What come back win. ND won 4 of their last 5, and every win was by double digits. It looked pretty bad for the good guys at halftime. None of our shots were falling, ND was making every shot and getting every call, and we were down by 17. A replay of Louisville looked inevitable...
...then we do what GT does best. We scrapped, created havoc in transition, and our guys went on a 12-2 run to start the second half. Maybe it was the hangover from the Louisville game, but the GT team we've been used to seeing most of the season showed up in the second half. 9 steals, and kept our TOs low. We are tough to beat if we create that many TO's and keep our own TOs low. Jose was special again, but it was a pretty balanced effort by everyone.
Kudos to Bubba to spark our second half. Making shots and creating turnovers. He really does do a LOT of the little things. If you want to know why Pastner keeps playing Bubba despite the obvious mismatch on the defensive end...well, look at the first few minutes of the second half. Bubba can probably score more points if he wanted to, and he was the leading conference scorer at his previous stop, but I think he understands his role at GT.
Usher's contribution was huge in the first half...both him and Jose probably kept the game from becoming an even bigger blowout in the first half. Good on him to settle down and play the game for a long stretch with 4 fouls. We are so good when he's playing well. It makes us extremely difficult to defend. I think good games from Jose and Moses are pretty much a given...and Devoe more times than not, but if Usher is playing well, we can pretty much play with anyone.
Good to see Devoe attack the basket again. We all know him for his shot, but if he doesn't pick up his dribble in the lane, and attacks the basket, he's getting points or a foul. Both are good outcomes for us. AS much grief as some of you give him, he's an extremely important piece for us. Shot extremely well against ND: 7/9 overall, 3/4 from 3. I'll take that every night from him.
Moses this game is the Moses I really like seeing. Aggressive to the basket, and creating shots off the dribble and in the low post. He's got some really good low post moves, and he can handle himself really well against other post players. His shots were not falling at first, but he kept plugging away and eventually pretty much everything seemed to go in for him. One thing I'd like to see him do more of is creating contact when he has his man in the air. Moses had ZERO free throw attempts this game...part of it was officiating was lopsided against us. Seemed Moses was a bit dinged to start the 2nd.
Jose...well. No need to say anything about him that hasn't already been said. He's the quintessential GT PG that earned us the "Point Guard U" nickname.
Great job by Sturdivant and Khalid. Both probably deserve to start, and both would be a heck of a good starter. Right now, they understand what the team needs of them, and they're playing high quality minutes when their number is called.
It's always fun when we win. It's even more fun when we beat the other team and the refs. F the refs.
First leg of the marathon of death done. Next up UVA at home. Let's get payback for the last game against them.
