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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 4995807, member: 289"] The Upside - That’s what 19 point leads are for. - I was proud of Justin Taylor. He had to play for 40 minutes due to Quadir Copeland’s foul trouble and he hustled the whole time, scoring 11 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, getting 2 steals, a block and 2 assists. But the big thing is that after missing his first four free throws, none of which looked alike, (his muscle memory seems to have been erased), he willed in three free throws in a row to take us from 78-74 to 81-74 with 31 seconds left and basically clinched this game. - And this game gave us our first 20 win regular season in ten years and allowed us to keep dreaming of the NCAA tournament. It was our 4th straight win and fourth straight game where we scored 80 or more points. - But the best player on the court was Chris Bell, who is pecking away at the last of the eggshell that’s surrounded him since he came here. He’s become almost automatic from the field and the line and scored a game high 23 points, making 14 of 18 field goals and free throws. But he also had 7 rebounds, (we lost the boards by only 3 and had one more turnovers, which was close enough in possessions to win a game where out-shot the opposition 58% to 44%) and 3 huge blocks. - Maliq Brown had one of his best games. He only scored 10 points but also had 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Even that understates it because the ball went through his hands on most of our successful plays. - Judah Mintz was typically aggressive and got 21 points and 5 assists to go with 3 rebounds and 2 steals. But he never seemed to be forcing things or trying to win the game all by himself. 20-10 (11-8) with 1+ to go… LET’S GO ORANGE! Net Points This year I’m going to make things a bit easier on myself and just list the net points in each game after the Upside. Once a month I’ll do a deeper dive into the numbers rather than doing a “Net Points, etc.” post after every game. ‘Net’ points are the positives (points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks) minus the negatives, (missed field goals and free throws, turnovers and fouls committed). Chris Bell game: 27NP in 40 minutes; season: 244NP in 789 minutes = 12.4NP/40m Maliq Brown game: 19NP in 40 minutes; season: 442NP in 867 minutes = 20.4NP/40m Judah Mintz game: 15NP in 37 minutes; season: 430NP in 1,011 minutes = 17.0NP/40m Justin Taylor game: 9NP in 40 minutes; season: 167NP in 702 minutes = 9.5NP/40m JJ Starling game: 1NP in 29 minutes; season: 294NP in 1,040 minutes = 11.3NP/40m Quadir Copeland game: 1NP in 11 minutes; season: 277NP in 656 minutes = 16.9NP/40m Kyle Cuffe game: 0NP in 3 minutes; season: 37NP in 284 minutes = 5.4NP/40m Did not play: Peter Carey game: 0NP in 0 minutes; season: -2NP in 70 minutes = -1.1NP/40m Mounir Hima game: 0NP in 0 minutes season: 7NP in 45 minutes = 6.2NP/40m Hurt: Chance Westry game: 0NP in 0 minutes; season: 0NP in 0 minutes = 0.0NP/40m Out for the season: Naheem McLeod game: 0NP in 0 minutes; season: 108NP in 202 minutes = 21.4NP/40m Red Shirting: William Patterson game: 0NP in 0 minutes; season: 0NP in 0 minutes = 0.0NP/40m Left team: Benny Williams game: 0NP in 0 minutes; season: 99NP in 307 minutes = 12.9NP/40m Brent Axe: [MEDIA=youtube]ItPt7oKNm9Q[/MEDIA] The Downside - Our first half results in our four game winning streak: 55-40, 49-29, 45-27, 39-28. That’s +64, an average halftime lead of 16 points. Our second half results: 32-43, 39-56, 39-44, 43-48. That’s - 38, an average deficit of 9.5 points. I think you want to be a “second half team” to have a good post season run. That’s not us right now. - We were 25 for 39 from the line, (62.5%). 30 for 39, (76.9%) would have made this a comfortable victory. - Quadir Copeland is a spectacular player. He had a spectacular dunk where his sneaker came off and a sweet turn-around scoop shot. He also committed 5 fouls in 11 minutes. That’s pretty spectacular, too. We need all our guys to stay on the floor to have a chance to beat good teams. - Our starting backcourt had too many turnovers: 9 between them. - This effort would not beat Clemson or anyone we’ll face in the ACC tournament. It probably wouldn’t beat anybody in the NCAA tournament, either, but that won’t matter if we can’t get there. [/QUOTE]

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