Had been a little while since I made it to a game in person and man was it a fun one! Joe Bam couldn’t miss from 3 and then Bishop picked it up in the second half.

Only thing is I wish we could just keep a nice 8 point lead from say the 5 min mark til the end of the game. Much easier on the heart.

Last edited by GW0509 (2/02/2022 9:48 pm)

Brilliant games from JoeBam and Bishop, and kudos to Hunter Dean! 

Fun, high scoring win, 4 wins in 6 games for GW

Lot of thoughts on this one. Will post more tomorrow, but that was a wild and fun game to watch.  I can’t recall a game in the smith center where the two teams combined for 25 threes on as few as 52 attempts.

And I don’t think the defense was bad at all.  Like us, LaSalle has not been a good shooting team. And since I know no one here pays much attention to opponents’ personnel as if we are the only team playing, just as we got great shooting from Joe and Qwanzi (early), they got great shooting from guys I’m sure we were happy to let fire away.

Brickus was 2-13 in A10 play, but went 5-8 tonight. 
Brantley was 3-19 in A10 play, but went 2-4. 
Big Man Clifton Moore is a 19% three point shooter this year, but went 1-2.
Christian Ray was 1-9 in A10 play, went 1-3. 

I’m sure the game plan was to force those guys to settle for jumpers.

But their main shooter, Nickleberry, we worked hard on and held him to 1-4 and he didn’t get open looks.   

We also let Clark jack up 3s because he’s a 29% shooter, and he went just 2-8. 


Basically, it’s like playing against us and have Samuels, who was 3-17 in A10 play, knock down 2-3 because your game plan is to try to make Samuels beat you. 

And Joe Bam was 14-41 in A10 before going an awesome 7-10 today.  He looked like an NBA player, basically swishing every shot where he was squares and in rhythm. Would be so great to see him start to shoot consistently because he’s basically unguardable when he’s doing that.

Thanks Mike K and GWMayhem!! That's really nice of you to say. I too wish we had a beat reporter, but I think we know what to expect from WaPo nowadays!

What a crazy game! I unfortunately only managed to catch a bit of the first half and the last media timeout of the game, but I might go back and check out the replay later. Good to sneak out the win, although Moore came really close to having the #1 play on SportsCenter had the ball not been overshot.

La Salle had really poor court awareness late in the game. On multiple possessions defensively, they cluelessly let Bishop either dribble around them or run down several seconds before fouling. Those seconds could have proven to be critical given La Salle's momentum in the final 5-6 minutes of the game.

The first half in particular looked like our preseason scrimmage. I never thought I'd see this team shoot like that, and couldn't believe that shot after shot was going in. A few games ago, we shot over 2% worse from 3 than the 13th place A10 team for the season. Now we are within .2% from leaving the basement in three point percentage. The team is shooting 35% from 3 in conference play. I'm not necessarily going to go as far and say that this team has some elite shooters or anything, but the improved ball movement (and shooting in rhythm) has made a huge difference.

I think Joe improved his 3-PT FG% by nearly 5% from this game alone - he's now 35% on the year which is actually decent. There's less of a problem with him shooting that many threes when they're shot in rhythm and not compromising good ball movement. Bishop has been making really good decisions offensively with the ball. Brayon bounced back with 7 assists! When he plays the role of the passer, this team has a lot of success. Qwanzi came in and made the shots given to him (is he now our certified game opener guy now?) Interesting that Ricky played half of Qwanzi's minutes. JC must have been going with the hot hand. Brendan the passer has been quietly very good for us. While his shooting is hard to watch at times, Adams does not turn the ball over which is a plus. If we need to have him bring the ball up in games late, I'd trust him.

I know battling down low wasn't easy, but what a turnaround for Hunter Dean these past few games. I'm not sure what initiated the change, but he looks like a completely different player. He's not overthinking things, and is playing aggressive. Dean did everything from making short jumpers to even taking it himself to the rim (already an improvement from the Fordham game!). His emergence has been the reason the team has been winning more games lately. Dean going 5-5 from the line made a big difference in the back and forth nature of the game after coming in as a 40% FT shooter (on a smallish sample size, but still).

