Post by stafford72 on Jan 12, 2005 9:39:59 GMT -5
After reading the excellent 3-parter by Fl Hoya, I will try not to be redundant. Rutgers reminded me a bit of Howard in that they had some guards who could make the 3 pointer and were able to drive past our defenders, but they had NO inside game and even played a 4-guard lineup at times.
Wiggan was very good last night for them and over the last 10 minutes, he was their offense. We had trouble containing him--but when he was infrequently headed off before getting an open look or driving for a score or a foul, there was no option--a horrible missed shot or a turnover would result. Some of our blocks last night were inevitable. The shots were telegraphed and had no chance. There were at least three exceptions though---Green chased down 2 break-aways and stuffed them. He did a hell of a job of not fouling on the plays. I think there was another snow bird that was stuffed as well--possibly by Brandon.
The first half was painful. Six minutes before a point and only 8 points with 5 minutes to go. I hate to say this, but when we play a team without a true center, it is like playing 4 against 5 when Roy is on the court. They play off him and he is a non-factor. He is much too slow moving to defend or adjusting to badly missed shots for what could be easy rebounds. It is not a coincidence that our rebounding and offensive flow improved wihen he was not playing in the second half.
Against quality competition, it will be tough to "give up" the first 8 minutes until Owens gets in the game. His only shot, which was not really a hook, missed the basket by about 2 feet.
Thank God, there were some positives last night, many of which have been mentioned. Owens could have been voted star of the game if not for Green's dominance. Darrel had some aggressive rebounds and made some big shots to help Gtown get back in the game. He was also careful with the ball for the most part.
Wallace played well and without his effort, the game would have been lost. He handled the ball well and as was mentioned, had some good drives to the hole. His 3 pointers were just off, not bad misses.
Jeff Green finally realized in the second half that he could pretty much have his way with Rutgers, and so he did. In the first half, his rebounds were mostly taps to himself, but the whole team picked up intensity with the press and really dominated going after the ball in the second half. It was a complete role reversal. Jeff's first 5 free throws were nothing but net, but he missed 2 big ones near the end. Brandon did the same--pretty swishes early and then a couple of big misses down the stretch. For the most part, this is a very good free throw shooting team, too bad our style of play results in so few trips.
Brandon had some highlight reel plays, both good and bad. There were some horrible passes in the first 25 minutes that resulted in easy turnovers and fast breaks for Rutgers.
The good news is that Gtown did not stop trying, did not panic, and eventually, Rutgers did not play any better so it was somewhat inevitable that Gtown would catch up and win. I haven't seen anyk comments from their coach or the New Jersey press, but they can't be positive. This was a game that Rutgers could have won.
I don't think Gtown would have won it on the road. The
"crowd" did help generate some spirit as the game wore on.
The referees missed a lot of calls last night, on both sides. Travels were not called at times and more than a few fouls were ignored while other very touch ones were called. On a clean stuff by Brandon on a drive in the second half a shooting foul was called, but the truth is that Brandon committed an obvious push foul as the drive began that was not called. There was also a baseline "touch the endline" call on Reed iln the second half that was very questionaable and was called at least 3 seconds after he had supposedly stepped or dribbled on the line. The ref was emphatic, but it was like he had to watch a replay in his head to make the call. They did step up by calling the technical on the elbow by Wallace (which I did not see) and the intentional foul on the drive and layup by Owens.
I sat right behind Courtland. He now has a beard and was remarkably calm during the worst moments. He must have been tempted to jump into the fray. His lady friend looked like she might have been a player herself--quite tall--nice catch Courtland. Good to see ex-Hoyas at the games, but I did not see big John or Red or any of the elder crowd.
One last comment--Gtown has the lamest halftime and timeout "entertainment." It is annoying.
This was a "must" win to keep the confidence up and maintain a decent record, but if we continue to have lapses like the first half, many of them will not turn out as did this one. There will be some god awful blowouts in our future.
Wiggan was very good last night for them and over the last 10 minutes, he was their offense. We had trouble containing him--but when he was infrequently headed off before getting an open look or driving for a score or a foul, there was no option--a horrible missed shot or a turnover would result. Some of our blocks last night were inevitable. The shots were telegraphed and had no chance. There were at least three exceptions though---Green chased down 2 break-aways and stuffed them. He did a hell of a job of not fouling on the plays. I think there was another snow bird that was stuffed as well--possibly by Brandon.
The first half was painful. Six minutes before a point and only 8 points with 5 minutes to go. I hate to say this, but when we play a team without a true center, it is like playing 4 against 5 when Roy is on the court. They play off him and he is a non-factor. He is much too slow moving to defend or adjusting to badly missed shots for what could be easy rebounds. It is not a coincidence that our rebounding and offensive flow improved wihen he was not playing in the second half.
Against quality competition, it will be tough to "give up" the first 8 minutes until Owens gets in the game. His only shot, which was not really a hook, missed the basket by about 2 feet.
Thank God, there were some positives last night, many of which have been mentioned. Owens could have been voted star of the game if not for Green's dominance. Darrel had some aggressive rebounds and made some big shots to help Gtown get back in the game. He was also careful with the ball for the most part.
Wallace played well and without his effort, the game would have been lost. He handled the ball well and as was mentioned, had some good drives to the hole. His 3 pointers were just off, not bad misses.
Jeff Green finally realized in the second half that he could pretty much have his way with Rutgers, and so he did. In the first half, his rebounds were mostly taps to himself, but the whole team picked up intensity with the press and really dominated going after the ball in the second half. It was a complete role reversal. Jeff's first 5 free throws were nothing but net, but he missed 2 big ones near the end. Brandon did the same--pretty swishes early and then a couple of big misses down the stretch. For the most part, this is a very good free throw shooting team, too bad our style of play results in so few trips.
Brandon had some highlight reel plays, both good and bad. There were some horrible passes in the first 25 minutes that resulted in easy turnovers and fast breaks for Rutgers.
The good news is that Gtown did not stop trying, did not panic, and eventually, Rutgers did not play any better so it was somewhat inevitable that Gtown would catch up and win. I haven't seen anyk comments from their coach or the New Jersey press, but they can't be positive. This was a game that Rutgers could have won.
I don't think Gtown would have won it on the road. The
"crowd" did help generate some spirit as the game wore on.
The referees missed a lot of calls last night, on both sides. Travels were not called at times and more than a few fouls were ignored while other very touch ones were called. On a clean stuff by Brandon on a drive in the second half a shooting foul was called, but the truth is that Brandon committed an obvious push foul as the drive began that was not called. There was also a baseline "touch the endline" call on Reed iln the second half that was very questionaable and was called at least 3 seconds after he had supposedly stepped or dribbled on the line. The ref was emphatic, but it was like he had to watch a replay in his head to make the call. They did step up by calling the technical on the elbow by Wallace (which I did not see) and the intentional foul on the drive and layup by Owens.
I sat right behind Courtland. He now has a beard and was remarkably calm during the worst moments. He must have been tempted to jump into the fray. His lady friend looked like she might have been a player herself--quite tall--nice catch Courtland. Good to see ex-Hoyas at the games, but I did not see big John or Red or any of the elder crowd.
One last comment--Gtown has the lamest halftime and timeout "entertainment." It is annoying.
This was a "must" win to keep the confidence up and maintain a decent record, but if we continue to have lapses like the first half, many of them will not turn out as did this one. There will be some god awful blowouts in our future.
