Southern Game

[Censored by Laurie]

Yes...last night was a good win for our team considering we played without our leading scorer. I am concerned however by another slow start...had this been a better team, such as Western Kentucky or South Alabama or pretty much any other SBC team I don't know if we can continue to come back from double digit deficits like this.

My only other concern is turnovers (18)...though quite a few of those came late in the game with the end of the bench on the floor...still need to tighten up the passing.

Thats really the only negatives: Ben Bell is attacking the bucket again (5-6 from the floor, 0 three point attempts)...IMO his early struggles were the result of JJ expirementing with Ben at the 2 and trying to make him a primary scoring option...he seems, from the last two games, to be sliding back into his more natural role and is playing great basketball.

Adam McCoy is finding his range and think will prove to be a very key addition off the bench...he went 1-5 from 3, but his stroke looked better (seemed rushed against OSU and ISU) and atleast 2 of his shots went halfway down and came out...hes contributing in other areas as well (5rbs, 4ast, 2stl, 1blk)...also, I doubt highly Adam has ever been anything but the primary scoring option, meaning previously he would feel comfortable taking 15-20 shots per game...now I think he's having to adjust to taking half as many shots and trusting the talented players around him and that takes time.

Gritty effort from Keith.

Collin showed he's more than just a shooter...he had a couple of really nice drives to the tin...hopefully the every-other-good-game Collin Dennis will turn into the every-good-game Collin Dennis

In an emergency and for minimal stretches...I would feel very confident with Horne running the point...hes not your common walk-on...very nice find.

Assist total (12) is still low, but improving.

Block total (8) is very impressive, we were challanging shots and a big reason they managed just 38% from the field.

We shot 63% from the field...and it had much to do with our guards getting to the bucket.

This is a game we should've won by 21. Hopefully we're the ones who get out early against Centenary.

Troy - 98 Jacksonville - 80 - Trojan leading scorers O'Darien Bassett and Justin Jonus combined for just 10 points, but the Troy bench contributed 70 of the teams 98 points, led by the 27 of Brandon Hazzard, who went 7-10 from three en route to his career high. Mario Telfair added 20 and Tom Jervis chipped in 11 in the effort. Troy has now won 5 in a row heading into their SBC opener with USA on Thursday...if the threes are falling (13 makes against Jacksonville, averaging almost 11 makes over their last 5 games) this team is not a push over.

[untgeorge]

One troublesome thing is Quincy's four fouls in 17 minutes. Unfortunately that is not an isolated thing, he is averaging 3 fouls a game, largely against players who are neither as tall nor as athletic nor as experienced as he is. Wooden is averaging almost 3 fouls per game, and Harold Stewart seems to be equally foul prone as he has already fouled out twice and had four fouls yesterday. Last season Wooden fouled out six times, Quincy four, Harold three. That is our achilles heel.

We can get away with that vs many teams. Probably not vs WKU and USA, and maybe not vs UNO. We need those guys on the court.