First 30 minutes was great competitive basketball. The last 10 minutes, what the heck was that? Chick ball offense and no answer defense?
First 30 minutes was great competitive basketball. The last 10 minutes, what the heck was that? Chick ball offense and no answer defense?
Jaylen Tot scored 18 of his game-high 21 points during a seven-minute spurt in the second half to lead Appalachian State to a 72-58 Sun Belt Conference win over Louisiana in a Thursday afternoon contest at the Holmes Convocation Center.
Yes the last ten minutes of every game has been an issue with this team. Wednesdays travel schedule was not ideal as well. Bus to New Orleans. Fly to Chicago. Fly to Asheville. Bus to Boone. Didn’t arrive till close to midnight. Game at noon next day. Figure in the altitude and lack of depth. They were gassed at the end of the game. Not an excuse but just another thing that they had to deal with when in reality they need all the advantages they can get.
Been a few days since the App game. Just getting time now to give my view. Effort was generally good and early defense was fine. They did not take advantage of the situation however. Seemed they went back to an early season problem on offense. That was passing up relatively open shots in the middle of the shot clock and ending with a contested look at the end of the shot clock. In particular, I would like to see Dorian Finister be a little more selfish in attempting to score. The situation flipped when they lost the lead in the latter point of the second half. They seemed to lose their composure at that point and take poor shots early in the clock. Of course they lost the lead due to Tot of App getting hot. You could see in his eyes confidence growing when he hit the four point play. Once he hit another three, I would have liked to see focus of defense switch to prevent him from even catching the ball. That loss on Thursday marked the 10th loss this season of a contest in which they had a second half lead. I am not sure how to overcome that issue but at some point it will need to for the program to achieve the success we desire.
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