I don't even know what to say about that one.
A few things: the similarities to the Xavier game, the St. John's game and to a lesser extent the Providence game are stunning and wildly frustrating. The lack of late-game execution and the frequency of these kinds of losses is maddening. Then there's the similarity between the two end-of-game near steals on the baseline by Perkins (Providence and tonight), which is wild. Both times he made a great play that would essentially seal the game, and both times he just allowed himself to fall out of bounds. I understand the nature of those plays has his momentum carrying him out, and I understand it's not necessarily the easiest play to make. But between it happening in nearly identical ways, and the fact that neither time did he either A) simply throw the ball high into the air toward the other end of the court or B) at least attempt to throw the ball off an opponent...it's enough to drive you crazy. Anyway, they've managed to completely destroy the goodwill and momentum gained from the UConn win and the previous six weeks of solid play and once again find themselves already with zero margin for error in mid-January.
A few things: the similarities to the Xavier game, the St. John's game and to a lesser extent the Providence game are stunning and wildly frustrating. The lack of late-game execution and the frequency of these kinds of losses is maddening. Then there's the similarity between the two end-of-game near steals on the baseline by Perkins (Providence and tonight), which is wild. Both times he made a great play that would essentially seal the game, and both times he just allowed himself to fall out of bounds. I understand the nature of those plays has his momentum carrying him out, and I understand it's not necessarily the easiest play to make. But between it happening in nearly identical ways, and the fact that neither time did he either A) simply throw the ball high into the air toward the other end of the court or B) at least attempt to throw the ball off an opponent...it's enough to drive you crazy. Anyway, they've managed to completely destroy the goodwill and momentum gained from the UConn win and the previous six weeks of solid play and once again find themselves already with zero margin for error in mid-January.