I just watched the Princeton game replay. A few observations - IMO, Princeton is not a great team - they had a couple of scrappy players but overall, i think we were the better team despite it not showing on the scoreboard. First off, I hope Foster's injury is minor and he is playing against Arkansas. Overall, Hien played a very nice game - a much better effort than in the last couple of games. Pegues didn't have a very good shooting game from 3 - sometimes I sense there is a bit of pressure on him - he needs to let the game come to him. Vanderwal had good effort, but his shots are not going down - this needs to improve going into conference play. Williams had a really nice game despite the stupid non-travel call late in the game. PJ seems to slowly adapting to to team play . I still think Whitt should get a little more playing time - he's a good assist man and seems to have improved his shot.
As much as we shot horrible at the free throw line, we really need to make better passes and stop the unforced turnovers. We had a lot of crisp passing last year, but I've not really seen this as much from this team since the Belmont game. Also, we need to improve on the boards - we let their scrawny 6'3 guard recover multiple O boards after a shot way too many times. The end of this game reminded me somewhat of the Virginia game - I think it will be a good learning lesson for the team. We need to handle the press much better than we did going forward. I thought CBR played too conservative at the end trying to drain the clock. We really should have been attacking the basket as we were in the bonus and the momentum was with our team. I know, easier said than done when you're under a press situation and 1-3-1 zone.
At this stage, we are a decent team that should contend for the SOCON. I don't see us winning the SOCON regular season. We need some leaders to step up as the season progresses.
