Gustavus

Well, this one was a huge game for us, not only for confidence but also with the league standings. The Gusties were 6-0 going in and it would've been nice to knock them off. I really thought we had a great matchup with them. I know for a fact that they don't defend dribble penetration very well and that is a lot of what we do.

Right from the tip, there was an interesting matchup. Sam Paulson, a 6'9" big, was covering Ray Brown. I was very surprised by this but it really took us out of a lot of what we were planning to do. Maybe that is why Mark Hanson is such a good coach. We came out with a little fire in our belly and led by as many as 11 in the first half. Ray led the way with 15 points on 6-11 shooting. We were up by 4.

The second half was clearly a grinding of styles, we wanted uptempo and they wanted to use every second of the shot clock and grind out the game, and they did just that. We never got into a rhthym in part because of their offense and defense. Gustavus has the tendency to move their hips or knees right at the end of their setting screens (yes, illegal screens). The only problem for us is that we would run into those screens and give up wide open shots. Instead of fighting through the screens and riding their man's hip, we got caught up. We would then make excuses instead of grinding the possession out like we should. I would do the same thing if I'm Gustavus especially if the refs aren't going to call it, at least they were consistent with it.

We ended up losing by 7, 73-66. As much as I want to say that this was a good loss, I think it was. Our guys were getting big heads and thinking they were better than they were. Obviously, we aren't where we need to be and there is still a long way to go in the season. Hopefully, this is a lesson for our guys.

Big one at home vs. St. John's on Wednesday. They will be another tough matchup.