As I watched the euphoria of the first half and the collapse of the 2nd, the one thing I constantly realized could cost the team a win more than anything was fouls. At a certain point, when you are up 20+ points with less than a half to go, giving up points is much less valuable than giving up players. This was most true when Skelly, who was playing a great game, committed two fouls within a couple minutes or so of the 2nd half, and Pardon as well (although one of his was going for a loose ball, which was a tough call). Losing those two guys that early in the 2nd half really, really made holding onto this thing virtually impossible. What resulted were forced shots by Law and Lindsay, without any semblance of inside game, and an ice-cold Falzon in a game where we needed him to hit 2 or 3.
Gaines played great and got into the lane a few times but just could not get anything to drop in the 2nd half. When Scottie blew that alley-oop pass to him (which would've brought the house down and given the team a bit of mojo back), it seemed like it was only a matter of time until MSU crept back into the game.
I also noticed several times when an open cutter was missed, and I think that's reflective of the fact this team doesn't have very good passers other than BMac.
The defense was really good all day though and you keep MSU to 65 points you have a chance to win. It's just the way we lost this one that really hurts. Oh well. Hope BMac is ready by Big Ten tourney and we get a win or two prior to that.
Gaines played great and got into the lane a few times but just could not get anything to drop in the 2nd half. When Scottie blew that alley-oop pass to him (which would've brought the house down and given the team a bit of mojo back), it seemed like it was only a matter of time until MSU crept back into the game.
I also noticed several times when an open cutter was missed, and I think that's reflective of the fact this team doesn't have very good passers other than BMac.
The defense was really good all day though and you keep MSU to 65 points you have a chance to win. It's just the way we lost this one that really hurts. Oh well. Hope BMac is ready by Big Ten tourney and we get a win or two prior to that.
