Hello Followers.
Tonight our Cougs played the best game of any Cougar team of the past few years and put a solid 87-80 hurt on the always dislikable Muttlakes. And in so doing, re-stoked the fire for a March Madness appearance.
If you missed the game, the outcome of the game was nothing short of remarkable as Casto, Klay, Motum, AND Lodwick were saddled with four fouls for much of the second half. And so, the final fateful run was fueled by a line-up that included none other than Charlie Equist, Brock Motum, Marcus Capers, Faisel Aden, and Reggie Moore.
And yes, as the header indicates, Reggie was simply marvelous tonight.
Now onto a few other keys:
1) Bone won the coaching battle. No doubt about, from the 17 minute mark in the first half, Bone had his first wave of substitutions in the game. And his relentless substitution patterns not only helped to wear Washington down, he got his bench in the flow of the game from the get-go. And so, when the second half came, the reserves were ready to outplay the Husky starters. Again, simply remarkable.
2) Clogged Lanes. Tonight was the best defensive game that I’ve seen from our Cougs since the Sweet Sixteen team of years past. While we BRIEFLY went to a man tonight (and got SMOKED when we did), we played most of the game in zone and did so to absolute perfection. We kept track of IT throughout the game and clogged his lanes EVERY time he tried to penetrate. What’s more: REGGIE MOORE AND FAISEL ADEN BOTH PLAYED FANTASTIC DEFENSIVE GAMES. Reggie, in particular, was outstanding defensively. I’m actually speechless….
3) Keepin’ Your Feet. I noted this key to the game earlier in the week and tonight, again, our Cougs executed. Casto, Motum, AND Charlie didn’t fall for MBA’s myriad spin moves and pump fakes. And, as a consequence, most of MBA’s shots were wild and off-target. Moreover, while Gant et al had 16 second chance points in the first half, those second chance points were few and far between in the second half. The post players REALLY did their jobs.
4) Confidence. Longball alluded to this earlier in the week while predicting a victory tonight, but this team demonstrated an unusual amount of quiet confidence–which is neat to see given that we could have played desperate at several points in the game. And that, dear followers, is something that should raise your eyebrows as we all look forward to the season’s second half, because this team just put up nearly 90 points against a team that are MASTERS of the ball pressure that usually breaks us.
5) Its not Over Til Its Overton. Stupid header, I know. But when Venoy Overton was in the game, Washington really, really gave us problems–especially in the first half. Thankfully, because of Reggie’s aggressiveness, Venoy got 4 fouls before you could say “O-VER-TON.” And for me, that was a key to the game. The other: Lorenzo and staff did a HORRIBLE job of attacking our baseline given that our wings were often stretched WAY high on the elbow.
Again, congrats to both the coaches AND the kids for a fantastic TEAM effort. Don’t know about you, but it sure is nice to watch an “upset” win where, in fact, the better team won.
And yes, Husky fans, we were MUCH better than you tonight.
Now, lets avoid a letdown, sweep the Oregon schools, and get ready for March.
Atta boy Kenny B!!!!!!
Now how about some moving pictures from the game, courtesy of WSU?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0-tGlcGRfw&w=425&h=264]
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