Never any doubt in this one that we were the better team. Could have completely embarrassed them had we not let our foot off their throat midway through the first half when we were up by 16 the first time. Great job by our guys to settle down and get to the half up by 3 possessions. First 5 minutes of the second was an incredible display of execution. Bruce clearly had a plan based on first half adjustments and we doubled the lead. UNC is a talented team and they did not quit, but our guys answered every attempt they made at a run. Never allowing them to make a serious run to put the outcome back in doubt is about as impressive as it gets in terms of dominating a really good team with tons of offensive firepower. Prior to this game, I texted @MattAU05 and said my hope was we could play solid from the start and control the game. The theatrics of last night were fun, but we can't do that against good teams every game and win consistently. Tonight we looked like the best team in the country dominating a good, but clearly inferior opponent.
After Broome's monster game against ISU, its hard to imagine how he could top it, but here we are. These are NBA video game numbers. 23 points, 19 boards, 5 assists, 3 blocks. 2/4 from deep. The man has become a cheat code. He's clearly much better than last year, but one of the biggest differences is Bruce has taken off the leash and is letting him play as many minutes as needed to win games against tough opponents. 36 minutes yesterday, 34 tonight are at or above his career highs at Auburn on back-to-back days. Credit to Bruce for realizing the strict rotations and minute limits were hurting us at times and our key guys are capable of giving us more when we need it.
CBM is a character and every game is another episode of his dramatic series. When he was down in the stands early I texted Matt that he'd be back in 5 minutes or less and sure enough, he appeared and his first shot was a fadeaway corner 3. He is special and I am glad he is ours.
Kelly with a second strong game in a row scoring. Second leading scorer at 15 with 0 turnovers. Denver was also solid with double digits scoring for a second night in a row. He was huge in a couple of key moments getting downhill to attack the basket to blunt UNC's efforts to start a run. Love what we're getting from these 2 guys.
Tahaad has been very solid both games in Maui. Very good to see after he looked great against Houston and a little less so in the other games up to this point. This team is great, but to reach our ceiling, we need Tahaad to become a consistently good to great PG who can run the show and put our plethora of weapons in position to score. JPP does not appear to be capable of helping us right now and I'm not optimistic he can get there. If I were Bruce, I'd sit JPP tomorrow unless we are up 20 and then I'd figure out a way to start rebuilding his confidence against less opponents in December.
Memphis has a roster full of dudes that can play. I was very impressed with how physical they were against UConn. We are going to have to show up ready to play as well as we did today to close this thing out and leave with the trophy.
After Broome's monster game against ISU, its hard to imagine how he could top it, but here we are. These are NBA video game numbers. 23 points, 19 boards, 5 assists, 3 blocks. 2/4 from deep. The man has become a cheat code. He's clearly much better than last year, but one of the biggest differences is Bruce has taken off the leash and is letting him play as many minutes as needed to win games against tough opponents. 36 minutes yesterday, 34 tonight are at or above his career highs at Auburn on back-to-back days. Credit to Bruce for realizing the strict rotations and minute limits were hurting us at times and our key guys are capable of giving us more when we need it.
CBM is a character and every game is another episode of his dramatic series. When he was down in the stands early I texted Matt that he'd be back in 5 minutes or less and sure enough, he appeared and his first shot was a fadeaway corner 3. He is special and I am glad he is ours.
Kelly with a second strong game in a row scoring. Second leading scorer at 15 with 0 turnovers. Denver was also solid with double digits scoring for a second night in a row. He was huge in a couple of key moments getting downhill to attack the basket to blunt UNC's efforts to start a run. Love what we're getting from these 2 guys.
Tahaad has been very solid both games in Maui. Very good to see after he looked great against Houston and a little less so in the other games up to this point. This team is great, but to reach our ceiling, we need Tahaad to become a consistently good to great PG who can run the show and put our plethora of weapons in position to score. JPP does not appear to be capable of helping us right now and I'm not optimistic he can get there. If I were Bruce, I'd sit JPP tomorrow unless we are up 20 and then I'd figure out a way to start rebuilding his confidence against less opponents in December.
Memphis has a roster full of dudes that can play. I was very impressed with how physical they were against UConn. We are going to have to show up ready to play as well as we did today to close this thing out and leave with the trophy.
