It’s good to see Keanu with 30min & Ezra with 16min

[Minnesota Ute]

But not sure why he shouldn’t be starting. Here are their adv stats for the season. The only solid edge for Ezra is Keanu has a lot of turnovers. But I can’t help believing that it has something to do with the limited minutes and the way he is being used. He has played the equivalent of 2 whole games less (80min) than has Ezra, yet he is superior in every statistical category. Other than, I guess, getting to FT line, but what good is that when you can’t make them.

Ezra Kenau
Player Efficiency 19.8 23.5
True Shooting % 55.3% 69.9%
3pt Attempt Rate 2.9% 27.8%
FT Attempt Rate 81.0% 58.2%
Points Produced 193 128
Off Rebound % 11.1 10.9
Def Rebound % 13.5 22.6
Total Rebound % 12.4 17.1
Assist % 8.6 11
Block % 2.3 3.9
Turnover % 13.7 17.2
Usage % 28.4 19.7
Off Win Share 0.7 0.9
Def Win Share 0.7 0.7
Win Share Tot 1.4 1.6
Win Share Per 40M 0.149 0.207
Off Bench +/- 1.2 4.1
Def Bench +/- 1.4 3
Bench +/- 2.6 7.1

One of these players is

[Minnesota Ute]

Sorry for the formatting, I guess I don’t really know what I’m doing there.

[utefansince79]

What did Ezra do on the technical? Figured he was unhappy about getting shoved around a few times (and officials were letting both teams get aggressive, in particular in the first half) and he said or did something to express his feelings.

[GameForAnyFuss]

He was mouthing off after a no-call. Too bad – he was playing really well until then. The tech was his 2nd personal so he had to sit the rest of the half. Craig pulled him right away and gave him a long talking-to. Ezra didn’t seem to be in the right headspace the entire rest of the game.

Ezra is a fun but frustrating player to watch. He’ll look like an NBA prospect one time down the floor, then the next time down he’ll do something mind-numbingly dumb. My kingdom for Ezra to find some consistency.

[Ute Dub]

What’s wrong with coming off the bench? He likely gets less shots playing with the first team. Coming off the bench he gets more shots against the oppositions second squad.

[Minnesota Ute]

The player usage would suggest otherwise, but regardless, I don’t think that’s the right way to look at it. His impact isn’t in the shots he takes necessarily, it’s in his overall productivity. He is better than Ezra in almost every category, and they are very similar players; same height, same hops, same position, same strength. So why not start Keanu and play him 30-35min a game, and bring Ezra off the bench for 15-20 a game. He would bring more energy off the bench anyway as he is a bit more flashy and a bit more of a ball hog. So let him play with the second team, instead of having him back people down while our other best 4 players watch.

[Ute Dub]

The minutes you described, is exactly what happened last night. Why does it matter when he enters the game?

But let’s look at the Baylor game. In Dawes 19 minutes he scored 0 points, while Auser score 19 points in 27 minutes. Then let’s look back at the BYU game. Auser scored 26 points in 31 minutes and Dawes score 5 in 11 minutes. Recency bias is strong with you but might not be in your arguments favor?

[Ute Dub]

Did you really site 3 point attempt rate as a significant stat to support your argument?

[Holladay Ute]

The tough thing w/ both of these players is that they lack consistency. One night, a force to be reckoned with. Another night, super pedestrian. Until one of them shows more consistency, I think you play whoever shows up to the game in attack mode.

I like both players and think they both deserve good minutes. Ausar won us the BYU game, almost single-handedly. Dawes has been key in games like TCU and Cincinnati. At this stage, I don’t think it’s clear that one should be consistently getting the lions share of minutes. Neither of them is consistent enough for that.

[Author]

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