Billikan Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 Wow! what a tough game--So. Miss. is tough strong and intense. When they made their first 8 of 9 shots, many over tough defense, I thought we were in big trouble. They went up 19-9 in the first 7 minutes or so and we held them to 36 for the last 33 minutes. Fantastic defense thru the entire middle part of the game. I have great respect for coach Green--he is like our coach, a tough man who has tough players who play hard on both ends. the refs were absolutely terrible--more than 50% of the calls were wrong and the tilt was against our Bills--we seem to never get any home advantage in conference. It was almost like the refs were told to favor the team that was staying in conference. O'Neill was particularly bad, as always. Brad got a very cheap and undeserved technical. I disagree with people who say we only have one offensive option. fisher and Frericks were solid contributors on the offensive end and both were guarded by big and tough defenders. I was proud of our guys for their comeback and their intensity. Losing IO in the second half was a real blow to the rotation. By the way, reggie is now demonstrating his all around game and he had several spectacular assists tonight against the 1-3-1 zone. He was better late on defense just by keeping his hand up against the shooters. early,his man killed us. coach Brad did a very nice job in matching up with the triple big man offensive set with that 280 pound 3 point shooter and the other two big strong inside guys. That big Johnson could be an all american is he lost about 30 pounds. We played Varner, Frericks and Sloan at the same time with IO out and they played tough although we did begin to foul a lot at the end. We winn be very happy at year end that we survived this game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 Since I saw that we only scored one point in the last 5 minutes of the game then I am thankful that our defense was tough enough to survive this game. So for us out of town fans, what happened to IO? Is his injury of a serious nature that will keep him out for some games? If so, then Coach Soderberg will have to make some rotation adjustments. As I've already written, I am happy with a win tonight as this could have been an upset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlumniFan Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 Coach said after the game that is was just a bruise and that he would be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetorch Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 Coach said it was knee bruise and his knee was swelled up pretty good. I have had this injury a couple times probably worse than Izik's but the knee gets drained and after a few days you get mobility back. He could be back for Saturday's game but it would not shock me if he wasn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 It should not hurt, as I reported today USF is in a real shambles. Jimmy Baxter their leading returning scorer from last year quit the team and they are down to 8 scholarship players, as 5 have left since McCullum has taken over as HC from Greenberg. We could sure use a game where perhaps even JJ and DC could get some PT. JJ may have to play some if IO is going to be sidelined for any semi to prolonged period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gister Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 Ramsey commented after the game that they (the announcing crew) felt like they had lost even though they won. That is exactly how this game felt. I didn't like it. It was not enjoyable. It was work for a fan (hard work). I was exhausted on the way home. It's not one of those "good feeling" wins. BUT IT IS A WIN!! That Johnson is terrific. I commented to my wife that he looked huge, and he was. I didn't think he could keep up. But he was really smooth from 3 point land. He was impressive. Maybe they will upset some teams down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schasz Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 gister, After winning this squeaker that I was worried about, I was thinking the same thing that you just wrote. I'm glad our game with them is over, and hopefully, they will win a road game VS one of the teams that we want to pass up. This perhaps magnifies even more how lousy it is, that they gave up that home game to play Marquette in Green Bay. I could see them beating Marquette at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 well dont forget they sold their home game with marquette so marquette could play two "home games". that deal is going to end up being huge in this conference race. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MICHAELSPAPPY Posted January 14, 2004 Share Posted January 14, 2004 >I have great respect for coach Green--he is like our coach, >a tough man who has tough players who play hard on both >ends. You said it well, and I agree entirely. USM teams play hard-nosed, old-fashioned basketball. That was one game I really wish I could have seen. My kind of basketball.! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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