This was a huge win for our guys both in terms of building their confidence and keeping the chance for a great overall OOC season intact. The loss yesterday was brutal and it would have been easy to come out flat today and lose to a quality opponent. Loyola was #33 in KenPom coming into today while we were #30. A loss today would have made the trip to the Bahamas a disappointment. Now if we win the 5th place game tomorrow (vs the winner of Syracuse and AZ State) we come out of this trip feeling good about it with what should hold up as a quad 1 win on a neutral court over Loyola and a loss to UConn which will not hurt us. Syracuse and AZ State are 58th and 64th in KenPom, but both should be quad 1-2 wins by the end of the year given how many quality opponents they will be facing. Guys came out playing with fire today which speaks volumes about Bruce and the rest of our coaches ability to help the guys put yesterday behind them and come out today just as hungry for a win.
Jabari was relatively quiet for much of the game, but when the game was hanging in the balance late, he took over. His 4 made jumpers down the stretch were the key to taking control of this game and holding it. He demonstrated on several of those shots why he will be nearly unstoppable when he decides to take over the game. His mid range turnaround jumper is a thing of beauty. The game has gone away from mid range shots as a key offensive weapon, but Jabari shows why a player with his size and skill can still be dominant with a mid range turnaround shot.
Walker was a huge defensive asset the first 3 games of the year, but not much of a factor on offense. That has changed in the Bahamas as he turned in his second straight double double. He was a dominant presence on both ends of the floor crashing the glass with an even split of 5 boards on offense and defense. He knocked down a big 3 early, ran the lane to score on a pick and roll, and cleaned up other guys misses. On defense, he combined for 6 blocks and steals. We can be a really good team when Walker is primarily helping us on the glass and D, but our upside is through the roof when he's a scoring weapon as he has been both games in Atlantis.
KD was the victim of some more really poor officiating today. He had several drives where he was absolutely mauled with no call. @MattAU05 and I marveled at the 2 drives late where he was assaulted in the lane and the refs swallowed their whistle. If those calls are made, he would have had his 5th straight game in double digit points. He was still a huge spark on D with 4 steals. Hopefully the "hamburglar" nickname the announcer was pushing doesn't catch on. Surely we can come up with something better than that.
Green had another nice game coming off the bench today. He contributed across the stat sheet with 10 points, 4 assists, 4 boards and 3 steals, but 4 turnovers is pretty problematic if he wants to regain the starting PG role. 6 of those points came on 3s midway through the 2nd when our offense had been stagnant and we desperately needed to get something rolling. Zep had a 6 assist, 0 turnover game, but didn't give us much offensively with only 3 points.
Jabari was relatively quiet for much of the game, but when the game was hanging in the balance late, he took over. His 4 made jumpers down the stretch were the key to taking control of this game and holding it. He demonstrated on several of those shots why he will be nearly unstoppable when he decides to take over the game. His mid range turnaround jumper is a thing of beauty. The game has gone away from mid range shots as a key offensive weapon, but Jabari shows why a player with his size and skill can still be dominant with a mid range turnaround shot.
Walker was a huge defensive asset the first 3 games of the year, but not much of a factor on offense. That has changed in the Bahamas as he turned in his second straight double double. He was a dominant presence on both ends of the floor crashing the glass with an even split of 5 boards on offense and defense. He knocked down a big 3 early, ran the lane to score on a pick and roll, and cleaned up other guys misses. On defense, he combined for 6 blocks and steals. We can be a really good team when Walker is primarily helping us on the glass and D, but our upside is through the roof when he's a scoring weapon as he has been both games in Atlantis.
KD was the victim of some more really poor officiating today. He had several drives where he was absolutely mauled with no call. @MattAU05 and I marveled at the 2 drives late where he was assaulted in the lane and the refs swallowed their whistle. If those calls are made, he would have had his 5th straight game in double digit points. He was still a huge spark on D with 4 steals. Hopefully the "hamburglar" nickname the announcer was pushing doesn't catch on. Surely we can come up with something better than that.
Green had another nice game coming off the bench today. He contributed across the stat sheet with 10 points, 4 assists, 4 boards and 3 steals, but 4 turnovers is pretty problematic if he wants to regain the starting PG role. 6 of those points came on 3s midway through the 2nd when our offense had been stagnant and we desperately needed to get something rolling. Zep had a 6 assist, 0 turnover game, but didn't give us much offensively with only 3 points.
