I was at the Garden today and honestly was a bit surprised, both that we played well and won. The team seemed to benefit from Posh being at the point from the start. Curbelo being benched has happened before. I believe it happened previously on January 3rd against Marquette, but today more than in that game it seemed like it positively impacted the team chemistry. That was especially true for Posh, who had a season high nine assists. For the most part the team played much better defense today than they have played for the bulk of the season.
I particularly thought Kolby King was outstanding. He was very solid during his season high 17 minutes on the floor. He stayed within himself, played terrific defense, made two of the three shots that he took, maintained a high level of intensity and enhanced team chemistry. Hopefully he will continue to get some significant minutes going forward.
On the negative side we still had trouble with our offensive sets at the end of the game. From the 7:38 mark to the end of the game we only made one basket from the floor (a layup by Dylan). Unlike the Butler game however, we were able to get to the line and finish the game off. That said, our ability to get baskets in crunch time was still a problem.
The crowd was good and Cooley was able to fire up a significant number of Friar fans that were in the arena as they cut our lead from 16 to 2 in the first half. However the SJU fans took over in the second half and were vocal and enthusiastic. It was also nice to see our 2024 recruit Brandon Gardiner in the arena to take some bows during halftime. It was a good game for him to be there.
I don't know how many more happy moments we will have this year but the more games like this the better.