Three or four shot clock violations and at least two more shots in the final second. Schmitt and Sy each with three blocks. I wasn't surprised that turnovers were even at 9 apiece at halftime, because we would get a steal at one end and then turn it over on the other. Hulka suggested that we practice on a narrower court so that we would not be as inclined to step on the sideline during live action on an actual court.The on the ball defense and how we played the pick n roll was as good as I seen for a couple of years. How many times did we see a shot clock violation or a poor shot attempt as the shot clock expired. We went from Ole defense to hooray defense overnight. Stopping the penetration and playing the pick n rolls helped the team rebounding as well. We often start chasing the ball and get out of position for defensive rebounds. It was a welcome sight.
Prem played a great game going 13 for 15 but I really thought after the first 10 minutes we made him earn every point. Schmitt had his best game and McChesney was better. What a difference when you have some productive minutes from a front line. It's felt like in recent years we have been barely able to put one big on the floor and now we have Lewis, Chatman, Schmitt, and McChesney. They all have room for improvement but they are all making contributions.
MSU and ISU had the same number of turnovers but ISu had a lot more steals on the defensive side. On the flip side we had a lot more unforced errors. If we can play defense like we did tonight, start reducing the turnovers, and be more consistent, we could be competitive in the MVC.
Lastly, kudos to the students and fans that attended. There was a lot more energy in RBA tonight.
Now, we need to string together several of these efforts. Unfortunately, what I feared after our first game in Cancun happened..........we showed encouraging signs against SLU, but then backslid against Buffalo.