GT +9 @ Syracuse Monday

[SecretAgentBuzz]

Did anyone else jump up and cheer when Syracuse FINALLY had their first foul called on them with 6 minutes to go in the first half?

 

[YlJacket]

Good game to watch - and a much different game than I expected. I never expected that Pastner would be able to go all defense down the stretch and stay in the game. J Moore and K Moore on the court at the same time for much of the second half stretch is a bet I would have lost a lot of money on. But it worked primarily because Howard was able to score on the - and I quote the great CuseJ "Charmin soft defense" - of Syracuse But it worked. And I will give further props to Devoe whose defense has at times been rightly criticized - he played good man D down the stretch last night- often on B Boeheim.

We ended up with 3 reasonably open looks to win the game. All you can ask - though I would like a little better out of bounds play (don't take that as a Hewitt reference).

As has been said, we lost this in large part due to the free throw difference. Some were really dumb fouls on our part and some were horrendous calls like Sturdivant's 3 pointer. But we also lost it on turnovers. Syr had 4 and we had 14. Syr outscored us 14-2 on points off TOs.

Howard's play is a good sign. I will say I was actually more impressed with his play at Pitt but it was really good to see him come back with a big performance here. Now let's see it going forward.

 

[Connell62]

As has been said, we lost this in large part due to the free throw difference. Some were really dumb fouls on our part and some were horrendous calls like Sturdivant's 3 pointer. But we also lost it on turnovers. Syr had 4 and we had 14. Syr outscored us 14-2 on points off TOs.

None bigger than the one by Kyle at the end of game. Just shoot it brotha!

Not having Deivon meant he had to play big minutes, and decision making is the first thing goes when you are worn down.

That said, they battled their rear ends off. I'll take that every time.

 

[Jacketman99]

Hopefully Howard's good play down the stretch mirrors what happened with Moses at the end of his sophomore year. These last few games can give him confidence and propel him to a really good season next year. I really like this young core (Coleman, Kelly, Smith, Moore, Meka). We will definitely need to bring in some veteran pieces next season but it would not surprise me to see us competing in the top third of the conference in 2 years.

 

[YlJacket]

None bigger than the one by Kyle at the end of game. Just shoot it brotha!

Not having Deivon meant he had to play big minutes, and decision making is the first thing goes when you are worn down.

That said, they battled their rear ends off. I'll take that every time.

Yea - I came out of my chair at that pass. Not what was needed. Plus screaming at Usher to shoot or at least look at the basket from the foul line. Plus Howard's fourth foul .... arrgghh

Like you say they battled and I will take it.

 

[SecretAgentBuzz]

As many of you have observed, this was a really good game. I thought the refs were (as expected) really bad, particularly in the first half. As I noted above, the first foul on Syracuse came 14 minutes into the game.

-With the short turnaround and well-documented travel issues, I was really proud of how the team responded and they came out of the gate really strong.
-Howard's monster game has some to do with the zone and poor big men of Syracuse, but he has really turned it up a notch. I thought this was by far his best game...defensively. He was all over the place--aggressive on helping and switching, positioning well, even blocking 2 shots (he only had 6 in ACC play before this game). When he plays like this on both ends, it really changes the dynamic of our team.
-I thought we had a really good plan of attack against the zone. Sometimes, we took a little long passing around the perimeter, but in general, we got the ball inside (34 points in the paint) and took good shots. We did have some dumb TOs and I wish we had put Sturdy in the middle more--he loves that elbow shot.
-Jalon Moore is starting to eat into Usher and Khalid's minutes, and he is playing well (+8 on the court). If he didn't have two seniors in front of him, he would likely be playing 25+ minutes a game. He's got athleticism, good touch on his shots, and plays hard. He's going to be a good one.
-Kelly, Coleman, and Sturdivant all hit big shots. We needed them all.
-Like many gave said, we had our chances to win it in the end. On the road in the ACC playing our 2nd game in 3 days, I think that is all you can ask. It's a shame we missed our shots. They were good looks, but maybe rushed.

No time to cry, on to the next one. I'll keep cheering, win or lose. Go Jackets!

 

[alagold]

The stats looked ok except for the fouls AGAIN, and TOs. You can't ask for a better chance than those shots at end with an away game.

 

[Root4GT]

The stats looked ok except for the fouls AGAIN, and TOs. You can't ask for a better chance than those shots at end with an away game.

If anyone doesn't realize we foul way more than any team in our conference they don't watch many other conference games. Last night was one of our better nights not fouling. The reason is simple - Syracuse is not a team with players that are very capable of attacking the basket on a drive nor do they have Bigs that are offensive threats.

We commit way too many silly fouls at both ends of the court. You can count on Usher getting one or two offensive fouls on out of control drives and add Debo in last night as well.

Blaming officials is making excuses for poor play.