DavidsonCats.com

Up 4, 30-34.

24-34 was nice. 39-34 not so much.

Charlie and Rosie had 8 and 9 right out of the gate. Still do.

52-51 5:46 to go

Rosie's 5 straight points cut it to 1. VCU has gone cold, and Cats are getting serious. We're tired, though.

With the ball and a chance to take the lead, we have turnover, offensive foul, turnover. Rams extend the lead to 5.

Hats off to VCU. They played very well and their staff coached circles around ours. Inexplicable really. No adjustments on defense until the last couple of minutes, lousy timing on time-outs, and terrible substitution patterns (or lack of). No idea what they were thinking.

Everyone lays an egg occasionally. Hope it's our last.

Rebounding killed us in the 4th quarter. VCU with 17 offensive boards, most of those in the 4th.

Got dominated on the glass. Tough loss.

Yeah . . We looked fantastic in the 1st, struggled thereafter. Offensive rebounding by VCU and long stretches without a bucket.

We're capable of beating them and are having a great season. But we just let them dictate.

Tough loss for the ladies. I know they'll be more disappointed than us.

Corpulent Cat wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 07, 2024 3:53 pm

Hats off to VCU. They played very well and their staff coached circles around ours. Inexplicable really. No adjustments on defense until the last couple of minutes, lousy timing on time-outs, and terrible substitution patterns (or lack of). No idea what they were thinking.

Everyone lays an egg occasionally. Hope it's our last.

Why did the leading three-point shooter in the nation get only one shot (which she made)? Mallorie hardly played at all in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Did I miss an injury?

I blame Derek for not being on the air for this one.

65-55 final.

DC69Wildcat wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 07, 2024 3:59 pm

Corpulent Cat wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 07, 2024 3:53 pm

Hats off to VCU. They played very well and their staff coached circles around ours. Inexplicable really. No adjustments on defense until the last couple of minutes, lousy timing on time-outs, and terrible substitution patterns (or lack of). No idea what they were thinking.

Everyone lays an egg occasionally. Hope it's our last.

Why did the leading three-point shooter in the nation get only one shot (which she made)? Mallorie hardly played at all in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Did I miss an injury?

She can't generate her own shot. VCU lost her once. 3 points. They weren't going to lose her again.

That's when you set some screens for her, run a double screen off an inbounds, run a flat screen at the top of the key. Do something to get her some good looks. Be creative.

In big games, if you have multiple players that get in some early foul trouble, make the tough decision to put them back in with 2 fouls (in the first half). The possibllity exists that we could have won the game in the first half if we rotated Charlie (and the others) back in. We lost all our mojo in that 2nd quarter when multiple starters were on the bench. Too conservative in my book.

I certainly would have changed defenses a few times to at least attempt to throw them off rhythm.

A great learning experience. We now know our weaknesses a bit better.

Agree, maybe the worst-coached game I’ve seen from Gail. I thought we were intimidated by their doubling the ball out front. We couldn’t get into our offense. Their quickness was a huge problem—multiple drives to the basket went unchallenged. Lots to work on after this one. Rebounding drills to start with.