I honestly thought the whistle was worse against Tennessee. Yes there were some bad calls, but that's basketball.
What was more frustrating to me is how much better we played than A&M for long stretches, yet come up short again.
We started out cold, but took control midway through the first half. Yet, we decide to start chirping and get chippy and give A&M and the crowd some juice. Why? They are lifeless and the crowd is meh. Just play ball. They close the half on a run and go up 1 at HT.
The second half we come out playing well and get up 8, and then just can't continue doing the right things again. #4 is a shooter. We knew it from the last time we played them, yet we let him get free too many times. That seems to be a theme letting shooters get hot from 3. We saw it in Morgantown.
And again there were some bad calls, but also there were some boneheaded fouls where we bail A&M out. Letting the other team hit the glass offensively is another recurring problem. If defense is going to be our identity we have to do a better job of defending without fouling, limiting opponents to one shot, and knowing who the shooters are. I'm sorry but Cardwell hasn't played well in a long time. He's just been a hacker on defense. That's why the minutes are going heavily to Broome, not just Broome's offense.
Offensively putting up 75+ on the road in the SEC is about all you can ask for out of this team. Again and again....late game situations leave a lot to be desired. Green is the only guy who really seems to want the ball in his hands, and kudos to him for that, but jacking up a deep 3 isn't always the answer.
That should have been a 75-66 Tigers win if we play smarter on defense, rebound better, and yes get a little better whistle.
What really hurt this team big-picture is Westry and Traore not ready to play at all. That puts more minutes on guys like Zep, KD, Moore, & Bermen. Zep brings virtually nothing on offense, KD is wildly inconsistent, and Moore & Berman are just not players at this level....and yes we didn't address 3-pt shooting in the offseason, but again 75+ points scored should be a win for this team against most teams including that A&M team.
Looking ahead we still should be in the tourney barring catastrophe.
@Alabama looks like a definite loss on paper. I think we could get them at home on Saturday. That would be a huge resume win.
Can't lose games are Missouri, @Vanderbilt, Ole Miss. Missouri is solid, and Vanderbilt on the road isn't going to be a walk in the park.
Even if Alabama sweeps us....it would go a long way if we can find a way to at least split @Kentucky & Tennessee.
4-3 to finish should make us a lock (meaning will have beaten either Alabama, Tennessee, or Kentucky).
If we finish 3-4.....the quality wins on our schedule start getting hard to find. Arkansas handling UK in Rupp last night was big though. Worse than 3-4 and I think we will definitely be sweating big-time come selection Sunday.
What was more frustrating to me is how much better we played than A&M for long stretches, yet come up short again.
We started out cold, but took control midway through the first half. Yet, we decide to start chirping and get chippy and give A&M and the crowd some juice. Why? They are lifeless and the crowd is meh. Just play ball. They close the half on a run and go up 1 at HT.
The second half we come out playing well and get up 8, and then just can't continue doing the right things again. #4 is a shooter. We knew it from the last time we played them, yet we let him get free too many times. That seems to be a theme letting shooters get hot from 3. We saw it in Morgantown.
And again there were some bad calls, but also there were some boneheaded fouls where we bail A&M out. Letting the other team hit the glass offensively is another recurring problem. If defense is going to be our identity we have to do a better job of defending without fouling, limiting opponents to one shot, and knowing who the shooters are. I'm sorry but Cardwell hasn't played well in a long time. He's just been a hacker on defense. That's why the minutes are going heavily to Broome, not just Broome's offense.
Offensively putting up 75+ on the road in the SEC is about all you can ask for out of this team. Again and again....late game situations leave a lot to be desired. Green is the only guy who really seems to want the ball in his hands, and kudos to him for that, but jacking up a deep 3 isn't always the answer.
That should have been a 75-66 Tigers win if we play smarter on defense, rebound better, and yes get a little better whistle.
What really hurt this team big-picture is Westry and Traore not ready to play at all. That puts more minutes on guys like Zep, KD, Moore, & Bermen. Zep brings virtually nothing on offense, KD is wildly inconsistent, and Moore & Berman are just not players at this level....and yes we didn't address 3-pt shooting in the offseason, but again 75+ points scored should be a win for this team against most teams including that A&M team.
Looking ahead we still should be in the tourney barring catastrophe.
@Alabama looks like a definite loss on paper. I think we could get them at home on Saturday. That would be a huge resume win.
Can't lose games are Missouri, @Vanderbilt, Ole Miss. Missouri is solid, and Vanderbilt on the road isn't going to be a walk in the park.
Even if Alabama sweeps us....it would go a long way if we can find a way to at least split @Kentucky & Tennessee.
4-3 to finish should make us a lock (meaning will have beaten either Alabama, Tennessee, or Kentucky).
If we finish 3-4.....the quality wins on our schedule start getting hard to find. Arkansas handling UK in Rupp last night was big though. Worse than 3-4 and I think we will definitely be sweating big-time come selection Sunday.
