Injuries or Covid?

They play Zaire and Davis. Especially Zaire, he takes a lot of bad shots

That's prob what UCLA said too last week... I think our squad learned to take each game seriously after the OSU loss, but locking down de Silva is still our highest priority and easier said than done.

I don't think we have had to defend against someone as talented as de Silva yet (maybe Wright, AZ's Tubelis killed us), but I also don't think anyone as talented as Evan has guarded him yet. Excited for that matchup and excited for the game.

Part of the reason I’m very optimistic about this is that Evan is the perfect defender to go against Da Silva because of his fluidity in space and Da Silva’s lack of strength compared to other bigs like a Cockburn or Dickinson

This. de Silva is a good match-up for Evan. It's the bruisers he has a hard time with... though, more so on the offensive end. He doesn't appear to like trading punches with those guys at the block.

I’d put White on Da Silva and rotate in Goodwin in the first half so as not to get Evan in foul trouble, with Evan on Delaire and Isaiah on Kisunas. Then I’d switch Evan over to Da Silva in the second half.

Guest, ob4sc , @MNH, just read an article here:


Author gives a pretty good rundown of where our main guys are performance wise at this point in the season. In his preview of the Stanford game he suggests I Mobley will cover de Silva instead of Evan cause he's more physical.

I would agree that de Silva's quickness is more a threat than his physicality, but what MNH said is important, he knows how to go at our guys and we have to keep Evan out of foul trouble.

Maybe Enfield starts Evan on de Silva and see how that goes? Is that worth possibly picking up 2 fouls on Evan in the first 4 minutes. Not sure.

That’s not what I’d do. I’d go I Mobley on the crap big (Kisunas/Keefe) and Evan on Da Silva. Evan does a tremendous job defending without fouling and has the lowest foul rate on the team. Da Silva is too quick for Isaiah and is really good at finishing at tough angles if he gets a shot up. I’d start with White on Delaire since they run a lot of side pick and roll with him and White is good at getting through screens. Zone is another good options since Stanford struggles from 3. If I’m Andy I’d try and minimize the minutes in which Da Silva is on the floor and Evan isn’t and would play zone in those minutes.

Hmm, it makes it interesting that there are so many ways to tackle this. Very curious to see what Enfield's solution is. Evan HAS done a great job of defending without fouling, but will he be able to replicate this against an experienced forward like Da Silva? I hope so. I would bet on Evan being able to handle it though. Da Silva would destroy Isaiah.

I would be concerned about zone to be honest, its Stanfords starters (currently out) that have shot a low pct from 3s, and inside-outside passing from Da Silva would potentially give them lots of open looks. Jones has shown he is capable. I say stay man - things get more complicated with Da Silva in and Evan out.

Sure lots of questions. Da Silva is second in the conference in drawing fouls, BUT his FT rate decreases from 57.4 to 51.1 in 8 games against Tier A competition. Stanford also hasn't gone against an elite rim protector this season. The best interior defense he's faced is the Sharpe, Brooks, Bacot trio at UNC and they held him to 13 points. UCLA doesn't block shots and Da Silva dominated.

On the Stanford shooting point, they're 11th in the league in 3 point shooting and don't have anyone that shoots over 36%. Does that mean that they can leave Taitz, Delaire, O'Connell and Jones uncontested? No. But it does give you more of a margin for error. I also don't buy the notion that they are better without Davis, Wills or Ziaire. Ziaire's 3 point shooting isn't representative of his shooting ability. He has good FT indicators and a long track record of shooting at the AAU and HS level at a high volume. Wills plays really hard and won them the first Arizona game. Davis is a 13 PPG guy who defends on and off the ball.

Last point: I watched the Stanford/Arizona game and Stanford did a really good job capitalizing on Arizona's defensive mistakes. Now if we make mistakes, they'll score on us but if we limit those, they'll have a really hard time scoring against us in the half court.

I'd play in your face man to man and only go zone if Evan has foul trouble. I would also apply some pressure on their guards to bring the ball up as they have an unproven, freshman point guard. We have a big edge in depth and would try to push the tempo. BTW, if I had to go zone, I would try some box and one IF the team has practiced this.