Tough break in Hartford (My take on the game)
Our guys played well for most of the game. I know a bunch of you guys will complain that the refs cost us this game, but our unforced TOs were a really big factor.
That being said, I believe our team outplayed UConn today and due to some bad bounces of the ball (and maybe a bad call or two, that can go either way in a tight game) we get the L instead of the W. I expected a loss today, but wanted a good, competitive game to show that the first UConn game was an aberration. I got what I hoped for; this was an amazing game and one of the best Memphis games of the season.
EDIT: Hard to say for sure, but if this one was played at the Forum, it could've easily been a double digit win for us. A bit frustrating.
The 4 Kingz had a great game, and to everyone's pleasure they never once played on the court at the same time. Each one of them had good games.
We outrebounded them by double digits. Austin, Pellom and Shaq played well, Shaq was often getting double or triple teamed but he kept his head in the game (a nice change from the SMU game).
Iverson, I dunno, I just don't think he's ready to be effective at this level yet.
Nick King, I love his tencity on offense and on the boards, but he'll never have the coachs' trust if he can't play better perimeter defense than he did tonight. I thought he was coming along, but while he was at on the court he let Niels Giffey get free for an open 3 (thank god he airballed it, but that's a guy you can easily take out of the game). Then, he didn't switch on screen and gave up a Napier three. The staff let him play through the mistake, but he never saw the court again after he was subbed out. Against a team like UConn, we've got to be able to switch 1 through 4, and King has to focus a lot more on the defensive end to be effective. Against a team with a traditional 4, King can get way more burn.
Gotta make sure that we don't drop a bad one to Rutgers or Houston, and then we can focus on taking two wins from Louisville, Cincy and SMU.
Go Tigers.
(This post was last modified: 02-15-2014 05:26 PM by MemphisCanes.)
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