Team played great defense, the refs stole a W from us.  The call on Lindo was as BS as it gets. That's trash that guy shouldn't work another game this year.  Same guy missed the clear goaltending call.

 Washington St had a 61 KenPom we went toe to toe with them and outplayed them

Brendan Adams in particular.  Great game from GW.  

Washington State was not very good.   But in the end, being outrebounded 39-26 (including 13-4 on the offensive boards) and our sloppiness cost us a game, along with, of course, a lack of depth.  (That was quite the 5 minutes for Samuels).

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

Washington State was not very good.   But in the end, being outrebounded 39-26 (including 13-4 on the offensive boards) and our sloppiness cost us a game, along with, of course, a lack of depth.  (That was quite the 5 minutes for Samuels).

It didn’t really cost us the game.  Pretty clearly the refs cost us this one.

Not being able to Gueye off the boards hurt us, but it didn’t cost us the game.  We deserved to win.

Fantastic effort from the guys, especially on defense. Entertaining game. I don't think any of us suspected Hawaii had legalized goaltending, and you could kind of see the "GW ending" coming.
A few observances:
@ Defensive rotations were stellar, especially getting out on the shooters, but GW will always find a way to lose on a hustle play where we turn them over but the ball squirts away and finds an opponent's best 3-ball shooter for a wide open make.
@ Brendan is putting together a really nice season, provides good decision making, stellar FT shooting (swoon), key 3s and even some midrange take I didn't know he had. Nice to know he's an option when JBIV is being shut down. Running curl plays for him to get him driving layups, which forces defenders off him to create space for his 3s. Teams have to account for him. That only helps James.
@ Collins (SLU) is one of the best guards in America but GW has the A10's best backcourt. JBIV and Adams have developed very complimentary skill sets. What's changed since last year? Hmmmm..... leads me to my next point:
@ Totally sold on CC. Great demeanor and temperament, solid substitutions, VERY solid in-game adjustments (like, did you guys see we actually SCORED OUT OF A TIMEOUT), team looks motivated, confident and unified.
@ Probably because he's new and wants to cultivate a career in which he's not seen as a constant whiner, CC has been pretty reserved and diplomatic with calls, but maybe too reserved, as when Noel Brown is wearing Gueye like a bank safe dropped from a 30-story building, our winning basket is denied by goaltending, and JBIV is fouled by 3 guys and the Wazzou Pep Band with 0:00.01 left. Will be interesting to see what finally makes him lose his mind for a bench T.
@ Max is fitting in well. Which is to say, incredible effort, knows his role, coachable, Swiss Army knife ... and good for 3-4 boneheaded "overeager" mistakes per game. He'll have a great career at GW. Plays much bigger than he looks. Needs to keep his head up.
@ We're actually getting some nice post play from Noel and Hunter. Credit CC for appropriate usage and putting them in position for high percentage FGA. I love that play where they get it to a guy in the short corner who hits Dean charging down the lane for a power dunk.
@ Been watching him for 3 years now and still not sure about Ricky's +/-. So many dumb fouls and decisions and really poor body language. If he gets jobbed once by the officials, his night is over (and he always seems to get jobbed by officials).
@ Other than Max, EJ and whatever platoon CC's using at the 5, there's no bench. RIP Keegan, Daniel, Amir, Q.
@ Speaking of EJ, absolutely love his disruptive energy on D and ability to run point. Should concentrate on being a penetrator and not so much a distance shooter. Maybe it's his number but he reminds me a little of Travis King: energy, defense, solid quarterbacking.
@ Too many 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th shots for WSU throughout. Being noticeably better on the glass in the second half was key to the comeback. Gueye had a much tougher time as the game progressed.
@ Lost 95% of the hustle plays. Loose balls and "lucky breaks" all went to WSU.
@ Credit JBIV for maturing into a total team leader who doesn't need to take 25 shots a game to have an impact. On the other hand, he needs to take over at crunch time by getting into the lane for his midrange game, drawing fouls or kicking out to shooters. Be the guy.
@ Noel is improving, and I'm sure his consistently getting and converting early plays in the block (I think he hit his first 3 shots via designed plays last night) really rattle an opponent's scouting report.
@ All of us will watch our team play in obscure bandboxes via cable channels dialed in by a mix of alchemy and aurora borealis exposing us all to Joe Namath nose hair clipper infomercials before strangely disappearing overnight, but participating in (and in 2016, winning) holiday events like this attracts the casual alum and should not be underestimated in terms of fan base impact, win or lose. Which is to say, good show (and send out the solicitations).

Free Quebec wrote:

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

Washington State was not very good.   But in the end, being outrebounded 39-26 (including 13-4 on the offensive boards) and our sloppiness cost us a game, along with, of course, a lack of depth.  (That was quite the 5 minutes for Samuels).

It didn’t really cost us the game. Pretty clearly the refs cost us this one.

Not being able to Gueye off the boards hurt us, but it didn’t cost us the game. We deserved to win.

Blaming the refs is too easy.  Fact is, Washington State did not look like a very good team, at least last night and GW played poorly, at least on offense, for nearly the entire game.  We had to claw back in most of the game and never really had what it took to take control of the game down the stretch.  We put ourselves in the hole early by allowing too many 2nd, 3rd and even 4th chances early on.   We were unable to stop Gueye for most of the game and missed 15 of our 18 three point shots.   We also also sloppy throughout, especially turning the ball over during that last possession.    And yes, we did get a bad bounce on WSU's last possession that led to their wide opened game winning 3 pointer, but I do not believe that the game was called so one sided to cost uas the outcome.  Don't get me wrong...GW played hung touch against a power conference opponant.  After the first 10 minutes or so, the defense was generally very good.   

I wasn't suggesting that the refs did not ultimately cost us the game.  The goal tending (non) call was a tough one that had a major impact on the outcome, no doubt.  But I do agree that the officiating was generally good.   Even so, Washington State did what they needed to do...have everyone crash the boards in a one possession game late in the game, and we did not keep them off the boards, putting them in position for those extra opportunities.   Still, my generally point was that if we played better through. out the game, we would not have been in that position.    Ricky simply needs to stop picking up silly fouls.  We are not deep enough to lose players to foul trouble. Based on at least on how they were playing, I probably would have looked to Adams down the stretch rather than Bishop.  He shot much better, is a better free throw shooter and is probably the better ball handler of the two.  Although this isn't the year, I can easily see Max as the "go to" person next season.    In a comedic moment, Hunter took probably his deepest shot of the season (excluding free throws), approximately 10-12 feet.  I good reminder why he generally shoots only layups and dunks.