** There were plenty of emotions to be experienced this bittersweet afternoon at the Peterson Events Center.
** The strongest emotions were felt of course by none other than Sam Clancy whose number 15 was retired at halftime. It was nothing short of completely remarkable looking at a man so large with a career based on strength and toughness speaking to the crowd with tears streaming down his face.
** Congratulations to Sam on his tremendous honor.
** As for the rest of the game, there were plenty of other emotions too. Frustration. Excitement. Despair, Joy, Disappointment. And for me, even some pride. But this time, not much anger.
** It’s always tough for me to watch our Panthers if it doesn’t feel like they brought something close to their best. But that wasn’t the case today.
** Maybe our Panthers were able to channel their inner Sams and found some physicality we haven’t seen as often as we’d like this year.
** This isn’t to say we got the better of the physical battle. It may have been even, but even this exceeded my expectations.
** Another aspect which made the last two games troubling was watching a team that simply didn’t look “well coached.” Our offensive game plans nor our substitutions seemed to make much sense.
** Coach Capel was much more on his game, with a gameplan that included ball movement, much better ball security and use of his troops which gave us really good chance to win.
** On the defensive end, holding the Tigers to 26 second half points and just 8 baskets was a result of really digging down and executing. Forcing three Clemson shot clock violations after the break tells that story.
** In fact, perhaps had we won either of our last two games, one could have walked away from the Pete with a decent enough feeling with an overtime loss. Instead, I’m also left with the notion that had we played as well as we did today in our two games as we did today, we would have likely won one of those. Maybe both.
** But alas, we were done in today mostly by Clemson’s superior three point shooting, especially scorching their way to 10-16 in the first half. Truth be told however, we have no one to blame but ourselves for most of that. We let them find their way beyond the arc far too easily.
** A big key to our second half comeback was allowing the Tigers half as many three attempts in the second half as they had in the first.
** This threw the game into overtime, where we were done in by three plays. The first was the three by Chauncy where the ball just found its why out to him after a scrum. Just some bad luck there.
** Next was the offensive foul call on Cam. To my eye, that seemed like a terrible call and a terrible time. Maybe someone can explain to me why I'm wrong.
** Finally, in the final minute, Jaland’s too tough one on one three missed, while Chase’s too tough one on one three won the game.
** It was good to see Cam bounce back with a much better effort today after his last outing which left most of the Panther fan nation ready to put him out to pasture.
** Gulillermio also bounced back very well leading me to hope Capel has retrieved his confidence in him, allowing a better split of time at the five with Cam.
** After last game, I suggested that something needed to change. Perhaps our performance today indicates that something has.
** Starting next Saturday, our job becomes stacking up about 10 more Conference wins to get ourselves in the tournament without much doubt.
** If we play the way we did today this is something we can do.
** The strongest emotions were felt of course by none other than Sam Clancy whose number 15 was retired at halftime. It was nothing short of completely remarkable looking at a man so large with a career based on strength and toughness speaking to the crowd with tears streaming down his face.
** Congratulations to Sam on his tremendous honor.
** As for the rest of the game, there were plenty of other emotions too. Frustration. Excitement. Despair, Joy, Disappointment. And for me, even some pride. But this time, not much anger.
** It’s always tough for me to watch our Panthers if it doesn’t feel like they brought something close to their best. But that wasn’t the case today.
** Maybe our Panthers were able to channel their inner Sams and found some physicality we haven’t seen as often as we’d like this year.
** This isn’t to say we got the better of the physical battle. It may have been even, but even this exceeded my expectations.
** Another aspect which made the last two games troubling was watching a team that simply didn’t look “well coached.” Our offensive game plans nor our substitutions seemed to make much sense.
** Coach Capel was much more on his game, with a gameplan that included ball movement, much better ball security and use of his troops which gave us really good chance to win.
** On the defensive end, holding the Tigers to 26 second half points and just 8 baskets was a result of really digging down and executing. Forcing three Clemson shot clock violations after the break tells that story.
** In fact, perhaps had we won either of our last two games, one could have walked away from the Pete with a decent enough feeling with an overtime loss. Instead, I’m also left with the notion that had we played as well as we did today in our two games as we did today, we would have likely won one of those. Maybe both.
** But alas, we were done in today mostly by Clemson’s superior three point shooting, especially scorching their way to 10-16 in the first half. Truth be told however, we have no one to blame but ourselves for most of that. We let them find their way beyond the arc far too easily.
** A big key to our second half comeback was allowing the Tigers half as many three attempts in the second half as they had in the first.
** This threw the game into overtime, where we were done in by three plays. The first was the three by Chauncy where the ball just found its why out to him after a scrum. Just some bad luck there.
** Next was the offensive foul call on Cam. To my eye, that seemed like a terrible call and a terrible time. Maybe someone can explain to me why I'm wrong.
** Finally, in the final minute, Jaland’s too tough one on one three missed, while Chase’s too tough one on one three won the game.
** It was good to see Cam bounce back with a much better effort today after his last outing which left most of the Panther fan nation ready to put him out to pasture.
** Gulillermio also bounced back very well leading me to hope Capel has retrieved his confidence in him, allowing a better split of time at the five with Cam.
** After last game, I suggested that something needed to change. Perhaps our performance today indicates that something has.
** Starting next Saturday, our job becomes stacking up about 10 more Conference wins to get ourselves in the tournament without much doubt.
** If we play the way we did today this is something we can do.