Not sure what we're going to do about the rebounding issues. We won't shoot this well consistently to have a chance in games if we're outrebounded by 20. While there could have been a bit more boxing out, the big situation has to be addressed this offseason. Jabari has done a good job rebounding against lower competition in Arkansas, but I'm not sure how much we can expect from him immediately as a freshman. Keegan might be that guy, but I think we need to get another guy. Good to see Noel on the bench even though it ultimately led to a DNP. Davidson isn't the most menacing team inside, but we need Brown back playing ASAP. I thought we could have used Ricky in there a bit more to help out on the boards as well.

I said in the preview that "Doucouré wasn't much of a scorer down low, although anything is possible against our frontcourt". He came into the game scoring 6 combined points in La Salle's previous three games but scored 8 against us. It was his second best offensive game of the season after their game against Fordham (who might have the worst frontcourt in the league).

Part of the rebounding issue to me is due to our frontcourt being forced to rotate to defend an opposing guard penetrating to the hoop (and thus not be able to go for the rebound). We have been pretty bad defensively in conference play. While JB squared do have their moments defensively, they are out of position far too often which allows guards to get a quick first step on them on their way to the hoop. Both need to do a much better job of staying in front of their man. We may have followed the scouting report, but the defense was pretty bad tonight along the perimeter. La Salle had a ton of really wide open looks (including their better shooters) with guys nowhere near them. The way both teams were shooting they might have made the shot anyways, but still. If we did close out on a player, they easily dribbled around us and got a clean look. Our guys strangely looked gassed in the first half, maybe because the game was very high tempo.

Agree on Renault being an atrocious ref. The four point play late had hardly any contact. Refs are pretty particular when players are unable to land fully after launching a shot, but man it looked like La Salle had initiated that, along with Brickus clearly pushing off Joe on a previous play. I will say though that Hunter getting the and one in the first half was equally as bad. That might have been counted in the NBA, but is considered after the foul in college basketball. We got lucky on that one.

Next up is a tough one against Davidson, although at least it's at home. We may be double digit underdogs anyways. We'll definitely have to be a lot better defensively than we have in conference play so far.
 

Felt like I was at the Miami Floridian-Kentucky Colonel ABA game from 1974 last night.  If this had been a pro game, you're looking at maybe a 130-127 final?  Definitely a lot of fun to watch.

The last minute and change of the game alone had:

A sick behind-the-back dribble by James which sent a LaSalle player trying to foul him crashing into press row

40% free throw shooter Hunter Deam calmly sinking a pain

A 4 point play by Brickus, courtesy of a dubious call on Joe, with 5 seconds left

A missed free throw by James, who had hit 11 of his first 13 from the line, with two seconds left, keeping GW's lead at 2 and opening the door for...

Clifton Moore attempting to do his best Carl Elliott impression but back ironing his midcourt attempt for the win

I need to take a breath just typing that.

A few observations:

1) After watching Fordham and LaSalle play in person within a 4 day period, I am comfortable saying that this is the best the tail end of the A10 has looked in its history.   There isn't a pushover to be found.

2) We can argue over whether there was contact, or enough contact, or who initiated the contact regarding the late 4 point play, but any ref ought to know in this circumstance to keep their whistle in their pocket unless the foul is blatant.  Which this inarguably wasn't.

3) Ironic considering that Joe was nearly knocked unconscious moments earlier and failed to get that call.

4) I don't think I've ever seen a game where more airballs, deflected passes, or attempted steals that resulted in 50/50 loose balls all ended up in the hands of a La Salle player.  Completely a fluke.

5) I understand LSF's point about playing defense with one's feet and not one's hands, but please don't take away Joe's hands.  He was credited with 4 steals on the night and may have deflected 2-3 additional passes that do not get counted as steals.  Amazingly, it's his athleticism, rather than proper technique, that allows for this.  If he can learn to always keep his body between his man and the basket, look out.

6) Yes, this was another "what a game" for James.  23 points in the second half.  Led his team to the victory.  Even if GW loses this game at the buzzer, his performance is still worthy of the highest of accolades.  It's when he scores 1/3 of his points in garbage time and his team was never realistically in the game do I feel that heaping praise isn't warranted.

7) Very anxious to see what Hunter Dean can do against the better teams in the conference.  I think it was John Giannini who referred to him as the X-factor in the URI game.  Hunter is most definitely the X-factor.

