OGT: FLORIDA vs USF -- November 4, 2024 -- 8:30 PM -- SECN

A lot of the issues with our bigs came from that huge USF center, Reynolds. 275 pounds and can shoot. He got away with the thing that irks me most about college officiating. Big guys get to muscle their way to the hoop with no charging call, but if you stand your ground you get whistled. I thought this was supposed to be a stand-your-ground state.
Although he only had 2 points in 30 minutes, Haugh looked good on both ends. The 2 points were both free throws, and all net, so that's a good sign, but he needs to put the ball in the hole more.
Condo looked good but fouls limited his minutes. I love his aggressive, relentless play.
I was really happy with the low-post moves by Alexis. He scored from either hand down low. He had trouble keeping Reynolds away but that's to be expected.
Chinyelu looked unpolished, but I'll give him a pass on opening night. He did show some great rim protection on a couple of plays and grabbed 4 rebounds in just 15 minutes. I wasn't happy when he got a rebound right under the hoop and then decided to put it on the floor. Got it stripped of course. Dude. You're huge. Just go back up and slam it home. Also made a terrible pass into lane traffic late in the 2nd half.

 

Ugh, yes. The ole big bully getting away with murder. I sure did miss SEC officiating these past 8 months.

 

On Chin's defense: I hear you, but I don't think Reynolds is a unicorn or anything. There were some questionable fundamentals on display... Anyway, it was one game, and the first one at that. I'm not going to draw any conclusions just yet.

 

Yeah, there was one play on defense where Chin vacated the lane and left a USFer all alone for the easy layup. I'm not the coach (obviously), but I assume Chin was the guy that was out of position.

 

I love this team! Watched every minute of last night's game and I was impressed! Now I just have to find out where SEC+ is in my shady cable situation so I can watch all of the other games!

 

Oh, I'm not confusing Reynolds with a unicorn or any other mystical creature that sh!ts rainbows and skittles. He's just a monster and our monster, Chinyelu, didn't play him correctly on too many occasions. Alexis wasn't big enough to stop him.
But Reynolds is going to cause problems for most opponents, so I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Yet.