Thursday's Game Against Wku On Tv

[TheTastyGreek]

no bench scoring...again.....i'm glad they won, but the bench needs to produce something!!!

Despite his foul trouble keeping him out of much of the second half, Tramiel only played 5 fewer minutes than the entire 5 man bench we used tonight.

We put this one on the starting five. Josh/Tristan/George only sat a total of 4 minutes combined.

If you add up the scoring for every WKU player who went for 16 minutes or less (the amount of time that Mangrum, our most active reserve, played), you get 4 total points.

[THOR]

Despite his foul trouble keeping him out of much of the second half, Tramiel only played 5 fewer minutes than the entire 5 man bench we used tonight.

We put this one on the starting five. Josh/Tristan/George only sat a total of 4 minutes combined.

If you add up the scoring for every WKU player who went for 16 minutes or less (the amount of time that Mangrum, our most active reserve, played), you get 4 total points.

that's good analysis, but any 1 of those 4 points would have resulted in a wku victory (if scored in regulation). the bench can produce points....they need to produce points.

[TheTastyGreek]

that's good analysis, but any 1 of those 4 points would have resulted in a wku victory (if scored in regulation). the bench can produce points....they need to produce points.

Tonight, saying that the bench didn't score is effectively the same thing as saying Mangrum didn't score. And he only attempted 2 shots in 16 minutes. He did have 4 assists and 3 boards, so it's not like he didn't do anything out there. It wasn't his best night, but he did bring us something besides points.

Spencer played 11 minutes and took no shots. He's not really a scoring option for us, and I was pretty satisfied with what he did do while he was out there. Holmen played 5 total minutes. Alzee Williams played four. Matlock got a 1 minute sniff of the court in the first half.

This was not our typical game where we use our bench a lot. If Mangrum doesn't get 4 assists and pulls up to hit 4 jumpers instead... It's the same amount of points. Spencer doesn't score for us, and nobody else played more than one or two trips up and down the floor per half.

Not sure what's up with Richard Thomas... Is he still hurt? Did it get mentioned in the pregame show?

[TheTastyGreek]

Just to clarify... I'm not saying that we don't need bench scoring. And I'm not trying to argue with radiogreen just for the sake of arguing.

Considering the way we played tonight's game, I'm not surprised (or concerned) that we didn't get any bench points. It was an aberration, both in approach and in results from the use of our bench.

It may hurt us on Saturday when the guys are a little more tired than they usually would be... But I'll take the win in the bank and hope for the best on Saturday, no problem.

[THOR]

i'm glad as hell they won and aren't trying to argue anything, it just seems odd to not have ANY bench scoring, yet still win. the assists help and do show that the bench is producing in the game, but i'd like to seem some real point contribution like has happened in the past.

in the end, who cares, the boys won a tough game and hopefully won't be drained on saturday against the muts

[bstnsportsfan3]

huge impressive amazing awesome win...on to middle!

[NT03]

These kids are like 20 years old , they can't be drained

I think we just saw what we will see come tourny time. A very,very short bench

[TheTastyGreek]

i'm glad as hell they won and aren't trying to argue anything, it just seems odd to not have ANY bench scoring, yet still win. the assists help and do show that the bench is producing in the game, but i'd like to seem some real point contribution like has happened in the past.

in the end, who cares, the boys won a tough game and hopefully won't be drained on saturday against the muts

Totally agree. Plus one to you, sir.

[Censored by Laurie]

First off I'd like to say UNT had quite the cheering section in a New Haven, CT bar tonight...count the times thats ever been said.

Secondly...are we seriously complaining about bench production after a win at Diddle? Anyone who knows me or reads what I write about basketball knows that I want and love a scorer off the bench...I called for and loved the move of TT to 6th man when Thomas was healthy/eligible...but that said the bench did far more than score tonight...especially Mangrum who wore down Slaughter for a good portion of the first half.

This was a dog-fight between the two teams picked to win the conference before injuries took their toll and it was a hell of a basketball game. Learn how to enjoy a win, especially one against a good team...all of you...your lack of knowledge and perspective is becoming both tiresome and embarrassing.

[NT03]

This was a dog-fight between the two teams picked to win the conference before injuries took their toll and it was a hell of a basketball game. Learn how to enjoy a win, especially one against a good team...all of you...your lack of knowledge and perspective is becoming both tiresome and embarrassing.

If I could give you more than a + 1 I would

[NT80]

Yep. Double teaming a guy 40 feet away from the basket as he takes an off balance shot, up by 3 points with time expiring... The smart play is to foul. Every time.

A shot like that is practically automatic, like an extra point or an uncontested layup.

How about fouling on the dribble or away from the ball before a shot can be attempted?? duh.

[NT80]

While I would generally agree with you on this , the ball was in AJ's hand. He was 10/10 on FTs on the evening while only shooting 4 / 13 from the field , including 0/3 from behind the arc. Sometimes you just have to go with whats working

Foul while he is dribbling or away from the ball maybe??

[CMJ]

How about fouling on the dribble or away from the ball before a shot can be attempted?? duh.

The kid was surrounded, near halfcourt, with just a few ticks remaining. Our defense had already forced the ball out of a good scoring poition(we tipped it near halfcourt and they had to scramble to track it down). At that point the smarter move is to just let it play out. If you wanted to foul earlier - fine.

[NT80]

The kid was surrounded, near halfcourt, with just a few ticks remaining. Our defense had already forced the ball out of a good scoring poition(we tipped it near halfcourt and they had to scramble to track it down). At that point the smarter move is to just let it play out. If you wanted to foul earlier - fine.