8) I understand that Qwanzi hit several big shots early, but does playing Qwanzi 27 minutes while playing Ricky 14 minutes provide GW with its best chance to win?  Ricky continues to have problems with turnovers (he had 3 last night) , and perhaps is still feeling some ill effects from his concussion, but in his 14 minutes, he did grab 3 defensive rebounds (which we were in desperate need of), had 2 steals and handed out 2 assists.  I am hopeful that JC has not reached the point where he's thinking along the lines of Qwanzi will be here next year, Ricky will not be, so let's get Qwanzi the majority of the minutes.  Ricky playing 27 and Qwanzi playing 14 makes more sense to me.

9) Attendance last night was 919.  Sunday against Fordham was 1,013.  What a shame.  Will be interesting to see the number on a Saturday afternoon against a team who was recently nationally ranked.

10) At the very moment that LSF posted about Amir not having played, I said to my friend, "wow, two games in a row and no Amir?"  And then, he was checking into the game.  Great minds as they say.

11) I'll close with this...I won a bet last night.  Not on the game.  Instead, I bet my friend, while at the game and not on this site, that The Dude would use the word "Firestorm" at some point in the game thread.   And sure enough, he did.  You know who you are....pay up! 

jf wrote:

Free Quebec wrote:

And Joe Bam was 14-41 in A10 before going an awesome 7-10 today. He looked like an NBA player, basically swishing every shot where he was squares and in rhythm. Would be so great to see him start to shoot consistently because he’s basically unguardable when he’s doing that.

   FQ best articulated what I was trying to say earlier. We've seen flashes of that shooting stroke, sometimes reminiscent of Kwame Evans on a really good day like New Mexico, but it was on full display yesterday. If paired with defensive strides and good shot (and dunk attempt) selection, can combine with Joe's awesome athleticism to make not only an entertaining and really special player.
    That weird (collegiate) and one call on the Dean defender, as noted by FQ, DMV,etc. above actually showed another side of flopping. It wasn't just merely annoying. Someone could have gotten hurt. The flopper and Hunter, trying to avoid stepping on him, or stepping on him the wrong way--in an area where there were a lot of bodies. Usually, it's just high dramatics, but this could have gotten someone hurt because of where it happened.
      It was extraordinary shooting combined with streaks of ugly basketball fundamentals. We won't generally win against teams that can put back all those offensive rebounds.
    Wonder if that LaSalle's runs, especially at the end, but also earlier as noted, come because we are who we are, or that the players are tired, especially in the pace of the last game? We can still use what bench we have more effectively.
   Obviously, we weren't hurting for 3-point shooting, as often happens.  But still don't know why Knapp is never used, especially given his understanding of fundamentals, shooting ability and and defensive intensity, even if he is not as purely athletic as some of the others. He can give good minutes and maybe even a lesser walkon can give 40 seconds or a minute or two as a respite for rotation players. And even Knapp doesn't do well offensively a couple of times after being inserted cold, he should be given the chance to redeem himself that others have with less pressure.
Again, don't understand getting a proven D1 player and burying him on the bench. Can you redshirt a graduate student?
       And Amir came in real late in the game, as noted above.
    Not personally interested in going back or looking a play by play if it exists somewhere, but it seems like one of the LaSalle runs came when Brayon was sitting on the bench.  Brayon's penetration does make our team function better, as demonstrated by several assists and some key baskets. 
   Also, Amir's role should be clearly settling down the team and utilizing his defensive skills. Given what may be his physical limitations from injury, Amir can still make a vital contribution that way.
   Winning feels good, even in a nail-biting last-second manner. We'll see if we are just overperforming against lesser teams, or can hold our own with the better and best teams in the league.

 

 Listen Brian Knapp is a great kid. But if you think GW is winning or losing games because Brian Knapp is or isn't playing then I'm not sure what you are watching. He was brought in as a walk-on for a reason. He is a solid teammate and yes probably can hit the occasional shot when given an opportunity. So can a lot of kids who are riding the bench at many schools. People don't realize how good you have to be to even play D3. They also don't realize how good you have to be to move from the bench to a meaningful role in D1. But the coaches have seen him in probably 75 plus practices. You don't think they have a better idea than you of what he can and cannot do and whether that will help? JC has shown that he will play him at times but it depends completely on matchups and style of play. 

On a lighter note:

https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/3404560/respect-this-a-10-replay-official-giving-up-on-a-george-washingtonla-salle-game-to-scroll-tinder-instead

Exciting game to watch, too bad I wasn't there.  Will be there to see Davidson on Sat.  

Loving the hustle, passing and enthusiasm the last few games.  Too bad we were inches from losing on a half court heave!  Would have been heartbreaking.