Custer minutes

[CyFan61]

I think it has to be hard on Matt, he gets 1-2 shots per game. If he misses them, he knows his night is basically over now. Lot of pressure on him, in a short window. BUt the beauty is, if he can start making a couple at the beginning of a game - fred will let him stay out there.

I am not sure what else Fred can do. I am thinking back to Saturday. Coming out of a timeout, Fred drew up a play to get MT an open three and he missed it. I'm not saying MT has to make every open shot, but he's 0-6 in the last three games and 0-4 behind the arc in the same period.

With how close the games have been, and how well the other guys in the rotation have been playing, Fred can't really afford to keep MT on the floor for an extended period of time. That's why MT has played a total of 23 minutes in the last three games combined.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Matt had a play ran for him almost immediately, but KSU was all over it, which goes to show you that his presence alone is enough to open up the floor for others.

 

[erikbj]

I am not sure what else Fred can do. I am thinking back to Saturday. Coming out of a timeout, Fred drew up a play to get MT an open three and he missed it. I'm not saying MT has to make every open shot, but he's 0-6 in the last three games and 0-4 behind the arc in the same period.

With how close the games have been, and how well the other guys in the rotation have been playing, Fred can't really afford to keep MT on the floor for an extended period of time. That's why MT has played a total of 23 minutes in the last three games combined.

Not saying Fred is doing the wrong thing..........I'm just saying Matt's window of opportunity is small right now. However if he can bust through it, he can get 18-20 min / game if he is playing up to his ability.

 

[carvers4math]

The ONLY reason I care about margin of victory would be getting some minutes for Custer and Edozie, and some time for more shots for Matt. He had a nice assist last night. If he doesn't go off for double digits in his limited minutes, he is sure to be CF whipping boy.

 

[Rural]

Love the volume shooter comment, in the olden days of basketball a volume shooter would have hoisted it every time he touched it.

The kid's doing it "the right way" and getting railed for his play.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Love the volume shooter comment, in the olden days of basketball a volume shooter would have hoisted it every time he touched it.

The kid's doing it "the right way" and getting railed for his play.

People like to compare him to Naz, but Naz is a cold blooded assassin. Matt plays within himself and takes the shots he feels are good ones . I have no problem with that.

 

[Cycopath]

Thomas assist to Long was great. If only his threes fall in.

Why doesn't he try to get open more? I don't see him running around much like Phil Forte does. He needs to get open looks to make his threes. It seems he is always well defended perhaps? Do other teams view him as a threat and try to shut him down?

As for Custer I like what I see from his shoot around. He just seems so short lol.

 

[SCISUFAN]

While I would love Matt's 3 or 4 shots a game to start going in, the fact is he is fundamentally sound and does not hurt us. He gives people rest and always draws a defender when he is in. He helps rebound and plays his role. If he hits his shots he will of course play more minutes, but in the end he rarely hurts us on the floor. Custer was not ready and it was pretty clear in limited minutes in the non-conference. This year at least, he is not going to play instead of Matt. If he brought more to the table then Matt as the OP suggests...then I am sure Fred would be playing him.

 

[WastedTalent]

Thomas assist to Long was great. If only his threes fall in.

Why doesn't he try to get open more? I don't see him running around much like Phil Forte does. He needs to get open looks to make his threes. It seems he is always well defended perhaps? Do other teams view him as a threat and try to shut him down?

I think they're different type of shooters. Matt is a rhythm type shooter, that likes to spot up and shoot off of a pass when he's open. Forte is more like Tyrus was for us, come off screens, turn and shoot. They don't necessarily need their feet set to get a good shot off.

 

[CoKane]

No. Thomas has proven to Hoiberg that he is better than Custer and that is why he plays over him. Simple as that.

 

[Jsievers24]

Matt Thomas stats :

SEASON AVERAGES
SEASON	TEAM	MIN	FGM-FGA	FG%	3PM-3PA	3P%	FTM-FTA	FT%	REB	AST	BLK	STL	PF	TO	PTS
2014-15	ISU	16.9	1.7-4.8	.347	1.0-3.3	.306	0.7-0.9	.769	2.1	1.1	0.1	0.3	1.3	0.5	5.0
2013-14	ISU	21.2	1.8-5.0	.367	1.2-3.6	.336	0.6-0.9	.667	2.1	1.1	0.2	0.6	1.4	0.5	5.5

SEASON TOTALS
SEASON	TEAM	MIN	FGM-FGA	FG%	3PM-3PA	3P%	FTM-FTA	FT%	REB	AST	BLK	STL	PF	TO	PTS
2014-15	ISU	254	25-72	.347	15-49	.306	10-13	.769	32	16	2	5	20	8	75
2013-14	ISU	763	66-180	.367	44-131	.336	22-33	.667	76	40	7	20	52	17	198

 

[erikbj]

Thomas assist to Long was great. If only his threes fall in.

