What a hard game to be involved with. Even listening to the game on the radio, you could hear Jerry Allen's frustration as he made call after call about missed field goals, missed free throws and turnovers. Even though my expectations coming into the season were fairly low, I believed, in my heart of hearts, that we were going to do better than this. Before the game last night, I honestly thought "well, if we can rebound ok and make some shots, we can probably escape with a win. We match up pretty well." Boy was I in for a surprise. Our shooting was awful. The funny thing is that we're playing good team basketball for the most part. We're scrappy, getting steals, moving the ball around and otherwise being solid in our schemes. The problem comes down to weak individual performances.
Observations
- Man, if only Dunigan could stay on the floor and keep out of foul trouble. We absolutely need more minutes from him. Arizona had no answer and he may be our best offensive weapon at this point.
- Catron had a rough night. There was a stretch in the game where he had 3 straight turnovers that helped Arizona expand their lead in the second half. Joevan's line for the game: 22 minutes, 4 points, 3 rebounds, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls.
- 20-for-54 from the field, 4-for-22 from beyond the 3pt arc. That just isn't going to get it done.
There isn't much more you can say that hasn't been said about this Oregon team this year. They know what they need to do to succeed and just aren't there yet. You can see the talent and from a team standpoint, you can see the team working together. When it comes right down to individual effort however, it just isn't coming together.