N ot C ompletely C lean, U nfortunately

[tower912]

1.  What a start.
2 Bench came in and it took them a bit to get their flow.
3.  Bold move leaving Sean in w two fouls in the first half.  It paid off.
4.  For a player that so many doubted, there was a collective intake of breath when Omax went down and came up holding his shoulder. 
5.  Chase is so much fun. Players like him are what Wojo never landed.
6.  Rebounds.  Free throws.
7.  Oso handling the ball more than any 6'10 guy in the country. 
8.  Their zone made MU stand still.
9.  Erratic defensive rotations at times in the first half.  And then most of the second half.
10.  Never a doubt.  A lot of good from a lot of players.   Enough mistakes for Shaka to yell at them in practice. 
11.  Bring on the domers.

[Shooter McGavin]

1.  What a start.
2 Bench came in and it took them a bit to get their flow.
3.  Bold move leaving Sean in w two fouls in the first half.  It paid off.
4.  For a player that so many doubted, there was a collective intake of breath when Omax went down and came up holding his shoulder. 
5.  Chase is so much fun. Players like him are what Wojo never landed.
6.  Rebounds.  Free throws.
7.  Oso handling the ball more than any 6'10 guy in the country. 
8.  Their zone made MU stand still.
9.  Erratic defensive rotations at times in the first half.  And then most of the second half.
10.  Never a doubt.  A lot of good from a lot of players.   Enough mistakes for Shaka to yell at them in practice. 
11.  Bring on the domers.

Defense.  Ouch!

[tower912]

Defense.  Ouch!

See: 9

[wadesworld]

Really fun first half.  Chase is a lot further along than I thought he would be.  Oso getting into foul trouble changed the way the game was going.  That's going to be a problem for the team.  Layup line defense in the second half wasn't ideal.  Hopefully the defense starts traveling to Fiserv Forum for Big East games.

[nyg]

Well, second half ugh…. Gave up 49 points against that team. Had 28 point lead.

They went to zone and MU started jacking threes, believe went 2 for 14 from three in second. BE scouting???

Sean Jones and Gold hardly played in second half. More Ross minutes, maybe getting rotation down? 

[mileskishnish72]

Losing a half (by that much) to a team like this is a problem. Shows lack of focus and determination.

[Newsdreams]

Lost 2nd half bigly, MU sucks

[Daniel]

Second half was a folly.    Cannot have that kind of performance in the bid East.   Chase is an exciting player.  Sean Jones needs to let the shot come to him.  Forces stuff a bit.   OMax a great game as well as Oso.   But overall, a D for second half, A for first half so maybe a C+ for game

[Shooter McGavin]

MU has played pretty well against the zone this year haven’t they?  They didn’t seem comfortable tonight.  My youngest son kept commenting that he hopes Brey’s not watching.  Will be a fun game Sunday.  Hope they can string together two halves on defense and we should be ok.

[Herman Cain]

1. We won
2. Hopefully O-Max is not seriously injured.
3. Notre Dame is another opportunity for a Quality Win.

[Ellenson Guerrero]

Overall I’ll take the easy win. Tough to maintain energy when the game is over by halftime, but Shaka needs to use the second half as a teachable moment. Ross needs to find his 3 point shot; he could be a huge asset in Big East play if he can be a true 3 and D player. Stevie’s shot is broken; he needs it rebuilt from the ground up over the off-season.

[Dr. Blackheart]

*Jump Around Guy made his first appearance.
*Shaka never stops coaching or should I say teaching.
*FT practice, please
*Kolek beat three times in a row off the dribble. Shaka sits him. Puts him in a few minutes later and beat again. Subs him for Stevie. #Accountability.
*MU Dance Team with a great ballet routine

[PointWarrior]

Shaka ball not good in 2nd half’s with leads.  Woof again

[BLWarrior91]

1.  What a start.
2 Bench came in and it took them a bit to get their flow.
3.  Bold move leaving Sean in w two fouls in the first half.  It paid off.
4.  For a player that so many doubted, there was a collective intake of breath when Omax went down and came up holding his shoulder. 
5.  Chase is so much fun. Players like him are what Wojo never landed.
6.  Rebounds.  Free throws.
7.  Oso handling the ball more than any 6'10 guy in the country. 
8.  Their zone made MU stand still.
9.  Erratic defensive rotations at times in the first half.  And then most of the second half.
10.  Never a doubt.  A lot of good from a lot of players.   Enough mistakes for Shaka to yell at them in practice. 
11.  Bring on the domers.

How about Gold leading the break?  We have two big guys who are great ball handlers.  There’s so much potential with this group and they’ll only get better.

[NotAnAlum]

We beat these guys by the same margin Virginia did and unlike the Virginia game ours was never in doubt.   Hard to take much from final margin or second half play. 
Now play like you did the first 5 minutes against ND and make that team play from behind.  Time to show we can win a close game.

[Dr. Blackheart]

We beat these guys by the same margin Virginia did and unlike the Virginia game ours was never in doubt.   Hard to take much from final margin or second half play. 
Now play like you did the first 5 minutes against ND and make that team play from behind.  Time to show we can win a close game.

And a game on the road.

#COLE

[MU82]

*Jump Around Guy made his first appearance.
*Shaka never stops coaching or should I say teaching.
*FT practice, please
*Kolek beat three times in a row off the dribble. Shaka sits him. Puts him in a few minutes later and beat again. Subs him for Stevie. #Accountability.
*MU Dance Team with a great ballet routine

I thought Kolek looked a step or two slow all night. He's never been the quickest guy in the nation, but he usually stays with his man fairly well. Hope he's OK physically.