Why doesn't he try to get open more? I don't see him running around much like Phil Forte does. He needs to get open looks to make his threes. It seems he is always well defended perhaps? Do other teams view him as a threat and try to shut him down?

As for Custer I like what I see from his shoot around. He just seems so short lol.

Him and Naz are told to be in the deep corner for spacing purposes. They are not supposed to move around a lot. Monte / Niang are supposed to be creating the offense and if help defense comes at them, they dish it to the shooter or DH/JM for a dunk.

 

[Bewilderme]

There was a comment a few weeks ago about our perception of Naz's sophomore campaign. Matt is actually having a very similar year when you look at the game by game stats. Naz got more minutes last year because we didn't have the depth.

Naz 2013-14 b12 start:

Matt's sophomore big 12 start:

 

[istater7]

1. Custer seems to accept his role pretty well. He was out there 2 hours before tip last night getting a little bit of a workout in.

2. Just because Thomas is on a little bit of a cold spell doesn't mean that he won't heat up eventually. It wasn't long ago that he had a nice game vs. OSU. And once he starts to heat up, people will question why he hasn't been playing much.

 

[Dandy]

Custer needs to pack on about 20 pounds of muscle to stand a chance at being effective in conference play.

Muscle doesn't have anything to do with it.

Custer: 6', 175 lbs
Morris: 6'2", 170 lbs

Do you really want a ~195 lb point guard?

Custer just needs to get adjusted to the speed of the Big 12 and he isn't there yet.

 

[CyCy]

Long played 17 minutes and scored 2 points total in conference play as a freshman. Shows how players can improve and get more playing time under Fred.

 

[acgclone]

I actually think Custer will be a good player for us eventually, but he needs to add weight and experience. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like this conference is going to give you a lot of comfortable leads which means his playing time will be sparse this year.

It's hard to sub a FR who is inexperienced and really small, in for an all American caliber point like Monte.

If I'm Fred I would be hoping for some comfortable leads against Tech, TCU and such so you can get Custer and Edozie 5-8 min each to keep them engaged.

 

[ISUFan22]

Asking a question about what a player is adding, when he's played 7, 8, and 8 minutes in the last three games, is not whipping on a player at all. It's a legitimate question

No, it is a few "fans" wanting to consistently rip on a guy that is #8 in the rotation.

If he's played 7, 8, and 8 minutes in the last 3 games, then what does it matter what he's adding. It's not like he's playing 20 some minutes every game, and noticeably making the team worse. You said he's playing spot minutes, giving somebody a breather, and giving the other team a different look.

I would almost bet Hoiberg tells Matt to shoot when he goes in, or calls a play for Matt to shoot, because he knows there's a chance he can make a few each night. If he misses, then so be it, he goes back to the bench, and someone still got a breather.

This.

Matt had a play ran for him almost immediately, but KSU was all over it, which goes to show you that his presence alone is enough to open up the floor for others.

Another excellent post.

No. Thomas has proven to Hoiberg that he is better than Custer and that is why he plays over him. Simple as that.

Correct.

 

[Cycsk]

In one of Hoiberg's interviews after the Kansas game, he singled out Edozie and Custer for the great work they do on the scout team. Edozie was "Perry Ellis" and Custer was "Frank Mason." Custer having to think and play like great point guards and then do it against Morris, Long, and BDJ each week in practice has got to be helping him improve, especially if Hoiberg is commenting positively on how they are going about it. He is adding so much to his game in addition to his great play-making and shooting abilities.

 

[Wesley]

The deep bench is there, but Fred hasn't had to use it (because the top seven are phenomenal, and the eighth is very capable).

We've also been in a ton of very close games, so I'm not sure why anyone would expect the 9th or 10th option to see much time.

I'm hopeful that we can blow open a couple and get Clayton and Daniel some minutes, because I think both are good enough that they would see quite a bit of time on the average team.

Beginning to look like it will take a twenty point lead or lots of fouls for this to happen. We do not appear to be a team to have very many twenty point leads.