Saturday, February 21, 2009

Providence at the Half

Up 12 at the break, I'll take it. I'm a little concerned at our reliance on three pointers, but you know Harangody will have a solid second half.

Ayers and McAlarney have converted on open looks all game. Great ball movement in the halfcourt offense and smart transition plays have really set us up for success. A nod to Jonathan Peoples for several assists. The cross-court pass to Ayers was a demonstration of the court vision a good point guard needs. This has been his best game in a while and we're only halfway home.

Harangody has been ineffective and slowed by two really dumb fouls. The first was a result of overreacting to a jump fake, not the end of the world but you can't let a guy make his shot to set up the and-one. The second resulted from a lack of self-control. My only problem with Luke is that he commonly allows his emotions to limit his play. Threw an elbow there, rightly picked up the offensive foul, and sat out almost all of the last eight minutes.

Props to Ty Nash for his hustle and heart while on the floor. He did make a few mistakes, including two misguided fouls and a bad pass to the backcourt, but he really throws his body around. We need that.

The ESPN360 commentators are pretty awful. Nice to know that the only away game the rest of the year is on CBS.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Providence played better in the second half. But they got into a pattern of trading runs with ND and ended up with the loss.

Had ND beaten Cincinnati and especially St. John's, our NCAA prospects would be much better.

BlackandGreen said...

Absolutely. Winning those two games would have us looking at a very strong seed in the NCAAs.

As it is, we still have a shot. That's the most you can ask for after dropping should-win contests like the ones you mentioned.