Tough matchup since we do not have a real answer for Cohen or Cross. Would have liked to see us go 4 points/wings at times. We weren't going to outmuscle or outrebound these guys, so why not try to gain an advantage with quickness?
Nevertheless, this can be considered a nitpick in comparison to what's really going on with this team. This team needs to hit the weight room hard in the off-season. Think about how many times a GW player has ripped the ball out of an opponent's hands this season and how many times the ball has been ripped out of a GW player's hands. It's not close.
Opposing coaches must be telling their teams that GW lacks confidence, will, intestinal fortitude, call it what you will. Stand up to them and claim your victory. This is much more than the limitations of our big men. It's about playing with fire and urgency. You would hope that breaking a long losing streak would be motivation enough but apparently, more is needed.
Credit that the team did play some 3-2 zone which was effective at times (except when Cross received a pass in the high post in which case it was almost automatically two points for UMASS). But, they TRIED something new. As CC repeatedly pointed out, this team has trouble defending most anyone. Yes, playing some zone is warranted. Against man, GW continues to give up wide open three point shots. I don't care where UMASS ranked statistically in three point shooting; you just can't overplay, double team, lose guys against screens, and expect wide open three point shooters to miss at a healthy rate. This happens every game. And aside from playing some zone, I've seen nothing which resembles even an attempt at correcting this.
10 assists, 13 turnovers. The other side had 18 assists and 14 turnovers with a bunch of those TO's coming well after the outcome was decided.
I am all in for Jacoi but what may have epitomized GW's season was a 5 on 4 break as a UMASS player fell down at the other end, resulting in a missed three point attempt by Jacoi. Open shot? Yes. But, not what you want playing with an extra man.
I do feel for this team, but perhaps not as much as I could. What's slowing me down is that this team has to stop taking the court with such a lack of confidence that you could pretty much guess how things are going to go from the opening tip. Time to end the pity party. Play hard and play smart. If you lose playing hard and playing smart, I suspect most fans will be OK with this. Unfortunately over the past 11 games, this hasn't happened nearly enough.