It finally happened. 23 games in and for the first time all year we looked lost, slow, doubly careless more than normal , listless , and it snowballed badly. I thought Coach and his staff have done a great job getting our guys focused and ready to play. It has been especially evident on the road where we seem to always get off to good starts , ratchet up the defense that have kept us in games to the end.
Tonite was on everyone , Coach included!! To come out and turn the ball over 4 of first 5 possessions, some leading to run outs, then leaving guys open for threes that has not really happened, started the ball rolling and we never recovered. Losing Nigel really hurt not just because the last few games , he seems to be getting his offense going, but because he couldn't put pressure on their freshman point guard , Buchanan, who he really bothered 3 weeks ago , and Iowa ran their great offense really efficiently. We lost guys in transition for threes something we have not done this year but did 5 -6 times tonight. An explaination ? None really other than maybe the pre game thought I was hoping was not true, the hangover from that brutal Wisconsin loss on Saturday. I purposely did not post after Wisconsin despite being at the Garden watching us blow that 9 point lead with 3.22 to go and feeling devastated but also proud of how hard we competed and how well Pikiell coached with that 3/4 court press that took 10 seconds off the clock , forcing Wisconsin to take rushed shots near the end of the shot clock on every possession . 1 more lousy foul shot wins that game. Coming into tonite against Iowa the board seemed to think it was a sure win , but I was cautious wanting to see how we would bounce back emotionally. I told one of my betting buddies, who called for my take , to lay off Rutgers because when we are expected to win in our history we have not fared well.. But I did not expect what I saw in person. Effort, emotion, tenacity on defense never showed up tonight . This time has been so resilient all year but tonight really no fight.
One player has to be singled out but for a positive reason and that is MIKE Williams , who played so hard , so tough on the glass , on the defensive end, just everywhere. I am hoping this propels Mike back to the early conference Mike not the one that struggled for 4-5 games. With Nigel likely out for at least a game or two , Mike has to bring the same effort , to help us get some more wins. I am flushing this game because that was not our team defensively tonight and I hope I never see that again from this team.
Tonite was on everyone , Coach included!! To come out and turn the ball over 4 of first 5 possessions, some leading to run outs, then leaving guys open for threes that has not really happened, started the ball rolling and we never recovered. Losing Nigel really hurt not just because the last few games , he seems to be getting his offense going, but because he couldn't put pressure on their freshman point guard , Buchanan, who he really bothered 3 weeks ago , and Iowa ran their great offense really efficiently. We lost guys in transition for threes something we have not done this year but did 5 -6 times tonight. An explaination ? None really other than maybe the pre game thought I was hoping was not true, the hangover from that brutal Wisconsin loss on Saturday. I purposely did not post after Wisconsin despite being at the Garden watching us blow that 9 point lead with 3.22 to go and feeling devastated but also proud of how hard we competed and how well Pikiell coached with that 3/4 court press that took 10 seconds off the clock , forcing Wisconsin to take rushed shots near the end of the shot clock on every possession . 1 more lousy foul shot wins that game. Coming into tonite against Iowa the board seemed to think it was a sure win , but I was cautious wanting to see how we would bounce back emotionally. I told one of my betting buddies, who called for my take , to lay off Rutgers because when we are expected to win in our history we have not fared well.. But I did not expect what I saw in person. Effort, emotion, tenacity on defense never showed up tonight . This time has been so resilient all year but tonight really no fight.
One player has to be singled out but for a positive reason and that is MIKE Williams , who played so hard , so tough on the glass , on the defensive end, just everywhere. I am hoping this propels Mike back to the early conference Mike not the one that struggled for 4-5 games. With Nigel likely out for at least a game or two , Mike has to bring the same effort , to help us get some more wins. I am flushing this game because that was not our team defensively tonight and I hope I never see that again from this team.
