Hello Followers.
Well tonight, in spite of a stellar 43 point performance by Klay Thompson, the Cougs fell 89-87 to the Muttlakes in what was a spectacular basketball game.
There were a lot of keys to the game but the biggie for me was what happened at the 9 minute mark. At that point in time we were up 4 points and Bone made the BRUTAL decision to sit both Casto and Klay at the same time. What’s more, when Washington tied the game up, Casto sat for an additional 3 minutes while Washington torched us on the interior: The result, we were down 6 with 6:00 left. That was the ten point swing which, for me, decided the eventual course of the game.
From there, Klay was largely spectacular, but so was IT and CJ Wilcox who just lit us up.
In the final minute, Klay missed on one of two free throws that would have tied the game with :46 seconds left. IT made a spectacular dipsy do, Klay hurried a three, and then we fouled MBA. Of course, he bricked the front end of a one and one.
So, Klay hit his 41st point on a drive to close us within 1 with 20 seconds left. And then, when we tried to foul, UW broke free and made a lay-up to go up three.
Of course, the final plays of the game also left one questioning what happened on the sideline.
When UW trapped us with us down 3 with 9 seconds left, we inbounded to Reggie who dribbled down the court with no screening going on for a three point shooter. So, Washington wisely fouled, and that was the game.
Final Notes:
1) Beyond Bone, I thought that the game was lost by critical stretches where we failed to move the ball. In addition, this was clearly the worst night for Abe and Motum to have really, really tough nights. If they had been even their average selves, I think we would have pulled this one out.
2) Return of Romar. After getting cleaned by Bone in the first two meetings, Lorenzo had a great game plan tonight. His decision to start another wing provided the shooter they needed to attack the baseline of our zone. I thought his substitution patterns were great, as was his decision to press us throughout the middle 10 minutes of the second half.
In the end, both kids played hard. But they were more complete tonight.
And so we head to the NIT as an NCAA tournament team that just took too long to grow up.
Great game, horrible outcome.
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