We had them the entire game. It was so painfully obvious when we went up 72-62 and the refs immediately called 3 straight fouls on us that the fix was in. If of course it wasn’t painfully obvious the entire game when Nelson and their guards body checked and hacked us all game. The problem is, if you only look at the foul total, you’d say “hey it was a fairly called game”. Taking zero consideration who was BY FAR the more aggressive, egregious team. Thug ball USC style, and the refs allowed it. Perhaps dare I say even encouraged it
Clayton - 27 points (9-of-24 FG, 4-of-16 3pt, 5-of-5 FT, 8 Reb, 1 Blk, 2 Stl, 5 Asst, 2 TO) Z Pullin - 17 points (6-of-16 FG, 1-of-2 3pt, 4-of-4 FT, 4 Reb, 6 Asst, 2 TO) Richard - 17 points (6-of-13 FG, 3-of-8 3pt, 2-of-2 FT, 1 Reb, 1 Stl, 0 Asst, 0 TO) Samuel - 14 points (7-of-16 FG, 8 Reb, 3 Asst, 2 Blk, 0 TO) Condon - 10 points (4-of-5 FG, 1-of-1 3pt, 1-of-2 FT, 4 Reb, 3 Asst, 2 TO)
He came in for a very short time. He caught a pass on the baseline and shuffled his feet. That was the end of his night.
On one hand, more minutes for Kugel might have meant a little more energy for our guards down the stretch which might have made a difference. On the other hand, maybe we don’t even sniff OT with him getting 20+ minutes. Who knows.
At the very least he could have been the defensive stopper that Aberdeen wasn’t. He should have got Aberdeen’s minutes
Imo - that wasn’t clayton checking out; just a really good and aggressive defensive play. I hated his 3-point attempt when he got the mismatch.
I had 2 memorable Kugel plays. One he traveled on a play he should have attacked the rim. The other it was out of a timeout and someone passed him the ball while he was out looking into the crowd, but turned just in time to catch it. 9 guys clued in to game play being back, one staring off. I’d imagine that’s why he didn’t play.
