Leading by 1 at the half feels like a distant memory. Yale turned it up on defense in the second half and we couldn’t make a shot if our life depended on it, as we shot 25% from the field and just under 19% from 3 in the final 20 minutes. I thought the Bulldogs made it tough in the paint - see: Samson Aletan leaping and blocking/grabbing the ball out of Rochester’s hands, which looked like something out of a comic book - but there were open looks from outside that just would not fall tonight. Does anybody have any information regarding the whereabouts of Brady Loughlin?
Defensively, we did pretty well against a good team. But for as good as the defensive effort has been since Landon got back in the lineup, our offense has been bad, as in near the bottom of DI in adjusted offensive efficiency bad.
Actually thought the offense generated many quality shots tonight. It was just inability to make open ones. JJ, Langham, Rochester - all awful shooting nights. Missed open shot after open shot. Even Jones said in the postgame had Brown hit shots it’s a different game in the 2nd. We got out bigged and beat on the boards - Dabo struggled mightily and fouled out with more than one dumb foul. 2nd half was a disaster.
Good news was that the offense generated those shots from good ball movement all game and it works when JJ runs the point. (10 assists.) They played hard and with energy most of the game and competed against a prime Yale team.
Langham has to slash. He isn’t hitting the three this year - he will at some point - but for him to take over half his shots tonight as 3s doesn’t make sense. He’s the best FT shooter on the team and one of the best athletes. His game has got to be going to the hoop and finishing or getting to the line.
It seems clear to me why we were such a different team in the second half. No legs, Players were sent home after the shooting, the game at USC cancelled and there were no practices until 12/27. Let’s hope we can play our way into shape before we get too deep in the season.