Oops / SJU

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

68% from the freethrow line.. not good

Markus,  Sam, and Joey combined to go 11/12.  That's fine.

Theo went 6/10.  For him, that's fine.

Anim 0/3, including missing the front end of the bonus.  This is the one performance that stings.  When Sacar missed the 1-and-1, I had that feeling it would come back to bite us.

But lots of things could have made the difference in this game.  Missed layups, the end of the first half, 1st half turnovers,  etc.

[StillWarriors]

68% from the freethrow line.. not good

Unfortunately, the wrong guys kept getting fouled. I wouldn’t say it was an off night from the line as much as we have some really good and pretty poor free throw shooters. The wrong ones were getting fouled, and it cost us crucial possessions.

[Its DJOver]

Markus,  Sam, and Joey combined to go 11/12.  That's fine.

Theo went 6/10.  For him, that's fine.

Anim 0/3, including missing the front end of the bonus.  This is the one performance that stings.  When Sacar missed the 1-and-1, I had that feeling it would come back to bite us.

But lots of things could have made the difference in this game.  Missed layups, the end of the first half, 1st half turnovers,  etc.

I think the end of the 1st half hurt quite a bit.  Chance to cut it to 5 or 6, Markus get blocked, and StJ gets it up to 10.  Much different mindset going into half with a double digit defect.  Glad we fought back the way we did, but that 20 second stretch hurt almost as much as the one to end the 2nd half.

[GrimmReaper33]

In every other close game this season, things fell/went our way at the end.  It's why we were top 30 in the nation in KenPom's luck factor.  We were due to lose one like this.  No need to panic or draw too much from this loss.

If we follow it up with a loss Saturday, that would hurt, because it pretty much ends any hope for a conference title and puts us more in a 4 or 5 seed range with a tough climb back to the 3 line.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

That angle gives some evidence for the Joey got fouled on the rebound. I know a foul is a foul at any time but I still don't think 95% of refs call that.

95% of refs also don’t call that garbage 3 point foul on Ponds late in the game, and 80%+ don’t give him the bucket on that garbage continuation call. We were due for one.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I think this may be it.  I was quite surprised that Ponds started as soon as he did, they left us a lot of time to get a decent look.  StJ strikes me as the kind of team that would wait too long and take a tough contested buzzer beater, credit to Mullin (or whichever assistant is really the HC).

When you're down, I think you go right away.  Furthermore with the way SJU was crashing the offensive boards, I'm sure they thought they could get another chance.

[Its DJOver]

When you're down, I think you go right away.  Furthermore with the way SJU was crashing the offensive boards, I'm sure they thought they could get another chance.

I would have started with about 10 seconds left.  Gives you time for a tip-in, or even a O-board and kick to shooter, without giving the opposing team much time to go the length of the court.  If Markus had hit that last shot, or we had gotten something out of that possession to take the led with >3 seconds left, I think you could seriously question Mullins decision to have Ponds start so soon.  It worked out for them, but they left us too much time IMO.  I would hope that Wojo wouldn't coach that situation the way Mullin did if the roles were reversed.

[Class71]

Johnnie's are a very fast team. We are not. Their fast hands gets us out of rhythm and we then missed shots. Until the end of the game our D did not push them out of their comfort zone. The J's  go to their shooting positions under the basket and did their thing.

Even with all of that working against us and our poor shooting we still came close. How close, well if Sacar and/or Theo learn how to shoot foul shots like Matt learned over a summer we win. Theo is going to be fouled more and more as he dominates under the boards. We need him to make foul shots. He should talk to Matt. If Matt can do it Theo and Sacar can. Put in the time this summer please. We need you.l

[tower912]

Joey Hauser was not good last night.   Did not make a basket, lack of lateral quickness exposed on defense.    He's a freshman.   He will get better.    Dodd's always talks about 'the freshman wall'.    Perhaps. 

[StillWarriors]

I think the end of the 1st half hurt quite a bit.  Chance to cut it to 5 or 6, Markus get blocked, and StJ gets it up to 10.  Much different mindset going into half with a double digit defect.  Glad we fought back the way we did, but that 20 second stretch hurt almost as much as the one to end the 2nd half.

Good call. I meant to bring that one up. Joey was standing there ready for the kickout and wide open look. You could see that developing and I was thinking we are going to go into the half down 5, and it was 10 in a blink. Markus did have a clear path but they blocked that easily. That was a huge sequence in the game. St. John’s made a lot of big plays when it looked like we had something going before we finally got over the hump...briefly. 

[IrwinFletcher]

It wasn't his best night, honestly I thought one of the biggest problems was his defense on Simon in the first half. Dude got whatever he wanted. I thought this was one of Markus' better games distributing the ball. 3 turnovers when you play 39 minutes and have the ball in your hands every possession is solid.

