How nervous were you

[FfldCntyFan]

I wasn't nervous about the game at all but all afternoon/evening yesterday (until tipoff) I was loaded with nervous energy.

It took a bit longer than I would have liked to get a little separation in the first half but by halftime, with a lead while not playing our best I knew "we've seen this before, we know what happens" and to script, our defense kept getting better and we started to pull away.

I will admit that I was quite apprehensive once Johnson picked up his fifth but that dissipated once I saw we were going to play small instead of hoping Clingan could remain on the floor until the end. That we did it by choice was a huge psychological edge over if we did it because we also lost DC and I was confident we could trade baskets with them even if we couldn't stop them.

 

[rman726]

Singare was ready to get out there and hack the big Maple down

I was surprised that he didn’t come in and Danny let Karaban take on Edey. It definitely worked out fine though because Edey was somewhat useless on defense against our small lineup. He got most of his 2 point shots, but we were basically playing 5v4 on the other end, and trading baskets wasn’t going to get them back in.

 

[NYC_HUSKY22]

I'll have to download my fitbit data from last night, during the first half i was fairly certain it was going to try and dial 911 my heart rate was so high. By the 15 minute mark of the second half or so I felt a certain sense of calm cover me, marveling at how well executed the game plan was. But yeah I reckon the nerves were more 'what was at stake and how important this dub was' as opposed to 'oh no, oh no, oh no the world is crumbling apart' kind of nerves.

 

[TheChamps990411]

When Clingan and Johnson both had 4 fouls and there was about 7 minutes to go and the lead was 7 or 9?

I felt a lot of anxiety.

Hurley is a genius for going small with Karaban, who got fouled so many times and no whistle blown.

I thought Hurley might go with Stewart, but he needed Karaban's offensive potential.

The refs did everything they could on jump balls to give possession to Purdue. It was obvious

Honestly not at all. I had no doubt we`d beat Purdue. Since last year.

 

[Deepster]

I wasn't nervous about the game at all but all afternoon/evening yesterday (until tipoff) I was loaded with nervous energy.

It took a bit longer than I would have liked to get a little separation in the first half but by halftime, with a lead while not playing our best I knew "we've seen this before, we know what happens" and to script, our defense kept getting better and we started to pull away.

I will admit that I was quite apprehensive once Johnson picked up his fifth but that dissipated once I saw we were going to play small instead of hoping Clingan could remain on the floor until the end. That we did it by choice was a huge psychological edge over if we did it because we also lost DC and I was confident we could trade baskets with them even if we couldn't stop them.

If you weren’t nervous, why did you keep saying we were doomed?

 

[RichZ]

Once I saw Edey tire out in the first half I knew Purdue was done. I didn't expect him to be gassed that quickly

The announcers were blaming the fact that he played the full 40 minutes in the previous game. Hell, our guys wouldn't be wound out in that situation. They've been through a zillion Hurley practices that can't help but condition them to go until you're exhausted. Then go some more.

 

[REB1094]

Cautiously optimistic throughout the second half. I saw Edey getting tired in the first half, and I was thinking to myself “we got him” after he airballed a free throw and let Steph Castle beat him to 2 offensive rebounds in the paint

But still nervous the entire way. I guess I’m still traumatized from the 2021 and 2022 teams that could lose a 15 point lead in 3 minutes. But in hindsight, that game was over with…6 minutes left?

 

[JCisthegoat]

A little anxious but I knew Spencer was never going to let us blow that game

 

[FfldCntyFan]

If you weren’t nervous, why did you keep saying we were doomed?

Mojo

 

[nycscooby]

I was very nervous mainly because of the 1st 10 minutes of the game, which I thought were played at a super high level by both teams.

Made me think that it was going to be a death match. That nervousness lasted until 3/4s of the way into the game. Maybe around the 7 minute mark of the 2nd half

I agree. First 10 mins were nerve racking. Felt pretty good with the 6 pt lead at the half and then felt super-confident with the Tristen 3 to get us to 39-30 and stayed good the rest of the way except when we had the 43-35 lead and Purdue came back to 43-41 I believe

 

[Gurleyman]

I had a hiccup of angst when we had two possessions where we turned it over against their press and then Hurley turned it over shoving Cam, and it was down to 13, and I started thinking “careful here, this could be a historic collapse.” But nothing materialized.

I may be wrong but I don’t remember them ever having a run - Smith hit a jumper and a three late in the half to cut it from 7 to 2, but that was answered by two of our buckets. In hindsight, it might have been sort of silly worrying about a team making a comeback run that couldn’t sustain anything for more than two possessions.

 

[uconnbill]

When they couldn't hit a three. After the half time, I felt pretty much at ease

 

[jibsey]

I am incredibly nervous fan - really bad. Probably should be medicated during games.

I wasn’t nervous at all in the second half. We really did not even play that well on offense and Purdue couldn’t really get any traction. Game was pretty much over a few minutes after halftime.

I self medicated with 3 brews during the game. It works quite nicely to take the edge off.

 

[RedStickHusky]

When I started counting fouls/minutes left, I got a little antsy. Didn't foresee AK taking a turn.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Was more relaxed last season's tournament run than this year. Struggled with thinking the fickle finger of fate would bite us preventing an historical accomplishment of back to back championships.

That early Tristen foul had me nervous.

That first foul on Clingan had me nervous.

The two quick fouls on Samson had me nervous.

Clingan getting that third foul in the second half with a lot of time remaining had me nervous until Samson made Edey nervous with those back to back dunks. And then he gets number four so I'm nervous again.

The second and third fouls called on Cam made me nervous.

That was my theme. I felt the refs would decide this game. Thankfully they didn't.

Yea, with our bigs getting in foul trouble I started having flashbacks to what we did to Duke in '04 with Youssouf playing the Nick Horvath role and I started to get super nervous.

Fortunately we went small and Alex did an incredible job holding his own against a worn down Edey. (And Edey got away with 1-2 clear out offensive fouls.)

I gotta imagine that playing against Clingan in practice really helped prepare our guys for this moment.

 

[swami7774]

Didn’t have a single doubt after halftime.

 

[Deepster]

Mojo

Those days are over, amigo.

You may as well be posting “rah rah sis boom bah”

 

[polycom]

0%. he game was over when that happened. Purdue had shown their guards weren't in the same league as our guards and that Edey couldn't get enough touches to make it a ball game.

 

[Sibeerian]

I am a basket case during big games. Was nervous until it was obvious mid second half that our lead would not shrink. When I rewatched and saw how we were erasing their perimeter game I wondered why I was ever nervous.

Also that one elbow edey threw into Alex's upper chest was a felony.