I hated that…

We had a net zero rebounding advantage, Martin was off, Haugh had four fouls in the first half (still didn't foul out) and we let another dude go nuclear from three. That's too much to overcome against a good and deep SEC team.

 

I didn’t mind it. On a night where Clayton misses two straight free throw and a 38% free thrower hits four straight, you need every analytical advantage you can get. People forget analytics doesn’t mean the decision always works, but sending a 60% free throw shooter to the line in a pressure situation isn’t a bad idea.

 

Well, they have improved a good bit, but this team still ain't great at defense.

 

Agree. Play defense aggressively and get a rebound. 9 second differential. Unfortunately I think Golden will decide to foul every time in that situation though.

 

Was that the one where we got called for a lane violation on the first FT miss, and then he made both FT’s?

 

I remember Billy hiring Larry shyatt because of this same issue. We were a great scoring team but couldn’t stop anyone. Hopefully, we get better before the end of the year.

 

Our switching defense has been feast or famine. Sometimes we switch to give a double advantage to the other team with Clayton guarding a big inside and Chin a guard outside. Some teams have really exploited it and shot a high percentage against us while others like UT couldn't figure out how to exploit it. I'd much rather find a defensive strategy that can give consistent results on defense so you can rely on it. Hard to go into games not knowing if you are going to give up 50 points in a half or not.

 

The team was once again able to grind and claw back but missing free throws while you're grinding ultimately will result in an L. That's 2 games following similar roadmaps to losses.

I can find positives in last night but hope if they encounter another one of these types of games that they end up on the winning side. At the very least they don't quit and know they are capable of winning despite how poorly they start.

 

This play was a telling sign of us losing our focus and this led to their win at the Odome.

 

Why the short bench? The main subs are going to have to play at some point.

 

That call drove me crazy, and they never showed a replay. But it’s like a holding call in fb, you can find one almost every play if you’re looking for one, and that ref was looking for a lane violation that had no impact on the free throw or rebound of the miss. But, I’m starting to get used to us not getting home court calls like the rest of the league.

 

Exactly and that is why our defense is inconsistent. You need a better strategy defensively to come up with schemes depending on the other team's personnel. If you keep rolling out the exact same defensive scheme every night you will have these up's and down's on the defensive side.

 

Martin barely stepped over the line because Gray has a pause in his free throw shot. It wasn't egregious but by the letter of the rule he did technically step in early.

 

They should let that go like they allow palming the ball on every possession.

 

I may have missed this being mentioned on NBN - did they change that shot by Grille from a 3 to a 2 as his foot was clearly on the line? Not sure why these clown refs didn’t video review it as they reviewed every other play. I think they reviewed if the Gator Dazzlers dance moves at halftime were legitimate!
Not saying it matters because we didn’t deserve to win this game, just wondering.