Alex Karaban put on a clinic. He was good from both 2pts & 3pts for 27 points, and was a veteran and calming influence. With Reed, Ball and Demary without a FG until 8 minutes into the second half, Karaban teamed with Ross, Reibe and Mullins to hold things together. Alex also had 5 rebounds and led the team on the court encouraging and calming his teammates.
Ball missed some open 3’s but how do you go 0-5 from 3pts without trying a 2pt shot? Good to see that type of one dimensional shooting having minute consequences with only 14 minutes tonight, but granted I believe 2 fouls in first half, which helped reduce his minutes).
Ross and Smith were key players tonight. Ross had a 7 or 9 point run in the first half when no one else was playing well on offense. Smith had only 2 points in 33 minutes but along with Ross gave us great defense and Smith had 6 assists with only 2 turnovers. More importantly he competently ran the team on offense and was a dog on defense.
No player missed more than 1 foul shot. Reed (4-5) and Ross (3-4) were the only guys not perfect. Mullins and Karaban were both (5-5) and Demary (2-2). 90% foul shooting is exactly what’s needed to win during the tournament. Both teams had 21 foul shot attempts but we made 5 more.
Reed had a double /double (10
Points, 13 rebounds) and I love the improvement in his foul shooting (80% tonight). Shows time in the gym! Again as a team we had a big rebound advantage of 36 to 24.
Mullins had 17 points on 55% shooting. Dribbling into the lane for a 10 foot jumper got his game going after a slow start. Something Ball needs to learn from. When he is shooting well his shot barely touches the net. Mullins just needs to resist the freshman urge to rush things which led to 5 turnovers. Demary again needs to do a better job of looking for Mullins when he’s open earlier in the possession. Yet, Demary showed competitiveness and toughness playing when he wasn’t 100% by the eye test.
I thought our defense was good holding UCLA to 39% but think that and our rebounding would be even better if our center did not get caught covering guards 23 feet from the basket and the chain reaction of fouls and mismatches that creates.
Ball missed some open 3’s but how do you go 0-5 from 3pts without trying a 2pt shot? Good to see that type of one dimensional shooting having minute consequences with only 14 minutes tonight, but granted I believe 2 fouls in first half, which helped reduce his minutes).
Ross and Smith were key players tonight. Ross had a 7 or 9 point run in the first half when no one else was playing well on offense. Smith had only 2 points in 33 minutes but along with Ross gave us great defense and Smith had 6 assists with only 2 turnovers. More importantly he competently ran the team on offense and was a dog on defense.
No player missed more than 1 foul shot. Reed (4-5) and Ross (3-4) were the only guys not perfect. Mullins and Karaban were both (5-5) and Demary (2-2). 90% foul shooting is exactly what’s needed to win during the tournament. Both teams had 21 foul shot attempts but we made 5 more.
Reed had a double /double (10
Points, 13 rebounds) and I love the improvement in his foul shooting (80% tonight). Shows time in the gym! Again as a team we had a big rebound advantage of 36 to 24.
Mullins had 17 points on 55% shooting. Dribbling into the lane for a 10 foot jumper got his game going after a slow start. Something Ball needs to learn from. When he is shooting well his shot barely touches the net. Mullins just needs to resist the freshman urge to rush things which led to 5 turnovers. Demary again needs to do a better job of looking for Mullins when he’s open earlier in the possession. Yet, Demary showed competitiveness and toughness playing when he wasn’t 100% by the eye test.
I thought our defense was good holding UCLA to 39% but think that and our rebounding would be even better if our center did not get caught covering guards 23 feet from the basket and the chain reaction of fouls and mismatches that creates.
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