Typing as I listen… it’s hard to beat a 21-point win, but I think we can play better. I think we got off to a sloppy start offensively. Didn’t do a good enough job sharing the ball. In the second half I thought we did a much better job and shot 59% from the field and our free throws were better. We were a little soft defensively kept us from being able to pull away. We had a 15 rebound advantage which we will never turn down and only 12 turnovers, which was a goal of ours. Offensively the ball was sticky… they were physical and did a good job pressuring us. It caught us off guard a little bit. We came in a little lackadaisical… we weren’t ready to play. *audio got choppy here, but he talked about solid bench play.
If he started to talk about the bench I hope it was about Condon. He played 18 minutes. Had 17 points 6 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 assists…..1 turn over. And was lovin every minute!
In the game thread I posted that the first half was as bad a half as we’ve played under Golden. Me first shot selection everywhere, dribble penetration on defense constantly, 12 offensive rebounds allowed I think, 4-18 shooting to open up, guys not filling their roles…against a decent team we would have been run out of the gym. I was hoping he would challenge them for the second, and he seems to have. Games like this are supposed to be practicing the things they need to do to get better, tonight was more a cautionary tale to beat them up with in film study.
It will be interesting to see how Golden manages the starting lineup and the bench rotation with Pullin back for Friday's game vs. FSU. Pullin is our true point guard, but Clayton & Richard have played well, Kugel has not. You've got to start the 2 big men, right?
His 3 ball is working it's way toward dependable(need more games). Could be a huge bonus having a big drag defenses out to the line, or shooting over a zone.
Anyone hear anything about Aleks Szymczyk timeline? it was 10 to 12 weeks back on September 1st I believe which will be 11 weeks on Friday.
I have not heard anything, but it looks like you have spelled his name correctly, which puts you in very select company.
IIRC, a couple of weeks ago, right when Rishwain was cleared to play, CTG said Shimmy would be ready mid- to late-November, maybe early December. We're at that mid-month point now. Big, strong kid, 6'-10", 250 pounds. I'm looking forward to seeing him play. Gives us one more look on the inside, plus can shoot from the outside.
Fortunately, we were anything but lackadaisical to start the first two games—we were completely dominant. We opened with stretches of 16-0 against Loyola and 14-7 against UVA. Hopefully FAMU is the exception.
In his postgame chat, Golden didn't seem overly concerned about the poor shooting start against FAMU. I commented after the UVA loss that we might not want to make such mass substitutions hereafter, because the 14-7 lead vanished in a puff of smoke when we sent the wave of freshmen in. Coach obviously reads my posts with great interest and eagerness, 'cause he altered that strategy the very next game. You're welcome. All of you.
yes is wasn't a problem at all the first two games, where we suffered there was countering to them figuring us out early...and no real successful halftime adjustments. Agree hopefully it's anomaly
Halftime adjustments weren't necessary. Playing hard and with focus was necessary. And we got that in the second half, at least in spurts.