Otherwise, it's hard to get too worked up over a mediocre second half in a game that was never in doubt.

Time to rock-n-roll in South Bend!

[Newsdreams]

*Jump Around Guy made his first appearance.
*Shaka never stops coaching or should I say teaching.
*FT practice, please
*Kolek beat three times in a row off the dribble. Shaka sits him. Puts him in a few minutes later and beat again. Subs him for Stevie. #Accountability.
*MU Dance Team with a great ballet routine

No matta

[MuggsyB]

it cannot be emphasized enough how important the next two games are for us.  It's likely ND won't do squat in the ACC but it's still an opportunity for a quality win.  Nothing is for certain in the BEast  but it's reasonable to assume Creighton will be near the top of our league.  Taking care of business and starting the conf schedule strong is imperative, especially after the unfortunate loss vs Wisky.  Disposing of ND and Creighton will put us on solid footing. 

[82fanatic]

I thought to ponder.

What if the first half coach ran with a lineup and combination that he knows works. Did indeed work well.

Second half, let’s find out what else could work. Try one for a while, try another for a while. Well that doesn’t work, let’s try something else. All the things tried in the second half didn’t seem to work. Did we find out anything more about our players? What to work on, what do try, was it a learning experience?

Better to try these things with a 25 point lead, then trying them when times running out in a nail biter.   

I was there. 2 nd half was boring and disappointing.  I am sure Shaka found some areas that worked and others that did not work. 

I believe this is going to be a fun team to watch/follow/root for!

[Daniel]

I thought to ponder.

What if the first half coach ran with a lineup and combination that he knows works. Did indeed work well.

Second half, let’s find out what else could work. Try one for a while, try another for a while. Well that doesn’t work, let’s try something else. All the things tried in the second half didn’t seem to work. Did we find out anything more about our players? What to work on, what do try, was it a learning experience?

Better to try these things with a 25 point lead, then trying them when times running out in a nail biter.   

I was there. 2 nd half was boring and disappointing.  I am sure Shaka found some areas that worked and others that did not work. 

I believe this is going to be a fun team to watch/follow/root for!

I like this thought.   What not try stuff in  games like this?  Good point.   There were lots of combos in second half. 

[MuggsyB]

I thought to ponder.

What if the first half coach ran with a lineup and combination that he knows works. Did indeed work well.

Second half, let’s find out what else could work. Try one for a while, try another for a while. Well that doesn’t work, let’s try something else. All the things tried in the second half didn’t seem to work. Did we find out anything more about our players? What to work on, what do try, was it a learning experience?

Better to try these things with a 25 point lead, then trying them when times running out in a nail biter.   

I was there. 2 nd half was boring and disappointing.  I am sure Shaka found some areas that worked and others that did not work. 

I believe this is going to be a fun team to watch/follow/root for!

I think this is fair but Shaka could have a decision to make if Mitchell continues to struggle offensively.  It's  not just that he isn't making perimeter shots, he doesn't look comfortable making plays off the dribble.  More often than not he gets rid of the ball to a teammate as soon as he touches it.  Now maybe his defense makes up for this, but Ross is showing that he has the ability to defend.   If we don't turn teams over and have to play most of the game in the half-court, it puts an enormous amount of pressure on Kam and O-Max to carry us.  Rebounding is also an area where we need to focus for 40 mins like we did vs Purdue. 

[tower912]

How about Gold leading the break?  We have two big guys who are great ball handlers.  There’s so much potential with this group and they’ll only get better.

I yelled 'No!  Get it to a guard! '   And he did.  Completely agree about the potential and improvement.

[tower912]

I think this is fair but Shaka could have a decision to make if Mitchell continues to struggle offensively. 

The decision is made.

[tower912]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401485169

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs5d4UcgpuY

Shaka speaks

Some people were on the bench tonight because of their defense.


Sounds like something Buzz said.

[Newsdreams]

The decision is made.

Yep, defense is king in Shaka kingdom

[Scoop Snoop]

I thought to ponder.

What if the first half coach ran with a lineup and combination that he knows works. Did indeed work well.

Second half, let’s find out what else could work. Try one for a while, try another for a while. Well that doesn’t work, let’s try something else. All the things tried in the second half didn’t seem to work. Did we find out anything more about our players? What to work on, what do try, was it a learning experience?

Better to try these things with a 25 point lead, then trying them when times running out in a nail biter.   

I was there. 2 nd half was boring and disappointing.  I am sure Shaka found some areas that worked and others that did not work. 

I believe this is going to be a fun team to watch/follow/root for!

Interesting and optimistic take. Basically, liked reading what you wrote but....I disagree that the decisions were entirely chosen by Shaka (if that is truly what you are implying). It was UNCC that was driving the bus for far too much of the second half and forcing MU to respond.

Agree Big Time with the bolded. 

[Newsdreams]

Interesting and optimistic take. Basically, liked reading what you wrote but....I disagree that the decisions were entirely chosen by Shaka (if that is truly what you are implying). It was UNCC that was driving the bus for far too much of the second half and forcing MU to respond.

Agree Big Time with the bolded.

Post game Shaka very unpleased with effort in 2nd half

[Milkshakes]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401485169

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs5d4UcgpuY

Shaka speaks

Some people were on the bench tonight because of their defense.


Sounds like something Buzz said.

Shaka is awesome.  I love his answer about energy and the “basketball gods” to the last annoying question. 

[Vander Blue Man Group]

How about Gold leading the break?  We have two big guys who are great ball handlers.  There’s so much potential with this group and they’ll only get better.