Honestly, this was the expected result (of course I was hoping for the upset), but not one that I would look at and say, "FIRE PASTNER!" Here are some random thoughts:
What I liked:
-The offense. I thought our offense actually looked better in this game, and other than some missed open looks, we did a better job of cutting and being aggressive. Particularly Smith and Kelly--they constantly took the ball to the basket and got buckets.
-A Meka sighting. Glad to see him back healthy. He is a solid defender.
-When we got behind and no fouls or loose balls were going our way, we stayed in it and played hard. There were a few times I thought we were going to pull it back within one/two possessions but it just didn't happen.
What I didn't like:
-Defensive rebounding in the zone was
. We have got to stop trying to block everything and be ready for the rebounds. This needs to be fixed yesterday. If we can't rebound a miss, then forget the zone. Add to that Iowa's 3-point shooting, and I really thought we should have played MUCH less zone.
-Without Howard available (which, I thought, this was a game we could have used him), I really hoped to see Martynov. If you are going to throw Meka out there for a few minutes, why not Martynov? Is Jalen Moore at the 5 really our best option?
-We switched a lot on defense, which in itself, is fine. But when the whole world can see that we've got a guard on a 6'10 guy...why not try to switch back (off the ball)? They killed us on that action all day.
-The refs were REALLY inconsistent. Call it close or let them play, but please, choose one or the other. Plus...21 fouls against 11? 31 FTs against 10? That's pretty one-sided.
-Our guards that came off the bench had a tough time getting into the rhythm of the game. They were a combined 2 for 15. That's really really bad.
I hate losing, but this one was going to be tough. Iowa has a really good team that will probably be dancing at the end of the year, and they had homefield advantage with the fans and the refs.
However, I did see some flashes of good passing and good offense in this game that gives me hope for better results as the year goes on. Either way, I'll keep cheering them on. Go Jackets!