The Upside- Long Beach State | Syracusefan.com

The Upside- Long Beach State

SWC75

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Aug 26, 2011
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- This was very entertaining game, both teams using a defensive pressure both of the full-court and half-court variety and running when they had the opportunity. There was some fine passing and good shooting and a score, (85-67) from the old days when basketball was basketball.

- Syracuse in the second half was particulalrly7 good, hitting open shots, getting excellent ball movement, anticipating each other’s moves and making some spectacular plays. Quite a change from late last year and the beginning of this season.

- Michael Gbinije has turned into that player on the You-Tube highlight films. He was 10 for 13 from the field, including 4 three pointers and he looked good making them- they didn’t bleed in. He had 6 strong rebounds and a follow-up dunk for the ages. He also had 8 very pretty assists. He looked like the smartest guy in the room.

- Trevor Cooney had a big first half with 14 points, including a 40 footer, (eat your heart out, Tyler Ennis!) at the end of the half. That was spectacular but more impressive was his drives to the basket to score or dish . he did have 6 turnovers as he was the recipients of some close defensive attention. But he also had 5 rebounds.

- It only seems like Rakeem Christmas has had a double-double in every game, 9this was his fourth: he got stuck on 9 rebounds three other times). The big thing in this game is that he played 37 minutes and never fouled. He’s learning not to force things with those double-teams and he’s avoiding the reach-in fouls.

- JB didn’t think much of Kaleb Joseph’s first half but he had a great second half, not forcing things and hitting the open man for 7 assists vs. 2 turnovers. He added 8 points and four steals.

- Tyler Roberson didn’t have big numbers, (6 points, 3 rebounds in 20 minutes) but our defense tightened up with him in there. I thought he had more rebounds than that and I was impressed that he kept the ball moving on offense, rather than taking ill-advised shots or making turnovers.

- When I suggested on his radio show last week that coaching this team was like getting all the tent poles up in a windstorm so they can support each other, JB thought I was claiming the team didn’t play well together, that they weren’t playing team ball. What I actually mean is that the more players we have who are playing well, the easier the game becomes for everybody. We’re playing well now because several individual players are playing well, or at least better. We need to do that consistently and we need to get McCullough going again. . if we do, we’ll be a tough match up for anyone we’ll be playing.

8-4 with 19+ more

LET’S GO ORANGE!!!!
 

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