11/14: 45-36. +10 RBs. Logg had 15, but 3 fouls.
Slow start then we took control. 79-64. +16 RBs. The points, at least a lot them, came outside. 22, 3 for Logg, 11, 4 for Roy, 8, 3 for Harm. Del Hack had 13, 8, 3 with 5 blocks.
It’s #23 Creighton, 1-0, next. They upset #6 seed Michigan.
11/16: 34-30. We’re not shooting well and we’re in foul trouble.
80-76. They never led in the 2nd but they got it to 1 or 2 several times. We always had an answer. +12 RBs. 20 TOs, but they had 24. 25, 10, 1, 3, 3 for Hack, 15, 9 for Mack, 30 points outside, so good balance.
#7 seed, #4 ranked Florida in the semis. We may be over matched.
11/18: 38-41. Holding our own. Foul trouble though.
74-70. We went O/D very effectively at the end, and played terrific D throughout the 2nd, but especially in the last couple of minutes. 31 fouls called on us, 22 on them. +6 TOs. 24, 5 for our leaded Del Hack, 14, 2, 2, 2, 3 for Ray Deck. My 4
guards combined for only 5 TOs. Great win!
Walk on guard Tom Dock, who had 5 in 5 1st half minutes, hurt his calf. Out about a week.
#8 seed, #9 ranked Michigan ST for the title.
I wasn’t confident we’d get this far. I’m encouraged.
11/20: 26-18. A defensive struggle. We held them to 22.7%. 9 and 7 for Hack.
56-52. They came within a point or two but never tied or led late in the game. 18, 13, for Hack, 14, 3, 2, 2 for Logg. We win the NIT!
#8 Oregon ST, 2-0, is next, here, in our home debut. My former team continues to do well.
11/23: 30-28 at the break. Back and forth all the way.
59-59. Jed Roy hit a 3 at the buzzer.
66-76 in OT. 2 big guys fouled out and we just couldn’t keep up. 24 lead changes, 18 ties. -8 RBs, +4 TOs. We shot 25.4% for the game.
Rematch at 2-1 Creighton. We won by 4 in the NIT.
11/26: 17-42 at halftime. That may be as ugly a 1st half as any of my teams has ever gone through.
I gave up and pulled my starters with 5 ½ to go. 42-66. 22 TOs.
2-1 Oklahoma is here next. We need to turn this around.
Lineup change. Mack is starting for Hans, and Kitt is getting the rest of Hans’ minutes.
11/30: 35-42 at the half. Never heard Gampel Pavilion this quiet.
60-58. They had the ball last, with 13 seconds to go. We defended it excellently. We NEEDED this one! +15 RBs. A terrible 21 TOs but they had 18. 15, 6, 3, 3 for Logg. 10, guys scored.
It was a win but there’s lots to fix with this team. We only score 65.3 per, and we give up 15.7 TOs. Only our rebounding is keeping us in games, 37.6, which is #3 in the nation and +6.0. We’re going to try giving Jed Roy a few more minutes at guard. We’re also going to play Hack exclusively at C. We were switching him between C and PF.
At #1 North Carolina, 7-0, next. We’re not ready for this team.
12/3: 45-30 at the half. Don’t wake me! +10 RBs, 5 TOs. Solid team D and we found the open man on O. Now to hang on!
Got it to 20 early. 85-58. +14 Rbs, +4 TOs, 7 fewer fouls. We shot 45.3%, they shot 33.9%. 19, 10, 2, 2 for Hack, 15 each for Harm and Logg, 8, 12, 2 for Kitt from the bench, and 10 for Hans from the bench. We did everything right.
“Dan Druff here after the game with Coach Cox. Coach, your guys just annihilated the undefeated #1 team in the country. Tell us about it.”
“If I’m dreaming don’t wake me, Dan. Everything just worked. You chart it, you practice it, you expect certain things. Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t. Tonight they played about as well as a team can play.”
“And things have not been going great up ‘til now. Except for the season opener you hadn’t won by more than 4 all year, and you got blasted at Creighton.”
“Well, when we lost our experienced Point Guard we knew we’d need some time to come together as a team, and that has been very evident in most of our games. Maybe tonight shows we’ve finally put the pieces together. I hope so!”
“Best of luck, Coach.”
It doesn’t get easier. We’re at #24 Syracuse, 4-2, next.
12/7: 33-38 at the break. We played chase the whole half, trailing by as many as 14, and never leading after the first 2-3 minutes. Still, we’re in it.
62-59. Big turn around and we held on late. +16 RBs, 7 fewer fouls. That made up for -6 TOs. 24, 12 for our leader, Del Hack, but 9 guys contributed. Our back up guards really did some fine work.
#9 Maryland, 6-0, is here.
12/10: 48-23. This team is exceeding my expectations right now. +8 RBs, +6 TOs (3 for the half), shooting 53.3% to their 25%.
73-59 but I emptied the bench with 5:00 to play. We led by as many as 29. +7 TOs. 17, 7 for Hack, 13, 6 for Deck, 12 for Logg, and great bench play.
Loyd Feld hurt his back. Out about a week and a half.
8-2, #2, RPI #1.
At #23 Auburn, 6-1, next.
12/13: 44-48 at the half. A shootout. We blew a 10 point lead. They’re doing it all outside.
87-87 and OT. They hit a three with 7 seconds left and then we missed one.
95-91. 3 of our guys, Hack, Mack, and Kitt, fouled out late in the 2nd so we were down to our 10th and 11th man in some situations with Feld out with the injury. But we pulled through! +9 RBs. 21, 5 for Hack, 16, 12, 2 for Deck, 18, 5 for Logg, 10 each for Mack and Harm. Kitt, Hans, Roy, and seldom used Joe Arne all gave us some great minutes.
We close out pre-conf. play with 6-2 Michigan here.
12/21: 39-42 at the half. 16 lead changes, 8 ties. Lots of fouls called both ways. 14, 3 for Hack.
79-81. We had a good look at the end but the shot missed. 28 lead changes, 15 ties, never more than a 6 point spread. +7 RBs, +5 TOs, but we gave up 11 threes. 29, 6 for Hack, 9,9 ,4, 2, 4 for Deck.
12/25: 9-3 at the end of pre-conf. play. +3.4 PPG, +7.3 RBs, +1.4 TOs, #1 in the nation in RBs and blocks.
We start conf. play at our chief rival, #12 Temple, 10-1.