...and with another damned early Monday game, I just got done watching the full replay (thank you, WatchESPN app 
).
- First thing I wrote down in my notes was "flat". We were clearly tired, and we were only hitting energy in spurts. Fortunately it was enough. Luke was clearly the most affected. After his herculean effort Saturday, he had zero legs tonight. He was leaving shots short and was just getting abused in Pick-and-Roll D. Good on him though for fighting thru the fatigue and bringing down 8 rebounds and contributing 4 Assists.
- I continue to be disappointed with the fact we can't trust our young Bigs to simply catch the ball cleanly on entry passes. JB and Theo keep feeding them but eventually they're gonna lose trust. I was probably not the only one here saying "just finish, Theo!" because his passes just weren't being rewarded. But hey, once Theo decided to finish himself he coaxed in some beauties! Nice 16 and 10 double-double as well
- I dunno whether it was fatigue or just a lack of concentration but our over-help bug returned. We tightened it up some in the second half but that needs to be a continued point of emphasis going forward.
- Jeez, what got into that Mooney kid? 6/6 from 3 with that goofy-looking shot. Granted, we encouraged him, but still. Apparently the best cure was putting him on the FT line. It was definitely a stroke of justice after he flopped on a 3 and the sumbitch proceeded to pull the dreaded hat-trick with 3 bricks. Somewhere Sheed was yellin' "Ball don't lie!"
- Speaking of picks, ND was using them generously, and often outside the rules (it took til the 2nd half under-16 to get one called), but they were very successful in hanging in the game by stressing our Help-D with PnR and back-screens. They also did a good job of dictating tempo, but their late shot-clock action eventually caught up with them after Mooney's reign of terror stopped. We forced them into many difficult late drives and were able to key our transition game off the misses.
- Speaking of transition, despite ND's efforts to slow us down, we managed 13 Fast Break and 23 Secondary Break points. That was vital in this win.
- Shout-outs to BRob and Platek for solid minutes. Despite getting caught napping on a quick-trigger 3, Andrew continues to shine on the defensive side and isn't afraid to mix it up in the paint, and Brandon was taking care of the ball. Also, although he still gets lost on offense, 7th came back from injury continuing to play very solid D --- he is night and day better on that end than last season, and we were able to get JB some much-needed blows.
- Kenny still has the look of confidence and 5/7 shooting to show for it. and Cam continues to show an inside-the-arc game. That drive and flush came outta nowhere (with an uncalled foul to boot).
- After a lousy job in South Bend (and early on tonight), we clamped down on the glass for a 42-29 advantage.
- Let's get to something really positive and a show of veteran character. I watched this closely and we had guys taking turns resting on offense so they could maintain defensive intensity. JB and KW were nasty dogs on D and we did a number on their normally high-scoring Guards. We held their three starting perimeter guys to 9, 10 and 3 respectively, and ND to under 38% shooting as a team. Hell, take away the 8/8 from their Bigs and they were 2/21 from 3. In other words, the guys we actually guarded had a rough, rough night!
- Speaking of JB, he busted ass on D and picked his spots on O with 21 timely pts in a variety of finishes. And OMG, he actually got to the line for 3 FTs, although that could've been doubled when he got hacked late on a 3. Fortunately Luke cleaned up the miss. Joel also got his clock cleaned on an uncalled charge later and took a full possession just to get the cobwebs out --- but after we captured an offensive board Dog was right back at the helm. Bilas said it well --- Joel Berry is a champion.
- Finally, I half-joke about us "surviving" games with certain zebras, but with Michael Stephens it's no joke. I'll just say we should probably be glad that Brey pissed off Ayers and the fouls evened out in the second half. Hell, either way, neither team was worth a damn from the line anyway (another sign of fatigue), so it turned out to be a push...
Anyway, this was a win I would take, no matter the margin. 3 ACC wins in 5 days is tough stuff! Now, hopefully the guys can get their bodies healed up and ready for a brutal closing stretch and a big road game Saturday night...
