Author:
jck45
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Date Posted: 20:01:44 12/07/05 Wed
I was at the game as well and I too came away with a strong sense of pride. That atmosphere in Sojka was something special. NOBODY left the game early, and EVERYBODY gave our team a standing O at the end.
That was special.
As for the game itself, I now know we deserved to be in that game. A few things go differently, and we win that game. Coming back from 19 down to cut it to three against a team like Villanova is a feat unto itself.
Some takeaways that I hope we can learn from:
1) We have to be able to break the press a little easier than we did. It seemed like their pressure, while it didnt cause all that many turnovers, it threw our offense out of sync. By the time our offense got completely set up a big chunk of our precious shot clock was gone. You can bet that we will be seeing that again, patricularly in tournament time, and we need to be prepared better for that.
2)We came out with the jitters and didnt get the tone of the game set up in our favor. That very first possesion where Lee turned it over and gave them an easy two is just such a killer. Missed free throws were possible also due to jitters. The pressure of that first big home game is hopefully now gone. Enough said.
3) McNaugton is McNasty. While he had a career night, Villanova was basically willing to play him one on one because they knew they could shut down everyone else. They weren't going to double him and let him create open looks for our shooters. Basically, we need to be able to create open looks for our shooters, not just when McNaughton is doubled.
All in all, it was definately a loss we can build on. I know everyone wanted that one bad, but everyone will get over not be undefeated and move forward.
Sorry for the rambling, but it's probably just my own personal way of mourning the loss. I'm now over it and looking forward to what to come.
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