I love basketball box scores

[Clockwork Orange]

They're such a simple tool, but so much can be gleaned if you know where to look.

The box score shows some very similar stats between the two teams:

* 24 made FGs each and 57 attempted FGs each
* UF shot 24% on 3FG; UT shot 28%
* UF shot 55% on FTs; UT shot 58%
* UF had 5 steals (live ball turnovers); UT had 4

With all that similarity, let's take a closer look at the box to see why UT won as it did:

* Last night's game had 62 possessions per team. Tennessee scored 64 points, so 1.03 points per possession. UT had two more turnovers than UF, but had six more offensive rebounds. That's basically four extra scoring opportunities. 4*1.03 = 4.12. UT and UF hit the same number of field goals (24) but UT hit one more three. That's one extra point. So between these two, you have 5.12 extra points. The final margin was six points.

* Looked at another way: UT and UF took the same number of shots (57), so how did UT use its four extra scoring opportunities? They were cashed in at the free throw line, where UT took 8 more shots than UF. UT shot 58% at the line, so those extra 8 FTs gave UT an expected 0.58*8 = 4.64 points. Add the one extra point from the extra 3FG and you get an extra 5.64 points. Again, the final margin was six.

* So obviously the extra four scoring opportunities led to the UT win, since so much else was equal. Where did we get the six offensive rebounds that led to those extra four possessions? Is it any coincidence that Jarnell Stokes had six offensive rebounds himself? Or that our "big men" playing the 4 and 5 (Stokes, Hall, Makanjuola, Moore) got 11 offensive rebounds and their "big men" (Young, Murphy, Prather, Walker) got five, for a difference of six?

Basically you had two teams playing very evenly last night, and UT won because of an extraordinary effort on the offensive glass by our big men. That is the sort of thing that wins and loses close games this time of year. Get the ball back for your team a few extra times and there's a good chance those extra opportunities will win you the game. It's why Jarnell Stokes may be a really crucial player for us down the stretch even though March is typically dominated by guard play.

[PirateVOL]

They're such a simple tool, but so much can be gleaned if you know where to look.

The box score shows some very similar stats between the two teams:

* 24 made FGs each and 57 attempted FGs each
* UF shot 24% on 3FG; UT shot 28%
* UF shot 55% on FTs; UT shot 58%
* UF had 5 steals (live ball turnovers); UT had 4

With all that similarity, let's take a closer look at the box to see why UT won as it did:

* Last night's game had 62 possessions per team. Tennessee scored 64 points, so 1.03 points per possession. UT had two more turnovers than UF, but had six more offensive rebounds. That's basically four extra scoring opportunities. 4*1.03 = 4.12. UT and UF hit the same number of field goals (24) but UT hit one more three. That's one extra point. So between these two, you have 5.12 extra points. The final margin was six points.

* Looked at another way: UT and UF took the same number of shots (57), so how did UT use its four extra scoring opportunities? They were cashed in at the free throw line, where UT took 8 more shots than UF. UT shot 58% at the line, so those extra 8 FTs gave UT an expected 0.58*8 = 4.64 points. Add the one extra point from the extra 3FG and you get an extra 5.64 points. Again, the final margin was six.

* So obviously the extra four scoring opportunities led to the UT win, since so much else was equal. Where did we get the six offensive rebounds that led to those extra four possessions? Is it any coincidence that Jarnell Stokes had six offensive rebounds himself? Or that our "big men" playing the 4 and 5 (Stokes, Hall, Makanjuola, Moore) got 11 offensive rebounds and their "big men" (Young, Murphy, Prather, Walker) got five, for a difference of six?

Basically you had two teams playing very evenly last night, and UT won because of an extraordinary effort on the offensive glass by our big men. That is the sort of thing that wins and loses close games this time of year. Get the ball back for your team a few extra times and there's a good chance those extra opportunities will win you the game. It's why Jarnell Stokes may be a really crucial player for us down the stretch even though March is typically dominated by guard play.

very interesting analysis

[EmerilVOL]

<ANALYSIS> We won Florida Lost.  </ANALYSIS>

[Volznut]

very nice, CO. I agree, those things do get you over the hump and can make the difference between losing and winning. I also thought that overall UF missed too many of their threes, and the perimeter game is their bread and butter. They really didn't have anyone who could man up with Jarnell all night.