This was not our best basketball, especially offensively, where we took some bad shots at key times. OTOH, we were trying to pick up the pace and get some easy stuff in transition. The first half, it goes without saying, was a stinker. Yes, Wiscy shot lights out. But we didn't close on threes very well, one of which was Davis leaving Reuters wide open. We also fouled Trice twice on jump shots, giving them 5 easy points from the line. And Livers fell asleep on an inbounds play resulting in a layup for them. On offense, Eli missed a bunch of floaters and jump shots, although I took some solace in the fact that they were good looks for the most part. Livers kept us within hailing distance, along with a few drives by Franz. Overall, we were out of sync and not shooting well.
We took Wiscy's best shot in the first half, and, while we were better offensively in the second half, it was our defensive intensity and pressure that gave us room for the comeback. Eli chased Trice all over the court, gave him no room to breathe. His shots were off the dribble and difficult. It was fun to see Dickinson switched onto Trice and snuff him. You could see the Wiscy players wilting as though they were the team with the long layoff. I really didn't notice much fatigue with our guys. Nobody grabbing their shorts, just locked in.
You have to appreciate now the things Dickinson does besides scoring. Today, he didn't finish as well as he normally would, and Wiscy was pretty physical with him in the paint. But he protected the rim, cleaned up the defensive boards, had a couple of key offensive rebounds, passed out the post and knocked down free throws at crunch time. Davis did a nice job backing down their bigs, had a couple of nice finishes. One thing that was interesting is that we made our comeback by going through our bigs, not perimeter shooting. We wore Wiscy down. Their Davis hit several big shots to slow our comeback, Potter hit a couple of baseline jumpers; that was it for them. We dominated the second half because we were relentless, which is our M.O.
Franz played a solid game even if Davis beat him for a few buckets. He finished hellishly tough drives, knocked down a big three (followed by a really bad one). He also contests shots in the paint. When Wiscy ventured in there, they usually got stuffed or forced up a tough shot.
Livers should probably shoot more, but we're using the spacing that he provides to get driving lanes and inside entries. He had a wide open three available in the first half but passed to Chaundy in the corner, who missed. That was just too unselfish. We also had Livers back down defenders in the paint to great effect. That's a part of his game that the staff has added this season. Livers was our leading scorer but didn't take a lot of shots to get there. His miss on a front end of a one and one was rare. I had already given us the two points.
Smith did not have a great game overall. Forced some things, just wasn't his day. But he was very pesky on defense in the second half, helping to disrupt their flow. Outside of Trice Wiscy's other guards were not good at all. Even with Eli and Smith a bit off, I thought that we had the best of the guard matchup.
This was such a huge character win. Juwan has instilled a mindset in these guys that is unyielding, that trusts what we're doing and who we are. Need to take care of business against Rutgers before the show down with the Buckeyes.
We took Wiscy's best shot in the first half, and, while we were better offensively in the second half, it was our defensive intensity and pressure that gave us room for the comeback. Eli chased Trice all over the court, gave him no room to breathe. His shots were off the dribble and difficult. It was fun to see Dickinson switched onto Trice and snuff him. You could see the Wiscy players wilting as though they were the team with the long layoff. I really didn't notice much fatigue with our guys. Nobody grabbing their shorts, just locked in.
You have to appreciate now the things Dickinson does besides scoring. Today, he didn't finish as well as he normally would, and Wiscy was pretty physical with him in the paint. But he protected the rim, cleaned up the defensive boards, had a couple of key offensive rebounds, passed out the post and knocked down free throws at crunch time. Davis did a nice job backing down their bigs, had a couple of nice finishes. One thing that was interesting is that we made our comeback by going through our bigs, not perimeter shooting. We wore Wiscy down. Their Davis hit several big shots to slow our comeback, Potter hit a couple of baseline jumpers; that was it for them. We dominated the second half because we were relentless, which is our M.O.
Franz played a solid game even if Davis beat him for a few buckets. He finished hellishly tough drives, knocked down a big three (followed by a really bad one). He also contests shots in the paint. When Wiscy ventured in there, they usually got stuffed or forced up a tough shot.
Livers should probably shoot more, but we're using the spacing that he provides to get driving lanes and inside entries. He had a wide open three available in the first half but passed to Chaundy in the corner, who missed. That was just too unselfish. We also had Livers back down defenders in the paint to great effect. That's a part of his game that the staff has added this season. Livers was our leading scorer but didn't take a lot of shots to get there. His miss on a front end of a one and one was rare. I had already given us the two points.
Smith did not have a great game overall. Forced some things, just wasn't his day. But he was very pesky on defense in the second half, helping to disrupt their flow. Outside of Trice Wiscy's other guards were not good at all. Even with Eli and Smith a bit off, I thought that we had the best of the guard matchup.
This was such a huge character win. Juwan has instilled a mindset in these guys that is unyielding, that trusts what we're doing and who we are. Need to take care of business against Rutgers before the show down with the Buckeyes.