).- First thing I wrote down in my notes was "flat". We were clearly tired, and we were only hitting energy in spurts. Fortunately it was enough. Luke was clearly the most affected. After his herculean effort Saturday, he had zero legs tonight. He was leaving shots short and was just getting abused in Pick-and-Roll D. Good on him though for fighting thru the fatigue and bringing down 8 rebounds and contributing 4 Assists.
- I continue to be disappointed with the fact we can't trust our young Bigs to simply catch the ball cleanly on entry passes. JB and Theo keep feeding them but eventually they're gonna lose trust. I was probably not the only one here saying "just finish, Theo!" because his passes just weren't being rewarded. But hey, once Theo decided to finish himself he coaxed in some beauties! Nice 16 and 10 double-double as well
- I dunno whether it was fatigue or just a lack of concentration but our over-help bug returned. We tightened it up some in the second half but that needs to be a continued point of emphasis going forward.
- Jeez, what got into that Mooney kid? 6/6 from 3 with that goofy-looking shot. Granted, we encouraged him, but still. Apparently the best cure was putting him on the FT line. It was definitely a stroke of justice after he flopped on a 3 and the sumbitch proceeded to pull the dreaded hat-trick with 3 bricks. Somewhere Sheed was yellin' "Ball don't lie!"
- Speaking of picks, ND was using them generously, and often outside the rules (it took til the 2nd half under-16 to get one called), but they were very successful in hanging in the game by stressing our Help-D with PnR and back-screens. They also did a good job of dictating tempo, but their late shot-clock action eventually caught up with them after Mooney's reign of terror stopped. We forced them into many difficult late drives and were able to key our transition game off the misses.
- Speaking of transition, despite ND's efforts to slow us down, we managed 13 Fast Break and 23 Secondary Break points. That was vital in this win.
- Shout-outs to BRob and Platek for solid minutes. Despite getting caught napping on a quick-trigger 3, Andrew continues to shine on the defensive side and isn't afraid to mix it up in the paint, and Brandon was taking care of the ball. Also, although he still gets lost on offense, 7th came back from injury continuing to play very solid D --- he is night and day better on that end than last season, and we were able to get JB some much-needed blows.
- Kenny still has the look of confidence and 5/7 shooting to show for it. and Cam continues to show an inside-the-arc game. That drive and flush came outta nowhere (with an uncalled foul to boot).
- After a lousy job in South Bend (and early on tonight), we clamped down on the glass for a 42-29 advantage.
- Let's get to something really positive and a show of veteran character. I watched this closely and we had guys taking turns resting on offense so they could maintain defensive intensity. JB and KW were nasty dogs on D and we did a number on their normally high-scoring Guards. We held their three starting perimeter guys to 9, 10 and 3 respectively, and ND to under 38% shooting as a team. Hell, take away the 8/8 from their Bigs and they were 2/21 from 3. In other words, the guys we actually guarded had a rough, rough night!
- Speaking of JB, he busted ass on D and picked his spots on O with 21 timely pts in a variety of finishes. And OMG, he actually got to the line for 3 FTs, although that could've been doubled when he got hacked late on a 3. Fortunately Luke cleaned up the miss. Joel also got his clock cleaned on an uncalled charge later and took a full possession just to get the cobwebs out --- but after we captured an offensive board Dog was right back at the helm. Bilas said it well --- Joel Berry is a champion.
- Finally, I half-joke about us "surviving" games with certain zebras, but with Michael Stephens it's no joke. I'll just say we should probably be glad that Brey pissed off Ayers and the fouls evened out in the second half. Hell, either way, neither team was worth a damn from the line anyway (another sign of fatigue), so it turned out to be a push...
Anyway, this was a win I would take, no matter the margin. 3 ACC wins in 5 days is tough stuff! Now, hopefully the guys can get their bodies healed up and ready for a brutal closing stretch and a big road game Saturday night...
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