How Did State Allow Ryan McMahon to Get So Open So Many Times?
Ryan McMahon looks a little like Ollie, the undersized, undertalented kid at the end of the bench in the movie Hoosiers.
The stat sheet tells a different story.
The Louisville senior is shooting 42.9 percent from beyond the 3-point arc this season, a figure that would have ranked him second in the ACC coming into Saturday's game against NC State if he'd have qualified for the league statistics.
He will now, after a performance that saw him post career high totals of seven 3-pointers and 23 points Saturday in leading the sixth-ranked Cardinals to an 77-57 drubbing of the Wolfpack at PNC Arena.
Six of those 3-pointers, on his first six attempts, came during a first half run in which Louisville broke open a close game by outscoring the Wolfpack 22-5 over the final 11 minutes before halftime.
So how did that happen?
Did State get deceived by looking at the skinny 6-foot guard with the flat-top haircut's unthreatening appearance instead of looking at the stat sheet?
Not exactly, said Devon Daniels.
"In the first half McMahon, he did what he wanted to do," Daniels said. "We didn't lock in on our scouting report with him. We let him do what he wanted to do. He's a catch and shooter and that's what he did."
McMahon's barrage of 3-pointers came at a time in the game in which it seemed as though State (14-8, 5-6 ACC) had everything going its way.
The Wolfpack got the Cardinals in early foul trouble, earning the bonus by the first TV timeout, and were giving the ACC frontrunners trouble with its press by forcing five early turnovers.
But despite their success, its inability to put the ball in the basket consistently prevented it from pulling away.
And it eventually cost coach Kevin Keatts' team.
“Once I saw the first one drop, I was like, ‘all right, it’s time to go,’" McMahon said afterward. "It was just a matter of getting open at that point.”
It seemed as though he was open virtually every time down the court during that decisive late first half spurt.
That, as Daniels mentioned, is because the Wolfpack didn't follow the scouting report it was given before the game.
But according to Keatts, the reason his team lost sight of McMahon so much is because they were concentrating too hard on another area of the scouting report -- keeping the ball away from big man Steven Enoch inside.
"It wasn't so much that he got wide open shots," the State coach said. "When they went four out and one in, we did a great job of taking Enoch away. They skipped it and our help-side defense got caught inside.
"It wasn't as much as the guy who closed out on him with the shots, it was the guy guarding the basketball didn't have active hands and he didn't pressure the basketball. Because of that, they were able to make direct passes across the court and he got some rhythm threes. Once a guy gets going like that and he's a shooter, you're capable of making those type of shots."
Especially McMahon, as Louisville coach Chris Mack noted.
"When Ryan hits one or two, I don’t care where he shoots it from," Mack said. "I feel like it’s going in every time."
Keatts eventually made an adjustment at halftime by using Daniels, State's best on-ball defender, pay close attention to McMahon everytime Louisville used a skip pass to get him the ball.
"He closed with a high hand, took him away and made him deck (dribble) the basketball," Keatts said.
McMahon made only one of three shots from beyond the arc in the second half. But by that time it was too late and the deficit was too large for the Wolfpack to battle all the way back.
As complicit as State's first half defense was in facilitating McMahon's career day, referee Ted Valentine may also have had an unwitting hand in helping it happen.
"I went up to the game ball before the game started and the ball we were going to play with was not good," McMahon said. "So Mr. Valentine, the ref, said 'Then you can get to pick the game ball.
"So I went, sifted through five or six balls and finally found one that was really, really good and I gave him that, because I had shot with that one earlier when we were shooting around. ... I didn't even know it was a rule that the visiting team gets to pick the game ball. And we got a good one."
Ryan McMahon video by http://clbrownhoops.com): https://clbrownhoops.com/louisvilles-mcmahon-picks-game-ball-proceeds-to-pick-apart-wolfpack/…
