Very inspired effort. Still a few things to clean up defensively and need to hit more open looks, but this is the best we’ve played all year. Closest thing I’ve seen to the 2016-17 ‘Cats yet this season.
Win or lose
- Thread starter Jonny2TheP
- Start date
Yeah, I'll take that kind of loss, although would have been a huge win. We played them really tough in their building. Man, Mac's anti-clutch issues are frustrating. Gotta play solid for the rest of the non-con...and the B1G could be up for grabs.
We are better than last year! Just need to get Mac to quit turning over the ball! I women have him for Brown!
Agreed. As I originally stated, really happy with the effort, but every chance we have had this year to get a good win has ended in a loss. The margin for error is very thin at this point.
If we play like that every night, we won't even have to worry about margins for error, since we'll have 25 wins. Doubt we can play that well every night, though.
Senior guard with 0 points in the second half. Missed shot that could have tied. Love the guy. But we can't beat the best teams without him.
Great effort and unfortunately again, w/o Falzon. We could have really used him these last 2 games.
Can only hope it’s still the fact that he’s just a few weeks into actual game play for the first time in a year.
I expect him to get a lot of chances to fire away and find his stroke in the upcoming noncon schedule.
Yes.
Can’t believe mike Webb and Virginia haven’t offered up some praise for these kids’ efforts.
Fair weather fans.
The team that played today will win games in conference play. Loved Pardon hitting so many open jumpers, which was a great strategy to neutralize Haas and Haarms on defense. The free throw disparity is frustrating, as was Purdue hitting some 3s late that really stemmed any tide we started to build. Ultimately, I'm encouraged but disappointed because a win here would have more than washed out the GT loss. Would have been a feather-in-the-cap win. Oh well. They really need to win out the rest of the noncon, then get off to a fast start in January.
Generally, I agree with this statement. But this is the best the team has played this year. Let's hope it's the start of a pattern.
It IS frustrating, yes - but not unjustified. It's a product of 1). Our perimeter-oriented offense doesn't result in us pounding the ball inside as often as some teams do, and 2). Purdue has two guys the size of condominiums (and we know at least one of them, Haas, to be pretty good); when guys like that get the ball underneath, it's awfully tough to stop them without fouling. We didn't lose this one because of the refs (as many of us are openly and properly stating); we lost to a good team on their floor and damn near won the thing altogether. As you say, Purdue hit several clutch 3s in the last few minutes and deserved to win this game. Certainly not satisfying to come out of there without the win, but we gave a damned good account of ourselves and left most of us on the board feeling a lot more encouraged than we did just a few days ago. I'd say this was as good a stepping stone as a loss can be.
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Pardon taking those 10-12 footers should be a thread on its own. It's a huge new asset for NU's offense. If he can pull out other teams' big men....a lot opens up.
It also makes him a second round NBA prospect at the 4.
I also thought yesterdays game was far better than much of what we have seen so far this year. It often feels like NU plays up or down to its opponents - which can be maddening. The fact that Falzon was out again and we stayed in it to the end is another positive take away. Strong performance by Lindsey gives hope that he is back in good form.
But, I would be remiss to not point out to my little friend Walkee and his cohorts, not sure if I will be right about Haas, but he sure looked like a beast last night...
We did attempt 43 2s. Pardon had 20 - yes, the jumpers, but we fed him inside plenty too - and Lindsey and Brown both drove plenty of times.
I don't have an issue with Purdue shooting more free throws. Just not that many more.
The two games NU lost last week the opponents shot a combined 32 of 44 from the line. NU shot 7 of 10.
A 25 point differential from the line is pretty amazing. Not saying that was the reason they lost but it sure didn't help. Gotta cut down on those fouls but also get to the line some.
I actually started a thread prior to this one about how strong our effort was. But I realize that you are too busy on the Holy Cross board to read every thread here. But, on second thought, does HC even HAVE a message board?