Ok so rewatched the game.
1- bigs were honestly not that bad. Records as a 5th year guy was smart and just had that annoying knack to get shots up early and move around the shot blockers. He and Woodward got quite fortunate on the foul front in the first half. They let them get away with being slower to react and to foul quite frequently.
2- We badly needed Bells offense but his effort on the boards and closeouts was bad. I counted about 12 to 15 points on offensive rebound kickout threes and around the rim. Benny was even worse without offense to go with. Both also were lazy in transition.
3- the first 11 minutes Colgate was leading because of a few poor efforts and good execution. Hit a few tough shots too. The stretch where they took the lead was a combination of a bad lineup and just pathetic effort on both ends. It wasn't an entire first half that was bad just one really bad segment. A demon of this team in the previous two rounds vs Colgate and a habit that has to be broken.
4- Opening of the second half was weird. It was like the kids knew what they had to do but took a few minutes and then they got to work. Once they did- they were too much for Colgate as they should be. Colgate got very few good looks and most were rushed and the rebounding improved.
5- JJs shot is improving. The early jumpers and 3 looked so much better. Then the game wore on and fatigue you could tell had him a little off. Good news is there was a sign of life on his shot. Hopefully that continues.
6- Judah played the second half we need from him all year. He was vocal and a leader. He was emotional hyping up his teammates.
7- I think and hope this is a team that needs a higher talent level and intensity to play against. Don't know how it will play out but they thought they could play with Colgate at times vs getting after it and playing winning high effort basketball.
8- Overall it was every bit easy to see how this team should have won by 20 last night. Tight first half then torch them in the second vs the ridiculous stretch that saw them go down so far into and right after the half. I'm not excited by the win or bothered how we got it. We exercised a demon that has put a wet blanket on the past couple of years. Now it's game on- house money trip to the island and LGO!