It was a gut wrenching result for all RU fans. But our defense and deflections and steals were still occurring with 4 minutes left and 3 minutes left and 2 minutes, 30 seconds left. We stopped running offense with 4 minutes left, except dump down to Cliff. Paul throws up an airball and then has the most embarrassing last minutes for a senior I have ever seen. He throws the ball cross court and it gets stolen and they hit a 3. Why didn’t try to get it up quickly and let Cliff throw down some dunks and continue scoring ? Paul then let’s himself get trapped instead of getting the ball to the middle and then it gets knocked off his arm. Then with 9 seconds left they miss the 3 but guess what Paul forgets to box out or get rebound and guy gets rebound and put back to cut it to one.
Now Pike did not pressure or press as they kept on getting comfortable. Not only didn’t he press the ball with 5.8 , which let them get to almost half court but he switched Caleb onto to Cooper and off Battle and then Cam does the flybye , Why ? And gives up an open 3. Yeah Caleb missed a foul shot after the hard foul and one at 5.8 but hardly have anything to complain about his play tonight . Cam missed one with 30 seconds as well. But Paul ‘s play is hurting is right now. Other than a few clutch offensive rebounds , he lost his poise and that is unforgivable for a senior.
Such a shame since I thought we played real well for 37 minutes and we finally would have a wire to wire 10 point win making it 5-5 on the road and Cliff and Came with over 20 points each. It was going to be a happy recap and the double bye possibilities with 7 teams 11-8 going into the last game of the year was going to be amazing conversation . I still cannot believe it and have to stop writing but still in shock. BAC , I understand your reaction but you are a little over the top as there was a lot of good for 37 minutes tonight . One of our players failed badly and the last minute was horrific. MSU just had it happen to them too just last week.
