ND Game Thoughts - instant reactions

[UChusky916]

-Quite simply: this was a BE road win in a normally tough environment . Broke NDs winning streak again, nice. Maybe the early start hurt their home atmosphere?

-Good to see that the team can get the W with Lamb having an off day. Everyone else was solid. And we were down RB and had some others banged up.

-This team has scary good potential with depth when AO and RS can keep the game simple by just playing defense, rebounding, and doing the little things without TURNOVERS. AO looked like the guy we all wanted to see during the stretch run last year. Can everyone shut up about him now please? He needs to keep playing consistant. Roscoe was pesky on defense and did a great job positioning and rebounding as well. Both guys played GREAT today.

-Pleased with Shabazz's play, even though I had early gripes about his defense. I didn't agree with his shot selection on some occasions. Thankfully, he made a few of them. He managed the team very well today considering he was banged up and didn't have RB to back him up.

-This is the 2nd straight game where this team has gotten torched from 3 in the first half and then battened-down really well and closed out gotten in their face in the 2nd half. I think ND started 0-11 the second half... where was the closing out in the first? I wonder if this is deliberate coaching changes, a change in philosphy from half-to-half, or just dumb luck.

-Happy with the team defense today for the most part. The only exception was defending the 3 early on. The team managed to get a hang of how NDs offense was running and did better to work around screens and rotate when needed. We rebounded well for the most part as we should have.

-NG... great, great game from him today. Was probably our best perimeter defender. I just love what he brings to this team. I'm happy he was able to respond after a poor game before.

-AD had an average game. Solid rebounding and great defense. Nothing compared to his last game, but played pretty well for a Freshman on the road. Ran the floor really well but a made a few mental mistakes.

-DD looked a little off; even the shot he made was... ehhh. NG stole his minutes today.

-TO didnt look himself. Injury obviously affected him. No need to risk him in the 2nd half.

-Road win in the BE... I'm happy.

 

[imno1]

One silver lining with Ryan out and Tyler hurt was that players weren't shuttled out left and right. I thought this helped with their confidence and team continuity.

 

[UChusky916]

One silver lining with Ryan out and Tyler hurt was that players weren't shuttled out left and right. I thought this helped with their confidence and team continuity.

Agreed. We only had 8 guys so people stopped worrying about playing time and just played...


Another thing I forgot to mention that was a very significant moment in the game... with 5 mins or so left in the second half, Brey got the crowd fired up and ND went on a 5-0 run to cut UConn's lead to 3. Calhoun called the time out like he should have, and drew up an automatic play that the team executed well, Lamb to Drummond alley oop. That play killed their remaining momentum, and UConn expanded the lead from there on out.

 

[CAHUSKY]

-Q
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-AD had an average game. Solid rebounding and great defense. Nothing compared to his last game, but played pretty well for a Freshman on the road. Ran the floor really well but a made a few mental mistakes.
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Ill take 10pts and 13boards and his intimidating presence in the lane all day. Andre didn't light up the scoreboard today but he was a significant factor.

 

[Danzz]

Ill take 10pts and 13boards and his intimidating presence in the lane all day. Andre didn't light up the scoreboard today but he was a significant factor.

He had a good game but the highlight for me was seeing Alex and Roscoe resemble the players they were last season. If we can get them (especially Alex) to play like that for the rest of the season, we can make a run.