Based on the first 3 quarters and change, the first sentence of this post was going to start - THIS!.........is the end of the road for the CVS era!
After Tim finally put a strong five out on the floor, you could see our athletic advantage. Now, I start by saying- That was FUN!!! The ending was worth sitting through the messy first 3 quarters.
Thank Goodness for Lasha Petree. She deserves the game ball, a steak dinner, or something.......for saving the season. As others have noted, the body language was as if half of them were checked out. No fire in their play. Lasha put the whole team(coaches included) on her back and said, NO! We are not going to stink this year! Gotta love that girl!
Tim's combinations were brutal. I honestly thought he was not trying to win the game. The lack of minutes nor integration of Liz into the offense was confusing to me. Sakima also. My guess is that he is trying to keep his word about playing some of those prior transfers that sat on the bench all last season but practice hard everyday(Destiny and Stephanie).
Using a couple of bigs at the same time seemed like a winning strategy that he never tried. Especially to get the ball in bounds on the end line under their own basket. He let's them struggle too much, unnecessarily.
He actually didn't put his best players out there together until about 7 min or so left in the 4th. They come back and then he kills the momentum with his substitutions. Takes Osh out for Tiya. I could see giving her a short breather and getting her right back in, the way she was rebounding and going up strong inside. Came with Destiny and Victoria and seemed to have forgotten all about Sayawni sitting on the bench. I really think he may have forgotten she was there. Should have been in the game before Morris or Marshall.
My guess is that Tim was determined to let the reserve players get significant minutes now because it will be very tough for them to get minutes after these non-conference games are done.
It works out okay that he went with Tiya in crunch time after sitting her most of the game. After winning, we can say it was a good coaching move because she is struggling while trying to get going this season, but coach still showed confidence in her. She did respond with strong defense around the basket but still must make be better if we are going to be competitive in the Big 10.
I thought they corrected the foul shooting last game. It almost cost them this one.
And hopefully, Liz can just be patient and ready for when her number is called to play big minutes. That time is likely to be in the upcoming week. They could use her shooting and passing skills along with Sayawni's.