2023: 3s and Put Backs

[Wayne23]

1/16: At 9-6, 1-3 Nebraska. They have a very good C. We’re now #8.

We take the lead then they come back. A run puts us up 15 after 10. 60-42 at the half. Balanced scoring. 13 threes to their 2 is the difference. Call has 3 fouls.

Up 21 with 10 to play.

97-86, which was as close as they got. 14, 1, 8 for Ture, 14, 4 for Toma, 15 for Lear. We were outplayed inside but 20 threes to 4.

1/18: Rematch with 12-4, 4-2 Illinois, who beat us by 8 in the Big 10 opener. They beat us badly inside.

Early lead. Up 6 after 10. They catch up. 55-50 in a 1st half shootout. The inside game is about even, which we’ll take. Their PF has 3 fouls. 16, 3 for Call. We need to play better D. Back and forth.

Down 5 with 10 left.

91-106. They took control inside in the 2nd. They shot 57.6% and that was the clincher, our awful D. Not a good night.

1/23: 9-7, 3-4 Minnesota is here. We won by only 3 at their place. As usual we need to play better inside.

We take the lead early and stretch it. Up 14 after 10. 51-38 at halftime. Pugh has 3 fouls. 11, 4 for Call. We're winning the battle inside but we need more from our guards, and our bigs have too many fouls.

We get it to 20. Up 30 with 10 to play.

102-83. 27, 5 for Call, 19, 5, 3, 6 for Toma, 22 for Lear. Our guards stepped up in the 2nd.

[Wayne23]

1/25: At 12-7, 4-4 Ohio ST, our in state rival. I’m not sure they can score enough points to stay with us. But it’s a road game so… They’re strong outside.

We’re flat early on. Down 8 after 10. We need to wake up. 43-48 at halftime. 3 fouls each for Pugh, Dent, and Toma. They’ve taken 15 more free throws. They’re shooting 56.5% to our 31.1%, and that plus the fouls is the story. We catch them early on. Back and forth. Up 1 with 10 to go.

95-93. Pat Ture missed two free throws with 3.3 seconds left. They got off a decent three but it missed long. 16, 4 for Call, 15 for Toma, 14 for Lear. Our bench won it for us, +25. Poor D again with them shooting 53.8%. 8 TOs to 25 helped a lot.

Brad Kitt broke his ankle and is out until March, most likely.

At the halfway point in Big 10 play we’re 19-2, 8-2, so we can play in the Big 10! #8, NET #1. Up 1 game over 6 teams so it’s wide open. We play 2 top 10 teams on the road so who knows?

Still #1 in PPG and horrible in PPG Allowed, but +12.3. We’re hitting only .335 on threes. Best offense in the country but not good at all on D. Probably due to our fast pace, which gives the other team a lot of possessions.

[Wayne23]

2/1: 14-5, 7-3 Rutgers is here. Strong inside game and an SG who can light it up, 20.6. We’re up to #6 in the polls.

We take a big early lead. Up 22 after 10, which is a surprise. 58-31 at halftime. 29, 3 for Call. 3 fouls for Toma. We’re dominating inside. 13-29 on threes. Holding them to 28.6% shooting.

Up 24 with 10 to go. We’re running away with it.

107-72. 37, 4 for Call, great game! 14, 13 for Pugh, 14, 7 for Dent. Solid inside play and 24 threes.

Only 2 teams are one game back. One of them, the toughest, is next.

2/3: At #5 ranked Michigan ST, 18-4, 7-3. We won by 10 at home. They have 2 starters out with injuries but they keep winning.

They take the lead. We come back. Down 4 after 10 as this one is back and forth. They go on a big run. 40-58 at the break. That’s a big hill to climb. They’re shooting 55.6%, with 8 threes to our 10 and +10 from the line. They’re embarrassing us inside. We need to play some D and hope the threes go in.

Down 22 with 10 left; not looking good.

76-101. I had the subs in early. We were badly outplayed tonight. 20 for Toma, 16, 7 for Pugh, but no one else did much. -30 RBs. Their inside game simply owned ours.

3 way tie for 1st with 3 teams 1 back and 8 to play.

2/8: At 10-11, 4-8 Penn ST. We need a comeback win. They rebound and ball handle well but they’re struggling.

Close early. Up 6 after 10. 42-32 at the half. Good D but we’re shooting poorly. 11 each for Ture and Toma.

We get it to 20 quickly. Up 24 with 10 to go.

93-70. 21, 5 for Toma, 13, 14 for Pugh, 13, 3, 6 for Ture. Big edge inside. 15 threes.

Alone in first again.

2/13: In a scheduling fluke we play Penn St, 10-12, 4-9, again, this time at home. Weird.

Early lead, as expected. Up only 6 after 10. Huge run, up 55-33 at the break. 23, 1, 3, 4 for Toma. Solid inside play.

Up 26 with 10 to go.

91-65. Pretty much the same as last time. 29, 1, 3, 4 for Toma. 16, 3, 6 for Ture. Great inside play. 17 threes.

