those been missed shots, we'd have been only 10 for 18.
Second, the 10 of 11 shooting was due more to the Herd's shot selection than a hot streak. The 11 shots included the following: 1) a fastbreak layup by Taylor, 2) 3pter by Kinsey, 3) drive & layup by Taylor, 4) 3pter by Beyers, 5) mid-range jumpshot by Killen at foul line elbow, 6) mid-range shot in the paint by Kinsey, 7) drive and dunk by Beyers, 8) drive and dunk by Kinsey, 9) ONE MISS on a 3pter by Beyers, but Taylor got the offensive rebound & West got fouled and made 1 of 2 FTs, 10) tomahawk dunk by Beyers, and 11) oop layup by Williams from Taylor. (The only empty possessions we had during that entire span were the 7 turnovers.)
That's a total of 6 dunks & layups--all made--leaving only 5 "jump" shots--2 mid-range & 3 3pters. Hitting 4 of 5 jump shots probably happens a couple times a game for most teams, as well as missing 4 of 5 jump shots. The thing that stood out to me was that during that span--in which the Herd won the game--we took more dunks and layups than jumpshots. Thinking back over the 4 games, I'm betting that's the difference in the team this year. Better shot selection is translating into a better FG % as well as getting fouled more and getting to the line for the chance to knock down some FTs.