Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

The 7 seed against the 10 seed. Waterloo travelling to Kingston to take on the Queen’s Gaels in the first round of the Critelli Cup playoffs. I’m here to break it down.

Queen’s enters as the seventh seed with a record of 15-7 and the victors in the last matchup with Waterloo. The Warriors are the 10th seed with a 10-12 record. Let’s look at what both sides can do to take the rematch and move on to the second round of the OUA playoffs.

For the Gaels in this matchup it’s about playing fast and aggressive. With the group of guards Queen’s has, they can play with pace and get into their offence quickly, and that’s what I believe they have to do. Waterloo’s half court defence is great when they can slow teams down, but the Gaels with Brooke Hussey and Ally Smith can keep the Warriors defence on their toes and not allow them to setup.

Whether it’s through constant cutters, dribble handoffs, off-ball screens, getting the ball moving from side to side and trying to create gaps for the guards to attack is important for Queen’s keeping Waterloo out of their structure.

Defensively Queen’s biggest challenge will be on the glass. Waterloo has three in the top 20 in rebounds per game, both of their forwards Jaime Newell and Nehita Oko-Oboh, and Kymora Stafford. The matchup of Mikayla McFarlane on Newell will be a big tell of how Queen’s does in this matchup, taking away Waterloo second chances and winning extra possessions for the Gaels offence.

Contrary, the key for the Warriors is slowing the pace down and executing through the pressure the Gaels apply. Using off ball movement to create catch-and-shoot threes, using size to get a paint touch and finding outlets for opportunities for Tamara Popovic and Yemi Oladipo, working inside-out with feeds into Jaime and Nehita, the Warriors have and advantage in the slowed down half court execution, and using patience and smart passes to create opportunities can keep their offence efficient and effective.

The Gaels won the turnover battle the last time these two teams faced off, Waterloo flipping the script will not only take efficient and patient offence, but effective smart help defence to bog down the Gaels guards when they try and get in the paint. Quick hands and vertical challenges around the rim to make life difficult for the Gaels executing will feed into the structure of the Warriors defence. Being able to dig the ball out of the paint and recover out to shooters when the ball goes inside, while trusting your rim protection to handle any short jumpers is important for making the Gaels think twice about passes or decisions, slowing down their offence.

Queen’s won the first matchup 50-43 back in November. A lot has changed for both teams since that point but none of that matters when the game starts. Execution and efficiency.