Yeah, we sucked for much of the 2nd half, going from 55-41 up to 72-66 down, which is a 31-11 shellacking over that time. But the team dug deep made three treys and got a couple of stops and won 75-72 on the most unlikely shot of the day, a trey by a still struggling Geo with 1 second left. So happy for Geo as most of us have been wondering why he wasn't shooting well at all (injury or just in a slump or both).
Don't underestimate the importance of this win, either. This would have been a horrific loss to a bad team at home, which we simply couldn't afford with our margin for error for making the tourney being thin, given how tough our schedule is the last 7 games. Instead it's a gut check win and people will mostly forget that we almost lost. 15-5/6-3 - who predicted that at this point who gets paid to make predictions? That's right, nobody. Playing with house money folks. Need 5 more wins in 11 games, as I'm convinced 20-11/11-9 gets us in, in a really strong year for the B1G, which is doable, but not a given.
So, another game with new heroes. Yeboah was the hero today with 20/7 and some nice defense and Johnson was strong inside with 9/11 and a career high 5 blocks (and needed to see the ball more - too many treys), while Caleb had 12/4/3 (and 2 steals) and Mathis had 10/4/2 and JY had another strong game off the bench with 12, although his TOs in the 2nd half hurt.
Harper didn't have a good game with only 2, but he did have 5 boards and 4 assists, while Geo really stuggled until his two late treys and of course the gamewinner. Not Mulcahy's best game either with only 2/1 and 2 TOs. Shaq didn't do much today either. And Pike got outcoached, I think, but redeemed himself at the end by focusing on Mack and the Viking kid (maybe a little late though); we also really struggled with their zone - need to attack it better.
But a win is a win. Let's do better against Purdue Tuesday night, who is coming off a blowout win against WI. We can do this.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=401166189
Don't underestimate the importance of this win, either. This would have been a horrific loss to a bad team at home, which we simply couldn't afford with our margin for error for making the tourney being thin, given how tough our schedule is the last 7 games. Instead it's a gut check win and people will mostly forget that we almost lost. 15-5/6-3 - who predicted that at this point who gets paid to make predictions? That's right, nobody. Playing with house money folks. Need 5 more wins in 11 games, as I'm convinced 20-11/11-9 gets us in, in a really strong year for the B1G, which is doable, but not a given.
So, another game with new heroes. Yeboah was the hero today with 20/7 and some nice defense and Johnson was strong inside with 9/11 and a career high 5 blocks (and needed to see the ball more - too many treys), while Caleb had 12/4/3 (and 2 steals) and Mathis had 10/4/2 and JY had another strong game off the bench with 12, although his TOs in the 2nd half hurt.
Harper didn't have a good game with only 2, but he did have 5 boards and 4 assists, while Geo really stuggled until his two late treys and of course the gamewinner. Not Mulcahy's best game either with only 2/1 and 2 TOs. Shaq didn't do much today either. And Pike got outcoached, I think, but redeemed himself at the end by focusing on Mack and the Viking kid (maybe a little late though); we also really struggled with their zone - need to attack it better.
But a win is a win. Let's do better against Purdue Tuesday night, who is coming off a blowout win against WI. We can do this.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=401166189