Foul a player away from the ball. A shot should have never been allowed to be taken when we're up by three, it nearly got us beat.

[meangreenacct]

Foul a player away from the ball. A shot should have never been allowed to be taken when we're up by three, it nearly got us beat.

It did get us in the ESPN top ten...When is the last time we heard about UNT basketball on sports center...highlight might have been focused on WKY, but at least they said we won!

[CMJ]

Foul a player away from the ball. A shot should have never been allowed to be taken when we're up by three, it nearly got us beat.

HE WAS NOWHERE NEAR A PROPER SHOOTING POSITION.

I'm usually down with fouling a shooter if there's under 5 seconds to go, but in that situation no.

We'd be allowing them a chance at the line - after our defense had just knocked the ball loose. At that point you trust in your defense - since that's why you're in that position in the first place. Kid hit a prayer. I bet he doesn't hit that shot 5 times out of a hundred.

Oh yeah, we still won.

[NT80]

HE WAS NOWHERE NEAR A PROPER SHOOTING POSITION.

I'm usually down with fouling a shooter if there's under 5 seconds to go, but in that situation no.

We'd be allowing them a chance at the line - after our defense had just knocked the ball loose. At that point you trust in your defense - since that's why you're in that position in the first place. Kid hit a prayer. I bet he doesn't hit that shot 5 times out of a hundred.

Oh yeah, we still won.

No, foul a DIFFERENT player, not the one with the ball.

Edited January 29, 2010 by NT80

[CMJ]

No, foul a DIFFERENT player, not the one with the ball.

NT 84

WKU 83

Our second win ever in Diddle. If you wanna bitch and moan - go ahead. I'll just wonder if anything woulda made you happy.

Edited January 29, 2010 by CMJ

[NT80]

NT 84

WKU 83

Our second win ever in Diddle. If you wanna bitch and moan - go ahead. I'll just wonder if anything woulda made you happy.

Sorry, forgot you were the only expert on the board tonite.

[CMJ]

Sorry, forgot you were the only expert on the board tonite.

As I said, I'll wonder if anything would've made you happy short of blowing WKU out.

[NT80]

As I said, I'll wonder if anything would've made you happy short of blowing WKU out.

We just beat an 11-10 team by one point, losers of five straight. It's nice to beat WKU but keep it in proper perspective; they are not a very good team overall.

Edited January 29, 2010 by NT80

[GrandGreen]

Any win over WKU at Bowling Green is a big win. Other than NT usual slow start, NT played very well. On the refereeing, if I was WKU and had got 30-37 free throws which kept them in the game I would not complain too much. I don't think that foul was as obvious as many seem to think, they were both going for the ball and the WKU player getting rolled over occurred after the ball was out of play. Unless some type of fragrant foul is involved you don't see many fouls called when the clock is not running.

The fouling with a three point deficient is also not as great a strategy as many seem to think. Although rare, I've seen those kind of fouls called intentional and games lost. Also there is the chance of a made free throw and an intentional miss being turned into two points. Again not a high percentage play, but probably better odds then making a 40 foot off-balance shot. A foul on a three point attempt would again be a horrible conclusion to an intentional foul. Also NT would had to throw the ball in with an one point lead if the intentional foul had led to two made free throws. Fouling in NT's game end situation can be a good play but it is definitely not without risks.

Back to the game, a lot of chat on the lack of production out of the bench. Obviously, they did enough and with the possible exception of one three pointer taken by Holman, they didn't take bad shots. I actually like a tighter rotation than what JJ was using for most of the year. The team overall played good defense and given the fact that Tramiel spend a lot of time on the bench and White was playing injured, I though they had definitely one of their best games of the year. Shorter is really coming on and with this development, NT really has a good starting unit.

The game against the MUTS is shaping up to be the biggest of the year so far.

[foutsrouts]

We just beat an 11-10 team, losers of five straight. It's nice to beat WKU but this was not their sweet 16 team.

Even if they were winless, it's nice for us to beat a team with the history of WKU. UT has been pretty good in recent years, but Western Kentucky has got a history better than pretty much every school in our region. Nice win.

[hickoryhouse]

Even if they were winless, it's nice for us to beat a team with the history of WKU. UT has been pretty good in recent years, but Western Kentucky has got a history better than pretty much every school in our region. Nice win.

Awesome game, great fun to watch, great win and a fantastic defensive play by white to win the game!

Totop it all off we might just have a new fan in my dad who I watched the game with. He is excited about hitting up one or two of the final home games! Great job UNT!

[NT03]

Foul while he is dribbling or away from the ball maybe??

Yes foul while he was dribbling and he he sees it coming so he heaves up a shot and has an attempt for maybe a 4 point play or he goes to the line and shoots 2. He makes the 1st one , misses the second one and wku gets the ball back again with a chance to win the game or foul someone away from the ball , risk the chance for a intentional foul or be in the same situation as the with the 1st made FT , intentional miss and risk the ball game.

I'm sure if any of those came up you would probably bitch about that too.

I encourage you sit back and enjoy and win. Are we a great team , no. Are we a good , Who knows. I'd say we aren't bad tho. I'm a MEAN GREEN fan so if I or other people want to be excited about a WIN , something that a lot of programs don't know how to do around campus ,then we are going to get excited.

We will go winless in Football this year , so these are the last few wins you will see for awhile. Either enjoy them or be that guy at the party who sits in the corner mad while everyone else is having a good time.

Edited January 29, 2010 by NT03