Sweet Victory

How's that work for you?  What a night.  Incredible crowd.  Just an electric environment.  Enough Rocket fans to make it spicy.  And our boys delivered in a big way.  My heart was pumping for hours afterward.  It is just crazy how good it makes me feel.  So proud of our boys.

As we all know, we came in playing poorly.  You get on home court, you bring in our rivals...and the formulas changed.

It was no fluke.  On this day, we were better.  BG led for 28 minutes, UT for about 9. UT's biggest scoring run was 6.  BG led for the last 21 minutes of the game.

The first half was tightly contested.  There were 4 lead changes and 6 ties. Each team led for about 8 minutes.  BG's biggest lead was 7, UT's was 4.  BG led by 1 at the half.

BG came out of the locker room hot and scored the first 8 points of the half, setting the tone for the half.  It was never a one-score game again. 

UT chipped it to 4 with 14 left to play, but a Thomas FT, a stop and a Hill second chance basket had it to 7.  With 11 left, BG running off a Cochran turnover hit Spurgin for a dunk that brought the house down to make the lead 11.

UT got it to 5 with 4 minutes left when Da'Shawn Philip hit an absolute dagger 3FG from the corner late in the shot clock.  He's not our leading scorer, but he seems to be around when plays are made to win. That made it 8...UT got it to 6 and BG got a fast break off a missed FT and Hill made it 8 with 2:31 left. 

UT missed 3FGs on consecutive possessions and Hill was fouled, converted 2 FTs and BG was up 10 with a minute to play.  That was the game, but, you know, it's like a vampire, they are never dead until the stake goes into the heart.

It was pandemonium.  Suddenly, everyone in the arena is a long-lost friend.  Noise...civilized court storm.  A red-faced Tod Kowalczyk forced into a handshake line.  Damn straight.  It was the best.

As you can see here, BG won three of the four facets and neutralized the fourth. In the previous game, UT kept BG off the offensive boards and off the line, but not this time.

BG ended up with 1.14 points per possession, and UT had 1.02.

I thought BG's shot selection was ideal.  The average team takes 37% of their shots from 3FG.  BG is 11-2 when they try less than that. They are 6-1 when it is under 30%.  This game was 22%, BG's lowest of the season.  BG made 55% and 33%.  Maybe the biggest key was at the line. BG made 18 of 21 and were +5 at the line, something that doesn't often happen to the Rockets.

But make no mistake, the game was won on defense.  UT is an OK defensive team that scores very efficiently.  This was their 3rd worst game in MAC play in terms of offensive efficiency.  It was their 2nd worst in terms of turnovers. They made 40% on 2FGs, their worst in MAC play.  They took only 3 shots inside the cylinder and were 7 of 19 in the paint/outside the cylinder.

BG just played really hard on defense.  UT is hard to guard.  They move the ball and when the scramble is on, they keep the ball moving.  BG had the match this time.

Marcus Hill had 31 points.  It wasn't his greatest night...he was 11 of 22 and 0-2 from the field. He was also 9 of 11 at the line.  Add 6 rebounds, 1 assist, no turnovers, 1 blocked shot and 2 steals.

If something like that might interest you.

Phillip had 11. That's 3-3 and 1-4, but that one was a clutch, gotta have it dagger. Add 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals with 2 turnovers.  Love this guy.

Agee had 10 on 4 of 8 shooting and 2-2 at the line.  11 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks.  And, yes, 6 turnovers.  But don't lose the headline here. UT had no answer for him.  He was a wrecking ball on the glass.  Tod will be seeing Agee in his dreams. Finished the game +14.

Thomas had 10.  He was 2 of 4 and 1 of 2.  Also 2 steals in 35 minutes.  He was a calming presence with the ball.  Also +14.

Coach said after the game that Spurgin was sick this week.  With Towns back (6 points and 3 rebounds in 23 minutes) he was able to go only 22 minutes.  I think the depth will help him stay fresher. Humphrey was back and had solid minutes. Greer played only a little and Edwards not at all.

One last thing.  With 6:30 left, UT switched to a full-court press, a solid move against us.  BG turned the ball over and then needed a timeout when they couldn't get the ball in. BG moved the ball effectively through the press the rest of the way.  I don't think we had any more backcourt turnovers.  In our recent history, it hasn't always been that way.

BG moves to 8-6.  The win pretty much ensures they will go to Cleveland, though it isn't clinched yet.  Even more importantly, depending on today's games, they have a shot to get some distance on #6.  Playing in the 4/5 game is better than the 3/6 game.

Miami comes to town on Tuesday.  Let's hope to build some momentum heading into Cleveland.  Coach said at CMU he thought we had turned the corner on defense.  If so, we can still be the team no one wants to see at RM.