1. Dylan Harper is just Clown Shoes. My goodness he almost willed this team to victory single handedly. 37 points (on 11-19 FG and a whopping 15-16 FTs).
2. But the real story of the game was the lack of 3-pt shooting (2-13, including several misses on wiiiide open looks) and poor defensive rebounding (we gave up 16 offensive rebounds and only had 19 defensive rebounds). You’re not going to win many games in today’s game of college basketball only hitting two from deep, especially against a team like Alabama that hit 10 threes. If Derkack just hits one of those wide open looks, the game is tied in the last 30 seconds.
3. Ace Bailey showed out tonight. Not only did he have 22 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assist, but he was also active on the defensive end, with 2 steals, 1 block, and some solid on-ball defense where he was using his length to bother his man. I feel like Ace finally learned how to “compete” in college basketball.
4. Losing JWill to fouling out hurt bigtime down the stretch, as Sears just kept getting down hill, mostly against Derkack, and either getting to the tin or dishing to the wing.
5. It’s odd to say in a game we gave up 95 points, but I really feel like our defense played better tonight. After we went down 8 in the last 5 or 6 minutes, we got several stops and crawled back to within 2 points at 90-88. In fact, every time Bama would go up by 7-9 points, we would scratch and claw back to a 3 or 4 point deficit. The lead never got to double digits, which is a testament to the defense, the team’s heart, and Dylan and Ace.
6. Have to give a shout-out to Ogbole. He played his best game as a Scarlet Knight, with 9 points, 8 rebounds (including 3 OREB), and hit 5-6 FTs, including 2 of 2 when Bama chose him to shoot the FTs for Dylan. He provided some strength and toughness on the interior that we are sorely lacking, and has a surprising touch around the rim and on foul shots. If he can provide this type of play against the bigger teams, he will help this team.
7. JMike, Martini, and Hayes provided nothing again, and JMike was affirmatively a huge liability, especially being out of control on offense.
8. We have a major problem moving forward if our supposed best 3-point shooters (Hayes and Martini) are nearly unplayable because of their defense. This makes the continued improvement of Acuff even more important. But Pike has to find a way to squeeze good minutes out of Hayes and Martini to provide a 3-point threat.
9. I’m disappointed we lost, but quite honestly, we played about as well (or better) than we could have expected. We looked like we belonged, and we have to be pleased with our showing on a national stage.
2. But the real story of the game was the lack of 3-pt shooting (2-13, including several misses on wiiiide open looks) and poor defensive rebounding (we gave up 16 offensive rebounds and only had 19 defensive rebounds). You’re not going to win many games in today’s game of college basketball only hitting two from deep, especially against a team like Alabama that hit 10 threes. If Derkack just hits one of those wide open looks, the game is tied in the last 30 seconds.
3. Ace Bailey showed out tonight. Not only did he have 22 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assist, but he was also active on the defensive end, with 2 steals, 1 block, and some solid on-ball defense where he was using his length to bother his man. I feel like Ace finally learned how to “compete” in college basketball.
4. Losing JWill to fouling out hurt bigtime down the stretch, as Sears just kept getting down hill, mostly against Derkack, and either getting to the tin or dishing to the wing.
5. It’s odd to say in a game we gave up 95 points, but I really feel like our defense played better tonight. After we went down 8 in the last 5 or 6 minutes, we got several stops and crawled back to within 2 points at 90-88. In fact, every time Bama would go up by 7-9 points, we would scratch and claw back to a 3 or 4 point deficit. The lead never got to double digits, which is a testament to the defense, the team’s heart, and Dylan and Ace.
6. Have to give a shout-out to Ogbole. He played his best game as a Scarlet Knight, with 9 points, 8 rebounds (including 3 OREB), and hit 5-6 FTs, including 2 of 2 when Bama chose him to shoot the FTs for Dylan. He provided some strength and toughness on the interior that we are sorely lacking, and has a surprising touch around the rim and on foul shots. If he can provide this type of play against the bigger teams, he will help this team.
7. JMike, Martini, and Hayes provided nothing again, and JMike was affirmatively a huge liability, especially being out of control on offense.
8. We have a major problem moving forward if our supposed best 3-point shooters (Hayes and Martini) are nearly unplayable because of their defense. This makes the continued improvement of Acuff even more important. But Pike has to find a way to squeeze good minutes out of Hayes and Martini to provide a 3-point threat.
9. I’m disappointed we lost, but quite honestly, we played about as well (or better) than we could have expected. We looked like we belonged, and we have to be pleased with our showing on a national stage.
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