Minnesota

Very very nice win. I obviously didn't see this coming, and I'm thrilled to be wrong!
I hope this team has more magic coming
 
The thing in my opinion that turned the tide in the first half to Minnesota, was when Obekpa was called for the offensive goal tend, and Minny went to the other side and hit a 3 pointer. A 5 point swing that seemed to get Minnesota going. Sorry if someone already mentioned this. Haven't read all the pages
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No question that was the turning point. To be honest, it was a little disappointing. This a very experienced senior-laden team. They shouldn't let stuff like that get to them.

It seems like they still don't expect to win games like these. They need a confidence boost and Gonzaga can be just. It wouldn't hurt to put three years of demons away by beating Cuse by double-digits.
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watching the zags right now. . If we come out with the defensive intensity we had in the second half and create a helter skelter type game, I think we can pull out a win Friday night. The zags although good look beatable.
 
The thing in my opinion that turned the tide in the first half to Minnesota, was when Obekpa was called for the offensive goal tend, and Minny went to the other side and hit a 3 pointer. A 5 point swing that seemed to get Minnesota going. Sorry if someone already mentioned this. Haven't read all the pages
Click to expand...

No question that was the turning point. To be honest, it was a little disappointing. This a very experienced senior-laden team. They shouldn't let stuff like that get to them.

It seems like they still don't expect to win games like these. They need a confidence boost and Gonzaga can be just. It wouldn't hurt to put three years of demons away by beating Cuse by double-digits.
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It's funny, but I see it differently. I think we expect to win the close games like this, which is why it's so disappointing when we don't. This team has won its fair share of close games the last few years, and has also blown games they should have put away. Now that others besides D'Lo can make plays, we should expect to win more of these...and, it doesn't hurt to still have D'Lo to make a great hustle play like he did tonight.
 
Gonzaga looks like they are gonna win this game. But it wasn't as straightforward as I thought it would be.

Stop Witjler and we have a shot. He has 30 points right now.
 
The thing in my opinion that turned the tide in the first half to Minnesota, was when Obekpa was called for the offensive goal tend, and Minny went to the other side and hit a 3 pointer. A 5 point swing that seemed to get Minnesota going. Sorry if someone already mentioned this. Haven't read all the pages
Click to expand...

No question that was the turning point. To be honest, it was a little disappointing. This a very experienced senior-laden team. They shouldn't let stuff like that get to them.

It seems like they still don't expect to win games like these. They need a confidence boost and Gonzaga can be just. It wouldn't hurt to put three years of demons away by beating Cuse by double-digits.
Click to expand...

It's funny, but I see it differently. I think we expect to win the close games like this, which is why it's so disappointing when we don't. This team has won its fair share of close games the last few years, and has also blown games they should have put away. Now that others besides D'Lo can make plays, we should expect to win more of these...and, it doesn't hurt to still have D'Lo to make a great hustle play like he did tonight.
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What they say and how the play are two different things. They've been telling us with their words for four years that they were going to make deep runs in the tournament. Their play at the end of games against good OOC opponents has been tentative and they freeze up (see the FT shooting tonight). It was good that they were able to completely slap Minnesota around tonight to get the win. If it was closer, those FTs and missed threes would have killed us. These guys have underachieved for three years now. It's not an easy pattern to break. I think this game will really help....Gonzaga is obviously a huge opportunity. They won tonight on hard play and hustle...that never freezes up on you.
 
Gonzaga looks like they are gonna win this game. But it wasn't as straightforward as I thought it would be.

Stop Witjler and we have a shot. He has 30 points right now.
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Wiltjer doesn't scare me. That is a guy Dom can stop. Pangos will be tough to stop.
 
Gonzaga looks like they are gonna win this game. But it wasn't as straightforward as I thought it would be.

Stop Witjler and we have a shot. He has 30 points right now.
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He's having a big night tonight, but he's not their typical offense. They're all about the inside out game, especially with Pangos. We need our inside guys to stay in front of theirs and we need to defend the three like we did in the seconds half tonight. Don't get me wrong, we don't want to leave Wiljter open, but guard him tight and he should return to earth on Friday.
 
Gonzaga looks like they are gonna win this game. But it wasn't as straightforward as I thought it would be.

Stop Witjler and we have a shot. He has 30 points right now.
Click to expand...

He's having a big night tonight, but he's not their typical offense. They're all about the inside out game, especially with Pangos. We need our inside guys to stay in front of theirs and we need to defend the three like we did in the seconds half tonight. Don't get me wrong, we don't want to leave Wiljter open, but guard him tight and he should return to earth on Friday.
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Pangos is a great player. Reminds me of the PG on Baylor that killed us a year or two ago...and both had floppy hair to boot...
 
Gonzaga looks like they are gonna win this game. But it wasn't as straightforward as I thought it would be.

Stop Witjler and we have a shot. He has 30 points right now.
Click to expand...

