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nol · 08-14-2014, 06:29 PM

We need this road win against Maryland to entrench us more firmly in the top half of the conference. They've got some talented guys, but might have more depth issues than we do. At the 12 minute mark, William Quesada rips off an impressive sequence of back-to-back steals and transition buckets and we lead 14-8. We continue to turn them over, and a 3 from Doss gives us a 21-11 advantage. We lead by as much as 12, but some missed free throws (1-5 from the normally-reliable Kratzer) and threes from them have them with 4 at the half. Duley is scoreless, but Jones and Doss are making up for it with 7 and 6 assists for Jones and 13 for Doss.

Turnovers and fouls are the story of the 2nd half. We continue to force giveaways (17 for the Terrapins with 10 minutes to play) and are already in the bonus for the half. Jones has hit a 3 and gotten to the line on some non-shooting fouls, so his 18 points has inched the lead back to 53-43. We lead by 7 with 1:30 left, and despite our best efforts to let them back in via missed free throws and turnovers, they don't make enough three-pointers to oblige. We get a nice road victory 74-66. Jones had 18 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds.

We're tied for 5th in the conference, 2 games behind Duke and Georgia Tech and 3 games ahead of 7th-place Virginia and Wake Forest. The bubble watch has us as the third team out of the tournament right now, but I hope none of the kids are paying attention to that crap (guess I am getting used to being a coach, calling them kids when I'm just a year or two older than some of them). We've got 5 regular season games left, and 4 of them are against teams above us in the standings - if we keep winning, all of that bubble/RPI stuff will work itself out.

We hit the road to take on #14 Georgia Tech, and we have a bit of a break as Cameron Warrington (their center who outplayed Kratzner in our 10-point home loss) is coming off a sprained ankle and isn't at 100 percent. Our defensive gameplan against them is working well to start; we lead 12-9 9 minutes in, and they've had to rely on their 5th option on offense for 7 of those points. Doss hits a 3 that forces a timeout, and when they answer back with two free throws he responds with a poster dunk and completes the three-point play to put us up 22-14. We lead by as much as 12 in the half, but Tech closes the margin to 6.

In the first minute of the 2nd half, The Yellow Jackets' leading scorer Stout picks up 2 quick fouls to put him on the bench with 4. We almost immediately go ahead by 9, but we've taken a couple timeouts while getting trapped and have only 2 left for the last 15 minutes. With 14 minutes remaining, Tech closes within 1 and I really don't want to burn yet another one. Luckily Beau buries a three, which kicks off an 11-0 run. They claw back to within 4 thanks to some more hot shooting from 5th year senior Fletcher Merriman, who's got a new career high of 20 with 6 minutes to play. We make the switch to man, and our defense responds to the challenge, forcing two one-and-done possessions and a shot clock violation. We go up 10 and make our free throws down the stretch to escape with a win in College Park! Doss sets a new career high with 22 points on 6-8 shooting (9-11 on free throws), and we only committed 11 turnovers against their pressure defense. Freddie Diaz had the best game of his college career with 10 points, 4 boards, and a couple blocks.

There probably weren't too many people who thought our Wednesday night matchup hosting #24 NC State would carry more ACC and NCAA tournament implications than UNC-Duke, but the winner of this game will enter March 1 game out of the conference lead. John Kratzer has our first five poitns, and the and-1 he completes marks NC State's 6th team foul in the first 4 minutes. Hopefully we can continue the aggression and pick up some easy points on offense. Sure enough, Kratzer makes 4 more free throws, and back-to-back threes from Jones and Duley give us a 22-11 lead. They rip off three consecutive three-pointers, and it's a fresh ballgame. Our massive foul advantage (15-3) is enough to give us a 40-35 lead at half. Kratzer has 15.

NC State retakes the lead 3 minutes in, and I've had enough of their three pointers: we're playing man the rest of the game. Jones rips off 5 straight points to put us back on top. We maintain a one-possession lead until the last media timeout, when our ball movement starts to break down. Off of turnovers and questionable shot selection on our part they retake the lead. They have the ball out of bounds up 1 with 27 seconds remaining and somehow manage a lay-up when our team was trying to intentionally foul. Quesada's fouled on the other end, and he misses the front end of a 1-and-1. His 0-9 with 1 point sticks out like a sore thumb, and enough is enough: I put my foot down and tell coach Holston the stakes are too high for Quesada to continue starting.

