We have ourselves a ball game...70-69, UAB

Owls were 1-9 from 3-point range ... then Murphy hits 3 in a row!

69-70 ... 6:02 left.

We got it to 1 but now trail by 6 at the under-4 timeout.

Man, we just can't get the defense when we need it. Mullins gets juked out of his shoes, then loses his man behind the arc. Also, two bad sets when we got within a possession. Don't like the Williams hook shot and then a shot clock violation.

Not sure why Adams hasnt been on the court. Parrish just doesn’t give us a scorer.

(01-26-2019 09:46 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  Not sure why Adams hasnt been on the court. Parrish just doesn’t give us a scorer.

I guess they like his defense on UAB's shifty but smallish guards? But I don't think he's been overly effective defensively. Also that block call was atrocious. Refs have been fine for the most part but they can't help themselves sometimes. Have to try to make themselves part of the game.

(01-26-2019 09:51 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  

(01-26-2019 09:46 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  Not sure why Adams hasnt been on the court. Parrish just doesn’t give us a scorer.

I guess they like his defense on UAB's shifty but smallish guards? But I don't think he's been overly effective defensively. Also that block call was atrocious.

A real bailout call with 3 on the shot clock.

In the end the points off turnovers was deadly. Young team vs an experienced one. UAB is the best I have seen in the conference.

(01-26-2019 09:53 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  In the end the points off turnovers was deadly. Young team vs an experienced one. UAB is the best I have seen in the conference.

Also 10 missed free throws.

(01-26-2019 09:53 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  In the end the points off turnovers was deadly. Young team vs an experienced one. UAB is the best I have seen in the conference.

They're just a tough matchup. Got 3-4 guys that can beat you off the dribble. Don't think they'll shoot well enough to win the conference tournament, but they're pretty young so they'll be a threat for the next few years.

(01-26-2019 09:54 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  

(01-26-2019 09:53 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  In the end the points off turnovers was deadly. Young team vs an experienced one. UAB is the best I have seen in the conference.

Also 10 missed free throws.

FTs really hurt tonight. UAB hit theirs.

Ton of big plays offensively today, just not enough on defense. Few FTs here and there also would have helped.

Tough loss but UAB is just a bit better right now.

No major gripes with the refs besides that block call but hey, not every call will go your way.

Don’t think there’s anyone in the conference we can’t play with at this point. Pretty exciting

UAB came into this game a legitimately decent defense. This wasn't scoring 86 against some scrubs. We can keep up with anybody in the conference on the offensive side. How many games we win and how far we go in the tournament will completely depend on the other side. UAB came in averaging 69 points. That's not terrible, but they scored an easy 89 tonight. An average defensive performance tonight wins us the game.

On the bright side, QMB is probably already the best big man we've had in I don't know how many years. Mullins is fearless. Murphy has the confidence of a senior and will only get better as he starts attacking more. Moore and Peterson both have high ceilings, even if they haven't moved as quickly as the other three. *If* we can keep this nucleus of players together, and *if* we just shore up the defense a tad, this is a legitimate contender next season.

(01-26-2019 08:47 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(01-26-2019 08:35 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(01-26-2019 08:23 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(01-26-2019 07:58 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  How is the crowd looking?

Paid crowd looks meh from the look of ESPN+, student section looks decent (going up against the “Africaye” event per Leebron’s Instagram).

I’d say average paid crowd. Student section less than half full. Not many athletes other than tennis but they aren’t in the student section.

gotcha. With the camera placement, you really only see the “non-athlete” side of the student section.

(01-26-2019 10:13 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(01-26-2019 08:47 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(01-26-2019 08:35 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(01-26-2019 08:23 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(01-26-2019 07:58 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  How is the crowd looking?

Paid crowd looks meh from the look of ESPN+, student section looks decent (going up against the “Africaye” event per Leebron’s Instagram).

I’d say average paid crowd. Student section less than half full. Not many athletes other than tennis but they aren’t in the student section.

gotcha. With the camera placement, you really only see the “non-athlete” side of the student section.

Hahaha I later did see this angle!

Tough loss. (Another) game we could've had. If you would've told me before the year that we'd be 3-5 in conference but that losses 3, 4, and 5 would be by 1,1, and 3 points, and two of them would be to top teams in the conference, I probably would've taken it. We didn't look overmatched and didn't quit and seems like right now we can hang with anyone in conference. Will be tough to win the tournament obviously, but we could definitely be a team you don't want to play.

54 points from freshman tonight. Really hope Pera can hold this team together. Starting 5 next year of QMB, Martin, Murphy, Moore (?), Mullins wouldn't be a bad group, would it?

I'll give credit to Pera. So far this year, this team has played better than I expected and improved markedly.

People pretty much have already said what I would have said. I don't think we had the intensity the first half of the second half, and that hurt quite a bit. It was just too big of a hole to climb out of.

I still think we need to start Murphy over Peterson. Murphy keeps getting better and better, and he's improved his rebounding too. I was also glad to see Parrish get more minutes tonight - he's a much better defensive player than anyone else we have on the perimeter. But in general, I think Pera has done a really good job managing the minutes this season.

It would have been nice to get this win, but I still think we can compete in just about every game we'll have from here out (possibly at ODU could be tough). Marshall's score today against USM was a shocker. They must have some serious issues with that team these days.

The difference in the game was our free throw shooting (missed 10 of 30) and our their 3 vs. 13 turnover differential (including 7 steals).