Hoopsters drop close one to WCU

The debut of the Orr era didn't quite work out like everyone hoped, but I think we have to accept that this season--especially early--is likely to be rough. I didn't even hear the game, but followed the scores as we got ready for the football game. Still, here are some observations purely from the stats sheet.

• We only shot 30% in the first half and 37.5% for the game.
• Chris Knight is going to be a good player. He lead the team in points (16) and rebounds (10).
• We had chances in the end. With :53 left we got back to down 2 on a fastbreak layup by Knight. Then, Ryan Sims got a steal and Knight was fouled. He hit 1 of 2, and we were down 1. We fouled and they hit both FTs with :19 left. Both Sims and Hamblet had three attempts down the stretch to tie, but couldn't hit.
• Miller had 13 points and Hamblet 11, as well.
• Looking at some old trouble points:
• We had 20 fouls. An improvement.
• We had 16 turnovers. An improvement.
• We were out-rebounded 45-32. WCU had 18 offensive boards.
• We were 2-16 from three-point range.
• We primarily rotated 7 guys--Miller, Knight, Larson, Clements, Hamblet, Jakubowski and Polk. Moten and Sims both played under 10 minutes.

Belmont beat UC on the road last night, and that's who we play tonight. They were a darn good team last year--made the tourney. We'll be watching.