1. Almost missed the game!! I was so engrossed in the post-Whitney funeral coverage that was in its fifth hour on 7 (that’s SEVEN!) “news” networks that I lost all track of time. Thankfully Mrs. McKnight has her priorities straight…
2. Got a little thuggy at the end. Isaiah makes a monster block on a breakaway ECU layup, and lands on his back. ECU player gets up, and returns to the still prone Sykes and double-punches him in the chest. I watched the monitor on the scorers desk, and Josh rushes towards the scene and touches NO ONE - double technical, ECU ball! Isaiah and #0 had to be separated as the horn sounded, and #0 pouts back to the locker room without shaking hands. The ECU players continue to bark in the handshake line.
3. Keith came out of the opening tip more explosive and more energetic than we’ve EVER seen him. Leading scorer with 16, and would’ve had more if he hadn’t gotten into foul trouble.
4. In all we had 5 players with 9 points or more - gotta love the balance!
5. Apparently Donnie has been sick all week, but toughed it out to be on the sidelines tonight. There must be something going around on the team, because Josh took a couple of hits on an inhaler just before the game.
6. Late arriving crowd, due in some part to the conclusion of the baseball team’s sweep of LIU. Great weather for a baseball game!
7. AJ’s shot came around tonight, hitting two of three 3 attempts. Don’t think he had a TO, either. He was noticeably gimpy late in the game, apparently aggravating an ankle tweak during practice this week.
8. We’ve become a pretty good zone defense team when we need to be. Usually it’s a 2-3 zone, but I noticed that during one series Tristan was chasing his man, while the rest of the team was set on the corners of the paint. I’d call that a box-and-one, but I guess today it’s called a matchup zone.
9. Marcus simply didn’t get many touches in the first half, but finished in double figures with clutch shots and FTs in the 2nd.
10. The opening segment of halftime was Kiddie Kimonos (allow your mind to rest upon that for a moment), followed by a grade-school cheerleader performance. The rest of halftime focused on Breast Cancer Awareness. One our biggest and most loyal fans recently had breast cancer surgery - after the observance GOL spent a good five minutes with her before he left to join recruits. Simply a class move!
11. Isaiah had an up and down game tonight. Two incredible blocks, an “I don’t know how he did it” behind the back layup, and a slam. But his outside shot wasn’t there, and he made 3 questionable passing decisions.
12. Knight Moves performance came during the under 16 media timeout - new outfits! Little black (short) dresses with sparkly gold black cowgirl hats on top, matching sparkly gold belts in the middle, and sparkly gold cowgirl boots at the bottom. And the routine rivaled the fabled “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy” show of 2005.
13. Kasey entered the game with 2 quick layups, finished the game with a 3 and 2 key FTs, and it’s debatable whether he or Isaiah got that late-game block. And we have him for three more years…
14. The race for the conference tournament gets tighter with Memphis’s unexpected loss to UTEP. Only five more regular season games, and the importance of each of them is magnified with every single conference game. But we’re 19-7, 8-4 in conference, and 14-1 at home for the season. Helluva a 2 weeks coming up!
This post was edited on 2/18 11:03 PM by Hoops McKnight*
2. Got a little thuggy at the end. Isaiah makes a monster block on a breakaway ECU layup, and lands on his back. ECU player gets up, and returns to the still prone Sykes and double-punches him in the chest. I watched the monitor on the scorers desk, and Josh rushes towards the scene and touches NO ONE - double technical, ECU ball! Isaiah and #0 had to be separated as the horn sounded, and #0 pouts back to the locker room without shaking hands. The ECU players continue to bark in the handshake line.
3. Keith came out of the opening tip more explosive and more energetic than we’ve EVER seen him. Leading scorer with 16, and would’ve had more if he hadn’t gotten into foul trouble.
4. In all we had 5 players with 9 points or more - gotta love the balance!
5. Apparently Donnie has been sick all week, but toughed it out to be on the sidelines tonight. There must be something going around on the team, because Josh took a couple of hits on an inhaler just before the game.
6. Late arriving crowd, due in some part to the conclusion of the baseball team’s sweep of LIU. Great weather for a baseball game!
7. AJ’s shot came around tonight, hitting two of three 3 attempts. Don’t think he had a TO, either. He was noticeably gimpy late in the game, apparently aggravating an ankle tweak during practice this week.
8. We’ve become a pretty good zone defense team when we need to be. Usually it’s a 2-3 zone, but I noticed that during one series Tristan was chasing his man, while the rest of the team was set on the corners of the paint. I’d call that a box-and-one, but I guess today it’s called a matchup zone.
9. Marcus simply didn’t get many touches in the first half, but finished in double figures with clutch shots and FTs in the 2nd.
10. The opening segment of halftime was Kiddie Kimonos (allow your mind to rest upon that for a moment), followed by a grade-school cheerleader performance. The rest of halftime focused on Breast Cancer Awareness. One our biggest and most loyal fans recently had breast cancer surgery - after the observance GOL spent a good five minutes with her before he left to join recruits. Simply a class move!
11. Isaiah had an up and down game tonight. Two incredible blocks, an “I don’t know how he did it” behind the back layup, and a slam. But his outside shot wasn’t there, and he made 3 questionable passing decisions.
12. Knight Moves performance came during the under 16 media timeout - new outfits! Little black (short) dresses with sparkly gold black cowgirl hats on top, matching sparkly gold belts in the middle, and sparkly gold cowgirl boots at the bottom. And the routine rivaled the fabled “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy” show of 2005.
13. Kasey entered the game with 2 quick layups, finished the game with a 3 and 2 key FTs, and it’s debatable whether he or Isaiah got that late-game block. And we have him for three more years…
14. The race for the conference tournament gets tighter with Memphis’s unexpected loss to UTEP. Only five more regular season games, and the importance of each of them is magnified with every single conference game. But we’re 19-7, 8-4 in conference, and 14-1 at home for the season. Helluva a 2 weeks coming up!
This post was edited on 2/18 11:03 PM by Hoops McKnight*
