by Outlaw_Wales » Sun Nov 19, 2023 10:33 am
I think it says a lot about how the program has developed that you can watch a game like that where it was never in doubt and they covered a 30 point spread, and still feel kind of disappointed in the overall performance. All the individual stats and metrics ended up pretty good by most measures -- but still felt very "off" to the eye in actually watching.
Make no mistake, Texas Southern is a bad, bad, bad, bad basketball team.
We scored exactly four points through the first four minutes of the game. That's a pretty slow / weak start against a team like Tx. So. The next four minutes we went on a 13-4 run, which is what you'd expect to see much more of.
But the next 12 minutes was 30-23 -- and that's not at all the way you'd expect a top ten team with our offensive power to perform against Tx. So. at home. And then the first 12 minutes of the second half, Tx. So. outscored the Jays by 1. So that's a 24 minute stretch where the Jays were 6 points better than one of the worst teams in the country, at home. Then cue up the 20-0 run, followed by an even final four minutes.
So in total, there were about 8 minutes in that game where Creighton looked like you'd expect to see Creighton look. The other 32, they were barely better than a horrible Tx. So. team. So, yeah, pretty "meh" when you look at the whole picture.
Trey absolutely looks like a serious POY candidate, if not a first team All American right now. Baylor has looked fantastic. Kalkbrenner has looked pretty mid, frankly, on both ends of the court for most of the season outside of a little stretch where he actually looks interested in each game. Ashworth seems to really be struggling to even compete against these buy teams, which is very worrying. Miller and Traudt are playing well at the four, and then Bello and King have been fantastic.
Hard to keep motivation up against a team like this, but play like that at all against pretty much anyone in the Big East and it's going to hurt.