Well...I'm not sure if I have yet cleaned off the stink from watching this game. I almost didn't post, but I wanted to try and offer something constructive to the discussion other than, "We stink. We are doomed!"
Did anybody try to throw things at the TV in the first half (or computer, in my case)? Yeah, it was one of the worst I have ever seen. It was a perfect storm of us being extremely cold (serious question--did the team go out drinking the night before?), NC State hitting everything (including a 3 where the ball hit the back of the rim, went straight up into the air and came down in the basket), and us playing with as little energy as any Pastner team ever.
-When we went zone, they shot the lights out. When we went man, they just switched with Howard's guy and we left him out there to guard on the perimeter EVERY TIME! That's on the coaches, and its really foolish to not tell Howard to NOT switch onto guards. Between that and very low effort and energy...defense was basically non-existent. The only bright spots on defense were Jalen Moore and DSmith. Those guys brought the energy. Moore is earning more minutes, IMO
-Our offense....was also horrible, but mostly because we couldn't make an open shot. Usher and Devoe had 26 points....on 29 shots. Ouch. We also lacked movement off the ball, didn't cut with energy, didn't rebound well, and well, didn't really do much of anything well that I saw.
-With the exception being....Mr. Rodney Howard. Who would have thought? He came to play, grabbing 11 rebounds (5 on offense!), 14 points, and 2 blocks. I love that he is looking to take the ball to the rim quickly, and we made some good passes to him. Granted, NC State has no significant big man, still...he took advantage. To be honest, we should have looked to him more.
-I kept asking for Coleman and Kelly to get more shots. They were 1 of 7 from 3. Ugh.
-Interestingly, Deebo was somehow +1 on the court. His shot was way off, but he does a lot of little things. He's going to be a star.
Well, all we can do is flush this one. No use in calling for Pastner's head right now. We can all see that this team is...well, disappointing. This game was a good opportunity to get out of the ACC basement and we completely failed the test. Win or lose, I'll keep cheering. Go Jackets.