I'll Be a Son of a Shark

[CoachC]

Dec 8: Felts picked up a slight muscle strain in his back in the 2nd half of last night's game. It's not very serious, but he'll be day to day and may have to play limited minutes in our next game vs Alabama.

[CoachC]

Another good A10 team who opened their season with a win over then 12th ranked Pitt. They'll be looking to even the score after our win against them a year ago.

We played Bulldog basketball in the first half forcing 14 turnovers on 7 steals. We did enough other things well to forge a 35-26 lead at halftime.

Another so so game offensively where we shot just under 44%. We also uncharacteristically turned the ball over 16 times and had a negative a/to ratio (12-16) which is rare for us. But our defense was so strong it never mattered. We turned them over 26 times on ten steals and held them to 35.4% shooting for the game and won easily. Our rebounding was pretty good too and we had a 14-0 edge on second chance points.

Jeffers led with 24 pts
Godzilla had another fine game with 10 pts, 12 rebs for a double double.
Felts added 12.
Battle had 9 pts, 4 asts.
Moore had 5 rebs, 3 stls.

Not a lot of offense off the bench in this one, but Brown, Sanders and Giesen all contributed something.

Final:

G-W 65 Charlotte 45

[CoachC]

Thx, Wayne. I've never had a team that forced close to 25/g before! I doubt Tarkanian ever had a team that was that proficient out of the Amoeba! lol Still not sure why we aren't shooting the ball better though. I may need to slow down our tempo a bit.

[Wayne23]

It's always somethin'.

[Tim Moungey]

Nice statue there, CoachC.

[CoachC]

that is very nice!

[CoachC]

Our second opponent from the SEC. The Tide uses a lot of movement on offense to get shots for their high scoring guard Gardner. Felts is still limited with his mobility, and hasn't been able to practice. He's dressed but if he plays at all it will be limited minutes. Sanders will start in his place, and we'll need somebody to step up.

In the first half we turn the ball over 10 times, and get killed on the boards (12-17,1-7) but manage to walk away with a halftime lead 36-33 thanks to shooting the ball well and playing good defense. Gardner, averaging over 22 pts/g is held scoreless in the first half. In the 2nd half we must take better care of the ball, and obviously must to a better job on the boards.

A very un-Bulldog like 17 turnovers, a terrible night on the boards (22-39, 3-9) combined with Ike Jeffers going cold in the 2nd half sees us fall 59-73. The game was much closer than the score indicated, but it was an uninspired outing for us. We did turn them over 18 times on 11 steals but our own turnovers did us in.

Jeffers led with 28, but wasn't getting much support and when he went cold in the 2nd half, we were in trouble.

O'Conner had another decent game with 9pts, 10 rebs. Moore added 8, and with Battle in foul trouble, Andy Crenshaw saw his first significant minutes of the season and pitched in 7 pts off the bench. Sanders had 5 asts, and 5 stls, but scored just 3 points, and Battle had just 2. We certainly missed Felts in this one who played just one minute, but it's not an excuse.

Final:
G-W 59 Alabama 73

[CoachC]

Dec 11: The initial RPIs show us at 18th, with our last opponent Alabama just behind us at 19.

[CoachC]

Finishing this 4 game road swing against the team that ended our season a year ago. Felts was finally able to go full tilt in practice and will be back in the line-up tonight.

Despite turning them over just twice in the first half, very good half court defense and balanced scoring on offense led us to a half-time lead. We also out-rebounded them 26-16,12-9 primarily on the offensive end, but our defensive rebounding needs to be better. We lead 37-33

Some icy shooting down the stretch saw an 11 point lead evaporate and we have to play overtime tied 66-66.

Offense didn't return in the OT period either as we were outscored 9-0. A very disappointing loss that should have never happened. We had the game well under control. Long offensive lapses like that should never happen. I'm at a loss.

O'Conner had another excellent game with his 2nd straight double double 18pts, 10 rebs. Jeffers also had a double double with 12 pts, 11 rebs. Sanders at 13 pts, 6 rebs. Felts had 11 pts, 6 asts, 4 rebs. Battle again had just 2 pts, but had 6 asts, 4 rebs and 2 blks. Nobody at all could score for the last 10 minutes of the game, however.

Disappointing final:

G-W 66 Umass 75 OT

[CoachC]

Dec 15: as if our offensive woes aren't bad enough, Ike suffered a nasty knee contusion in the game last night and it's swollen up like a balloon. He's doubtful for our next game.