home winner
We got another home win tonight over a quick and athletic South Carolina State team. We traded baskets with them through the first couple minutes before we went on a nice run and pushed the lead to 23-9. I had 7 points that sparked this run. Coach B started rotating the guards a good amount, possibly looking for that next piece to the puzzle and we kind of broke rhythm, and South Carolina State crawled back and tied the game at 35. A weakness of ours throughout the season, that we must improve in order to be Big South Champions, is learning to play with a lead. Instead of burying our opponent we tend to execute less and not force the issue. Of course, winning is the important thing but we had the heartbreaker vs. ETSU earlier in the season that we cannot get back. However, on a positive note we had 5 players in double figures and I had a solid floor game. I finished with 14 points, 9 assists, 2 steals, and a couple rebounds. I would also like to note my block in the second half when I pinned the ball on the backboard when one of their players thought he had a fast break against the "White guy". lol. I felt like my team needed me to get others involved in the scoring tonight, so thats what I did. I passed up some shots that a lot of people got on me for, but I felt that my contribution tonight helped us win and will help us in the next game. With our team traveling to Knoxville to play the Volunteers on Wednesday, it is important for everybody to have as much confidence as possible. We are 8-2 and I don't care how and why, we are 8-2. Some guys scored some important points for us tonight and hopefully thieir confidence after tonights game will carry on to our game vs. Tennessee.
UT is a very solid team that I have watched play a couple times on tv. For such a high profile team, on paper, we match up pretty well. Obviously, I feel like our guards can play with anybody's in the country. They also play 3 guards and an undersized 4 man. Our concentration has to be taking care of the ball and getting back on defense. If we can hold them under 40% shooting for the game we will put ourselves in a position to win the game. Kenny George will be an important factor in this game because he is so big he could dominate the game, however, Bruce Pearl will attempt to use this against us by running their "big men" directly to the block in a hurry !! Kenny's minutes will be limited but when he is in the game me and KJ have to make sure we get him invloved on the offensive end and we all have to scramble defensively. With less than 48 hours until we play again, it is important for me to get rest, hydrate, and eat perfectly. It is past midnight right now and that means its past my bedtime so later.
