Wiggins Comes Through as Cougars Defeat Vols

Ten quick thoughts on this one:

1) There were two predictions I gave in the preview post as to why the Cougs should win this game. The first was home court advantage and the second was Wiggins playing up to his potential whenever he goes against the University of Tennessee. Call me Nostradamus because Wiggins was huge (24 points on 10-12 shooting) and the home crowd really put the final nail in the coffin by helping spurt the second half run.

2) When our offense is clicking (the middle part of the second half), we are hard to stop. Difficult for any team to go up against that kind of balanced scoring with the Cougar faithful behind us.

3) The 11 day layoff in play might have had its effect on the Cougars, but the level of penetration that the Vols were getting on the Sundberg-Wiedeman frontcourt was unacceptable. We ended up getting out-rebounded for the game by 6, but that number would have been much higher had it not been for Tennessee collecting just 4 rebounds in the first 8 minutes of the second half.

4) One more thing that needs to get fixed this week: the unforced turnovers by the perimeter players. Way too much east-west dribbling by Wiggins and the turnover off Jordan's foot had me pulling my hair out. Those type of fast break dunks by opponents will kill you on the road.

5) The Stitt to Baru pick-and-roll game is going to be a play to watch over the next four years. The pass Anthony had to a rolling Adjehi for the jam was a thing of beauty.

6) The seven man rotation (with Nori coming in occasionally for Wiggins) seems to be pretty set by this point and James Carlton looks to be the odd one out. So much potential there, gotta get the IQ part down.

7) FREE THROWS! 53% for the team on the night?! Never really expect Wiggins to hit them but Lawrence and Wiedeman combined to be 8-15. Caused the game to be closer than it should've been down the stretch.

8) Tennessee will be a better team in February.

9) Refs let the play get a little too chippy for my liking in the first half. The calls went both ways but I think the physicality got to Baru. He had it going offensively for a bit but Dwight Miller took it to him in the first half.

10) Students rushing the court. Come on man. We were favored to win, those students who actually follow basketball expected us to win and the game wasn't much of a nail-biter. Props to the majority of students who kept their cool and stayed in the stands. Rush the court when we finally win the Socon Tournament.