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Some good and some very bad to talk about after tonight's 19-point win over Campbell.
What I Liked:
- Sean Kilpatrick's increased efficiency on offense. 9 of 12 from the field is outstanding. 3 of 6 from behind the line as well. Excellent excellent excellent.
- Justin Jackson. As you probably know he's not my favorite player. Effort is one thing but I prefer actual basketball production, but I digress. Credit where credit is due. JJ was outstanding tonight. Like SK he was 9 of 12 from the field which we probably will never see again, but we saw it once so that's good. Throw in 9 boards and 5 blocked shots and some broadcasters leveled on press row and Mr. Jackson had himself quite a complete ball game. Let's keep this going, JJ.
- 63% shooting as a team. Pretty sure we'd take this every time out. The ball movement looks much better thus far this year which is a welcome sign. We'll see if this changes once the competition gets a bit stiffer.
- 8 blocked shots. They're not a tall team but very athletic and long.
- Jermaine Lawrence 4-4 from the field including a very nice turnaround jumper in the first half from about 12 feet away. Also added 5 rebounds and a couple of blocked shots. Very active.
- Ge'Lawn Guyn looked healthy when he opened the scoring with a dunk. Guess the knee is ok after all.
- 23 turnovers forced. This led to a lot of easy buckets which obviously is why Mick wants to turn up the pressure. It worked tonight for sure.
- 4-0. Could be NC State who lost to NC Central at home in overtime tonight. That NC Central win could turn out to be a nice one down the road.
What I Didn't Like:
- Free throw shooting was abysmal. 5 of 14 is, well, not gonna get it done. Ever. But the previous 3 games were fine so hopefully this is just an off night
- 12 three point attempts. By comparison to last season 12 is still great, but it is the season high. Let's hope these guys don't get lazy and start jacking shots once the offense gets stagnant.
- Defensive intensity was terrible. I noticed it early on that they were interested in highlight reel blocked shots and not in playing actual defense. I didn't hear the postgame show with Mick on WLW but I heard he was none too pleased with the effort. Guessing next practice is going to be a bit tougher. Gotta teach the kids about how to play "Bearcat defense"
- Going along with the defensive comment, Campbell shot 11-of-22 from three-point range. I would imagine the tape of the Camels showed a lot of threes being hoisted. They got a lot of open looks tonight and knocked them down. This is how they stayed around for a while.
- Rebounding. Only won that battle by one. Can't believe Mick is too thrilled with this either.
- Bearcats are off until Tuesday. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Who made this schedule????
- Attendance. Sigh. This one is probably already annoying some people. Sorry. Still makes me mad.