Western game thread

Rob just can’t spell sriracha, so he went with “hot ketchup.”

If ever there was a game to get Francis minutes it was last night, for a number of reasons.

They shot poorly and turned the ball over too much.  They missed free throws. Persons did not play his best, which hurt, but he was also trying to defend and had a tough assignment that took something out of him.   In fact none of these things reflected any lack of motivation or effort.  They were tight at times and there was was some loss of focus especially in crunch time, but if anything it was trying too hard to do something.  Mental mistakes.

Biggest problem all night was that our defense just wasn't as quite sharp as it has been but again not due to lack of effort.   Wilder is a handful and they had a couple of guys who shot the 3 which stretched us further.  We just are not a team with the quickness to help and recover, or to stop the very quick opponents.  Great defensive effort, perfect anticipation can make up for a little of that, we had the effort but were just not quite as good on defense as we have been. 

Teague and Mallers went very hard for blocked shots and got called for it.  Should they have done it?  Too hard an effort.  Not careless thoughtless lack of attention though.  Perhaps a very few times there was negligent mistake, a few poor shots selected, Ish lost the ball and we through the ball away after fighting hard for a rebound and starting the break.  But, this was not the norm. 

We came out at the start both halves and played well, built a lead with excellent focus.  This is not a sign of a lackadaisical effort or lack of ability to focus.  They responded well to challenge several times.  They hit the skids at the end of the game, possibly fatigue, but I am not inclined to make too much of that, the critical fouls, Western playing well, I'll give them credit for that.  I'll lament that we let the game slip away with the misses and the turnovers.

This team seems to me to do better at focus when they are underdogs and although they have gained confidence they are less comfortable as favorites.   Whitford nailed this in his press conference. 

We did play hard. Just played stupid/sloppy a little too often. I will say Persons had no legs. Especially on those two late freebies he missed. Plus he dribbled into trouble too often. Didn’t let the game come to him. Our guys worked hard, just didn’t do the little things the last couple minutes. Ish getting stripped at mid court was ugh. We had the lead and the ball.

Well, these cats now gotta go prove it on the road.

Yes some stupid.

And, as much as I appreciate Trey’s ability to pass, he is not a point guard and shouldn’t try to be one. Got too cute with some stuff. Just make the simple, solid play! Same for Persons in that regard. Just be solid.

Yes, we laid an egg, but look at the Toledo game. The match up for us with Western is not good. Played strong most of the way but faltered in the end. Match ups are the key.

Not at all!