Talk about a game of highs and lows. Small runs, but contested to the very end. It’s nice to finally have an ugly game that falls in our favor. This game was exemplified with the scuffle that occurred in overtime. Very chippy, and at times down right frustrating for those on the court and off. It was good to see Kyryl Natyazhko show some passion on the court, but the only problem is that he wasn’t playing at the time. In the end we won a tough fought game that was extremely important for the cats. There is no way we can challenge for the league title without taking care of home court.
Now time for some thoughts and stats from the game:
- Our second half was impressive as we went from 32.8% shooting in the first half to end the game at 47.1%.
- Three point shooting was a saving grace for our cats tonight. As a team we shot 12-22 from behind the arc, largely in part due to a great game by Brendon Lavender. More about him later.
- Our free throws were so frustrating all game. I can’t remember the last time we shot so poorly from the stripe. 61.8% is unacceptable, and I’m sure Sean Miller will have the team spending plenty of time at the stripe over the next few days.
- We lost the rebounding battle 36-32. I will take that final result though after being behind 25-15 at halftime.
- 17 assists as a team is a fairly good number. I would really like us to strive for at least 20 per game.
- 13 turnovers for the game isn’t great, but it’s an improvement over recent times. We are heading in the right direction at least.
Now that we got the team stats out of the way lets jump down to the player Grades.
Solomon Hill: GRADE F I know I may be a little hard at times, but this game was probably the worst game from Solomon in the last two years. He played a team high 38 minutes, and only managed to go 1-2 from the floor. He did add 8 rebounds, and went 2-2 from the line. However, he needs to be a leader.
Jesse Perry: GRADE D+ Perry fought hard like usual, but was pretty inefficient. He shot 2-7 from the floor, and 2-7 from the line. He also added 8 rebounds. We need more from him, but early foul trouble seemed to really calm him down.
Kyle Fogg: GRADE B- If you would have asked me 30 minutes into this game what his grade was I would have told you a D. However, he did hang mentally tough and really helped us when things were tight. His defense was also very important to our win. He shot 7-17 for 23 points.
Nick Johnson: GRADE B I’m not sure if his hero is Fogg, but Nick basically had the same game plan. He started out fairly slow, but started to make his impact as the game went on. His defense was also extremely strong. He went 5-10 from the floor and 3-4 from behind the arc. His night was topped off by a gorgeous two handed dunk on a missed shot in over time.
Josiah Turner: GRADE B+ I felt Josiah didn’t try to do to much today. He attempted to run the team, and was fairly productive at it. He may not have had huge stats, but he did fill up the card. 4 points, 1 block, 2 steals, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds.
Brendon Lavender: GRADE A Brendon has deserved more minutes and is finally getting them. He may hurt us in certain areas on the floor, but his shooting can not be denied. Talk about range and accuracy, Brendon was 5-6 from three point land. Those were also made in a very important part of the game where OSU could have gotten away from us if it wasn’t for Brendon’s sharp shooting.
Kryrl Natyazhko: GRADE D On the floor Kryrl didn’t give us much. He only played 7 minutes for the game and missed two shots. During the little scrum he was more intense then I have seen him all year. I wish he could bottle that and bring it on the floor while the games being played.
Kevin Parrom: GRADE C Kevin didn’t put up any great numbers, but his 3 rebounds and 3 assists were helpful. On the bright side Kevin did look like he was moving a bit better on the floor today.
Jordin Mayes: GRADE C Jordin came in and ran the point well, but overall he tends to make some poor decisions. I also am a little disappointed he isn’t shooting the ball as well as he did at the beginning of the year.
Angelo Chol: GRADE C These are the games that Angelo could really help us, but it appears he is just not ready yet. He made one beautiful drive, but other than that didn’t do much. His defense reminds me kind of Derrick Williams defense in his freshman year. Lots of silly fouls, and hopefully he will learn how referee’s at the college level call the games.