Suffice it to say, that was not the most enjoyable game to sit through the other night. While the offensive struggles weren’t unexpected, particularly with working in more new pieces the last few games, the defensive woes popping up at critical times are inexcusable. The MTSU game was the second straight game that we failed to get back on D in transition. MTSU seemed to beat us to all the loose balls, particularly in the second half.

They also played a very tight, in-your-face, man-to-man defense. When a D is that aggressive, it (theoretically) sets them up for back screens and other team-oriented offense. Of course, we can neither confirm nor deny this hypothesis, because our spacing on the offensive end was terrible and we relied on a lot of one-on-one moves. With Kendrick’s height at the point, I’ll never understand why we didn’t at least run something basic like a UCLA set or some other kind of high-low set that would allow a little more space for him to operate from and distribute out of.

Anyway, on to the numbers…

Points of interest:

· Snoop White has played 4 games and topped the +/- chart in 3 of them. If his free throw stroke hadn’t abandoned him early in the first half the other night, his numbers would be even better.

· Another disappearing act for Nick Williams, another Rebel loss. Not a coincidence.

· We were only down one point when Murph sprained his ankle and had given up 42 points in less than 30 minutes of game time. In the final 10+ minutes, we gave up 26 points. Also, not a coincidence.

YTD +/- (Top 10 Players Only)

· After being +44 through 2 games (LA-Monroe and Grambling State), Terrance Henry is now -16 over the last 10 games.