Anybody see a pattern here. Get a big lead, blow it, just get a bucket to tie game, go to overtime, win. ?

They're winning overtime games with NO BENCH! Two whole points from the whole bench.

Not sure I ever saw a game where one team was horrific down the stretch of regulation and then the other team was horrific down the stretch of OT. Take the win and keep it moving lol. If we can win at least one of the next 3 we can get to at least .500 in conference for the first time since 2016-17. Not a small accomplishment.

Nice win for CC and the guys. You take two on the road anyway you get ‘em. There’s a lot of toughness with these guys. They may try to give the game away too often, but they don’t quit. I love that. It helps that we have a coach that can lead and motivate and has a plan. Remember these guys were picked to finish 12th preseason. They done good already, but I’d love to see us win two of the final three to finish 10-8.

Tonight’s special recognition award goes to none other than Archie Miller. We thank you, Coach Miller, for deciding - with two timeouts in your back pocket - to allow Ish Leggett to aimlessly dribble to ball for 15 seconds before launching a 25 footer that wasn’t even close,  when one free throw would have won the game. You earned your salary tonight, big fella.

And thus, our new moniker has been born - the Cardiac Colonials!

Career game for Hunter Dean.   Been waiting a long time to see him dominate and be aggressive like he was tonight.   Was it just that he managed to avoid foul trouble ?   I think not.   Were URI's big men that soft and unathletic ?  Not really.   Hope he can keep up the outstanding effort.

CC's postgame comments on WRGW
Caputo Postgame URI 2-22 FINAL on Vimeo

Some great comments that I am very much in agreement with.  Keith, love the new name.  GWstudent2024, good call.  Hunter had 15 and 11 (in 38 minutes) at the Ryan Center, and 9 and 7 (in 21 minutes) in the return game in DC.  No question that CC and staff took note of this and made Hunter a big part of the game plan last night.  Poog, I could not have said that any better.  Plenty of coaches would never even think to express any concern.

I think we are all learning to take our blood pressure medication before sitting down to watch a GW game.  Fortrunately, outside of the world of advanced metrics and gambling, there are no style points.  Certainly not this season where postseason bids are unlikely to be on the line.  Just win baby, and CC's team is showing tremendous grit in doing so.  In games decided by 5 points or less, or in overtime, GW was 1-4 in the OOC.  In conference play, they are 5-0 with 4 of these decided in one or two overtime periods.  

There is this looming sense that this way of living, blowing big leads, pulling out close games, playing starters herculean minutes, will ultimately catch up with itself.  Maybe.  But, to this team's credit, it hasn't happened yet.  Try telling these young men and these coaches that they have nothing to play for and let me know how hard they laugh at you.

Last year's team finished 8-9 in conference, a respectable mark and not radically different, record-wise, from where the team sits today.  The difference is that last year's team could never have defeated Dayton (they had two chances and lost by an average of 25.5 points).  Last year's team would not have likely won at this year's St. Bonaventure (this one is debatable but that's my view).  Last year's team would not have come back the way this year's team did against St. Louis (despite not winning).  Likely would have lost that Richmond game as well.  In short, this year's team is playing far better against the better teams.  That's a true sign of progress for this program.

I think from now on CC should call timeout with 5 minutes to go in the second half and tell the guys to not look at the score and pretend that the game is going into overtime. This team's ability to reset after blowing a lead has been very impressive (granted it is a veteran group, but still).

Others have mentioned that URI was stupid to not get to the basket on the last play of regulation and I agree. Why go away from what made the game close? Leggett and Martin made some jumpers that they don't usually make as efficiently as they did yesterday (probably a bit of bad luck mixed with a porous GW defense) but you can live with that. The Rams are very adept at getting to the hoop and drawing contact and I think we gave up a few too many attempts for stretches. Thankfully, Miller + URI realized too late that getting out in transition was a key to getting back in the game.

It's an absolute luxury to have two guards with the talent of JB and BA offensively. In the Bona game, JB made a layup when the team needed a bucket late in regulation. When the team was down 4 with a minute to go, BA cans a big 3. You can identify similar plays in the Richmond and St. Joe's games. The fact that BA made a layup at the end of regulation (I believe our only FG in the last 5 minutes of the game) shows the maturity of this team compared to Rhody. URI settled for a jump shot, while we took it to the rim knowing we only needed 2 to send the game to overtime. That's a good job to both the players and coaches.

