Had the opportunity to take in the OM-UTjr game last night (thanks for the tickets @madisonreb83 ) so a friend and I made the one hour trek to Oxford to see the game last night. BLUF: I know very little about the intricacies of the game of basketball. That said, here are a few things I saw last night.
1. Effort. I thought our guys came out last night and laid it on the line against a potential Final Four team. We were aggressive on the defensive end and did a great job for the most part of protecting the ball (5 TOs) and getting good looks at the basket. Tennessee is a very long, athletic team. Zeigler is cat quick. They have some really good shooters and play a pretty good brand of defense (#1 scoring D in SEC) as well. If we played them in a 7 game series, they might win 4-1, including last night's outcome. That said, college basketball isn't a 7 game series. It was one shot, and we displayed some heart and guts. I (we) recognized early that the game flow favored UT, almost like we were just hanging on, consistently doing just enough to avoid a blowout. Every time it seemed like UT was about to separate and build a comfortable lead, our guys seemed to make a big play to close the gap. It wasn't just one or two of them, it was a group effort. I am not sure what else I can say about the appreciation I left with last night regarding our team's effort. We basically willed ourselves to the win.
2. Matthew Murrell and Jaemyn Brakefield. They have both been here for 4 years, sticking around through some lean times and a coaching change. These two guys both played like the name on the front of the jersey meant something to them last night, and their efforts were rewarded. As I said in #1, the effort displayed by our team was team wide. However, without the heroics of Murrell in the 1st half and Brakefield in the 2nd half, we still don't win the game. It is just that simple.
Murrell, who has fought through a lower leg issue all season, put the team on his back in the 1st half, making several timely, clutch shots, serving as the spark plug that kept us in the game when UT made a move to separate and take control. He played 33 minutes and finished with 12 points on only 5-12 (1-5 from 3) shooting, but he was hot early when others weren't, and that kept us in the game.
Brakefield, on the other hand, could not find any openings early, probably because of the stifling brand of defense that UT plays, and did not score until the 10:24 mark of the 2nd half. From there, he took the game over, scoring in different ways, grabbing loose balls, making play after play. He finished with 19 points, at one point scoring 8 points in a row, and put in the game winner off of an offensive rebound with 7.5 seconds left.
3. Other noteworthy performances. As I said in #1, last night was a team win. I can't honestly say that someone DIDN'T play particularly well. Dre Davis, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds (more on rebounding in next point) before fouling out, stepped up big down the stretch, making several key hoops at the end in the middle of Brakefield's run. Malik Dia, who also had 13 points made several nice shots and played hard on the defensive end. I am not sure why he wasn't in there at the end, as we decided to go small with Pedulla and Murray on the floor in the last sequence, but it worked out. As I said, I know little about basketball, that is CCB's territory.
We got valuable minutes out of Mikeal Brown-Jones and Davon Barnes. Brown-Jones only played 8 minutes, but he had a big 3 point play and went 3-3 from the line, and played hard on defense. Barnes played 23 minutes. He didn't score, but he was solid on the defensive end, didn't turn the ball over, and had 3 rebounds, 2 of them offensive. Pedulla and Murray were unspectacular, but steady and consistent. They combined for 16 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, and only 3 turnovers against the best statistical defense in the SEC. That is solid guard play.
4. Rebounding. This stat line, which has been a consistent deficiency for this team, was a tale of two halves. UT dominated in the 1st half, leading the rebounding stat line by 8 boards. Further, we only had one offensive board in the 1st half, and it was a lucky bounce off a missed FT where the ball ended up in our hands after being juggled around by both teams.
In the 2nd half, we turned it up a notch on the glass. Dre Davis led the way with 10 boards, half of those being on the offensive end. We managed to turn a deficit of 8 boards in the 1st half into a rebounding surplus of 4 total (37-33) in the 2nd. That is a +12 on the glass in the 2nd half. Further, we turned 1 offensive board in the 1st half into 11 in the 2nd. We need look no further for the importance of offensive rebounding than the last bucket we scored, when we got 2 boards that culminated in Brakefield's game winner.
If we can build off this effort on the glass last night, we will be a tough out come NCAA Tourney time.
5. Final thoughts: I have 2 brief statements to close this post.
A. The crowd last night was electric. There were a good number of UT fans there, including 2 right beside me, but they were respectful and gracious in defeat. It was a solid crowd that showed up a little late (it was an 8 pm tip, not sure about that) but got involved early, and stayed involved. Most were probably like me, inspired by our team's effort so we got involved to help push them to keep fighting. BLUF: I would have been satisfied, disappointed, but satisfied, if the ball had bounced against us last night. The guys fought and fought. I will cheer my old bones off for a team that fights. Again, thanks for the opportunity to go @madisonreb83 . I wish more Ole Miss fans would offer their tickets to other known Ole Miss fans for face value, or even less, instead of trying to make a few extra bucks on after market sites...(steps off soapbox).
B. Coaching. I know the consensus is that Bruce Pearl is going to win SEC Coach of the year. I get it. AU is the best team in the country. That said, the award should not be about who coaches the best team, but how much a coach matters to the success of his team. How about this for a litmus test of COACHING: Have Pearl and CCB swap teams. Does AU continue to dominate? I think so. Does Ole Miss win 10 SEC games with Pearl? Honestly, I don't think there is a chance of it. What CCB has done with this team is nothing short or remarkable. We didn't win the warmup in either SEC game I went to, but we won both games against more athletic teams. THAT... is coaching!
