Game day!!!!!
- Thread starter goru7
- Start date
Love the enthusiasm, but you probably have a better chance of seeing God. ;)
Great start and then and then lose Harris in transition for 3 easy threes. Gettys and Deshawn can do so much more. Thank God for Corey playing like his old self. Defense after the beginning few minutes really good and then allowed 3 offense rebounds on miss timing our jumping allowing them to convert which really hurt. Nigel Johnson for some reason is playing a little scared and not attacking the basket . Not one to normally complain about the refs but if we breathe tonite it is a foul. Refs bailed out State to allow them to go to the line to extend their lead. Foul trouble cost us CJ and Mike for last 4-5 minutes . Shaquille is not quick enough. Diallo playing good post defense. Sa as well. He has to finish stronger and learn to pump fake. Issa is playing well offense and defense although he missed the 3 , I liked his aggression and focus. That foul call on the three by State was questionable and could have led to a run out. Need Mike and Issa to hit a few from three continue our good defense and just something from the bigs, CJ! Deshawn or Candido even if just 12 -16 points , which they already cost us 6 points on missed free throws , will bring this game to the wire. Like I thought pregame, Michigan State is not unbeatable.
the talent differential is quite large...men against boys tonight. RU playing relatively well but they are not close in this game after a huge MSU run of 32-13
Well, a number of things tonight were positive but a few things doomed us. First, let's start with free throws, not just the misses, which added up to 12-27 including at least 3 front ends of one and ones, making that 18 additional chances for free points. Also, when we missed them was also a killer turning a 2 or 4 point run or swing into a 6-8 point run or swing. Everybody was a culprit tonight. If we make 10 more of the 18 opportunities, it would have kept this game close within single digits and caused State to get tight despite how great Michigan State shot tonight. Hard to believe everybody missed them .
Second, three point shooting both offense and defense. They made 11-22 and we made 3-8 so outscored 33-9 from 3, making it unlikely you beat anyone with that differential.. some of their early threes by Harris were losing him in transition which really sucked since we got off to that great start of the game going up 6-0 and allowed them to stay close at 13-11 when we should have been up more. Later on again Corey and Nigel losing focus and allowing their man to hit a late 3. Ridiculous that both Corey and Nigel and someone else I missed just jumped past the defender allowing him to fake and never coming back to the guy for the open 3. Coach has to put an end to that type of close out immediately. Michigan State was also ridiculously hot , which for some reason seems to happen to teams we play. On the offensive end, despite running the offense pretty well tonight and getting the real Corey back, we cannot only shoot 8 three pointers under any circumstances. MIKE only played 16 minutes , only took 4 total shots and 0-1 from three. Foul trouble and State shading him played a role but Coach did a bad job not playing him enough and not setting him up for more threes, especially since Corey was going to the hole easily and the dish out was there. Also, 2 huge missed 3's, by Issa and then by Nigel on the fast break were killers and would have gotten us to single digits.
Third, the continued misses at the rim by our bigs , not using pump fakes, or failing to dunk and instead going up strong , has to be corrected. Yes , we are not as talented as our conference mates, but we have guys that can dunk and instead go up soft. That might not be corrected until we get better talent here but all of them , Sa, Diallo, Shaquille, CJ, and Deshawn can attack the rim better and can all dunk.
Fourth, I am not one to blame the refs, but if we even took a breathe on Michigan State in the first half, it was a foul. It hurt us big time. At one point at the end of the first half they were 13-17 and we were 3-9, and it seemed we were hit or contacted on our shots more than we touched them.
Fifth, hate to say it Coach did not do a good job tonight. We were making a run and Coach stayed in man all night with our worst defensive effort of the year. State ran pick and roll 6 straight times for dunks or layups. Coach did not try to go zone, or half court trap or anything different . Again for another game, our points did not put enough pressure on their points and they ran everything they wanted , closer to the basket .Why was Nigel or Corey not pressing up on them, and after seeing they were not, Coach in my opinion had to give State another look. Anything to throw them off their rhythm. Yeah they shot well, much better than they have all year , but that was because they were able to run whatever they wanted . I will be shocked if they hit 11-22 from 3 the rest of the year and we made it too easy for them.
