How can anyone not like this team? They play so hard for themselves and for each other, especially on defense, with the incredible double teams and quick rotations if the ball gets past those double teams, but also on offense, as we're a significantly better passing team this year than any year I can recall, with a high level of unselfish play and making that extra pass (Pike commented on both the team defense and offense in his post-game remarks). So much fun to watch. Just look at these team stats.
- 16 assists on 21 FGs - and it would've been a lot more if we had shot better.
- 16 assists to only 10 TOs, as we valued the ball.
- 13 forced TOs and 8 steals and 8 blocks.
- Rebounding was just about even, 46 to 44 in their favor.
- Playing connected was also a big reason why we did so well with fouls (22-15 in fouls and 27-12 in FTs, both in our favor), as we weren't reaching on D as much as we do sometimes; plus, of course, I think Pike's T helped and maybe the refs subconsciously knew we got hosed against them in the first game and that helped us get a favorable whistle.
- Finally, we won with only 2 bench points, which obviously is not a great thing on one hand, but on the other hand the bench guys all showed up seriously on defense, especially Hyatt.
- And last, but not least, we held them to their least amount of points scored all season, even with 5 extra minutes! And only 34% from the field, which is superb.
