Youth not only blame for UL women
UL women’s basketball coach Garry Brodhead doesn’t want to chalk up his team’s struggles to youth alone. He places the blame on other things like injuries, shooting and himself.
The Ragin’ Cajuns are on a three-game losing streak after starting Sun Belt Conference play with a 3-1 mark. While UL have played well on the defensive side of the ball last week, they still suffered two tough losses at home that were very winnable. Thursday night, UL had a lead with two minutes left before Georgia State tied the game in regulation and won it in overtime.
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UL women’s basketball coach Garry Brodhead doesn’t want to chalk up his team’s struggles to youth alone. He places the blame on other things like injuries, shooting and himself.
The Ragin’ Cajuns are on a three-game losing streak after starting Sun Belt Conference play with a 3-1 mark. While UL have played well on the defensive side of the ball last week, they still suffered two tough losses at home that were very winnable. Thursday night, UL had a lead with two minutes left before Georgia State tied the game in regulation and won it in overtime.
“I felt like I didn’t put my kids in the right position to win the game,” he said at Monday’s press conference. “Something as a coach that you want to make sure in is to put the kids in the right position and to be successful, and we didn’t run the things that we should have and I didn’t do some things.”
Brodhead said that the Cajuns played a well-rounded game against Western Kentucky on Saturday, but they could not find an answer for Chastity Gooch, who scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Lady Toppers to a 68-65 victory. She was named the Sun Belt Conference’s Player of the Week for her effort.
In both losses this past week, there was one positive and one negative that affected both games. The Cajuns were able to create a lot of turnovers (27 against GSU, 14 against WKU), but UL could not take advantage of them by missing easy layups and not hitting their free throws.
The Cajuns were 15-of-19 from the free-throw line against the Panthers on Thursday, but missed three down the stretch and in overtime. Against the Toppers, they were 12-of-21.
“With the turnovers, you got to make layups. With the turnovers, you got to make free throws,” Brodhead said. “We had 27 (takeaways) against Troy, but we didn’t finish. We had 30 vs. South Alabama and we did finish. And 24 against Georgia State. We’re there in (creating turnovers).”
But creating turnovers creates opportunities, and UL isn’t capitalizing on those turnovers to win the close games.
“Whenever you are missing free throws and layups, you point to yourself on that loss,” Brodhead said. “I can remember that we had five straight free throws that we missed where it was a one or two-point lead. We had some opportunities, but I feel that we’re getting better, though.”
The Cajuns can get a lot better if sophomore guard Keke Veal can come back this week after missing the last five games with a stress fracture in her foot. UL has missed her scoring during its three-game losing streak, as she is averaging 11.9 points per game.
Brodhead said that he wanted a physician to check her out before the team left for Little Rock on Monday. He’s hoping that Veal is healed enough to make a quick trip to Wednesday’s game at UALR.
“I wanted her to be checked today because we’re leaving this afternoon,” he said. “And I know all the doctors’ offices will be closed tomorrow. I would really like to fly her up on Wednesday if she’s ready to go. I don’t know where she will be at. We’re working on getting her ready, but I need to get her in this week and checked to see where we’re at.”
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