Basketball game thoughts/recap from last night...

Nov 29, 2012, 8:37 AM

Dont put too much stock into last night. We were up against some crazy obstacles...
1. Milt gets arrested and suspended yesterday morning. That is a shock to the team and definitely a distraction. Also, we only had a few hours prior to the game to prepare without him
2. Booker was a gametime decision as to whether or not he was going to play because his grandfather became ill. He was not even planning to play at shootaround. Yet again, that is a distraction and a shock to the team. not to mention, booker's head could not have been 100% in the game (even though he played really well)
3. With the 5 freshmen, we have played 1 home game in front of a crowd of about 3000 people, 1 road game (Furman) in front of about 2500 people, 3 tourney games in front of about 1500 people and last night we had about 6000-6500 in the stands which was a lot of these guys first game ever playing in front of a crowd that big.
4. We had a guy play against us that made 6 3's in the first half (one from the paw at mid court) when he only averages 2 per game. And this was not due to bad defense he was just simply 'feeling it'

Now, onto the actual game, my thoughts positive/negative

Positives
1. Being down 20 at halftime and with Purdue shooting 70% from the field, we could have easily quit but did not. The boys played hard and Brownell, as always, coached hard.
2. The turnovers. Once again, we were in single digits in turnover margin for the 5th time this year. if we can just turn the good possesions into POINTS we'll be alright
3. pressure defense. Brownell put our young guys in some pressure situations early in the second half and we really confused Purdue and it got us back in the game
4. Devin Booker. For the first time this year, i thought devin played a leadership role. He had 18 pts and did a pretty good job on the inside, i thought
5. the crowd. I thought the crowd was actually pretty good and the students were into the game. I hope this trend continues and goes on the up and up

Negatives
1. Shooting. We have got to get the dad gum ball in the basket! TJ Sapp, at some point, has got to find some confidence because i think brownell really wants to count on him to score 11-12 points a game and hit some 3 pointers. We also have to get more from Filer and Roper as the season wears on. I think they had a combined 2 field goals last night. Gotta get more from them.
2. Rebounding. At one point last night, i think we were getting out rebounded 15-2 in the first half. Even at a size disadvantage, we have to do better than that!

All in all, last night was just a loss. Purdue played their best game of the year and we did not. We are not a team that can expect to score 75 and win. If a team comes out and hits 3's, shoots over 50% from the field, etc. we will just have to tip our caps to them because thats not the way we play.

PLEASE dont give up on this team. It was encouraging to see a (decent) crowd last night. Coach Brownell is a GREAT coach and he and this team deserve our support. They will continue to get better and will win some games this year.. maybe even 18-20. I fully expect them to go down to Columbia and take care of business this sunday and get back on track.

Go Tigers!