There were also a lot of good things that happened tonight. Corey making his first appearance of the year to what we saw last year . A number of high - lows for layups or fouls that could have been more points if we made the layups when they were fouled. The offensive rebounding returned but we should have converted even more into points. Patience running the offense most of the night pretty effectively getting good shots , layups, or getting fouled for the first time in a number of games. Despite the talent differential, a few more made foul shots, a couple of makes on open threes by Issa and Nigel at critical times, , a couple of layups by Nigel in first half and Eugene in the second on that nice move, and this game is closer down the stretch . Even after the Bridges dunk after his block of the terrible shot by Issa right into him, Corey comes right down and scores( fooling the cameraman) cutting it to 70-58 and then proceeds to miss the foul shot. Keep the faith !!!
Second, three point shooting both offense and defense. They made 11-22 and we made 3-8 so outscored 33-9 from 3, making it unlikely you beat anyone with that differential.. some of their early threes by Harris were losing him in transition which really sucked since we got off to that great start of the game going up 6-0 and allowed them to stay close at 13-11 when we should have been up more. Later on again Corey and Nigel losing focus and allowing their man to hit a late 3. Ridiculous that both Corey and Nigel and someone else I missed just jumped past the defender allowing him to fake and never coming back to the guy for the open 3. Coach has to put an end to that type of close out immediately. Michigan State was also ridiculously hot , which for some reason seems to happen to teams we play. On the offensive end, despite running the offense pretty well tonight and getting the real Corey back, we cannot only shoot 8 three pointers under any circumstances. MIKE only played 16 minutes , only took 4 total shots and 0-1 from three. Foul trouble and State shading him played a role but Coach did a bad job not playing him enough and not setting him up for more threes, especially since Corey was going to the hole easily and the dish out was there. Also, 2 huge missed 3's, by Issa and then by Nigel on the fast break were killers and would have gotten us to single digits.
Third, the continued misses at the rim by our bigs , not using pump fakes, or failing to dunk and instead going up strong , has to be corrected. Yes , we are not as talented as our conference mates, but we have guys that can dunk and instead go up soft. That might not be corrected until we get better talent here but all of them , Sa, Diallo, Shaquille, CJ, and Deshawn can attack the rim better and can all dunk.
Fourth, I am not one to blame the refs, but if we even took a breathe on Michigan State in the first half, it was a foul. It hurt us big time. At one point at the end of the first half they were 13-17 and we were 3-9, and it seemed we were hit or contacted on our shots more than we touched them.
Fifth, hate to say it Coach did not do a good job tonight. We were making a run and Coach stayed in man all night with our worst defensive effort of the year. State ran pick and roll 6 straight times for dunks or layups. Coach did not try to go zone, or half court trap or anything different . Again for another game, our points did not put enough pressure on their points and they ran everything they wanted , closer to the basket .Why was Nigel or Corey not pressing up on them, and after seeing they were not, Coach in my opinion had to give State another look. Anything to throw them off their rhythm. Yeah they shot well, much better than they have all year , but that was because they were able to run whatever they wanted . I will be shocked if they hit 11-22 from 3 the rest of the year and we made it too easy for them.
There were also a lot of good things that happened tonight. Corey making his first appearance of the year to what we saw last year . A number of high - lows for layups or fouls that could have been more points if we made the layups when they were fouled. The offensive rebounding returned but we should have converted even more into points. Patience running the offense most of the night pretty effectively getting good shots , layups, or getting fouled for the first time in a number of games. Despite the talent differential, a few more made foul shots, a couple of makes on open threes by Issa and Nigel at critical times, , a couple of layups by Nigel in first half and Eugene in the second on that nice move, and this game is closer down the stretch . Even after the Bridges dunk after his block of the terrible shot by Issa right into him, Corey comes right down and scores( fooling the cameraman) cutting it to 70-58 and then proceeds to miss the foul shot. Keep the faith !!!
