Next up: @USF

I know, young team and growing pains and all, but man...we make things so stressful/difficult than it really needs to be.

No one came out for post game radio tonight.

The foundation is there to be the best of the rest (i.e. 4th best in the conference) as early as next year. Going to be hard to make that leap to get up with the big 3.

I can't decide if I'm mad that we spotted them a 10 point lead, or relieved that we were able to recover on the road?

PilotNut wrote:I can't decide if I'm mad that we spotted them a 10 point lead, or relieved that we were able to recover on the road?

I had the same thought. Given our last game against USF, I love the way we competed. Lots to improve on, but a lot of good to take away too.

At our first game with USF, the Pilots made a run in the second half and close the gap to 8 or 10 points. The Dons called timeout and promptly ran up 8 to 10 unanswered points. Then we had a media timeout. Kyle Smith walked out by the basket as the team assembled in their chairs, did a high five with one of his assistants and then went to the huddle. I could see why, but I was disgusted. I doubt they did any high fives tonight until the game was over. I liked that.

PilotNut wrote:I can't decide if I'm mad that we spotted them a 10 point lead, or relieved that we were able to recover on the road?

Mad or relieved, I think this game shows that we aren't good enough to spot anyone a 10 point lead. Especially when we aren't making three pointers and we can't get any offensive going in the post. Shaver had a great game, but had very little help scoring. A frustrating night, but I'd rather have near-miss frustrating than blow-out frustrating. Again, benefit of the doubt goes to the coaches and players this year, with the promise that all of this sets the stage for wins next year.

Is it upsetting to lose by only two points? Yeah. But, did we should a lot of potential today? I think so!  

You all are probably tired of hearing me say this... Like dholcombe said, the difference between utter failure, where we are now, and a surprising success is fewer than 5 minutes of game play. I will take it given the nature of our team. I already can't wait until next year and the year after.

The empty possessions were really frustrating, but give USF's defense some credit there. I'm glad we were able to recover after that horrendous start. NoPo said it exactly: the door was open, but we just couldn't walk through it. For now, I wouldn't mind a rematch in the WCC Tournament. (I do not want a rematch with LMU)

There was one sequence in the first half where it seemed like USF had a continuous two minute possession: offensive rebound, Shaver steal and losses it, out of bounds off us, and then offensive rebound, and then somehow USF did not score and we got the ball back. But, we held firm during that whole possession. I was frustrated watching us giving them the ball back, but ultimately, I was happy that we fought the whole possession.

Bring on Pacific!

As a follow-up, USF is up 27-26 at BYU at halftime. BYU had a much better shooting percentage, but had 11 turnovers and USF got up 8 more shots. Five of those TOs were USF steals.