I attended the game. The defense had a few let downs. Turnovers are progressively decreasing. The officiating was inconsistent. 1st half, terrific officiating. Officials let both teams play, very few questionable calls. 2nd half, was a rough one for the officials (that's being kind to them).
The GRIZ were also inconsistent offensively. The 1st half, their best offense of the season. The 2nd half, shooting woes returned, as did a couple careless turnovers. Pridgett and Manuel with great games. I like it, when Manuel looks to score. He's a great shooter. He doesn't need a lot of room to get his shot off either. This game, he showed he can be a creator for his teammates too. He had some terrific assists. Pridgett did everything, yet again. I hope Travis can figure a way to cut his minutes to about 32 minutes per game, without sacrificing too much. He playing a lot of minutes. Fortunately, so far, he looks like he is handling the minutes well. Carter Hollinger, Vasquez, and Falls all need to do their roles well to get Pridgett more rest.
Speaking of which, DCH appears to be the 1st Freshman to be finding a consistent and dependable key role on this team. The dude is a consistent mid range and inside scorer, despite being shorter. He is solid on defense, and starting to show, he can guard all 5 positions, if needed. He has a nose for the ball on the boards, which cannot be coached. He's a natural rebounder. Vasquez is becoming a consistent threat from the perimeter. He needs to be a more willing shooter though. He turned down a handful of open shots, or shot them later. Travis outright told him, "Pull the trigger". Right now, his shooting is more of an asset to this team, than him being a creator/assist man. At this level, he has to trust himself to take the ball to the hole, to create for his teammates. I hope he learns from Pridgett, Manuel, and Falls in that aspect of his game.
Speaking of Falls, he looked very confident in the 1st half. He was scoring and penetrating with ease. Things were looking really good for him. Unfortunately, he reaggravated his hand/wrist/thumb injury. After taping it up, he was handling the ball all right, but really couldn't get the right feel to be an offensive threat. I hope, this doesn't nag him all season. We need his defense and ball handling. If faced with the choice to sit him to get healthy, or playing him with a nagging injury, I hope we rest him to get healthy. All that counts in this conference is conference play.
It is great to see Samuelson progressively get more minutes. He is still a little rusty though, from the injury. His offense isn't yet there. Defensively and rebounding, he is starting to look comfortable. With time, the GRIZ will be needing him to be a consistent scoring threat.
Kyle Owens- it's his turn to be the struggling Freshman. His perimeter shooting isn't there yet. It's to the point, where he turns down open shots, or isn't ready to shoot. He has to believe in his natural talent, and shoot himself out of a slump, to find his confidence. He's too talented to not find his offense. I'm not sure what is going through his head, but his game has been impacted. I hope to see the GRIZ find some simple looks for him, maybe in the post, or run some perimeter plays for him. He's a solid ball handler, maybe he should look to drive more often. He's is a 3 level scorer. Unfortunately, he seems to be relying too much on open perimeter shots, which aren't falling.
As for Mack Anderson, right now, he's not playing up to his potential. Either he continues to struggle or he progressively finds his game to meet his potential. His potential is that of a solid D1 Big Sky player. I'm not surprised by the struggles and inconsistent play. Again, that is common for young post players at this level. Those writing him off, have patience with him!!!
Onto New Mexico, hopefully with a healthy Falls. If not, I hope Egun takes on the challenge of being a shut down perimeter defender, shooter, and scoring option. He does give the GRIZ a little more size and a more consistent perimeter shot, but he still has to prove himself as a ball handler and scoring threat. Let's play a great game with New Mexico.