Ricky Torres to Illinois State

[Cdizzle]

Best of luck to Torres. He was dirty in the pickle-roll. Even after teams knew he couldn't shoot. I'm convinced he's the reason one of our bigs went from 2 minutes/gm and likely transferring to potential starter on a top 50 team.

Who? Which team?

Asjborn Midtgaard at WSU. He averaged 4mpg, 1pts .75rb .2blk thru 12 games. Had a couple games midseason where he and Ricky got going in the Pick n' Roll and he averaged 15mpg 5.5pts 4.5rb 1.1blk over the final 22 games. There were a lot of factors at play, but getting some confidence playing with a competent PG and it was like a light bulb turned on. I was sure he was moving on after the season. Now he's probably 1b on the depth chart at center for what should be a good not great squad.

Anyway. Not trying to derail. Just throwing in some fan perspective after watching Ricky last season.

[Cdizzle]

Told ya.

[Red]

Told ya.

10 pts and 6 assists in 24 minutes is pretty damn good. Happy to have him.

[Cdizzle]

Told ya.

10 pts and 6 assists in 24 minutes is pretty damn good. Happy to have him.

I really think this is a case where all parties involved benefited greatly. This sort of transfer is probably a good example of how college athletics should work.

[Adunk33]

Ricky probably had his worst game yesterday. He definitely got sped up with the length of UCF, but he's an asset for sure. The Redbirds haven't had a PG since Paris Lee. It is refreshing to have a game manager and a leader at that spot. Happy to have Ricky on the team.

[Cdizzle]

Ricky probably had his worst game yesterday. He definitely got sped up with the length of UCF,

And that's one of the significant problems he had at WSU. Just a lot more length and athleticism night-in, night-out in the American. I'm not saying more talent, but more size and athleticism that caused problems for Ricky. It caused him problems offensively (though eventually that just became the yips more than anything), but he really struggled defensively because of it.

[tribecalledquest]

Ricky probably had his worst game yesterday. He definitely got sped up with the length of UCF,

And that's one of the significant problems he had at WSU. Just a lot more length and athleticism night-in, night-out in the American. I'm not saying more talent, but more size and athleticism that caused problems for Ricky. It caused him problems offensively (though eventually that just became the yips more than anything), but he really struggled defensively because of it.

Good point. The American has better athletes than the Valley. No doubt.

[Adunk33]

Ricky probably had his worst game yesterday. He definitely got sped up with the length of UCF,

And that's one of the significant problems he had at WSU. Just a lot more length and athleticism night-in, night-out in the American. I'm not saying more talent, but more size and athleticism that caused problems for Ricky. It caused him problems offensively (though eventually that just became the yips more than anything), but he really struggled defensively because of it.

Good point. The American has better athletes than the Valley. No doubt.

I should be fair to Ricky. He had his worst game so far against UCF for sure. He struggled with their 6'5 point guard as has every team who has played them. Little Rock was also crazy long having three 6'8+ guys on the court consistently and he had a decent game.
Just for the sake of perspective:

Vs Belmont: 10 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, two turnovers
Vs Little Rock: 7 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, no turnovers
Vs UCF: 5 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and one turnover.

So his game vs UCF was not significantly worse. Just the worst of a small sample size. Looking forward to see how he does against Cincy today!

[Adunk33]

Just an update on Torres for the Shocker fans still checking out the board. Two games ago he lost his starting spot to freshman PG DJ Horne. Right now, Horne is more of a scoring guard but does a good job of getting the offense started (mostly motion) before making a play. Torres seems to be handling it well. He is still productive when on the court and shooting it well. Though Horne has been solid offensively, he got his spot in the lineup due to his commitment to defense. Ricky is a true pg and is shows but needs to pick up that defensive effort if he wants to get back in the starting 5.

[Cdizzle]

Torres really struggled defensively at WSU. Not real surprising, though I thought he had a chance to be less of a liability against guards that weren't consistently way bigger and more athletic than him.