Game 24 - South Florida

We finally won a game we were supposed to win in decisive fashion. Not too much to say about this one. Don't get your hopes up, we still aren't that good.

The Big East Network announcers made a comment which I think was more interesting than the game itself. They said that the UConn win did more harm than good, arguing that it gave the team a sense of false confidence. They are correct in that the win did more harm than good, but for the fans, not for the players and team. People should stop referencing the UConn game as evidence of this year's potential, in reality it was a lucky win due to poor coaching by Calhoun. On average, opposing Big East teams attempt 22 layups/dunks per game and make 13. UConn took only 19 and made 10, despite having the deepest frontcourt in the Big East. And UConn only managed to take 49 shots in that game, the second lowest for them in conference play. Calhoun lost the game, Georgetown did not win it.

The only stat that could point towards us playing well is that we only turned the ball over 12 times against the Huskies, but in the next two losses vs. Pitt and Notre Dame we only turned it over 8 times each. UConn did turn the ball over 17 times against us, the only team to do so more times was Rutgers. I think the UConn win should jk (I am so hip) the Seton Hall loss. As far as I am concerned, neither happened.

What does this have to do with the South Florida game? Absolutely nothing. Here is some random observations about this game.
- JT3's first win at the Sun Dome, hip hip hooray.
- The most encouraging sign for this team occurred with one minute left in the game. Sapp took a three pointer, missed badly, but was actually in the paint to get the rebound. I can't remember the last time one of our players followed their three point attempt.
- 18 turnovers tonight, our most since the West Virginia loss.
- Monroe had 5 turnovers.
- We tried the backdoor way too much, led to horrible passes.
- 58% shooting from the field, our best since Cuse win.
- Because we only took 14 three point attempts, the fewest since Providence game.
- Here's a fun fact, we are 3-0 when we take less than 15 three pointers, and 2-8 when we take more than 15.
- We hit 75% of our layup/dunk attempts, first time in conference play we have hit over 70%. We hit 11-13 in the second half, countering our tendency to suck in the last 20 minutes.
- Freeman's free throw woes continued.
- As expected, Monroe was a perfect 4-4 from the line further proving he is not clutch and hits his shots when they don't matter.
- Vaughn took and subsequently missed his first three pointer since the UConn game. He has yet to hit one this season.
- South Florida had 5 fewer turnovers than us, tied for the second largest differential this season yet we outscored them by 12 in points off turnovers. This is a classic sign of us playing an inferior opponent. Do not expect this to happen in the next three games.
- Nikita continued his impressive streak of taking and missing as many threes as fouls he commits. He is now 0-7 from the field, 0-7 from beyond the arc and has committed 7 fouls since becoming a starter.


Good talk.