Its amazing how much better we look when we shoot the ball alright. With nobody being capable of making a shot, we had a horrid 5 game losing streak. A streak in which we weren't even competative. Last night we got our shooting percentage over 40% and, more importantly, our 3 point percentage was over 40% as well.
Porter and Humphrey both had good shooting nights from long range, and Wilson hit some nice jumpers as well. With that effort, Tajuan moves into 3rd place on the All Time 3 Point list for the Pac-10. In early January, he looked like a lock to take the top spot, but the last 5 games have made it difficult for him to get there. He'll take over 2nd place without question. Maybe as soon as tomorrow (he's only 2 3 pointers back of 2nd place), but he needs to average neraly 3 per game to take the lead, unless we make a deep run in the Pac-10 tournament and/or make some other tournament. Those 2 things both look like longshots at this point.
It was great to see Matt Humphrey get back on track. He's had a rough year, with the early injury, he had barely played, but he was the key for us offensively down the stretch. UCLA really keyed in on Tajuan in the closing minutes and overtime. They weren't going to let him beat us, and we needed someone else to step up and knock down shots. Matt hit them all.
Singler, who had been quiet all game, came up with a couple huge plays down the stretch as well. In fact, Humphrey and Singler scored all of our overtime points, which is encouraging for the future, as we need to find people with the confidence to knock down shots when it matters for us.
Jamil Wilson hit the mid range jumper effectively last night, which is a shot he can get off any time he wants, with his size and jumping ability.
Dunigan did well on the boards, and blocked some shots, last night. But he cramped up late, and didn't play down the stretch for us. It really hurt us, as we had almost put the game away, but UCLA was able to clean up on the offensive glass to come back and send it to overtime. Jacob contributed pretty well offensively in his place, though doesn't have the size to give us what Dunigan does, on defense and the boards.
Armstead had an incredible 12 assists, and did well running the team, though his shot was off.
At least one Pac-10 team isn't going to leave with a win on their final trip to Mac Court. It looked like all of them would be, the way we were playing before. Lets hope we send some more home disapointed, starting with the Trojans tomorrow night.
USC slows it down the most of any team in the conference but, unlike UCLA, they are very athletic inside as well. I was shocked that they lost to OSU last night, but that isn't going to make their game with us any easier. Like last night, we'll need some players to knock down outside shots, against their zone. We'll need to step up down the stretch, if its close, and make shots when they matter.
Hopefully Dunigan will be fully recovered from his cramps. Since its a hydration issue, it can sometimes be hard to completely fix in a day. But we'll need him at his best to attack USC down low.
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I think your math might be off based on my calculations for Porter. We have 10 pac-10 games left and he needs 22 threes to take over the top spot, last time I checked that's 2.2 and if were in the pac-10 tournament then it's 2 three's a game.
ReplyDeleteYes, you're right about that. 2.2 per game.
ReplyDeleteIf nothing else I was happy to experience Mac Court for one last time. Yeah the stakes of the UCLA game were different than usual, but the building was alive and was what so many of us love about the place.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to the kids and coaching staff on a good win.
You hit it on the head, "when we shoot the ball alright." I do not think coaching has much to do with shooting. In the slide, they missed a lot of easy shots that greatly affected the outcomes. Missing shots that should have been made means that they were running the right offense.
ReplyDeleteErnie has elevated the program incredibly. I think he should be given the chance to continue with the new arena as a recruiting tool. He brings in good players, graduates his players, and has gotten us 2 elite 8s [the second one with a team that struggled its first two years a lot like this team]. THAT IS AN ACCOMPLISHMENT.
I don't care about the Pac 10 record. Who else has a better record over the same period...UCLA, AZ & Stanford, all somewhat elite programs.
Ernie was advised not to take the job as it would be a career killer since you supposedly can't compete at the top of the Pac 10, well he laid that to rest.
Ernie is certainly a victim of his own success, to a large degree.
ReplyDeleteBut, it's no longer even a basketball issue. Its a financial one. There are too many fans that are simply "done with Ernie"...win or lose.
He's lost the goodwill of the fanbase. Whether that's right or wrong, is another discussion. Should Ernie's tenure come to an end this year, you can bet its a discussion that I'll speak about at great length as I can see it from both sides, and have a lot of thoughts about it.