X vs Dayton exhibition

[muskieman]

UDs Lowery is a dunking machine. X is still sloppy, and UD is taking advantage to get to a deficit of 6, 59-53. Lowrey is the best player for UD now, with Joseph scoring from the line. Dayton finally misses a shot this half.

[muskieman]

3-point lead by X as UD is shooting lights out. 11-point halftime lead cut to 3. Suddenly, X has Nowoko, Westry and House getting medical attention. UD is trapping X all over the court, and our guards have not been securing the ball. Westry has 4 TOs.

Washington finally fouled and makes both FTs

[muskieman]

Lead at 1. X Dominguez hits three to bring it to four. Crowd chanting, "Let's go X" 67-63 X 7:30 to go

[muskieman]

House split a double team and scores. If that was something he does in the regular season then his freshman tag might be misleading. Dayton had the lead down to 3, but X pushed it to 8.

Chance has had too many D lapses and is grabbing for fouls. Lucky for X, UD's good shooting from the field has not translated to the line.

Nowoko's fouls are closing in, if not already in double digits. Lucky UD can't make foul shots.

Tru Washing is bringing the ball up the floor instead of Chance. Looks like he is getting into the Pitino doghouse. Richard is subbing like a hockey game, looking for some D and good ball-handling. Finally, Chance, with good ball-handling, scores.

Gedeon is being subbed in for D. Nowoko has a good fake pass and then drives to basket. 82-73 35 seconds

[muskieman]

82-76 final as UD hit last shot a 3.

I like Nwoko's fake passes and turn-and-drive; it's nice and works. Fouls too much, so if he keeps this up, X will be in trouble early. But I think he figured out he could not foul out, so he had some fun and fouled like crazy. I believe that he had 6 in the first half and 3 in the second, so that is an improvement (dripping)

Chance will be getting some talking to when they review the tapes. He would turn his back to the D when they were aggressive, and the double team would come, and he would turn it over. Hope it is first-game rust and not little guys' harassment that got to him. UCONN, ST JOHNS, AND OTHERS will eat his lunch if he can't figure it out.

Tru was true, and Pozz, Jovan, and Dominguez had good games

UD transfers from UK and Marquette played well but did not shoot their FTs well.

Final thoughts. X led with only two ties in the game, and UD never led, but I wish they had not given up that 17-point lead. My guess: Richard was working on different things after X scorched the rim from three in the first half.

UD still hasn't beaten X in the Cincinnati area since Jimmy WHO?

BIG DISAPPOINTMENT FOR THE NIGHT: 390+ viewed, and no one posted but me.

[muskieman]

Richard Pitino on Mike Nwoko’s 9 fouls:

“Almost a triple-double”

19 points, 11 rebounds, 9 fouls

[muskieman]

FYI, Rolyns Aligbe and Asher Elson were in sweats tonight, which is probably why Kason got 4 minutes. He broke up an alley-oop but other than that nothing of note. House was limping at time tonight

[Anti-Homer]

The good:
-Dominguez’s shooting, Nwoko’s athleticism and ability to get to the hole, team free throw shooting.

The bad:
-Chance Westry, in every way.
-Nwoko’s complete lack of discipline on D. If it was a real game, I suspect the NCAA would launch an investigation.
Team's lack of ball handlers. X better learn to pass over the top because they cannot withstand pressure for 40 min. Grant had a great game plan.
-Overall defense. Happy to see X mix in some zone, bc I suspect they will need to use it more. Did I mention Westry?

Dayton missed at least 15 free throws. They win indoors. I know it's an exhibition, and it was played outdoors, but one would expect offense to suffer, not D. Dayton shot like they would doing shooting drills with no defenders. X had a complete lack of awareness of D. Already concerned.

Overall grade: D. Dayton lost the game; X didn't win it.

[muskieman]

The good:
-Dominguez’s shooting, Nwoko’s athleticism and ability to get to the hole, team free throw shooting.

The bad:
-Chance Westry, in every way.
-Nwoko’s complete lack of discipline on D. If it was a real game, I suspect the NCAA would launch an investigation.
Team's lack of ball handlers. X better learn to pass over the top because they cannot withstand pressure for 40 min. Grant had a great game plan.
-Overall defense. Happy to see X mix in some zone, bc I suspect they will need to use it more. Did I mention Westry?

Dayton missed at least 15 free throws. They win indoors. I know it's an exhibition, and it was played outdoors, but one would expect offense to suffer, not D. Dayton shot like they would doing shooting drills with no defenders. X had a complete lack of awareness of D. Already concerned.

Overall grade: D. Dayton lost the game; X didn't win it.

Both teams shot a lot of FTs; UD didn't make them, while X did, which seems to be a key to the game. While there was a breeze in the second half, it didn't seem to affect either team. UD transfers from Marquette and UK, along with freshman Derkack, were all UD had last night, as their starting five scored exactly 19 points.
I didn't notice what happened to Dickey, who played 1 minute and never touched the floor again. Lowrey would look good in an X uniform; he turned the UD team on with his D and attacking the rim when he started the second half with a number of dunks.

I think Nwoko could be the best player on the court if he could keep his foul count below 5. The Frenchman couldn't stop him when he caught the ball around the foul line, and he can rebound

I hope Chance's game was a wake-up, but X fans have been known to be hard on our point guards. He seemed to be a Jekyll-and-Hyde guy last night. Some good-to-great passes and then some head-scratching "lost in the woods" decisions bringing the ball up the court, so much so that Richard had to go to Tru, Pozz, and Domingeuz to bring the ball up the floor.

X certainly has a lot to do, and Tennessee will be an interesting game.

On the UD side, and nobody really cares, I think their second half shows they can hang, and watching their A10 games, I found them to be a second-half team many times. I think they will be at or close to the top teams in the A-10.

[skyhops]

AH is in rare midseason form albeit a little dramatic. I was at the game with Skyhops Jr and Dayton never had the lead and we once up 17 and lead comfortably throughout the game, so Dayton did not lose this game. If this game is indoors we shoot 20 3's and win by a larger margin. I do agree with him AH on Westry. He was terrible and looked really slow. When the Cryers began to press Westry didn't seem to want the ball. House was hobbling, but he played well and will be a difference maker, but we are too thin at PG and ballhandling. I thought Tru didn't play his best, but he will be our best all around player it seems. Dominquez is our best shooter in years and Pozzato will only get better. I forgot to mention Westry played horrible D.

Nwoko had some ticky tack fouls but needs to cut down on fouls, which had been an issue. He is finally a pick and roll threat and was the best player on the court. The guy from Southern Missouri was messed and will provide the main backup minutes. The rest of the guys were pretty much what we thought. Defense and PG play needs to improve. Getting out of the parking lot was like getting out if a concert at Buckeye Lake in the early 90's.