08-14-2014, 06:29 PM	#13
nol Banned Join Date: Oct 2003	We need this road win against Maryland to entrench us more firmly in the top half of the conference. They've got some talented guys, but might have more depth issues than we do. At the 12 minute mark, William Quesada rips off an impressive sequence of back-to-back steals and transition buckets and we lead 14-8. We continue to turn them over, and a 3 from Doss gives us a 21-11 advantage. We lead by as much as 12, but some missed free throws (1-5 from the normally-reliable Kratzer) and threes from them have them with 4 at the half. Duley is scoreless, but Jones and Doss are making up for it with 7 and 6 assists for Jones and 13 for Doss. Turnovers and fouls are the story of the 2nd half. We continue to force giveaways (17 for the Terrapins with 10 minutes to play) and are already in the bonus for the half. Jones has hit a 3 and gotten to the line on some non-shooting fouls, so his 18 points has inched the lead back to 53-43. We lead by 7 with 1:30 left, and despite our best efforts to let them back in via missed free throws and turnovers, they don't make enough three-pointers to oblige. We get a nice road victory 74-66. Jones had 18 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds. We're tied for 5th in the conference, 2 games behind Duke and Georgia Tech and 3 games ahead of 7th-place Virginia and Wake Forest. The bubble watch has us as the third team out of the tournament right now, but I hope none of the kids are paying attention to that crap (guess I am getting used to being a coach, calling them kids when I'm just a year or two older than some of them). We've got 5 regular season games left, and 4 of them are against teams above us in the standings - if we keep winning, all of that bubble/RPI stuff will work itself out. We hit the road to take on #14 Georgia Tech, and we have a bit of a break as Cameron Warrington (their center who outplayed Kratzner in our 10-point home loss) is coming off a sprained ankle and isn't at 100 percent. Our defensive gameplan against them is working well to start; we lead 12-9 9 minutes in, and they've had to rely on their 5th option on offense for 7 of those points. Doss hits a 3 that forces a timeout, and when they answer back with two free throws he responds with a poster dunk and completes the three-point play to put us up 22-14. We lead by as much as 12 in the half, but Tech closes the margin to 6. In the first minute of the 2nd half, The Yellow Jackets' leading scorer Stout picks up 2 quick fouls to put him on the bench with 4. We almost immediately go ahead by 9, but we've taken a couple timeouts while getting trapped and have only 2 left for the last 15 minutes. With 14 minutes remaining, Tech closes within 1 and I really don't want to burn yet another one. Luckily Beau buries a three, which kicks off an 11-0 run. They claw back to within 4 thanks to some more hot shooting from 5th year senior Fletcher Merriman, who's got a new career high of 20 with 6 minutes to play. We make the switch to man, and our defense responds to the challenge, forcing two one-and-done possessions and a shot clock violation. We go up 10 and make our free throws down the stretch to escape with a win in College Park! Doss sets a new career high with 22 points on 6-8 shooting (9-11 on free throws), and we only committed 11 turnovers against their pressure defense. Freddie Diaz had the best game of his college career with 10 points, 4 boards, and a couple blocks. There probably weren't too many people who thought our Wednesday night matchup hosting #24 NC State would carry more ACC and NCAA tournament implications than UNC-Duke, but the winner of this game will enter March 1 game out of the conference lead. John Kratzer has our first five poitns, and the and-1 he completes marks NC State's 6th team foul in the first 4 minutes. Hopefully we can continue the aggression and pick up some easy points on offense. Sure enough, Kratzer makes 4 more free throws, and back-to-back threes from Jones and Duley give us a 22-11 lead. They rip off three consecutive three-pointers, and it's a fresh ballgame. Our massive foul advantage (15-3) is enough to give us a 40-35 lead at half. Kratzer has 15. NC State retakes the lead 3 minutes in, and I've had enough of their three pointers: we're playing man the rest of the game. Jones rips off 5 straight points to put us back on top. We maintain a one-possession lead until the last media timeout, when our ball movement starts to break down. Off of turnovers and questionable shot selection on our part they retake the lead. They have the ball out of bounds up 1 with 27 seconds remaining and somehow manage a lay-up when our team was trying to intentionally foul. Quesada's fouled on the other end, and he misses the front end of a 1-and-1. His 0-9 with 1 point sticks out like a sore thumb, and enough is enough: I put my foot down and tell coach Holston the stakes are too high for Quesada to continue starting.