uneblinstu

That was a tough one. Didn’t play well on offense. Also, MSU is the real deal. I’ll have more thoughts later.

Well, that was about the perfect start to the game. Roby's 2nd...woof...Changed the course of the half. Couple bad possessions late in the half gave IU a little life. How does NU finish the half? That may go a long way towards deciding this one...Not great as it turns out. IU started the 2nd half the aggressor. Down to 5 point lead as of this typing. Copeland needs to box out on that jump ball. He can struggle with that at times. JPJ with some questionable shot selection. Tanner Borchardt had himself a night. That sequence where JPJ missed the bunny that turned into a Glynn 3 might have been the game changer. The answer after IU cut the lead to 5 was a work of art. The zone was effective once again. Good to see Nana and TB in the 2nd half more. Better defensive effort tonight. Hope that carries over. Saw much more of what we saw early in the season. Really controlled nearly this entire game. Huge win for some many reasons! Thursday sets up for a monster opportunity.

Needed that win. Roby was a stud. They need to find the fire again if they're gonna accomplish their goals. Glynn had a great game, too. JPJ was ok relative to his standard. Need more from the bench, especially in the 2nd half. There were literally no subs. Sounds like Nana was fighting some sort of something. Good to see Amir back. It was just kind of a strange game.

Where'd the defense go? There's a lot of basketball left, but this team isn't playing it's best right now. We knew this would be a rough stretch, they need to get right at home vs. Penn St. on Thursday.

1st Half: - Not sure Maryland has someone that can handle JPJ. - I liked how we swarmed the paint when Smith and Fernando had the ball. Didn't do straight double team much but caused all sorts of issues for those two, especially the young Smith. - I thought 2nd chance points would be at a premium today and they have been. They've cashed in the rare opportunities they got. - In the middle of the half, we had a series of looks where we got really great opportunities and couldn't cash them in. We'll see if that ends up being costly. Was capped by a really bad 3pt attempt from Watson. - Speaking of Watson, got a little chippy there and probably fed into a cheap offensive foul. - Loved the way they responded to end the half after Maryland went on their little run. - Tanner gave some really nice minutes. Defended Fernando pretty well and got some bonus points from him. - Heiman, not so much. 3 fouls in 2 minutes. Ouch. 2nd Half: - Roby had a dominant start to the half. The poster was nice, the scream in Smith's face was better. I like pissed off Roby. - Copeland getting poked in the eye cost NU 2 points. Not sure why he stayed in the game after they stopped the game for that. - Palmer had a couple sloppy turnovers, but that wrap-around pass to Tanner was a thing of beauty. - Roby going down was scary. Maybe just a little cramping? - Free throws were a little problematic tonight. - Fernando is a load. He likes to travel, but he's also a load. - Palmer is so good at drawing fouls. - Oddly quiet game from Copeland tonight. - 3 pt defense not as stingy as usual. - Starters carried a very heavy load tonight. - Couldn't get that lead to 10. - That scramble that led to the Allen layup was pretty significant. - Pretty great defensive possession with a 1 point lead in the last couple minutes. - Didn't like the zone call on that last possession to put Maryland up. Both times. - NU did some things to cost them the game. I think I'm gonna err on the side of tipping my cap to Maryland. They've got some talent and made plays down the stretch. NU needs to figure out how to close these games out, though.