1. McBride woke up from his season long slumber. He had a real break-through tonight. He played hard, he yelled at the guys, he huddled them up on the court. He led the team out there tonight. And his positive attitude translated to his shot. He hit some key threes. And he let them come to him, through the flow of the offense. The best thing about his game, though, was his leadership, and the energy level he brought to the team. He has to sustain this now. Even if he has a bad shooting night, he needs to keep his head up, and keep leading this team.
2. Randle had a break-through as well. He seemed to finally just let go of the injury baggage that has been hindering him. The mental side of injuries is a big part of sports. And his was a particularly sensitive area (the groin/abdomen). Again, you don't "gradually" make a mental recovery from an injury. It takes a breakthrough. Throw your body after a couple loose balls, make a few big dunks. Still fine? Yep. And that's all it takes. Now he has confidence. I think that when he really picked up steam in the second half was when he started getting the ball as he rotated to the top of the key, and he would suddenly make a dribble/slash penetration to the basket, and he would either dunk, shoot, or pass it to Pruitt or WarCat. And when they got it down there (especially Pruitt), they weren't messing around. It was a dunkfest, and that will bring your shooting percentage up REAL fast. Keep it up Brian!
3. Our most effective line-up tonight was:
McBride (PG), Smith (SG), WarCat (PF), Randle (SF), Pruitt (C)
That might be our "go to" line-up until Frazier gets healthy.
IW, welcome back. I completely agree with your assessment of what it will take to get to the tourney this year. Nice to see Randle is back and McBride is playing again. The bigs played well tonight.
I missed the game last nite. No time to set the VCR. :-(
I liked hearing that Carter, Pruitt, Mc Bride AND Randle all had solid nites in the same game.
If these 4 will do that every nite and then get 3-4 treys from Smith they will contend night in an night out.
Another must win tonight against Minnesota. They do not look like one of the better teams in the Big 10 thus far, so should have a chance for a road win.
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