My Fiver on WVU's loss to Arizona State last night:
1. Recalibrating. I admit - I got greedy after the Iowa State win and started to dream big. This loss squashed all of that in an instant. We get to 17 wins, we're in the Dance, maybe a play-in game, but "in". I'd like to get to 18 to get out of playing in Dayton. The goal of the season for me now is to see our name called on that Sunday.
2. That Jaydan Quintance gave us more problems this game than any big from Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas, Iowa State or Houston did. Time and time again, we'd drive into the paint, run into him, and then turn right back around and kick it back out. Didn't even wanna challenge him. Bottom line is that Arizona State was bigger and stronger than we were. -18 rebound margin shows that.
3. We really struggle to score the ball without Tucker DeVries. Teams are going to really key on Javon Small to shut him down as much as possible. Sincere Harris can't do anything offensively. Toby Okani is relatively limited on that side of the floor. So, Jon Powell and Amani Hansberry really need to step it up. I know they're young, but the time is now. And KJ Tenner needs to be part of the solution on offense now. He needs to fire. Good Lord did we turn down a bunch of open looks last night.
4. Obviously this was a hangover game. We've all been celebrating the Iowa State win, as have the kids on the team. It's natural. But, Arizona State doesn't give a flip about our win over Iowa State and they came out and took the game to us. We responded and took a briefly held lead, and they kept coming. They were the aggressors and we seemingly wanted to coast to a win. They came to our house and stole a "W" and we didn't have the juice to stop it.
5. This one doesn't sit well with me at all. I know, I've seen the posts that this is a long season, these games happen, Darian DeVries is doing a great job, etc. But, once again, WVU has a chance to really put together a modest win streak and move up the polls/seeding, and we absolutely face plant. Very WVU of us. Reminds me a great deal of our football game at Houston 2 years ago, where we come in on a modest win streak and step on a rake. It's infuriating. Hope we can win Saturday and get back on track, but if we can lose at home to Arizona State, we can lose any game from here on out. They're all a coin flip.
1. Recalibrating. I admit - I got greedy after the Iowa State win and started to dream big. This loss squashed all of that in an instant. We get to 17 wins, we're in the Dance, maybe a play-in game, but "in". I'd like to get to 18 to get out of playing in Dayton. The goal of the season for me now is to see our name called on that Sunday.
2. That Jaydan Quintance gave us more problems this game than any big from Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas, Iowa State or Houston did. Time and time again, we'd drive into the paint, run into him, and then turn right back around and kick it back out. Didn't even wanna challenge him. Bottom line is that Arizona State was bigger and stronger than we were. -18 rebound margin shows that.
3. We really struggle to score the ball without Tucker DeVries. Teams are going to really key on Javon Small to shut him down as much as possible. Sincere Harris can't do anything offensively. Toby Okani is relatively limited on that side of the floor. So, Jon Powell and Amani Hansberry really need to step it up. I know they're young, but the time is now. And KJ Tenner needs to be part of the solution on offense now. He needs to fire. Good Lord did we turn down a bunch of open looks last night.
4. Obviously this was a hangover game. We've all been celebrating the Iowa State win, as have the kids on the team. It's natural. But, Arizona State doesn't give a flip about our win over Iowa State and they came out and took the game to us. We responded and took a briefly held lead, and they kept coming. They were the aggressors and we seemingly wanted to coast to a win. They came to our house and stole a "W" and we didn't have the juice to stop it.
5. This one doesn't sit well with me at all. I know, I've seen the posts that this is a long season, these games happen, Darian DeVries is doing a great job, etc. But, once again, WVU has a chance to really put together a modest win streak and move up the polls/seeding, and we absolutely face plant. Very WVU of us. Reminds me a great deal of our football game at Houston 2 years ago, where we come in on a modest win streak and step on a rake. It's infuriating. Hope we can win Saturday and get back on track, but if we can lose at home to Arizona State, we can lose any game from here on out. They're all a coin flip.
