Ok, I'm starting to get my positive flow back.
Once again, the majority of the game we played pretty well. We shot pretty well from the floor, we shot exceptionally well from 3, and we won the battle on the glass. We also played pretty great defense throughout the middle of the game. All of those things resulted in a double-digit lead as late as 4:17.
But then it hit us again. Davidson scored 23 points over the last four minutes to make this game a close one late. A couple of turnovers, a couple of key misses, and suddenly the lead was cut to within 4.
Still, the important thing is we won, and we owe a lot of that to Festus Ezeli.
Credit obviously goes to Jeff and John tonight: Jeff was absolutely fantastic. He was prolific on offense and excellent on defense. John was equally fantastic, and perhaps most impressively, he used some great ballhandling to get open looks.
But Festus seemed to really change the game. I don't know what his plus/minus was tonight, but the team simply played better when he was on the floor. He affected the entire course of the game in a positive manner. Davidson had to double team him when he had the ball in the post, which opened up the perimeter and slashing lanes. Davidson couldn't score in the paint when he was in there. Lance had more open putbacks. Fez got offensive rebounds. Even with a massive brace on his left knee and clearly looking like he was still recovering, he still gave us 21 excellent minutes. 15 points, 6 boards, 2 blocks, and 4 offensive rebounds in 21 minutes, just a great performance.
We need more guys outside of those three to contribute consistently. That is really the key.
Vandy gets a badly needed break for exams. Time to get healthy, rested, and work out some kinks in the gym. Hopefully we'll see this team take an upward swing earlier in the second half.
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8 comments:
I'll take the W.
Can anyone comment and/or offer insight as to why Fuller has been riding the bench so hard as of late? Granted, Tinsley and KJ are clearly better options at the point, but to me, Fuller getting 0 minutes over the past couple games may have other implications than just below average performance.
It certainly appears like Fuller has fallen out of the rotation, which is a shame because he really could provide a change of pace that we sorely lack. But I think his performance on the floor to this point has just caused the coaching staff to whittle the rotation down and give his minutes to Kedren.
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=313410057
I'm worried about Vandy's ability to to better than third in the SEC East this year.
Not sure what you mean, AD; if anything that UF-AZ game just exposes the Gators.
DRW, just general uncertainty on my part. UF better than AZ for sure, but AZ seems better than a lot of the teams that beat Vandy so far. I don't think Vandy really should be talking about being exposed after going from top ten to unranked so quickly.
AD..."a lot of teams that beat vandy." There have been 3, 2 of which are top 10 teams. But sure, Clev St you got. Were gonna put this on track, but we (and hopefull Stallings) will realize that were only 7 deep and stay clear of that disease of a bench.
Stallings was asked on the call in show this week about Fuller's reduction in time. He said there is no problem but Kedron and Brad are just playing a bit better than Fuller is and dividing the point guard minutes 3 ways doesn't seem to work as well as dividing it 2 ways for the time being. Something like that.
It has become so stale, that when Stallings talks it reminds of Charlie Brown's teacher...Waah Waah Waah.....Waah Waah...Waah Waah Waah.
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