In the first half, he made a terrible lazy pass to Sam that was deflected into the back court and created a shot clock violation.  That was a team TO but should be assigned to him.

Truly thought he had 5-6 TOs last night.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

In the first half, he made a terrible lazy pass to Sam that was deflected into the back court and created a shot clock violation.  That was a team TO but should be assigned to him.

Truly thought he had 5-6 TOs last night.

I thought there was another one that Sam got tagged with where Markus clearly threw the pass behind Sam.

[Nukem2]

In the first half, he made a terrible lazy pass to Sam that was deflected into the back court and created a shot clock violation.  That was a team TO but should be assigned to him.

Truly thought he had 5-6 TOs last night.

Yes, the official scorer was rather generous to Markus.

[4th and State]

In the first half, he made a terrible lazy pass to Sam that was deflected into the back court and created a shot clock violation.  That was a team TO but should be assigned to him.

Truly thought he had 5-6 TOs last night.

Markus was clearly off his game last night.  I would've liked to see Bailey on Ponds more at the end of the game.  Thought his length and height was more disruptive on Ponds than Sacar was.

Unfortunately, it was an off night versus a team that we don't match up well with.  A win on Saturday and we are still in great shape.

[CTWarrior]

Markus fd the whole thing up, as soon as he lost his dribble i knew it was gonna be a crap show. REally really bad night by Markus.

That was my thinking at the time.  I think he had a bad shooting night, but `did some good things sharing/moving the ball, etc. 

[CTWarrior]

I think a lot of what everyone is saying about why we lost is true.  To me, we played like we always do.  Sacar is gonna miss layups after nice moves and some FTs.  It is what he does.  Markus is gonna try some impossible passes and get them stolen.  Its what he does.  We're gonna fumble some rebounds, it is what we do. 

Big difference last night is that we missed a lot more open shots than we usually do.  I think, particularly in the first half, we were giving them too much credit and doing things too fast, rushing open shots, etc.

[BM1090]

Win on Saturday and everything is fine. Get a big win and build some momentum going into DePaul. Huge crowd on NMD, I think we get the win

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I think this may be it.  I was quite surprised that Ponds started as soon as he did, they left us a lot of time to get a decent look.  StJ strikes me as the kind of team that would wait too long and take a tough contested buzzer beater, credit to Mullin (or whichever assistant is really the HC).

This is a good point. Its possible that the plan was to throw a double team once the clock got down a little farther. Ponds did attack quite quickly.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

95% of refs also don’t call that garbage 3 point foul on Ponds late in the game, and 80%+ don’t give him the bucket on that garbage continuation call. We were due for one.

Eh....I went back and looked at that 3 point foul. Anim got him on the body. I think that's closer to a 50/50 call then 95% don't call it. Absolutely agree on the continuation.

While the refs did us no favors in the final 3 minutes, I would say overall we got more calls than SJU. We don't get back in the game without some of the help we got from the stripes.

[MU82]

Eh....I went back and looked at that 3 point foul. Anim got him on the body. I think that's closer to a 50/50 call then 95% don't call it. Absolutely agree on the continuation.

While the refs did us no favors in the final 3 minutes, I would say overall we got more calls than SJU. We don't get back in the game without some of the help we got from the stripes.

Agreed with all of that. And given the circumstances of Sam's shot against Creighton, I'll have a hard time getting overly worked up on "the refs screwed us" angle the rest of the season!

[79Warrior]

Joey Hauser was not good last night.   Did not make a basket, lack of lateral quickness exposed on defense.    He's a freshman.   He will get better.    Dodd's always talks about 'the freshman wall'.    Perhaps.

Joey is going to be fine. SJU is just a very quick team and Joey is a bit slow. Bad matchup for Joey. Athletic teams will get the better of him.

[MUfan12]

You're right...and they should leave EVERYONE salty...Unfortunately, most of you wake up today and just carry on with that "oh well" attitude.

So were you that cat in 225 that audibly called our guys "F*CKING CLOWNS" after the buzzer last night?

[tower912]

Joey is going to be fine. SJU is just a very quick team and Joey is a bit slow. Bad matchup for Joey. Athletic teams will get the better of him.

Agreed.  Bullish on him long term.

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

Agreed.  Bullish on him long term.

Joey in a year ir two defensively is not the same as joey now, just look at sam and theo and even markus....and pretty much every other college player ever

[MU82]

Joey will be a stud. He already has had many fine moments. None of them came last night. It's OK to say he had a poor game. I predict he'll bounce back strong against Nova.