Well, after two ugly losses at home to UGA and Cincy, we righted the ship with two (expected) wins over lesser competition in Charleston Southern and Central Arkansas. I didn't have a chance to write my reaction to the first game so this is a combination of these last two.
What I liked:
-Muuuuuuustaf. 16 and 18 points in the last two, and you can really see him growing up in front of our eyes. I love his aggressiveness and desire to get to the rim. As long as he doesn't force things, he will be a nice contributor and a really good piece next year and beyond.
-Guarding the paint. We seem to prioritize defense over the last two games and you can see them giving greater effort which has produced better overall results (67 points on 30% shooting and 68 points on 37%). They will need to keep that intensity for 40 minutes against better opponents to have a chance. I thought, in particular, they helped better at the rim and guarded the paint much better. Both teams got a combined 30 points in the paint--that's a great improvement.
-Nait George. A combined 33 points and 18 assists, +32 on the floor, and only 1 TO. Nice work, Nait.
-Lance Terry. We saw it at the end of the UGA game and it really has continued through the last few. He looks sharp both shooting and driving and seems to be hunting steals on the defensive side. We needed him with the absence of McCollum (it will be interesting to see the minutes for Terry and Mustaf when JM gets back), and he has been our best player so far.
-Powell. We have our enforcer!
17 rebounds in the last two games in only 24 minutes per game.
-Taking care of the ball. Only 12 turnovers in the two games combined! That's real improvement.
What I didn't like:
-Inconsistent refs and the 26 fouls they called on us in the CSU game. Wha?
-Leaving Central Arkansas open to shoot another three. Perhaps this was a result of our emphasis on the paint, but we left too many shooters open.
-Injuries. McCollum, Reeves, and O'Brien all have been injured (as well as Sutton). We need to get everybody healthy for these next games. The silver lining has been seeing some of the backups play.
The competition will step up from here as we head to Oklahoma and UNC this week. We have the potential to beat one or both, but I'm not sure we have seen enough from our team to have a whole lot of confidence. However, I am glad for the Ws and looking forward to seeing how the season plays out. Go Jackets!