Well goooooooood afternoon AUHoops fans. If you were at the game today, I imagine you're probably trying to forget what you saw. But, like a deranged psychiatrist, I'm going to dredge up all those painful memories, make you confront them, and give you no closure about it! How do you like them apples?
The long story short is that we lost this game 81-69. We were down 16 at half, down 23 at one point in the second half, and we managed to claw back to within four. Ultimately though, the wheels came off and we're now sitting at 0-4 for the season.
Let me be honest, if I had had to write this entry at halftime, it would have looked like this:
GOOD - Matt Wilson, BAD - Mike Jarvis's career trajectory, UGLY - everything else about AU. Luckily, I didn't have to write it at halftime. Unluckily, I had to watch the second half.
THE GOOD
Matt Wilson - Matt really made a case for getting more play time today. In what would generously be described as a listless first half and realistically be described as the worst 20 minutes of AU basketball I have ever seen, Matt was the lone bright spot. He played with a lot of heart and hustle, and the Blue Crew let him know that we appreciated his efforts. He played a career high 21 minutes and got career highs in points (6), assists (4), and rebounds (6). Did he do anything flashy? No, but he made the smart plays, and that's what's important.
Stephen Lumpkins - The Lump (who you can NOT stump) had another fantastic game today. One rebound short of a double-double (he had 9 rebounds), he picked up a game-high and career-high 23 points. He looked dominant down low and went 9-14 in the paint. Very solid.
Blake Jolivette - A good game from Blake today. He scored a career-high 13 points to go along with 4 rebounds and 4 assists. The drawbacks were 3 turnovers and that he fouled out. The thing that was really good about Blake's play today was his confidence. He showed some flash in the lane, hit some really nice layups, and really pushed it in transition. I liked what I saw out of Blake today, and he continues to make it hard on Jeff Jones regarding who deserves that starting PG spot.
The Eagles' play in the last 10 minutes of the game - Not sure what lit a fire under their collective tail feathers, but the play from the team was completely different the last ten minutes than the first 30. We played with a lot of heart, made the smart play, hustled. It was great. So what the hell happened the first 30 minutes?
Nick Hendra's lay-up instead of dunk - I know this is very specific, but there was a fast break in the second half where Hendra had the ball with no one in front of him. We were down 10 at that point, and in the past two seasons, when something like this would happen, Nick would absolutely go for the dunk over the layup. Today, all layup. He made the smart play knowing that we needed the points over the flash. His game otherwise mediocre, but this play definitely deserves to be in the GOOD.
Some honorable mentions for the GOOD column today are Simon McCormack and Mike Bersch. They had above average games, but they didn't quite do enough to make it to the good column. Sorry guys.
THE BAD
The 3 point shooting - 3-14 from behind the arc. 21%. Mike Bersch has shown he's not afraid to shot from back there, but he was only 2-8 today. Makes it pretty hard to come back from these big leads when we aren't a legitimate threat from long range.
Stephen Lumpkins from the free throw line - 5-14? Really? Lumpkins had done so well from the line the past three games, missing like three total or something. Today was a perfect example of why the team (20-35 total from the line) cannot afford to miss free throws. Last year we probably would've won this game despite the horrific play and free throws because we had more deep threats. This year, we absolutely cannot afford to give away free points by missing free throws.
THE UGLY
The first 30 minutes of the game - Absolutely atrocious. Also, insert every synonym for atrocious here. No heart, no hustle, not making the smart play, shooting abysmally, turning the ball over. Just absolutely miserable. Against a team like FAU there was no reason for this. This should've been a much, much closer game than it was, and it looked like the team just flat out didn't show up. As if it wasn't bad enough in the first half, the beginning of the second half was just as bad. To be down 23 points to a team like FAU? That represents a huge step backward for this team. The fact that we fought back and got within four shows a lot of character, but it should've never been necessary to do that.
We'll see you Monday for Fairfield. Let's hope they spend some time thinking about this loss this weekend.
I liked it when AU started picking up FAU once they crossed the halfcourt line. Whatever defense you're in, I don't like the idea of laying back. Maybe you can get away with it if you are like Syracuse, where every player is long and athletic. But in a serious D1 basketball game, you need to pick people up early. Too many good 3-point shooters out there. So far, we have been making it easy for teams to handle the ball on the perimeter and shoot away.
ReplyDeleteWe came out weak in the beginning of the second half for the second time in a row. Both MSM and FAU scored at a 100 ppg clip the first ten minutes of the second half. I don't think it's the players, exactly. I think it is the mentality. I would like to see us extend our defense more.
Agreed. The perimeter has really hurt us two ways thus far this season. On offense, our well-documented weakness from long range is making it difficult to get it inside and come back from the deficits we're running up. Those deficits, in turn, are coming from really lacking perimeter defense. If you don't get a hand in a guy's face and just stand there, he's going to take the shot, and, thus far, he's been making it.
ReplyDeleteI don't get it.
ReplyDeleteFor the first 15 minutes of the 2nd Half I felt like I was watching a D1 Team play a D1 Team.
The other 25 minutes it was like watching a CYO program play a DI team.