DiJuan celebrates after making the game winner. courtesy HP
Anybody remember the last time Saint Louis and Charlotte went down to the wire in Halton Arena? Saint Louis hit a game-winning alley-oop with only a few tics left on the clock to send the Niners home demoralized and ashamed.
But tonight, the tables were turned by Niner warrior DiJuan Harris and his game winner with 3 seconds left in overtime. Forget the missed free throws and the inability to keep a lead, that shot made the entire night worth it. Usually on the losing end of game winners, it was a breath of fresh air to see that ball hit the net and go through. Everyone in Halton Arena (all 35 of us, it seemed) erupted and celebrated going 2-1 in conference play. Here’s the crazy part. DiJuan Harris only made 2 FGs tonight, and they were both buzzer beaters, one at the end of the first half to take a 1-pt lead, and the other to win the game.
That said, I really hate Saint Louis. Not because of any conference affiliation or rivalry reasons, I just hate games we play against them. The ground-it-out and slow basketball is extremely tiring to watch and it is easy to find yourself bored. That’s probably part of the game plan, when you think about it. Bore the other team to lose. Make them not care anymore.
We got off to such a great start, mostly thanks to the great play of Derrio Green, but quickly found a way to squander the lead and make it a game. Got to give people their money’s worth, right? How Saint Louis, with their painfully slow offense, managed to erase a ten point margin in a few minutes is beyond this author. We have got to step on our opponents’ proverbial throats and never let up.
But who are we kidding, we know why the offense sputtered to a stall and Saint Louis came back so quickly. As much as we hate to call him out, Ian Andersen is killing our flow on offense AND defense. Got to love his heart and hustle, but the 5 minutes he was in the game in the first half felt like 50. Those minutes need to go to developing Sirin and Barnett at this point. Ian just doesn’t mesh with this group of guys. It’s time to move Ian to “spark off the bench when down or up by 15″. NLP said it best when he sent this text: When Bobby said Ian calms the team I think he actually meant sedates. Ian “Tranquilizer” Andersen, everybody.
Braswell and Spears impressed once again. Spears had eight turnovers, but his presence on the court demands respect and opens everything up for the rest of the squad. It was nice to see him grab rebounds tonight and get a double double (16 pts, 13 rbds). Braswell played like a seasoned member of the squad tonight, playing with 4 fouls through overtime but still playing aggressively and taking it to the Australian Cody Ellis. He’s already very good, and he’s going to be extremely good in the next few years.
Time for bullets, because the game is being rebroadcast and I want to pay attention.
The Good
- Derrio Green is awesome, going to be fun watching him through the next few seasons
- An’Juan Wilderness is becoming part of offense now and has started to assert himself
- We missed all seven of our threes, and still won
- K.J. Sherrill got 9 minutes and is developing nicely
- The Green, Black, and Gold Man suits in the student section
Put on your Green Tinted Glasses
- Ian Andersen is killing the flow of our offense
- Shamari needs to work on passing out of those double teams and not forcing it
- Phil Jones has seemingly regressed, but still has moments
- We let Saint Louis dictate the tempo after the first five minutes
- We didn’t make a three for the first time since 1989, wow!
- Gave away too many dunks