Post by mydadwasathappyhr on Nov 12, 2012 20:52:04 GMT -5
15 points in the second half won't win many games. Gritty effort, says the announcer of the Cavs. Could say the same of the stags. Whether it was their true shooting weakness coming through, or fatigue, nothing left in the last 8 minutes.
This game kind of feels like the MAAC Championship game against Loyola.
Vastagman, exactly. Just as frustrating / painful. Maybe a bit more credit to UVA in this one, as the defensive intensity did pick up in the second half.
That said, on the bright side, if/when we get Coleman Johnson back we have a solid eight man rotation, and some decent mid range shooters. Mikulic has the potential to be a stud, and we aren't even relying on miraculous healing of Van Nes's lower extremities.
Stags really needed someone that could make a cut to the basket, catch the pass - then make a moves for a bucket/foul. Offense became almost entirely 3pt shots - and they stopped falling.
Harris stepped up in the 2nd half and played like a 6'5" ACC guard - that was also problematic... especially when he was able to get himself matched up against one of our sub 6'ers.
Mikulic was the star. Wade had a better game. Needham was average. Nickerson didn't have a ton of stats, but I thought he was active. Sidibe had a couple of solid putbacks, but he is definitely undersized for the 5 and looked a bit lost/late on D.
Very much looking forward to Van Nes and Johnson being healthy... we've heard about Johnson's basketball IQ and I'd like to see how he can help on offense - maybe hit a few mid-range jumpers.
Post by stagmaster on Nov 12, 2012 21:02:38 GMT -5
Disappointing outcome to be sure. But we were outsized at every position, execpt when Mikulic was in at center.
Tough for Barrow and Matthews to score of off their strong 6'8" bigs in the post.
And even tougher for Wade and Needham to shoot over their 6'6" perimeter players like Scott and Jesperson.
But we did alot of good things, especially in the first half, to build off of. As long as we bring the energy and execution tomorrow ,we could be 2 and 1.
from a young team this can be seen as a positive. They held tough. We were 2 good shots on offense in that second half from being in this one until the last seconds.
Fatigue was probably a factor - but I think VA's increased defensive intensity, along with their size advantage at positions 1-4 was the main cause.
This won't be the only time this year Fairfield runs into a bigger team that ups its defensive intensity, particularly on the perimeter.
I thought Fairfield's ball movement was good and they were getting a lot of good looks from range - running that part of SJ's offense effectively - but they were missing the cuts and easy backdoor baskets to keep VA honest.
We lost by nine to an ACC team on their home court with two of our interior players (Johnson and Van Nes) injured. When is the last time that a Fairfield team has stayed that close to an ACC team on their home court?
Lots of good things to build upon as the season goes on. However, we're going to have trouble winning many of our OOC games if SJ doesn't have all of the scholarship players healthy.
I'm proud of the way we played the first 30 minutes and hope by the time the MAAC season comes along we are at full strength with the roster. Although our play deteriorated quite a bit the last few minutes of the game -- the guys kept hustling.
Let's pick up a win tomorrow to go 2-1 on the season.
Post by curioustag on Nov 12, 2012 22:17:01 GMT -5
Ok, after reviewing stats and watching the game....we have lost nothing at Center. Ryan was a non-factor last year at times and Josep can play. He will make some rookie mistakes but we have a seven footer who can shoot.
Barrow/Matthews are going to typically be invisible in these games due to size and speed of the guys they are playing...it is simply not a good matchup. A few more clutch shots and a Rakim-like player and we may have pulled this out.
Oh well...we will only get better playing an ACC team (albeit lower-tier) so Go Stags. Lets win tomorrow!
"...maybe we relaxed a little too much." -- Sydney J. Ice cold shooting, lack of any legs, short rotation, overpowered by taller guards. I would've gone with any of those before "relaxed too much", but maybe that's just him sending a message to the team.
Article says that today's game is at 430 vs. Penn. no rest for the weary!
