Well, we hung in there for a while. Red did change up some things in his rotations. More guys played.
Chance Westry is NOT Keyser Soze; he actually exists! His upper body looks skinny compared to a couple years ago when he was first at Auburn. Moved pretty well. Seemed a bit jittery, was playing "in a hurry". But hey, that's great that he's healthy enough to be out there. Maybe in a month he'll be a rotation piece.
With JJ's injury, the only way forward to me seems to be Cuffe taking over the starting PG role and starting Moore at the 2G. Sub in Taylor and Carlos, and maybe by January, Westry.
I was glad to see Bell sit down more. I was not that impressed with Taylor. This game was too much for him.
Jyare Davis didn't have his best game, but he had a lot of fight. He kept going at 'em. I like that.
Petar fouled out in not a lot of minutes, but at least he didn't let people make uncontested layups. He fought. He tried to be smart. He's a step slow against the best players, but guys like Ongenaet and Dolezaj weren't super talented, either, but were heady and a bit fearless, like Petar. Petar is a bigger guy than either of them, and is more likely to make a 3.
Donnie Freeman has his moments, but he shouldn't try so many hard shots, so many off balance fadeaways. He got the ball ripped away a few more times today, and they tried to bully him, didn't they?
He needs to get stronger and tougher. Games like this will help make him a man, and learn what it takes to make winning plays at this level. The first lesson, of course, is consistency.
I liked seeing Naheem and the zone. It worked for a couple possessions, and then we turned it over on about 3 possessions in a row, and that was a momentum swing against us.
Cuffe in a limited sample continues to remind me that he's a better defender than Carlos, and is less likely to turn the ball over. Also probably more likely to make an outside shot. Plus, Carlos sucked at the line. Not good for a guy who shot 90% last year.
Eddie was pretty good, and kept us close early on. He's nifty around the rim, but he misses a lot of bunnies. Good defensive rebounder generally, but not tonight. We got hammered on the offensive boards when he was in. Donnie, too; that's why he tried Petar and Jyare Davis.
Sadly, this team just isn't good enough to hope for much, especially with Starling probably out until mid-January, and then needing another 3 or 4 weeks to play himself back into game shape.
What I'm hoping for is that Red is forced to play the younger guys, and they grow in preparation for next year.
