First Game Thoughts

Here are my thoughts vs Vanderbilt:

Overall: Decent. I can live with this considering there were two 5-star, and one 4-star player in their lineup. Potential NBA draft picks that definitely were the real deal. I keep thinking to myself, what if the Matt Ryan kid doesn't go make back-to-back-to-back 3pt shots to give them a big run? We would've had a different ball game at the end most likely.  

Positives:

-We out-rebounded a team that entirely overmatched us, and seemed to show poise and collectiveness for most of the game (I'll attribute that to a lot of returning players and experience). 

-Balance. We shared the ball and everyone that touched the court got on the board.

-Nych Smith played a hell of a game (I'm not convinced it can continue to the point where he emerges as "our go to guy", but hope he can keep it rolling. Also, his free throw shooting was poor so hopefully that improves as well)

-Micheal Anumba. He definitely has the frame and ability in him to become a good player, but he also appeared very timid. I think he will develop, but it will take a bit of time to adjust to this level of basketball. I was impressed that he got the start, and that is a very positive thing to see. 

-Ferguson. He had 14pts, 9rebs, and 3 ast. I thought he started a bit slow, but eventually got into rhythm. To be honest, this was a very quiet 14 and 9, and I think he'll really impress this season. 

-Ukaegbu: He came out working hard as always, and contested Vanderbilts players at the rim. He had 7pts in 14 minutes, and I thought he had a decent game given the time he was on the floor. 

-Falden. He had a quiet 8 points, but always seems to take good shots and knock them down. He looks a bit shaky handling the ball at times, but other than that he looked good.

Not-so-positives:

-We shot horribly from behind the arc, and if we're going to win games this year we can't continue to do that. Josh Ferguson essentially led the team in 3pt attempts until Nych Smith shot his 5th 3pt shot. I have faith that Josh has been working on his shot, but somehow just don't feel like he should be leading the team in 3pt attempts in any regard. 20.8% as a team from 3pt isn't good.

-We also shot poorly from the free throw line with 66%. This needs to improve a lot.

-Adam Pickett. I know he got to the rim a few times, but he didn't look like a better version of himself from last season. In fact, he didn't even look like himself at all. To me he played more like sophomore Adam, so hopefully we just saw a poor game last night. He was a liability with 5 turnovers and 0-4 from 3pt land. I know Adam can play really well if he keeps his composure, so I think he'll get back to his best form in the next game. Besides, if 13pts is an off night for Adam, I thin he'll be ok.

-Bjorn Broman. I know Bjorn is more of an "intangibles" type of guy, but his showing last night was very anti-climatic. I was hoping we would see more out of him, but we just didn't. He seemed hesitant to shoot, and only connected on 1 of 4. As a senior, I feel as though he needs to contribute more, and more consistently. Bjorn should be averaging at least 10ppg IMO, so hopefully we see a spark in him down the road.  


Random Thoughts:

--Awad and Keondre. I'm honestly a bit surprised that Awad didn't enter the game. We shot 20% from 3pt range, and I wanted to see if he could've knocked a couple down to spark a run. Perhaps coach just didn't like his matchup on the defensive end. Also, we still haven't see Keondre, so more so just curious what he can do.