But I'll take an easy win over a team we should beat. Way too many whistles in 2H by the refs, just encouraged the disjointedness. Sanjay was a great spark in the first half. Benson looks decent but definitely needs more coaching and work. Will be good for him to get these minutes. Not much else to say really, we took care of business. Keep doing that and then one more big game against Dayton before conference play.
Great first half, painful 2nd half
- Thread starter ricko6543211
- Start date
That was heinous. I was half-watching (putting up tree, chasing 6 year old), but I would assume that Brown, Ash, and Benson got a lot of minutes in the second half, and received a good education tonight?
I don't want to be too tough on Benson as he's a true freshman who just received his first major playing time, but he was particularly lost in the 2nd half. Very limited mobility and not much, if any defense. Lot's of staring as guys drove right past him for easy buckets. I suppose that's to be expected, though, and Collins definitely left him in there knowing the game was already won. Get well soon, Dererk!
Brown and Ash received playing time largely due to McIntosh's foul trouble.
Either way, it was a really putrid effort by NU in the second half, and I hope Collins really let them hear it in the locker room after the game. Even 5 minutes of that kind of play will lose you a game against a team like Dayton.
Also: Referees need to understand that ticky-tack calls:
- Piss off just about everyone in the building and can make games unwatchable
- Piss of players
- Lead to increasingly chippy and physical play down the stretch as the players become increasingly frustrated with crappy officiating
I was listening to WGN on the way home and there was a loooong wait for the Collins postgame interview. I have a feeling there as a honest assessment of the second half foibles going on. Benson needs to be stronger with the ball in contact and Brown's performance was just ugly., Hopefully, they got it out of their system because it sounds like New Orleans (a team we buried last year) could be a tougher out (and they'll probably remember last season) especially as we are coming off our exam break.
No disrespect to UNO, but if NU struggles with them it will be a long Big 10 season for the Cats. NU will no doubt be rusty coming off finals as you point out, but once they get rolling I expect a much better effort than we saw in the last 20 minutes last night.