The Upside- Holy Cross

[SWC75]

- We’ll see how he does against teams with bigger players, (and there will be plenty of them), but, unlike some of our big men of the past, Rakeem Christmas knows how to dominated smaller defenders. Tonight he was a man among boys with 25 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks. He was 8 for 10 from the field and 9 for 10 from the foul line. That last stat is golden. A big who knows how to get to the line and can drain it from there is a scoring machine.


- Christmas and Chris (McCullough) are a tremendous 1-2 punch. Chris had another double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. He may have defensive lapses but those numbers are going to interest the NBA- if they hold up against better competition.


- Kaleb Joseph, (whom Matt Park keeps calling “Kris”, may have had 4 turnovers but he also had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.


- BJ Johnson continues to rebound well against smaller teams. He had 8 tonight. He’s had that number or higher four times in this young season.


- Chinoso Obokoh scored 4 points and had a rebound in a 6 minute stint. He scored a basket and the first two free throws of his career. I have a feeling we’ll see more and more of him as the season progresses and people are going to be surprised at what he can do. But he also committed two fouls in 6 minutes, so it may take a while.


- It’s not like the guys we need to play better lack the ability to give us what we need. Cooney can hit three pointers. So can Johnson and Patterson. Gbinije can do the things JB asks of him. Obokoh can help us. Maybe Roberson can, too when he heals up, (but will he this season?) . if our weaknesses are due to players being too short or too slow or lacking talent, that would be one thing. But that’s not the case here. It’s about veteran players doing what we know they can do and young players maturing. But they need to do it fast.



5-1 with 25+ to be done


LET’S GO ORANGE!!!!

 

[jdubs30]

The rebounding jumps out to me right now. I feel like we've struggled on the defensive glass ever since Wes Johnson left campus. But with Rak locking down the paint and McCullough and BJ/Roberson on the wing, I think we'll be a really good rebounding team. ANd we'll need it, because we aren't doing much else well right now.

 

[Libero2]

The rebounding jumps out to me right now. I feel like we've struggled on the defensive glass ever since Wes Johnson left campus. But with Rak locking down the paint and McCullough and BJ/Roberson on the wing, I think we'll be a really good rebounding team. ANd we'll need it, because we aren't doing much else well right now.

Until we figure out how to make shots, we have to not just win the rebounding battle, but darn near dominate it against good teams if we want to win games.