3 takeaways from Houston’s win over Olive Branch
The Mike Miller era at Houston got off to a good start Monday night with the 82-59 win over Olive Branch. This was just game one for the Mustangs, and yes, there were some mistakes made, but there were some…
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Continue ReadingThe Mike Miller era at Houston got off to a good start Monday night with the 82-59 win over Olive Branch.
This was just game one for the Mustangs, and yes, there were some mistakes made, but there were some positives made as well. It’s never a good idea to overreact to a team’s performance from the first game. The potential for Houston is high. The chemistry just has to keep coming.
I was on hand Monday night to watch the Mustangs under their new head coach.
Here are three takeaways.
T.J. Madlock is the heart and soul of Houston.
Without the senior point guard behind the wheel, the Mustangs’ offense wouldn’t go 100 miles per hour. Coach Miller has this season’s Houston team pushing the ball up the floor after getting the defensive rebound, something that rarely happened under Charlie Leonard. Madlock and his teammates flourished under Miller’s guidance Monday night. The Mustangs were able to catch the ‘Quistors sleep on defense, getting nice looks from their shooters in the corner.
When Houston ran double screens at the elbow, Olive Branch’s young guards were probably looking for Madlock to come off one of the screens and make his way into the lane. Instead, Madlock came off one of the screens, waited for the defense to collapse before kicking it to one of the shooters in the corner.
Madlock has a high basketball IQ. That was on display Monday night. He also played solid defense, forcing turnovers. Madlock led the Mustangs with 21 points.
Houston’s zone defense bothered Olive Branch’s young guards
The Mustangs’ zone defense flustered the ‘Quistors’ young guards. Olive Branch head coach Eric Rambough played three freshmen (Zahir Gutierrez, Caleb Hunt and Jaylyn Tyler) Monday night, and all three saw firsthand the difficulty of trying to beat a zone defense that’s orchestrated by 6-foot-9 center Jerrell Colbert (12 points in the win, 6-8 ½ wing Mason Miller (20 points in the win), 6-7 wing Zander Yates, 6-4 shooting guard Cal Green and 6-2 Madlock.
The ‘Quistors didn’t have the height to see over the top of the zone, and at times, the basketball was thrown into the middle of the zone, and the long arms of Houston were able to retrieve it. The Mustangs used the 1-3-1 and 2-3 zone defenses against Olive Branch.
Olive Branch needs others to score outside of Terry Joyner Jr.
The junior wing had a game-high 26 points Monday night. Because of his productivity in the first half, the ‘Quistors were able to hang with Houston until late in third quarter when the Mustangs used an 11-0 run to separate themselves from the home team. Houston jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter before Joyner scored 10 points to tie the game 12-all. The 6-6 wing can step out and shoot the 3. Joyner can knock down mid-range shots. Occasionally, he likes to put the ball on the floor and drive into the lane. Joyner needs to get mentally tougher. Putting on some muscle would help as well.
He’s going to be Olive Branch’s best offensive weapon. Others will need to step up. Joyner was the only player to score in double figures for the ‘Quistors. The second-leading scorer on the team was senior guard Jonathan Burns with eight points.