Mustangs beat Iona

[ponyboy]

Coog and I were a two-man mini thread. Team is coming together a bit, as promised.

[Terry Webster]

That was a terrific win coming back from 10 down in the second half. Nice to see a third scorer show up and Nutall playing well.

[Charleston Pony]

That was a fun game to watch. Our guys played the kind of game Coach Lanier was known for at Georgia State...great defense leading to transition buckets. Nutall played a heck of a game and looked like the 5th year senior we hoped he would be. It looks like we found a guy in Ambrose-Hylton who can defend the paint and actually catch and finish on the offensive end. He was terrific. Zhuric was his usual self and played well but sometimes tries to do too much and forces shots but also makes some incredible plays in the paint. Williamson is all over the court and plays good D and gets key rebounds but struggles offensively and man we sure could use a true PG who could help this team beat pressure. Way too many turnovers with 10 assists vs 21 turnovers but it was nice to beat Pitino (who I still wish was our coach)

[tristatecoog]

Great game before hitting conference.

[Charleston Pony]

Williamson with 8 turnovers mostly because of Iona's full court press. Horrible job by our guys who at times appeared to break way too casually to be 1st to the ball. This team really needs to work on full court pressure or they are going to be humiliated against stronger competition. Was pleased we through over the top of the press and converted slams on the other end on at least a couple of occasions.

[JasonB]

What a great comeback. Most importantly, there were 5 changes that improved the team, and I believe are sustainable.

1) Took the ball out of ZP's hands. Smith and 0 brought the ball up a bunch, especially in the first half. This prevented ZP from trying to do too much early, and he was fresh to finish the game.

2) Welcome to the team, Koulibaly. Gave us a point guard, another ball handler, an unselfish facilitator. Most importantly, he showed the aggressive defense that Lanier has talked about but that we haven't seen in the games. Really important development.

3) Jalen Smith continues to evolve. Handled the ball, strong defense, good rebounding, physicality. This is a really big deal as well.

4) Nutall really stepped forward as a leader. Was physical and aggressive, taking the ball to the hole on the offensive end. This, I believe, was a direct result of taking the ball out of Phelp's hand. It is a great adjustment to have Smith and Koulibaly take the ball up the court, and now you have two legit scoring options moving off the ball, and ball handlers looking to make the pass. It makes the offense way, way better.

4) And finally, the biggest change. In the first half, halfway through, we sat Odigie and played small with Williamson or Todo at the 4 and Hylton at the 5, and played the last 10 minutes with that lineup as well. Complete game changer. Not only is Hylton athletic enough to finish at the rim, he plays good defense, he kept the other team off of the offensive boards, and the entire team sparked with energy knowing that they had a very athletic player at the 5 and no longer had to protect that position. We went from missed bunnies and 18 foot jumpers to 7-8 with all shots taken within 3 feet of the basket. I'm not sure how well it will work against a bigger team trying to play a half court game, but it will be critical for the next game, which will be against another fast paced team. Now you have and adjusted rotation - Smith and Koulibaly as the PG, Nutall and Phelps as the second and third guards, and Todo moves down to the 4 to back up Williamson.

The comeback was awesome, but I think we now can hopefully see the team starting to evolve as we head into conference play.

[geezerdonk]

Williamson with 8 turnovers mostly because of Iona's full court press. Horrible job by our guys who at times appeared to break way too casually to be 1st to the ball. This team really needs to work on full court pressure or they are going to be humiliated against stronger competition. Was pleased we through over the top of the press and converted slams on the other end on at least a couple of occasions.

Iona got a bushel basketful of wide open threes. Team unable to execute simple in bound play. Horrible and/or non-existent coaching on both counts.
21 turnovers all together but negated by once in a decade shooting. Hope everybody watched and enjoyed it. Might not see another one until the mid-2030s.
Ambrose should definitely see more minutes but I'm guessing his performance is an outlier.

[ponyboy]

You have to be paid by another school. I’ve never seen such strategic idiocy.

[mrydel]

He is not paid by another school. He is a Houston troll (formerly Cargojunkie) who has been kicked off of his owns school’s site so likes to talk here. Just ignore him.

[Terry Webster]

Really gotta clean up inbound passing. We lost a lot of possessions with horrid passes.

[mrydel]

Their was a time long ago when we had trouble with the inbound pass, but it was never as bad as what I saw today.

[mrydel]

I almost made it through 2022 without a mistake but it appears I am wrong saying Geezerdonk is a reincarnation of Cargojunkie. I still suggest ignoring but do not want to misrepresent someone.

I be will try again to be faultless inn2023.

[ponyboy]

I have two or three people in ignore mode, which of course means I don’t see their posts. But I couldn’t help myself. Will obey and ignore going forward.

[mrydel]

I don’t put him in ignore mode. I think his posts are humorously ignorant. But I have no reason to ever reply to his posts.

[panhandle_pony]

Is Foster still on team? I haven’t seen last two games, but noticed his name is missing from box score.