Conway and Hicks

[mat1992 2,231]

Had Gibson not re-injured his back, Ryan Conway would have seen likely very little time this season and now he has to start. At times, when he sets his feet, he's as good as anybody Towson has ever had as a shooter aside from Gary Neal. It doesn't appear Gibson is returning this season even though Cam mentioned him in the postgame. I guess as somebody who has suffered from sciatica and disc issues, you have good days, bad days and hope to avoid the really bad days. If he starts revving up again, he's going to need days, if not weeks to get back (no pun intended) in game shape. So it's a long shot.

Conway is shooting a ridiculous 48.5% from three-point range, but is making just 6-of-28 (21.4%) from two-point range. One thing he's doing better at is taking care of the basketball. Since the Drexel win on Jan. 5, Conway has three turnovers over the last five games. He also has six assists, but he's more combo or two guard than point guard. He needs a taller point guard to work with. He also needs to learn how to get to the cup and explode past a taller defender by finishing at the rim without getting his shot blocked. A floater would also help.

Since the Drexel game, Radhir Hick has just one turnover and 12 assists with seven steals. We're also seeing him evolve into more of a point guard, though he's an average shot of becoming a starter. There's nothing wrong with Hicks playing more minutes, because he's a good defender and takes care of the ball. He's averaging 18.8 minutes per game, but is shooting just 12 of 42 from the field (28.6%) and 2 of 10 from beyond the arc. You lose shooting when he plays, but gain defense. 

Bottom line is that the staff has to juggle the minutes of the bench guys like Hicks, May, Sylla and Biekeu and not overplay the starters. I get what Hofstra does and it works for them because Estrada is a star and Thomas is very good. It doesn't work for Charleston. I'm sure they'd rather have Estrada than play 10 guys, but you use whatever formula works for you. 

[tu_fan 110]

I wish we would recruit AND sign players like Conway.  The "knock" on him was his defense, but he seems ok to me on D, and he's the best shooter we've had for some time - amazing he is hitting around 50% of his 3's, hitting at the highest percentage I can ever remember (including folks like Neal, Four, Josh Thornton).  4 was a good shooter, but had a slow release, and we had no guard play to speak of, so he rarely had open looks.  The staff really should focus more on snipers and teach them D, rather than going to the default option of a wing that are generally challenged offensively.  

Conway adds an element of excitement we have lacked and Hicks provides much needed handling and D.  It's a decent duo, but just once, I'd like an Estrada, Jenkins, Thornton, Riller, etc., that are POY type offensive studs...

[TuTigers2012 1,061]

To bad we can’t just play conway on offense and sub hicks in for him on the fly for d?

conway has been terrific as a catch and shooter. He also doesn't take extremely deep threes like Gibson. Defense is coming around a bit for him too

them not turning it over is important because we have two others who do that enough 

[TSU88 1,070]

Conway 33-68 so far this season from 3. I’m not an expert, but I haven’t seen anything glaringly wrong with his D. 

Hicks is a serviceable bench guy. Very little contribution on the offensive end, but as pointed out, he’s an asset on D and decent running the point. 

Yes, if we could somehow combine Conway’s offensive game and Hicks’ defensive game into one player, we’d have one helluva player. I also agree with one of the posts above that it would be nice 1 of these years to finally have that POY guy at G who you can just clear out for. 

 

Edited January 17, 2023 by TSU88