Miller having Carey jump the ball to start overtime was interesting and ended up working out with the quick URI bucket - I guess he gets credit for that. Regardless, it was so impressive to watch us find a way to get to the basket for the majority of our points in overtime. You would think we would be the ones gassed given our short rotation and the fact that we just played an overtime game a few days ago - not on Saturday, but Sunday so on even shorter rest. It was stunning to see Rhody be the team that was gasping for energy and that allowed us to play like Fordham did against us in the second half at Rose Hill stealing the ball away for easy fastbreak points.

This may be the worst GW team defensively in a very long time (and analytically worse than last year) but yet I'm able to find more positive things to say about it compared to last year. We may be painfully limited and don't always close out on shooters/fight over screens as we probably should but CC's trapping schemes and zone looks can at least be disruptive for stretches. I think about a play as simple as when we double teamed URI down 3 in the first half, came up with a steal and JB got an and-one. That's a play that I'd always be jealous the other team would make against us. It's very refreshing to see us be the ones to do that sometimes now. Also, while Hunter and Ricky may not make all-defensive team in the league both are better rim protectors than they get credit for. GW is a lot worse in 3-PT FG defense, but our activity down low this year has made a difference. We may still not be stopping teams consistently, but I no longer see a layup line that I did last year for the most part.

One final point about passing. GW had 16 assists as a team, with Max, BA, and JB all finishing with 4 or more assists. The ball movement is leaps and bounds better than any team in the JC era and it's not close. We don't need just one player accounting for all the team's assists. When multiple players can serve as complementary playmakers it becomes harder to defend and scout. I think back to two years ago when JB was at the point. If Jamison or Matt Moyer were getting the ball, you know they were launching a shot. There wouldn't be any other passes made or further action.

Max has gotten his flowers for his rebounding (and rightly so) but I think he showed yesterday how mature he is as a passer. First-year players are launching a shot or turning it over more times than not when they have the ball. Max not only knows when to shoot (in transition in good rhythm or when he has a favorable matchup - he answered with a 3 every time it looked like Rhody was threatening) but he doesn't force anything. He will drive and then find JB/BA open as defenses collapse. Teams at this point recognize his talent and have to respect his contributions offensively which has helped JB and BA.

It would be great if the team could cut down on unforced errors late in the game, but it was nice to see CC go back to the football play right away in overtime when he knew URI was going to begin trapping. We didn't struggle as much to get the ball in and hopefully that continues in the remaining close games this year.

While it seemingly feels that everything goes right for the other team and nothing goes right for us during a late second-half surge by the other team FT shooting matters as well. We have the second worst FT percentage defense in conference, evening out a fortuitous performance by other teams during OOC play. Bona isn't great from the line, but they made most of their FTs late against us (minus that late Flowers miss). That is something we don't have control over but we do have control when it comes to our own FT shooting. We have been shooting under 70% from the line the past few games. Fatigue plays a role, but the right players are getting to the line. JB and BA need to hit those shots late (they haven't been terrible but several points have been left on the table).

Shoutout Hunter for a fantastic game. It goes without saying that if he's involved more offensively, we will have more success moving forward as teams have to account for more than just JB/BA/and sometimes Max. Hunter just out-jumped Tchikou and Samb time after time to get second chances and finishes near the hoop. We complain about our frontcourt, but how do you think URI feels? I don't think either of those players for them is the answer down low.

Ricky had some nice cuts going to the rim and Amir did a good job of covering for him when Lindo got in foul trouble. I could be wrong, but I think a ref came really close to T'ing up Ricky for complaining about a foul - that may have fouled him out of the game. Harris had zero turnovers in 24 minutes which is a good outing. The only thing he did wrong was take two threes. It might even be better to see him take a midrange shot which I don't think I've ever seen him do at GW but he might finish under 10% from 3 if he keeps shooting from deep. Qwanzi unsurprisingly missed both his shots but I did like that he didn't give up after missing a shot - whether it was getting a rebound or trying to steal the ball back.

Hopefully the team comes out motivated after dropping one to La Salle earlier in the year. That may be our best chance to win another game before the conference tournament as I don't see us winning at Davidson (even if the Wildcats are down this year) and especially against VCU. Regardless, this team has a chance against anyone if it's a high scoring affair and they shoot over 50% from the field. It's not a sustainable formula for winning, but this team manages to do that more than the average one.
 

It's more tiring to play good defense than offense.  I think that and our starters getting huge minutes is why we give up chunk points late in the second half.  EJ would've made such a huge difference if he'd stayed healthy.