Evansville (11/5/24)

[Censored by Laurie]

21 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

I think Floyd is going to be solid at the point. Our backcourt is deep with good shooters. Massey has me really intrigued as he hit the glass and appears to have some hops to him. I think I expected more out of Wright, thinking he was our prized pick up out of the portal. Lorient, even if Hodge says he is the most athletic player he has had during his time here, doesn’t really have a shot and doesn’t go up strong at the rim. I thought Sissoko looked tons better than last year. Better hands, couple of steals and solid play in the paint. He’s not going to be a double double player for us and that’s alright with the scorers around him. 
Stone still runs to hot. I think in his effort to be our energy/hustle player on defense, it hurts his offensive game. He rushes to shoot or pass and the same dribbling to the basket. How many breaks has he had where he didn’t finish?  There is no rhythm to his offensive game and that kills him. He either has to contribute more on offense, or we need to give Cotton and Mason a shot. 
I don’t know much about the freshman Smith, but he needs to put in some weight and probably get up to the speed of the D1 game. Hope to see some of the youngsters tomorrow night. 

I agree with most things here (shocking I know), except to say I don’t know what more you could’ve hoped from Wright. He seemed like he had a reduced role in the 2nd half to try to get Jossel cooking…but his underlying numbers were exactly what was anticipated. 
 

He dropped 16 points on 10 shots. He averaged 14ppg on 10.5 shots last season as a second option. My thought that he gets to 18-20ppg is based on him getting to his CSU-N attempts (12-13) but keeping his Drake shooting percentages. 
 

It seemed like they fed Jossel once the game was out of control and Floyd took 2-3 more shots than average.
 

Wright’s stroke looked so smooth and I’m still very excited to see what he does this season 

[GMG_Dallas]

On 11/5/2024 at 9:41 PM, Censored by Laurie said:

there's a collection of asshats who will downvote anytime I make a post. they think I care, I guess?

to the bold statement...I do. 

to the rest...whatever. he's a 4 year scholarship player who has a less than 2ppg average for his career. it's not really his fault...he should be at ACU or some D2 program. everyone on the team "hustles"

I'll say again, if Mason and/or Cotton don't have Stone's 10ish minutes by conference play, then I have real questions about our recruitment. 

I didn't watch the entire game as I fell asleep but what I saw of Cotton was encouraging. Looked a little lost at times and he had a 30 second fight with his headband during play but he looks like he'll quickly become a contributing member of the rotation with experience. What's nice is he and Mason both got early minutes in what was a close game. Hoping that continues so they're ready for conference play.

Now we just need another big to step up. Need more offense on the interior.

Edited 2 hours ago by GMG_Dallas