MBB falls at Bryant 69-59

[mat1992 2,242]

Hate to pick on one player, but when your top guy goes 2-for-8 from the line (at least two missed front ends of 1-an-1s) and 4-15 from the field and your top bench player goes 1 for 9, it's tough to win on the road or at home. Had a million chances to cut the lead from 7 to 5 or 4 down the stretch and couldn't get it done. Much better defensive second half after a horrible first half. Charles Thompson solid job with 19 points and eight rebounds. Had 18 turnovers for the second straight game and 12 in the first half, mostly against their full court pressure. 

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401491660

[tualum 108]

Oh wow. Thought this game was later tonight. Oh well. Not surprising result.

[TSU88 1,074]

7 minutes ago, mat1992 said:

Hate to pick on one player, but when your top guy goes 2-for-8 from the line (at least two missed front ends of 1-an-1s) and 4-15 from the field and your top bench player goes 1 for 9, it's tough to win on the road or at home. Had a million chances to cut the lead from 7 to 5 or 4 down the stretch and couldn't get it done. Much better defensive second half after a horrible first half. Charles Thompson solid job with 19 points and eight rebounds. Had 18 turnovers for the second straight game and 12 in the first half, mostly against their full court pressure. 

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401491660

The unfortunate reality is that there’s plenty of blame to go around, when 2 of your top players combine with last year’s D2 player of the year to shoot 10-38 from the field. 

[mat1992 2,242]

5 minutes ago, TSU88 said:

The unfortunate reality is that there’s plenty of blame to go around, when 2 of your top players combine with last year’s D2 player of the year to shoot 10-38 from the field. 

The free-throw shooting bothers me the most. I spoke with Cam over the summer and it was the first thing he brought up. I didn't even bring that part of his game up and last season, he shot 70% from the line. This year, it's around 62%.  His entire game is about getting to the basket and drawing fouls if he can't make the shots. He's not even making easy shots in the lane. Not talking about tough hook shot. Short 5-7 foot jumpers that he needed to hit in the lane against their zone. We are desperate for a Gibson return in more ways than one, but I think we'll be playing without him for another week or longer.

Only positive was our three-point defense (7 of 26), but then we gave up about 50 layups in the first half. Still, allowing 42% from the field and 27% from beyond the arc on the road is not that bad. You should win with that but it looked as though some of guards (esp. Conway) never saw a pressure defense in their lives.