I understand everyone talking about our defense and it’s warranted, but they were hitting everything they threw up at times. As mad as I was, what I was impressed with was we hung with them shot for shot. There were what, 17-18 different lead changes. Some may not like it but it showed me the fight that we have. Everyone was contributing and doing their part, and in the end, gave us what we needed to pull away for a comfortable win! I say it a lot but I love the point distribution on this team. We are consistently having 4-5 guys in double figures and others a few points away from being. Can’t wait to see what this year has in store for us.
22 lead changes officially. Moore has done that a few times. Scored 30 on Syracuse, 31 on Florida. But he only scored 5 on Auburn and 13 on LSU; if he’d gone off at Baton Rouge like he did tonight, they win that game.
I knew it was a lot of lead changes. Thanks for the update. What’s your opinion of the team so far, Swine?
The defense wasn’t bad. They made a ton of very difficult/bad/guarded shots.
It wasn’t a layup drill or a bunch of easy, in-rhythm 3s. The other team just made shots. A lot of them were luck–bouncing 10 ft in air and going in, hitting underside of rim and rolling in, side-cocked jacked up 3 late in the clock by an off-balanced big. That’s without mentioning the most running full speed, high bank 10-ft scoop shots I’ve ever seen. It happens sometimes.
The good news is we still won by 15 even though we only shot 5-20 on 3s.
Work in progress. Tonight was the first time I’ve gotten to see the bulk of any game (not 100% of it; my U-Verse decided to take a 5-minute break midway through the second half). I thought our pressure D took its toll in the second half, and Moore finally ran out of gas. But I agree with you that if somebody had racked up 34 on us last year, we lose that game. I do like the balance in our scoring. Last year it was Dusty and Moses and if somebody else doesn’t step up we’re in bad shape. This year we have 6 guys averaging 8+ points which is a lot better.
I recall there was a guy named Anthlon Bell on last year’s team that led Arkansas in three point shooting and was the second leading scorer.
I will take Macon and Barford over Bell and Durham. Both are still getting the hang of D-I, and playing against D-I players and coaching, but they clearly already have better overall games than last year’s senior guards. Those two have enough game to let Hannahs, Beard and Watkins play more freely in roles they are comfortable with, and give us a chance to develop some of the other newcomers with more patience.
True, but he disappeared in a few games too.
So did Dusty. Regardless, saying we only had two scoring options flies in the face of the season stats.
Really like the way Macon and Barford are coming along and hope they keep gaining confidence.
They are going to be fun to watch.
Response:
yes both shooting guards disappeared at times , Hannah on the road at A&M and on the road at both Mississippi schools he scored zero, let’s keep it straight
Glad to see they finally turned up the intensity.
bell was opposite of clutch. dusty was not much better in crunch time. to be fair though, I can’t think of a truly clutch hog since Joe Johnson. let’s hope our variety of weapons this year provide enough options so somebody always gets hot
Nobody was 100% there last year, which is why we went 16-16. I don’t expect anyone to play at peak performance every night; LeBron James can’t do it, so why should Moses or Dusty or Ant Bell be able to do it?