Maryland did everything to give us the game...

[Lil Rick]

... for the first 35 minutes, and here we are, back again in a final possession dog fight. No excuse. Fair n Ennis played great... Cooney back to shakey potatoes tonight. How many wide open 3s can he miss? No inside presence w/ Xmas tonight. Grant or no grant.

Just. Cant. Score. And with Virginia's defense coming up, dear lord...

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

...and we did everything to give Maryland the game.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

I'm convinced, no matter what we do or how we play, all of our remaining games will come down to the final minute and end up in the 55 to 61 point range.

 

[Madbiker]

Terrible last 5 minutes. We almost gave the game away after being in control the entire game. The offense is completely shot and the old in bounding problems return again. My heart can't take this.

 

[senorpalmer]

This game was in hand with ~5 min to play and an 11 point lead. Disappointing that it became such a nail biter.

 

[RF2044]

Did Grant play in the second half? No? Well, that might have had something to do with why we couldn't put them away.

Frankly, we did an outstanding job maintaining a lead and treading water for about 15 minutes in the second half. Then things got squirrely.

Terrifying that our depth is this fragile. And with the foul disparity, things got tenuous when we had several players with foul trouble late.

Glad we held on--losing after having a 12 point second half lead would have been disastrous. Now we have 5 days to recuperate, and get Grant / Keita in the trainer's room for therapy so we're as close to 100% as possible on Saturday.

 

[NineOneSeven]

I agree. How long were we stuck on 40? MD had some of the worst passes I've ever seen. And yet...they had a chance to win the game. It's incredibly strange.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Did Grant play in the second half? No? Well, that seems like a pretty good excuse to me.

Definitely plays a role. But we built a lead without him. With or without Grant, our team is significantly more talented all around.

 

[Orangezoo]

Did Grant play in the second half? No? Well, that seems like a pretty good excuse to me.

Exactly and roc was in foul trouble. This let md double and extend on our guards a lot. Also grant was going to shred the terps before he got hurt. His athleticism would have been way too much for their slow frontcourt to handle.

 

[RF2044]

Definitely plays a role. But we built a lead without him. With or without Grant, our team is significantly more talented all around.

Sure we did--but our limited offense become even more limited sans his capabilities out there. Frankly, it was great [and refreshing] to see us build and sustain that lead. But as I watched the second half unfold, I couldn't believe that we WERE able to sustain it given that we were missing a lot of makeable shots and the free throw disparity. And it wasn't like we had a huge lead; all it took was back to back threes and then a steal for them to get back in it.

Glad we held on; a loss tonight would have been soul damaging for the team's psyche, IMO.

 

[Orangezoo]

Sure we did--but our limited offense become even more limited sans his capabilities out there. Frankly, it was great [and refreshing] to see us build and sustain that lead. But as I watched the second half unfold, I couldn't believe that we WERE able to sustain it given that we were missing a lot of makeable shots and the free throw disparity. And it wasn't like we had a huge lead; all it took was back to back threes and then a steal for them to get back in it.

Glad we held on; a loss tonight would have been soul damaging for the team's psyche, IMO.

This team needs a game where they all click.. not sure we will see it before the tourney but these kids are working their tails off it pains me to see good execution turn into brick city.

 

[RF2044]

This team needs a game where they all click.. not sure we will see it before the tourney but these kids are working their tails off it pains me to see good execution turn into brick city.

And they came REALLY close to that happening tonight. Cooney had a bunch of good looks--his shot just wasn't dropping. And some of them were REALLY good looks. If he knocks down an additional shot or two in the second half, we bury them.

Ifs and buts. Bottom line: he didn't make them. But we were close to having the solid team outing tonight that you asked for. We were this close...

 

[Orangezoo]

And they came REALLY close to that happening tonight. Cooney had a bunch of good looks--his shot just wasn't dropping. And some of them were REALLY good looks. If he knocks down an additional shot or two in the second half, we bury them.

Ifs and buts. Bottom line: he didn't make them. But we were close to having the solid team outing tonight that you asked for. We were this close...

Exactly. You know I kinda like a 5-10 minute look with G on the wing. The floor is spaced better. Even would mind seeing cj get a break and grant roc and mike playing. Not going to work against everyone but the spacing gave some really good looks as you said.