In Game: vs. Richmond

[85Wildcatsky]

That loss is on Coach. You sit Brizzi the whole first half (I guess he was out for targeting or something) but then you sit your better shooting starter in overtime when you need to make up at least 3 points.

Dumb.

You have the same problem with Bailey. He plays 40 minutes and does not score a bucket but you think he is going to give you more than Logan. Bizzare. Even worse you call up a pick and roll to the guy who can't hit 2 footers. Yuk.

[Waitress]

That was painful to watch. 2 points in OT. 1-7 on field goals, 0-2 on FT, 3 turnovers.

[85Wildcatsky]

Golden finally leaves after 15 years and now we get beat by a 3 time transfer who still needs a guide to get around Richmond's campus.

[MLC67]

We deserved better, much!

[ScootCat]

Pretty inexplicable not to play Kochera over Brizzi in OT. I could be missing something, but I don’t think so. Kind of bizarre decision. Gotta do better.

[DC69Wildcat]

Very disappointing loss, but that was a fun game to watch at Belk. The crowd was big and loud, especially in the last 2 minutes of regulation, and our players clearly fed off that energy. Student turnout was the best of the season, and the pep band was almost fully in tune. Also, I thought the refs were excellent. They allowed the game to proceed without interruption, calls (and no-calls) were even, they let the players determine the outcome, and nobody got hurt. For the game, URI had 14 fouls and DU had 13. That makes for an entertaining game for the fans.

I hate to see Brizzi's ongoing struggles. In the OT he had 1 missed shot from the field, 2 missed FTs, and 2 TOs. He was clearly bothered by his poor play, and it was painful to see his body language coming back up the court after his 2nd TO. I hope he can break out of this funk.

[bostoncat]

Last handful of minutes (prior to OT) were fun but this team continues to be borderline unwatchable for large stretches of games. When was the last time that we didn’t have a single guard who can be trusted to hit a 3? Don’t get me started on the boneheaded turnovers - we just can’t take care of the ball. Agree with other questions on the crunch time minutes/rotation. Skog did all he could - that kid is a warrior.

Can we please unplug the stupid light bar over the locker room entrance - major risk of epileptic seizure with our crowd. Also time to put a bullet in Sweet Caroline - particularly whatever version that was today. Whole game day experience continues to come off as trying way too hard.

[DC69Wildcat]

Including Brizzi's 2 in OT, we had only 11 turnovers for the game. That's not bad against any A10 team. Our per game average is 10.7, which is 4th best in the conference.

[85Wildcatsky]

Brizzi doesn't fit our offense as a shooting guard. Bailey is shooting less than 30% in the last 3 games. OT was basically 2 against 5.

Kocera can cut, hit threes, and make foul shots. It is hard to fathom why he didn't start the overtime.

[Acorn]

I thought Brizzi’s performance against Richmond followed a pattern we’ve seen before. He got an opportunity to play without Huffman. He made some good defensive plays. And he did a nice job facilitating the offense. He actually helped lead a little run for us. Then a couple of things happened: Huffman came back in and Brizzi tried to force the scoring a bit. Huffman’s return shifted Brizzi’s role. And Brizzi’s looking to score didn’t mean he necessarily took awful shots, but probably not the best looks we could have gotten. And after a few good plays followed by a couple bad plays, he tends to force things more and becomes mistake prone.

He’s a good player. He’s got to be incredibly frustrated. In high school and during his recruiting, his shooting was cited as his biggest strength. Please watch his highlights if you haven’t already (https://youtu.be/BPb-Kg4rDPA). That his shot (including his FT stroke) is failing him has got to be part of a vicious cycle.

He’s still a good player and brings a good intensity to games. I really hope things start working better for him on the court. Brizzi at his best could be a really, really good player for Davidson. I also hope it for him—it can’t be as much fun to play right now.

[Sir Walter Cat]

The two missed layups by Huffman and Skog with13 seconds remaining in the second half are just crushing. Sure thought Huffman’s was going in and then Skog gets the offensive board. Ground some millimeters off my teeth there.

[seamac77]

The timing of Brizzi's turnovers were death. Two in a five minute overtime, where every possession has to count, just can't happen.

[TOK]

I think Brizzi played because he is quicker than Kochera and had a better chance of staying in front of the Richmond guards who were short but quick.

Connor has a better chance of scoring than Brizzi at this point in time, but i believe coach thought we needed the defense.

Inserting Durkin in the starting lineup means that Connor guards a guard and not a small forward when the Cats also have two "bigs" in the game.

[ScootCat]

At the end of the day, it’s the Jimmy’s and Joe’s, not the X’s and O’s. Matt’s tenure will be defined by how he and his staff do evaluating and recruiting talent. The clock is ticking. GO CATS!

[85Wildcatsky]

I think Brizzi played because he is quicker than Kochera and had a better chance of staying in front of the Richmond guards who were short but quick.

Connor has a better chance of scoring than Brizzi at this point in time, but i believe coach thought we needed the defense.

Inserting Durkin in the starting lineup means that Connor guards a guard and not a small forward when the Cats also have two "bigs" in the game.

That strategy did not work well because King scored all the overtime points. Coach would have been better off starting Kochera and Logan in OT. Bailey was having one of his off games. Kochera or Grant could have covered King farther outside knowing that if you got beat, you had a pretty good shot blocker standing in the lane to stop the easy bucket. Our defense plays better with Logan in the game.