ouch. This one hurt. Wake Forest is MUCH improved and played really well, but we continue to fail at (1) keeping our energy and effort on defense, and (2) making open shots when we need them. You can add a myriad of other issues in this game, including poor transition defense, poor free throw shooting, and poor finishing at the rim.
Some notes:
1. It was nice to see Howard back. Again, we shouldn't be running our offense through him, but he is our best interior defender right now and he can usually finish at the rim. He was a little rusty, but we absolutely need him down the stretch.
2. Saba had his best game. Despite what some of you have expressed, I actually do think we can run the offense through him. He is a capable mid-range shooter and has good vision and ability to pass from the key, as evidenced by his 3 assists. He will need to make a few of those mid-range shots, though, to pull his defender out. If he can continue to give us decent minutes, we can upgrade the 5 position from disastrous to meh. (32+ from Saba and Howard in this one)
3. We all know that we need more scorers to step up, and they know that too. Maxwell and Coleman are those guys but they are still young and figuring it out. Combined, they went 3-16 in this one.
4. 5 of 20 from three is not going to cut it. Not even close.
5. I don't know why we looked tired and lacked effort. Ten guys played 10+ minutes. That's rare for Pastner and should help keep our guys fresh.
6. Wake Forest looked like a better coached team than us...with their coach not even in the gym. They pass well, defend well, and play with energy. Really remarkable considering how many of them are new to the program. WF is a good example of how to remake a team quickly from the transfer portal. I hope we can have some of that success next year...
I'll keep cheering, and I think we will see some improvement as the schedule gets a little easier down the stretch, but this is one we needed to win and didn't. Stinks. Go Jackets.