Just for the record, with 11:30 remaining MU had 76%

Posted on: February 20, 2024 at 10:21:17 CT

Chance of victory on the road against a 19-6 team. This is despite starting the game by giving up 4 wide open 3s to the opponents best shooter and repeatedly not being able to defend the rim.

I know many fans have checked out and generalizations have taken over as narratives. But once again we played a very competitive road game despite terrible defense and only when we went nearly 10 minutes without a field goal and their crowd got back into it did we find a way to lose again.

East had 25 points on only 9 shots to go with 6 assists. Most teams really have no answer for him. Bates is one of the top scorers in the SEC and does so at a very efficient pace.

Down the stretch we re-inserted Honor/Carter who went a combined 1-7 inside the arc in the game and not only did they blow crucial possessions but each case caused backbreaking transition buckets the other way. We continue playing a walkon big minutes who is zero threat to score over Vanover/Jesus who had previously started 9 games for us and Lewis also curiously didn’t play at all after recently getting substantial minutes. Most crucially, during that 10 minute stretch at no point was a timeout called or a designed play run to try and stop the tide despite that being a constant successful feature last season.

It just doesn’t seem like we put much emphasis on actually winning the game, all season they have been treated like weird scrimmages with different lineup combinations and rotations and a lack of overall urgency in close games or valuing crucial possessions. We also continued the bizarre strategy in the closing possessions as we tried to claw back into the game of having East/Honor on the blocks to try and rebound free throws with our bigs at half court, essentially conceding the rebound opportunity that could swing the game.

I just don’t get it. This team is not untalented as some would have you believe. They aren’t devestated by injury. They aren’t outclassed and simply blown off the court by opponents. They just consistently lose games they are competitive in by doing dumb things and having no approach and not valuing possessions and playing poor D.

Edited by FIJItiger at 10:23:47 on 02/20/24