[Wayne23]

2/15: 11-11, 4-9 Michigan is here. They’re rebuilding and struggling.

We’re flat early. Up 4 after 10. 36-34. Terrible first half. We shot 30%, 20.8% on threes. Poor D, poor inside play. The locker room was not a pleasant place.

Still flat in the early going. Tied with 10 left.

79-75 in one of our worst games. This is a team we should have embarrassed and they stayed close all the way, never trailing by more than 8. I am NOT happy. 32, 5 for Call with 8 threes. He saved us. We took 35 more shots and made 5 more! They took 18 more free throws and made most of them. We were outplayed inside. Only the vast talent differential saved us.

2/20: At #15 Purdue, 18-7, 10-5. We’re #5. We won by only 9 at home. Their C is out, knee.

Slow start and we fall behind. Down 7 after 10. We catch up. 61-62 at the break. They’re shooting 54.3% to our 46.5%. Call has 3 fouls. 13, 5 for Pugh, 10, 7 for Dent. We need to play D.

Up 3 with 10 left.

97-98. We missed an open three at the end. Why we took a three I do not know. 26, 10 for Pugh, 16, 5 for sub forward Sid Hart. Outplayed inside, outshot, 16 fewer free throw attempts. We’re definitely in a slump. Our bench was the only thing that kept it close.

Worse than the loss was the fact that Mick Pugh broke his ankle and is out for the season. That’s two big men out. Dan Holl will play C and Don Dent will move to PF. Sid Hart is our first big off the bench.

Tied with Rutgers for 1st with 3 teams one back and 4 to play.

2/22: 13-13, 4-12 Wisconsin is here. Tough year for them. Hopefully we can snap out of it in this game.

Nope. Flat early. Up 4 after 10. 41-34 at halftime. 13, 10 for Dent, 9, 1, 3 for Toma. We’re just not playing our game lately. I try to wake them up at halftime.

Early run helps. Up 18 with 10 to play.

96-70. Good 2nd half. 22, 3, 5 for Toma, 17, 19 for Dent, 23, 5 for Call, 10, 11 for Holl, 12 assists for Ture.

Sub guard Pat Site hurts his arm. He’s day to day.

[Wayne23]

2/27: At #19 Rutgers, 20-6, 13-4, tied with us in 1st place. We won by 35 at our place. They have an excellent SG and they rebound well.

Close early. Up 1 after 10. 40-42 at the break. 12, 6 for Holl but he has 3 fouls, as does Dent. They’ve made 10 more from the line. Fouls are the problem again. Only 4-21 on threes.

Down 10 early. Down 14 with 10 to go. Not good!

81-85. We got it to 2 twice but couldn’t quite get there. 16, 4, 4 for sub guard Pat Site, 17, 3 for Call, 13, 3, 3, 4 for Toma. But Holl fouled out and dent had 4. They won inside and at the line- 19 more made, and the threes weren’t falling, 25.5%.

We’re alone in 2nd place with 2 to play.

3/1: At 12-15, 5-13 Michigan. We won by only 4 at home. They are strongest at SG and PF.

They take an early lead but we come back. Up 8 after 10. 46-39 at halftime. Holl has 3 fouls. 16, 6 for Sid Hart, 15 for Site. Our bench is leading the way. 10 threes.
It’s a battle! Up 2 with 10 to play.

88-90. Dent had a shot blocked with 1.1 left. 24 for Site, 19, 7 for Hart. Dent had 16, 9, Ture had 9, 1, 12. Not much from the other starters. Call fouled out playing only 20 minutes. They easily won the inside game, they outshot us, and we shot 30% on threes.

One more to play.

3/3: We finish the regular season at home with #23 Indiana, 20-10, 10-9. We’re in a two way tie for 2nd with Purdue. I emphasize the importance of finishing strong. We’ll see. Having two big guys out is really hurting us.

Early lead. Up 7 after 10. 43-33 at halftime. Great D held them to 28%. 18 for Site, 12 and 4 for Dent but 3 fouls along with Holl, who can’t seem to stay on the floor. This one is far from over.

Up 16 with 10 left.

100-75. Great 2nd half, thankfully. 18, 9 for Call, 18, 3 for Site, 19 for Hart, 12, 11 for Holl. 13 assists for Ture. 20 threes.

3/5: We end up 25-6, 14-6, tied for 2nd, #2 seed. Ranked #5, NET #2. I’d say we get a #1 seed if we win the Big 10 tourney and a #2 otherwise.

Call leads in scoring with 17.1. Toma gets 13.4.Dent leads in RBs with 8.4. Pugh gets points and RBs but it’s doubtful he’ll play again unless we reach the final Four. Ture gets 9.0 assists.

We’re still #1 in points with 95.4, and near the bottom in pints allowed. +11.9 PPG. -1.4 in RBs even though we’re 9th. A remarkable 7.2 turnovers, -8.8. +5.8 steals.

