UB85

I can’t believe Jordan is in when CMU has to foul. But given how poorly we’re shooting as a team from the line it probably makes no difference.

CMU now down 10 with a foul shot to cut the lead to 9. I would like to have seen a time out quite a while ago to try and get these guys to get theirs brains functioning again.

Jordan back to back awful turnovers then a missed lay ups I’ll tell you we’re lucky CMU looks like a JV team.

OMG!!!! Four consecutive possessions. Four gawd awful turnovers! Sloppiness personified! Make that 5-6 possessions with a turn over. 🤦‍♂️

Great defense!!! That’s the kind of effort they need coming out of 1/2 time. Will they have a BG type let down? They better not! You’ve gotta learn from those hard games.

Fortunately CMU is no BG!

BG game second half looking like now. Not scoring, not rebounding, turning the ball over and missing foul shots. Not sure if it’s the suns or perhaps just lack of focus.

He loves playing against the chips.

So far so good! Good energy and hustle but some ridiculous shots such as Johnson’s step back 3. yuk! One of the things that drives me nuts is ball screen defense. The one thing you cannot do is step behind the screen a and let a descent shooter a wide open shot. You either have to get over the top, switch (Which can create mid-matches) or have the screeners defender step up alongside the screen to creat space for the defender to get over the top of the screen. It just basic stuff that we continue to struggle with.

This does not allay my concerns over potential recruiting difficulties ahead. This is only an offer. Will it lead to a commitment? That is the million dollar question. Our recruiting success imo was linked directly to Oats' energy and Hodgson's contacts. It remains to be seen if the current staff can match their success.I remain hopeful, but it remains to be seen. Also, Buffalo basketball has been synonymous with the Big Dance over the last five years and not only that but making a splash when we got there. You just cannot replace that positive PR. The current team is teetering on the brink. It could go either way. Finishing strong would help quite a bit. On the other hand losing more stinkers like at EMU could really hamper the staff's recruiting efforts. Bottom line tonight's game is huge as is the month of February. I am excited to see how the coaches and players respond.

Try Mahalo next time.

Unless things change drastically I don’t see how they can win 3 or 4 games in a row, just to inconsistent and poor shooting will be their downfall. Hope I’m wrong and they clean the mess we saw tonight up.

On the plus side they came back from an 11 point deficit to take a 5 point lead, no small task. However the last 6 minutes or so is some of the worst basketball I’ve seen a UB team play in forever. Missed foul shots starting with Graves, rock stupid turnovers, chucked up 3s, lack of hustle, laziness, sloppiness and just getting embarrassed by a team who had far more grit and determination down the stretch. Looking bleak for a top 4 seed unless they get their act together. If my college team played like that, and we stunk it up a few times for sure, my coach would have run the ever living daylights out me and my teammates tomorrow.

Thanks for the comments. This is an interesting question. But I think Whitesell made the right call at the end of the BG game. Just poor execution to be sure. Graves is athletic enough to get to the rim but he doesn’t have a pull up and when he decides to take it to the hoop rarely if ever does he pass the rock. This leads to some great baskets but all too many times a bad shot, pass or blocked shot when he runs into a secondary defender or doesn’t get a step on his defender. Because he’s predictable I think there’s a great opportunity next time we’re in this situation for him to drive but rather than trying to get all the way to the bucket kick it out to a teammate for a 3. But who takes the shot?

Basketball 101. Way too many drives into defenders l adding to forced shots rather than kick outs.

I think that is primarily a function of him being asked to do so much. He has to defend other teams best back court player, he has to run offense and he has to be a scorer. It was so much easier last year for him when he had Carruthers and had three perhaps four players that could knock down the open three off the dribble penetration. Unfortunately we don’t nor he have that luxury this year.

Whitesell clearly thinks Jayvon is. Personally I don’t think we have one that we can count on. That’s why the ABCS of the game imo are the most important for this team to reach its potential this season. That means tenacious defense, rebounding and intensity for 40 minutes. Also need to be smart on offense moving it from side to side and in and out to get open looks and pass the ball to open teammate when you drive into two defenders.

What a shame to piss away that game especially after such a great first half. That loss puts them at a real disadvantage going forward and for seeding purposes in the tourney. They have to go on a run winning 5-6 games in a row.

Our defense is really letting us down. BG getting easy buckets while we struggle to get a good one.

If we win. Graves making some real bad decisions while forcing shots. Some sloppy turn overs too with Jordan dribbling one off his foot. This is the time of the game where we relied on Jeremy Harris last year.

We’re doing a bad job on defensive rebounding at the moment.

In other news Kent defeats the zippies by 2. If we pull it out we’ll be one game out and in a three way tie for second in the East.

Kudos to Huger for taking time out after Graves 3. Excellent opportunity there for the good guys to seize the momentum and bury BG.

Graves has to lock down his man on defense like he did in the first half.

This is going to come down to defense, rebounding and getting some points in transition. We’re playing pretty loose all the way around at the moment