AWW YEA!

What a great win! I forgot how awesome it was to have a big win, or even any kind of win for that matter. 85-81 in OT! This game was epic. The crowd was in it (I was going out of control), we were playing real well, $$ was there, buy one get one free from Cane's...straight up awesome. If Sylven Landesberg does not win ACC Rookie of the Year, Ima be straight pissed. The kid played all 45 minutes of this game, had 23 points (11-21 fg), 4 boards and 3 assists. As a true freshman, he's money. He made every shot this team asked him to make and is just a baller. He also played fairly solid defense on K.C. Rivers (15 pts, 6-12 fg).

Player of the Game:
Mike Scott
Yea, Sylven is an absolute monster and made clutch shot after clutch shot, but Mike Scott stepped up when this team needed him most. And he dominated today. In 40 minutes, the big man had 18 pts (8-12 fg), 10 boards, 3 assists, and 3 steals. He also did work on Trevor Booker, who had a relatively quiet 16 pts (the majority of them coming in the first half). Like I said before, this team needs to look inside to win games. We looked inside, we won.

Runner Up:
Sammy Z
Again Sylven played like a champ, but if the past 8 games have shown us anything, it's that we need more than just Sylven to produce. So Sammy gets the Runner Up for stepping up big time. He played 30 minutes, had 15 pts (on a perfect 6-6 shooting) to go with his 6 assists. Yea I know he had 6 turns, but he was playing against a very tough Clemson press and is only a redshirt freshman. Looking past the 6 turns, he did a great job of breaking the press and pushing the ball up the court, resulting in many fast break points. He also played great D on Terrence Oglesby (who just might take over Greg Paulus's place as biggest bitch in the ACC when all is said and done). Oglesby did have 17 pts, but a few of his 3s just happened to go in against great defense (one of which was a bank, I mean seriously, who banks 3's?). But yea, Sammy finally showed what he's capable of against big time competition and just looked very smooth running the point and the fast break. He did a great job of penetrating and finding the big men wide open for easy dunks/layups.

Stat of the Game:
34-64 from the field...yea that's right 53%!
We finally were able to make some shots. We were also 7-15 (47%) from 3. It's amazing how much your shooting % can improve when you have open layups and don't launch up 3's at the end of the shot clock.

Other notables:
Jamil Tucker - 25 min, 11 pts, 4 boards, 4-7 fg (2-4 from 3). Played great D, something he has not done so well in the past, against Raymond Sykes. He held his position and made Sykes shoot from outside the key (side note-Sykes can not shoot).

Jeff Jones - 26 min, 12 pts, 3-10 fg. He only shot 30% but his and-one on the 3 ball early in the game really got the game rolling and the crowd into it. He's got that shooters mentality that every shot is going to fall, and as he progresses, more and more will.

The Defense - Great job all game long. Held Clemson to 43% shooting (35% from 3). The Hoos were aggresive and constantly pressured the ball. There were a few unfortunate instances where we played defense for 34 seconds before Clemson got off an open 3, but it was good to see us playing good hard defense throughout the entire game. The defense also forced 21 turnovers. Most importantly, the great defense resulted in missed shots and turnovers. This meant that Clemson could not set up the press and we could easily advance the ball into our side of the court.

Shout Out:
Tunji Soroye
15 min, 2 pts, 4 boards. Not a great stat line, but he played great defense and gave us some valuable minutes. He's a presence inside, not a scoring threat, but a presence.

Disappointments:
Calvin Baker - I predicted him to have a big game. He didn't. Baker really struggled against the press and showed that he's not really a viable option at the point. In 34 min, he had 4 pts and 5 turns. His decision making was questionable at best in transition and only connected on 1-6 shots.

Our inbounds plays - I am gonna have a heart attack by the end of the season if this team continues to throw the ball in the corner on inbounds plays. It's soooo stupid. This was a huge contributor to our team's 20 turnovers. This has to change. Set picks on defenders to get Sammy open. Don't just throw it in the corner. Dave's got to draw something new up.

Terrence Oglesby - I don't like him. He cries after everything. He's awful at defense. All he does is throw up 3's. I thoroughly enjoyed heckling him the entire game.

Game Changer:
Clemson came out really strong in the 2nd half. The Tigers rolled off 14 unanswered points. Their shots started falling and we were missing shots and turning the ball over. In the past, this was the point where the Hoos would fold and get run over. But today they fought back. To quote Sammy Z, "They punched us and we just came back swinging."