As always, impressive comeback to take the lead. Good job of not folding.
But unfortunately, as always, the impressive comeback leads to nowhere.
Said this before: a team like Dayton will find a way to win.
We'll find a way to lose.

The commonality with all the close losses this continues to be terrible late-game execution, and I just don't see this changing anytime soon. That foul after Castro's 8th (8th!!!) missed free throw to send Dayton to the line was such a killer. I know, I know, the players have to perform, but Caputo's up to 1-54 when trailing with five minutes left I think it is now?

Thanks so much jf and gwstudent2024 for the nice words earlier on the previews!

Perhaps the biggest blunder in the final stretch of the game was Slim not calling a timeout or giving up the ball after Bennett missed the second FT the second he touched the ball up 1. Granted, he didn't really have much time before L'Etang fouled him because he mistimed the rebound which lost time. Still, when you're sub-30% from the line on the night, you have to give the ball to someone else. I think even Luke was calling for it during that sequence. Maybe GW could have bought extra time to let Luke get the rebound since he was boxing out L'Etang, but I guess we'll never know. The way Slim shot the FTs it was clear he was rattled. Reminds me of the game at Mason last year.

The final play will always be criticized both schematically and execution-wise, but you can't miss 13 FTs - especially down the stretch. Big moments against better teams get to this team and I'm not really sure you can fix that. Of course, earlier in the game the team looked like they hadn't learned anything from the last game and turned the ball over 20 more times tonight which is just unacceptable. That was the biggest problem for the most part - GW played good defense tonight (especially in the paint), did well rebounding, and had more attempts than Dayton at the FT line.

One winning A10 season in 9 years... Depressing.

Random thoughts:
This team is consistent although it has been playing better defense recently. Very entertaining and likeable team but doesn't look like it is built to make any tournament runs.  
Play physical against GW and you can impact the game including FT %.  Jean and Luke were fine at the line.
Generate at least 1 TO a game by intercepting the pass to the teammate standing still in the "corner" created by the sideline and the half court line.
Can get at least 2 TO from forced feeds to the fives.
We were better tonight at cutting down on TO from long cross court or up court passes.

I loved the hustle on defense tonight. I hope we can keep up that intensity.
Our first half comeback was with Luke on the bench but in the second half I thought we were dynamic regardless of whether they were both out there.

I would be surprised if we don't receive a decent tournament invitation for next season because we are entertaining without ruining the chalk.

 

Surely nobody feels worse about the foul shooting and the loss than Slim!  And he’s not the first quality player to struggle from the line.  He has had a few really good games where his form was solid.  I think the 6 missed games hurt him tonight.  And let’s not forget that Garrett, CJ, and Woo were a combined 1 for 5 from the line as well, matching the 20% clip.  Plenty of blame to go around for crappy foul shooting and turnover woes.  Unfortunately, these weaknesses have been recurring with no remedies in sight.  Frustrating for all!

Not sure how much there is to say beyond the fact that this team is terrible in close games. It is very frustrating to watch them repeatedly show they can hang with the best teams in the league but never beat them.

Twitter: https://x.com/MattModderno/status/2027583950550667437?s=20
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/cvwXm5RFpiY?si=8e6z1l0f_oAM-5ml
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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gw-basketball-insiders/id1802674606?i=1000752047821

Alum '04 wrote:

Why does CC continually put the ball in Tyrone Marshall's hands in the final seconds? I like Tyrone and I think he's got a ton of potential, but he has zero offensive touch and can be an offensive liability. CC somehow disagrees with me here. I guess numbers never lie.

To be fair, Marshall was 3-3 with 7 points over the final 4 minutes before missing the potential game winner.  Clearly, CC thought he found a matchup advantage down the stretch.

That said, when you're down 1 with seconds left and your game plan is to take the ball to the hole, then it is imperative that your best free throw shooters be on the floor.  When Jean fouled out, he was replaced by Christian, a 64% free throw shooter who frankly had not delivered much all evening.  On the bench were Garett Johnson and Tre Dinkins, each upwards of 80% from the line.  Garrett has not been looking like himself of late but has still been well enough to play and has shown an ability to drive this season.  He also missed the one free throw attempt he had on the evening.  I am always left to wonder if Garrett's health is the reason why he's not on the floor bat a game-ending crucial situation.

Dinkins has become the forgotten man on this team.  Anyone think that had Tre drove the lane and gotten fouled, he wouldn't have made both free throws?  There was a point earlier in the game where he was pulled and yet he remained on the sideline at midcourt, perhaps unsure if he was really supposed to leave the game or whether he was staging an informal protest.  CC practically yanked him back to the bench so as to avoid a possible....wait for it...a third ever GW technical foul for 6 men on the court, at Smith Center, against the Dayton Flyers.  The CC-Dinkins relationship appears to have moved from "separated" to "divorced" which is a shame since Tre is sometimes what this team really needs.  The counterargument is that Tre is too much of a liability to either entrust or reward with 30+ minutes per game.    Nevertheless, should that mean you bench him during a situation when down 1 with seconds left, he may have been the team's best chance at scoring a bucket or getting to the line and actually making his free throws?

Question particularly for anyone who could really see what happened, in the final offensive sequence, Trey Autry fell to the ground hard after going after Slim's follow-up miss.  Did the refs swallow their whistles on that one or did he legitimately fall without being fouled?

Post Game Presser

Well --- Another loss --- with lack of execution in the last 5 minutes of the game.  Did Caputo not think that Slim would be the foul target if Dayton free throws were missed?  He should not have been on the court at that point in the game.  We dominated the boards, but that wasn't really a function of Slims rebounding.  I think Luke and Marshall could handle the important rebound at that point....  Regarding Dinkins being in at the end --- perhaps to shoot a long 3, but he has no ability to get to the basket and make it or draw foul as well as refs tend to swallow whistles at that late stage --- his offensive skills are limited to NBA 3s....