Luma, Zambrotta and Maund out.  Ouch.

These were two teams struggling to find an offensive flow-- a euphemism for an ugly game. I'm not sure how you could otherwise explain how you hold the opponent to 29% shooting (and 1-20 on 3s!), but still have the game down to the wire.  Three reasons: turnovers, poor free throw shooting (33%), and rebounding. But winning ugly is much better than losing ugly.

Absent a flow, we won because we made shots at critical times, and Georgetown stayed in the game because they owned the paint in the second half. Hoyas were physically imposing from a height and length perspective and that played well to a continuing weakness of GW-- interior passing, the source of a number of turnovers. Way too many bounce passes in traffic, and passes that were difficult for MoKwuah to handle. 

I'm still high on this team, because from a basketball skills perspective, this team is much better than last years' and the first year players have been fearless. 

For the second straight game, with 2 seconds left, Blethen hit Taiwo with a pass for a game ending layup.

Having Maund and Luma on the inside would be a big help. Next game is 7 days away, so maybe we can get healthier.  Zambrotta and Maund still in casts, Luma looked OK

Last edited by xAC (11/24/2019 8:03 pm)

I should have been more precise-- giving up 16 offensive rebounds.

Not sure Neila hobbling around on crutches is the definition of looking OK. In post-game interview, Coach Rizzotti called it a knee sprain that would sideline Luma for 6-8 weeks with latter being more likely. Let’s hope it is just a bad sprain though history suggests that might be optimistic guesswork.

Maund expected back sooner hopefully early December. Zambrotta has stress fracture. Return not as clear cut though Coach seemed confident she’d be back for conference play. Couldn’t clearly hear all of the press conference responses as I was simultaneously engaged in a conversation. Most interesting sight was Syd and Neila walking along the sidelines and stopping and looking up at video board when Rizzotti was talking about their injuries and recovery time. For all the frustrations expressed about turnovers and FT shooting, and I share those concerns, this team is a work in progress that should be fine if they can get and stay healthy. As with Jameer Nelson Jr., expectations that 1st year players become instant consistent stars are a bit optimistic. But I’ve seen enough of the new players on the court and interacting with each other to have confidence that this will be a fun and successful team to follow this year and in the future.

I´d almost say the team could go winless for the rest of the season and I would not care, I love seeing That School Down the Street lose so much. But I still want more wins from 2019-20. Still, suck it Evil Empire!