I posted this on USCBasketball.com and thought I would share here:
Now that was the complete game we wanted to see!
That was pure domination! We had FIVE players score in double digits led by the Isaiah's (Mobley 17, White 13), with 12 from Tajh, 10 each from Evan and Chevez. We were one made FT from Ethan (he went 1-3 from the line amongst his 9 pts) away from having 6 players in double digits! We shot 57% from the field and made a crazy 11 3's in 18 attempts for a higher percentage than we shot from the line. It made no difference tonight, but 10-17 FTs is not commensurate with the rest of our offensive performance. We still have chances to be better in this area, starting this Sunday against the ducks. If we can shoot from the field anywhere close to how we did tonight, we will show Oregon who the REAL Pac12 Conference champions are! We can also give Gonzaga a run for the money. Is it really possible that we could actually reach our first Final 4 since 1954?!!
Our offense demolished what was purported to be a very good defensive team that could give us trouble. We also controlled the boards 43-27 against a team that had touted rebounding as one of its strengths. The Mobleys (Evan 13 and Isaiah 8) had 21 rebounds between them, with Drew Peterson grabbing 8 himself. The Jayhawks simply could not match up with us and could not figure out our defense. Our length definitely bothered them and deterred them from taking many shots in the paint. We only had 4 blocked shots tonight (3 from Evan), but sufficiently intimidated our opponents, who came in respecting our interior defense based on our reputation.
We continued to play good FG% defense, holding Kansas to an ugly 29%! The Jayhawks had only 5 second chance points in the game and only 2 fast break points (that is hard to believe, isn't it?). We held them to 51 points in this game. These were the blue blood Kansas Jayhawks we were playing, right? I believe our margin of victory was the largest KU has ever suffered in an NCAA tournament game. Wow.
I think all of us have been saying that we liked this team all year and that if they could put it together we could go far. Well folks, I think we are seeing this team putting it together now. How far will we go? I hope we deal with the quacks and get to play the Zags. I think I could be happy then (not fully satisfied, but contented with the season that we had in these difficult circumstances of the new transfers never getting an official visit to the campus and signing with us based on zoom meetings, of the full team not being able to meet each other until late in the summer, of having to practice outdoors on tennis courts with their own basketball and not being allowed to pass to a teammate, of not be able to practice indoors together as a team until October, of having to undergo quarantines and lockdowns, of not being able to see their families, not being able to play in front of fans, etc.) I am amazed at how resilient this team has been and how they have gelled together so well. This team embodies the Fight On spirit. I am truly proud of them and salute Coach Enfield and his entire staff for their significant accomplishments so far. I hope, we all hope, that the best is yet to come!
Fight on everybody!
Now that was the complete game we wanted to see!
That was pure domination! We had FIVE players score in double digits led by the Isaiah's (Mobley 17, White 13), with 12 from Tajh, 10 each from Evan and Chevez. We were one made FT from Ethan (he went 1-3 from the line amongst his 9 pts) away from having 6 players in double digits! We shot 57% from the field and made a crazy 11 3's in 18 attempts for a higher percentage than we shot from the line. It made no difference tonight, but 10-17 FTs is not commensurate with the rest of our offensive performance. We still have chances to be better in this area, starting this Sunday against the ducks. If we can shoot from the field anywhere close to how we did tonight, we will show Oregon who the REAL Pac12 Conference champions are! We can also give Gonzaga a run for the money. Is it really possible that we could actually reach our first Final 4 since 1954?!!
Our offense demolished what was purported to be a very good defensive team that could give us trouble. We also controlled the boards 43-27 against a team that had touted rebounding as one of its strengths. The Mobleys (Evan 13 and Isaiah 8) had 21 rebounds between them, with Drew Peterson grabbing 8 himself. The Jayhawks simply could not match up with us and could not figure out our defense. Our length definitely bothered them and deterred them from taking many shots in the paint. We only had 4 blocked shots tonight (3 from Evan), but sufficiently intimidated our opponents, who came in respecting our interior defense based on our reputation.
We continued to play good FG% defense, holding Kansas to an ugly 29%! The Jayhawks had only 5 second chance points in the game and only 2 fast break points (that is hard to believe, isn't it?). We held them to 51 points in this game. These were the blue blood Kansas Jayhawks we were playing, right? I believe our margin of victory was the largest KU has ever suffered in an NCAA tournament game. Wow.
I think all of us have been saying that we liked this team all year and that if they could put it together we could go far. Well folks, I think we are seeing this team putting it together now. How far will we go? I hope we deal with the quacks and get to play the Zags. I think I could be happy then (not fully satisfied, but contented with the season that we had in these difficult circumstances of the new transfers never getting an official visit to the campus and signing with us based on zoom meetings, of the full team not being able to meet each other until late in the summer, of having to practice outdoors on tennis courts with their own basketball and not being allowed to pass to a teammate, of not be able to practice indoors together as a team until October, of having to undergo quarantines and lockdowns, of not being able to see their families, not being able to play in front of fans, etc.) I am amazed at how resilient this team has been and how they have gelled together so well. This team embodies the Fight On spirit. I am truly proud of them and salute Coach Enfield and his entire staff for their significant accomplishments so far. I hope, we all hope, that the best is yet to come!
Fight on everybody!
