12/13: They take an early lead. Down 11 after 10. We can’t hit a shot. 26-50 at the half. We can’t hit and they can’t miss. 3 fouls for Hix. Shooting 27.3% to 58.6%.
Shooting better early but it’s a big mountain. Down 11 with 10 to play. Not happening.
69-100. Least points we’ve scored all season, most we’ve given up. We were awful. A season low 34 in the paint.
“Jay Kaye, WNOU. Coach, what do you do after a night like tonight?”
“Ugh. All you can do is try to fix things in practice and not let the players lose confidence. Harp is hurt and didn’t play much, and he wasn’t very effective when he did play. He’s our key, and losing him made things really tough.”
“It seemed like your guys were going through the motions for most of the game.”
“And that’s something we won’t put up with. Notice that I subbed a lot more than normal. That was to try to wake up my starters but I can’t say it worked very well.”
“3 losses already. Is this a rebuilding year?”
“It shouldn’t be. We’ll be back.”
3-4 Akron is here. We should beat this team.
12/20: Close early. Up 1 after 10. 40-42. Poor D, 54.5%. We could be shooting better. Bottom line is Harp being hurt and not that effective.
It’s close early. We need a run! And we get one! Up 16 with 10 left.
94-79. 25, 10, 1, 3 for Harp in only 21 minutes. 19, 7 for Nate, 13, 3 for Vaka. +30 in the paint but sloppy, 18 TOs. They had 22.
Final pre-conf. game is a real challenge at #3 Seton Hall, 14-0. This won’t be easy!
Harp is back at 100%.
12/27: Close early. Down 2 after 10. 41-43 at halftime. Our bench is keeping us in it. We need more from our guards. We’re doing well inside.
Still close early. Up 5 with 10 to go. Then we get it to double figures.
83-76. A HUGE win! 22, 10, 4 blocks for Harp, 16, 9, 4 blocks for Nate. +14 for the bench. Big edge inside.
We end pre-conf. play at 8-3, NET #12.
#1 in PPG, #6 in RBs.
Harp leads us in scoring and RBs, Caes gets 7.0 assists.
We start MWC play at 10-3 Utah ST. Very good outside.