1. Effort. I thought our guys came out last night and laid it on the line against a potential Final Four team. We were aggressive on the defensive end and did a great job for the most part of protecting the ball (5 TOs) and getting good looks at the basket. Tennessee is a very long, athletic team. Zeigler is cat quick. They have some really good shooters and play a pretty good brand of defense (#1 scoring D in SEC) as well. If we played them in a 7 game series, they might win 4-1, including last night's outcome. That said, college basketball isn't a 7 game series. It was one shot, and we displayed some heart and guts. I (we) recognized early that the game flow favored UT, almost like we were just hanging on, consistently doing just enough to avoid a blowout. Every time it seemed like UT was about to separate and build a comfortable lead, our guys seemed to make a big play to close the gap. It wasn't just one or two of them, it was a group effort. I am not sure what else I can say about the appreciation I left with last night regarding our team's effort. We basically willed ourselves to the win.
2. Matthew Murrell and Jaemyn Brakefield. They have both been here for 4 years, sticking around through some lean times and a coaching change. These two guys both played like the name on the front of the jersey meant something to them last night, and their efforts were rewarded. As I said in #1, the effort displayed by our team was team wide. However, without the heroics of Murrell in the 1st half and Brakefield in the 2nd half, we still don't win the game. It is just that simple.
Murrell, who has fought through a lower leg issue all season, put the team on his back in the 1st half, making several timely, clutch shots, serving as the spark plug that kept us in the game when UT made a move to separate and take control. He played 33 minutes and finished with 12 points on only 5-12 (1-5 from 3) shooting, but he was hot early when others weren't, and that kept us in the game.
Brakefield, on the other hand, could not find any openings early, probably because of the stifling brand of defense that UT plays, and did not score until the 10:24 mark of the 2nd half. From there, he took the game over, scoring in different ways, grabbing loose balls, making play after play. He finished with 19 points, at one point scoring 8 points in a row, and put in the game winner off of an offensive rebound with 7.5 seconds left.
3. Other noteworthy performances. As I said in #1, last night was a team win. I can't honestly say that someone DIDN'T play particularly well. Dre Davis, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds (more on rebounding in next point) before fouling out, stepped up big down the stretch, making several key hoops at the end in the middle of Brakefield's run. Malik Dia, who also had 13 points made several nice shots and played hard on the defensive end. I am not sure why he wasn't in there at the end, as we decided to go small with Pedulla and Murray on the floor in the last sequence, but it worked out. As I said, I know little about basketball, that is CCB's territory.
We got valuable minutes out of Mikeal Brown-Jones and Davon Barnes. Brown-Jones only played 8 minutes, but he had a big 3 point play and went 3-3 from the line, and played hard on defense. Barnes played 23 minutes. He didn't score, but he was solid on the defensive end, didn't turn the ball over, and had 3 rebounds, 2 of them offensive. Pedulla and Murray were unspectacular, but steady and consistent. They combined for 16 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, and only 3 turnovers against the best statistical defense in the SEC. That is solid guard play.
4. Rebounding. This stat line, which has been a consistent deficiency for this team, was a tale of two halves. UT dominated in the 1st half, leading the rebounding stat line by 8 boards. Further, we only had one offensive board in the 1st half, and it was a lucky bounce off a missed FT where the ball ended up in our hands after being juggled around by both teams.
In the 2nd half, we turned it up a notch on the glass. Dre Davis led the way with 10 boards, half of those being on the offensive end. We managed to turn a deficit of 8 boards in the 1st half into a rebounding surplus of 4 total (37-33) in the 2nd. That is a +12 on the glass in the 2nd half. Further, we turned 1 offensive board in the 1st half into 11 in the 2nd. We need look no further for the importance of offensive rebounding than the last bucket we scored, when we got 2 boards that culminated in Brakefield's game winner.
If we can build off this effort on the glass last night, we will be a tough out come NCAA Tourney time.
5. Final thoughts: I have 2 brief statements to close this post.
A. The crowd last night was electric. There were a good number of UT fans there, including 2 right beside me, but they were respectful and gracious in defeat. It was a solid crowd that showed up a little late (it was an 8 pm tip, not sure about that) but got involved early, and stayed involved. Most were probably like me, inspired by our team's effort so we got involved to help push them to keep fighting. BLUF: I would have been satisfied, disappointed, but satisfied, if the ball had bounced against us last night. The guys fought and fought. I will cheer my old bones off for a team that fights. Again, thanks for the opportunity to go @madisonreb83 . I wish more Ole Miss fans would offer their tickets to other known Ole Miss fans for face value, or even less, instead of trying to make a few extra bucks on after market sites...(steps off soapbox).
B. Coaching. I know the consensus is that Bruce Pearl is going to win SEC Coach of the year. I get it. AU is the best team in the country. That said, the award should not be about who coaches the best team, but how much a coach matters to the success of his team. How about this for a litmus test of COACHING: Have Pearl and CCB swap teams. Does AU continue to dominate? I think so. Does Ole Miss win 10 SEC games with Pearl? Honestly, I don't think there is a chance of it. What CCB has done with this team is nothing short or remarkable. We didn't win the warmup in either SEC game I went to, but we won both games against more athletic teams. THAT... is coaching!