Wiltjer doesn't scare me. That is a guy Dom can stop. Pangos will be tough to stop.
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Sabonis Jr. also had a very off night - you can just tell he's super skilled.
Floppy-haired Pangos will be super tough to neutralize.
 
I agree, and we showed all the right levels of maturity. Even sticking to our game plan when things were teetering. We fought hard and that will serve us well. I don't get too caught up with the refs, as those things do balance out to some extent even if they're not fully even by the end. The technical helped.
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At first I thought it might be a makeup call for the two bad calls against Obekpa but I'm guessing he used some profanity right in front of the ref. His back was to us but apparently he has a rep for that and that was the one downside of the refs for Minn. They were familiar with his antics.
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From reading the Minny link that Jack posted, it looks like you're right. It may not have been a bad call, but was certainly fortunate for us when many of the other calls were not. We'll take it. Now, let's get back to working on that free throw shooting as we'll need it to be back on track by Friday.
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O the replay it looked like the ref blew the T as soon as he was touched by the player. Some refs allow players to put a hand on their shoulder in a friendly way, but its a no no, especially when you are complaining.
 
I had some Crow before Thanksgiving. Glad I was wrong. Great effort
 
In hindsight you always look better when you win. Our ball movement looked much better than it has the past couple of seasons. Guys driving to the hoop were on the lookout for cutters when they drew attention. The ball movement into the lane frequently with sharp entry passes. Obekpa continues to improve but still is mechanical and awkward with the ball near the hole. He made a big mistake trying to make a statement two handed tomahawk when he was stripped from behind. Even with all that, he was productive on the offensive end against legitimate competition - a very good sign. Branch continues to destroy a legitimate bid for key minutes by playing out of control - a fatal mistake for a point guard.
 
In hindsight you always look better when you win. Our ball movement looked much better than it has the past couple of seasons. Guys driving to the hoop were on the lookout for cutters when they drew attention. The ball movement into the lane frequently with sharp entry passes. Obekpa continues to improve but still is mechanical and awkward with the ball near the hole. He made a big mistake trying to make a statement two handed tomahawk when he was stripped from behind. Even with all that, he was productive on the offensive end against legitimate competition - a very good sign. Branch continues to destroy a legitimate bid for key minutes by playing out of control - a fatal mistake for a point guard.
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Did not see the stats but still think we did not shoot the ball well and our fouls shots were bad
But love the effort and the win
 
not going to restate all that has been already noted but will add the following:

Plus - very good defense in 2nd half; generally fearless play
Negative - need to work extensively on getting ball up on entry passes and avoid gatherng themselves; Bootsy Thornton was great at it...no wasted movement
 
Really good win, and makes SJU proud by keeping up the BE win streak. Jordan had some scary good passes. Not sure why the announcer felt compelled to go after Harrison so much.
 
A few observations. Our last 8-10 minutes of the first half were frustrating and tough to watch. However, our defense for the other 30 minutes was as good as it's been the last few years. I also thought we saw very impressive minutes at times from each starter (everyone had a good stretch where they played well), so you hope they can play to their strengths and learn to appreciate and take advantage of what each does well. Free throws were terrible and our 3's were worse than normal, so I think it's only upside from here in those categories. Finally, although Minny was a big team, we didn't play small today for most of the game, except for where we drove the ball into someone's gut a few times...that's where we should kick it out for an open three. All in all a gutsy comeback and great win for this time of year. Now, time to top it with an even greater win on Friday. I can't wait.
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The first half wasn't as terrible as it was frustrating. Pretty good play with the exception of the free throws and 3pt shooting which absolutely killed us. I do think we got jobbed by the refs. The bogus goal tending call was a turning point and at least two foul calls on Harrison were ridiculous. At least two of them were him GETTING fouled. How about Green getting called for a charge for touching the defenders arms as he went for a shot? Sure he was planted but he did not body him. If you don't call the shooting foul, you don't call that at all.
The difference was the past three season we would have seen one of out guys lose it. DH, Pointer or Obekpa. They kept cool and that made a difference. The Free Throws drive me nuts though. That could have been the difference in the game right there.
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Like I said there are always bad calls; we got the best "bad" call on the night when Jordan got a bogus foul call under the basket, followed by a T that seemed very quick (although you never know what went on before the T that might have triggered what seemed to be a quick whistle.) Anyway we got a 5 point play I believe started by a terrible call putting Jordan on the line. IMO, the refs were fine; they missed a couple but they always do; the game is just too fast for them to get everything right. I do agree with our players keeping their cool; good sign.
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I was sitting across from Minny bench and the play before the big guy pushed Jordan behind the play. That ref was watching the the whole thing. That may have had something to do with the quick T.
 
Very very nice win. I obviously didn't see this coming, and I'm thrilled to be wrong!
I hope this team has more magic coming
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At least your honest and came on to give a nice shout out. No sign of Monte or Otis after a victory but Im sure they would be here if we lost.
 
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