Happy for Johnson. Real good game.

Wire To wire blowout

Complete victory, defense, offense

Balance scoring contributions throughout the rotation

Looked a lot more like the higher version of the team we saw earlier in the season than some of the recent struggles, even considering the quality of the competition

Great victory! Let's keep it rolling

Post Game Presser


 

One team team had 20 turnovers tonight and it wasn’t us.

Excellent defense and all around good performance. 19 assists to 8 turnovers makes me a very happy Colonial.

Not too much to takeaway given how banged up Loyola is currently, but good performance nonetheless. I thought Rubin may have won the individual matchup against Slim, but it wouldn't have made a difference yesterday either way and Castro was still great. The return game in Chicago at the end of the year will probably be a bit more contested.

The defense was a lot better after halftime. I like GW pushing the tempo and it's not a problem if they are putting up points but I think there are times where they play too fast and that compromises the defense.

Good to see Bubu finally get on the board in conference play. If the game wasn't so lopsided I probably wouldn't have liked the 10 shot attempts. Got rejected by Rubin multiple times at the rim and he's now 0/10 from three in conference play. You'd have to think some shots bounce his way moving forward, but he's also shot several air balls this season. He does the little things well, but is a bit rough offensively.

Great game from CJ yesterday. 9 assists to no turnovers. He's really tightened up his handle this season, and is proving me wrong with his three point shooting. I thought he was going to regress from deep, but I noticed that he has less of a hitch/windup on his shot now (it feels like he's pushing it less). I'm guessing CC + staff have worked on his release and it's paid off so far. Credit to all on that.

It was also good to see Jean be a bit more involved. Still, he had three turnovers against a team that basically never forces any. Every time Luke checks into the game I get a bit uneasy but he's at least shot the ball well so far in A10 play. I don't think he can play more than 15 minutes though because he's a threat to foul out if he plays more than that. 4 fouls against a depleted Loyola frontcourt is not ideal. Once Castro sits, teams have a much easier time scoring inside.

Also shout out to Amir for his three at the end on his 21st birthday. Next up should be another winnable game against Davidson at home. Surely they will play harder coming off an embarrassing loss to Rhody. They have talent, but I haven't been impressed with McKillop.

Am wondering whether anyone else had the thought at 22-0 that we were once leading StonyBrook 21-0 to begin a game and managed to lose that one?

Fortunately, THIS GW team does not begin to resemble that one from a few years ago.

The game's opening few minutes were a perfect storm as not only did GW play exceptionally well but Loyola looked like a team who took up the sport last week.  Three point attempts that hit nothing but backboard.  Cross court passes that Manute Bol could not even think about catching.  When Loyola ultimately settled in, they played very competently and to their credit, continued to play hard.    But from Luke hitting from 3 to Amir taking the team over the century mark, there was little question whose day this was.

Of the many things to be encouraged by, my top 3 were:

1) A great game at the point by Christian Jones.  He had 5 assists before the first official timeout.  9 assists and 0 turnovers for the game.  Still managed to finish second on the team in FG attempts only proving that he can still be a scorer while running the point.

2) Bubu got in on the act.  I thought that we might see a change in the starting lineup (which BTW is not a big deal to CC who pays far more attention to who is earning minutes than who starts) before realizing that Wu was out.  That left Garrett as a possibility though it's apparent that CC likes Garrett and Tre D. playing together and how much the court opens up as a result.  Nothing spectacular about Bubu's day except that he chipped in with 8 points and 7 boards which are both far more than what's he's been producing lately.  (I haven't really seen the lock-down defense either but maybe that's me.)  Hopefully this gives him confidence moving forward.

3. Garrett Johnson being multidimensional.  Garrett can and should be more to this offense than a designated three point shooter.  He seems to know this and is making a great effort to take the ball to the hole.  That carries the added benefits of getting fouled (though just 2-2 from the line on Saturday) as well as keeping defenses honest.  

For this team to be successful we have to win the possessions battle. That means the focus needs to be on guarding, the defensive glass, not turning the ball over, and forcing turnovers. When we win the possessions game, we win. Saturday was a good example of that for the most part. This is our recipe.

First impressions of Trey prove correct. Make sure to scroll down a couple of posts.

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