On to the post season.

[Wayne23]

3/9: 7 seed Nebraska, 20-12, 11-9 in the quarter finals. We won by 11 there.

Their C is terrific, a scorer and a real glass eater. They can rebound.

Back and forth early. Down 12 after 10 as they go on a big run. 33-41 at the half. We’re shooting 26.8%, 4-32 on threes. That has to change or we’re out. 17, 4 for Call.

Down 19 with 10 left. Huge trouble.

75-78. Big comeback but the mountain was too high. 32, 7 for Call, 18, 2, 4, 4, 3 for Toma. 31.3%, 17.5% on threes. That was the story. Wew git bveat inside but if we had hit shots that wouldn’t have mattered. Oh well, live by the three, die by the three.

[Wayne23]

3/12: #2 East. We play #15 Seattle, 17-16. They’re better inside.

3/16: Early lead. Up 26 after 10. This is shaping up to be a blowout. 69-33. 20 for Toma, 15,4 for Hart. Total mismatch. I’ll play the subs a lot in the 2nd.

Up by 39 with 10 left. Subs are in.

113-73. Ugly! 30 for Toma, 18, 5 for Hart, 18, 4 for Call, 14, 3 for Site, 11 assists for Ture.

Kitt is back. If we win our next, Pugh will be back.

It’s #10 seed Duquesne, 24-9, in round 2.

3/18: They’re good outside and they can rebound.

They take a quick lead. Down 12 after 10. We couldn’t be flatter. 44-50; we climb back into it somewhat. 3 fouls each for Ture and Dent. 12 points for Call. They shot 50% and matched us with 8 threes. The margin was won at the line, 6-12. We need Ture especially but also Dent in the lineup.

We finally take our first lead with less than 16 to go. Up by 1 with 10 left. The calls continue to go against us. OT!

98-91. Frankly, we got lucky. 32, 6 for Call, who was the difference with 8 threes, two of them in OT. 12, 16 for Holl, 13, 3, 8 for Ture, 14, 0, 2, 4 for Toma.

We’ll finally be back at full strength for our next game against #3 seed, conference rival Rutgers. 25-8. We won by 35, lost by 4 in the regular season.

They’ve got that terrific SG and they’re good inside.

[Wayne23]

3/23: Big early lead. Up by 9 after 10. They catch up. 49-47 at halftime. 14, 3 for Toma, 12, 3 for Call. They’re winning the inside battle but we have 10 threes to their 5. It’s up for grabs.

Early run. Up 16 with 10 to play.

95-83 and we’re in the Elite Eight! 20, 8 for Dent, 20, 7 for Call, 21, 3 for Toma, 7, 3, 12 for Ture. 16 threes.

#1 seed, #2 ranked Clemson, 35-2. They play very, very good D. They do everything well and they’re strong at every position. This won’t be easy!

3/25: Back and forth early. Up 4 after 10. Then we go on a run. They come back. 50-48 at the half. 12, 5 for Call. 12 threes to 4 is our margin and more. -6 from the line.

Early run then they come back. Up 2 with 10 to play. They go on a run.

80-93. They were the better team. 15, 11 for Dent, 17, 4 for Toma, 12, 5 for Call. They won it inside. Our 17 threes weren’t enough. -10 from the line.

[Wayne23]

4/3: #3 Texas is the champ.

4/4: Awards: I am Conf. COY. I wish at least one of my players had been honored.

4/9: TP up from 53 to 57. Not going anywhere.

4/23: I ask for $. We get $12,800.

28-8, 14-6, Elite Eight. I’ll take it. Total for 14 seasons, 361-85, .809.

We lose starters Sam Call and Don Dent, and sub Dan Holl. Great recruits coming in.

[Wayne23]

5/1: #34 recruiting class. Not ranked preseason. We should be.

5/29: We lose Pat Site, our #4 guard. We’ll go for the best player available.

6/2: We scout and contact lots of players.

6/5: We get a very good looking C from Iowa. He’ll start.

6/25: We’ll go to the Indy and Chicago camps.

6/26: 4 scholarships. We need guards, maybe 3 of them.

7/11: We offer to 3 PGs and a PF.

8/7: Working those recruits!

8/28: Students are back on campus. As usual nearly all of my playters were here for a good part of the summer. Summer school allows them to take only 4 classes a semester which is really helpful to them.

9/11: We get a PG, #84, lose a PG and a PF. We visit three guys we’re after and offer to the two we hadn’t already offered to.

9/18: We get a PG, #141, lose the other 2.

No in season tourney. Competitive schedule. Lots of ranked teams.

9/25: We lose both recruits we’re after. Frustrating!

10/2: We get a C, #142.. Still chasing a guard. We think we have a shot at him.

1st day of practice. We think we’re going to be good again this year.

10/9: We get the last recruit, PG, #146. One B+ recruit, 2 Bs, 1 B-.

10/30: I have one player struggling with grades. We’re giving him a lot of support. We’ll see…