https://twitter.com/CharlotteMBB/status/1728610554821091601?t=3pFfxIhR0r_7VN_7jn76Ug&s=19
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Basketball was nice tonight. They played poor in the first half, made adjustments and picked up intensity and executed very well. Great job boys!
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clt daps JT for the steal and dunk!
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After the past 5 years I had thought we werenāt allowed to alter anything at half. Love to see it. This team plays grittier than we were the sold the football team would.
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Last nightās game oddly reminded me of how Duke played Southern Indiana 2 nights ago. Almost a 180 from the first half to the 2nd. Duke was absolute 
in the first half, then came out in the 2nd half and killed them with their intensity.
As frustratingly awful as the first half was, the 2nd half was a revelation in terms of energy and effort.
Also nice to see us overcome whistle happy refs. How many FTs did we shoot in the 2nd half? It had to be pushing 20.
BTW calling out @ninermac for bailing with like a minute to goā¦ We were on a long made FT shooting streak til you got up to leave bro! 
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If JT could shoot we might have a decent team. Alas, he cannot. 26% from 3 and 36% FG. Was great to see the Grit and the comeback win, Iād just like us to be more than we are.
First half we looked sluggish and tiredā¦.not crisp at all but GSU was also red hot and hitting shots at a high pace which had to come back to their average at some point. We came out MUCH more aggressive and organized in the second half so kudos to Coach for the adjustments and the team for executing. Was refreshing to see the first 10 minutes where we came back and the crowd got into it!
At the 4 minute mark it was tied and I told my wife it would be interesting to see if/how we close out and we did it very well. Could have hit more FTs but those next 2-3 minutes capped a strong win which has to give the team confidence and some much needed experience heading into conference play soon.
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Just look at that flatline for GSUās offense in the 2nd half, coupled with our steady scoring pace. Thing of beauty. Honestly, after we did that I was no longer worried that we were going to lose, beyond maybe the refs taking it from us. GSU was demoralized very early on in the 2nd when they couldnāt even get a decent shot off. They knew they had awakened the beast.
FWIW, of course I wish we got more from JT on offense, but as my son pointed out, he is a very good defensive player and does so without fouling (36 min, 1 PF). That defensive run above - he helped set the tone for it. And to do it without fouling when the refs were whistle happy and GSU was hitting EVERY FTā¦ Quite honestly, if we are getting production from the other 4 spots on the floor, itās not the end of the world. I just wish Braswell was able to contribute the way most of us expected him to this year, so we didnāt have to play Reiber so damn much. Sorry for the offense to that guy but he should be a sub at best.
LuāCye was a beast in this game. Between him and Graves and Folkes (please get him out of the doghouse Fearne - love his athleticism and drive) we have enough guard play, and Milicic and Jackson are enough up front to succeed IF we play defense like we played in the 2nd half last night. Quite frankly we donāt measure up to the upper half of the AAC in terms of athleticism (maybe even most of the AAC), but if we play that hard and focused, we can compete. But you have to do it for 40 minutes, not 15 or 20.
Back on the positive:
Wish I could find a first half box score to compare. Aside from missing a few FTs, what we did in the 2nd half on both ends of the floor, on a night where we werenāt hitting 3s, was fantastic.
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Thatās every night. We are 306th in 3pt % and only make 28.9% of our threes.
We are like 340th in scoring, so we are going to need defense to lead us in every game if we want to win.
I believe the offense will continue to improve as these guys get to know each other better. We never had our current starting 5 together at one time during preseason and scrimmages.
I will also add we just arenāt a great perimeter team. Igor is only straight up shooter on the floor. Patterson and Graves are a bit too streaky
Though DJ played within himself and made his shots down low. Kind of got from press conference that Fearne was not happy with work ethic of DJ. Hope he has gotten the message.
Good point @ghostofclt ā¦ While RPI isnāt used anymore (because it finally became more fair), that SOS # should be taken note of. We are 4-2 with an OT loss in a game we should have won (need to learn from) against a very solid schedule thatās only going to up when we play @Duke.
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Fearne knows he is in the fight of his life for his coaching career. He keeps his rotation tight and knows exactly what he wants from them. Usually before conference play you see more variance in rotations. If Fearne was on a 5 year deal I think a lot of things would be different. Kudos to him for coaching what he has been left with and making the best of it. Just hope for no injuries and top 5 dont get worn down.
Call me crazy but we are a 2G away from a decent team. It is mind boggling in todays Steph Curry world we are so bad at shooting 3s!
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Coming out of the halftime break, we went down low often and it worked. Once DJ went to the bench we went away from it, but we never came back to him down low when he came back in. DJ looks like he works hard to get position early, but often times the guards spin away from him and go back out top. Then DJ goes out to set a high pick. I think in games where there is a clear advantage you keep going down low.
Apparently, something is going on with DJ and work ethic though. It will be interesting to see if coach can get the best out of him. DJ has looked unstoppable at times, but he has also missed a lot of gimmes down low.
I agree with your last paragraph. Fearne also seems like an Old Skool hard ass type coach ( which I like at our level) that demands a lot from his main guys. He also knows to win and get the job DJ has to be a very important part of the equation.
Would have loved to hear the halftime ātalkā Fearne gave in his Australian accent. I put the odds of Fearne getting more than 2 Ts this year at more than 50%. I would even say odds are good he might get one in the next 5 games.
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clt says fearne needs to grow a mustache
In addition to the better D, we also went down low more, both post players and guards. I like to see us actually exploit an advantage. On the other hand, i donāt see that working against bigger, more athletic teams, which could give us trouble in conference play. Hope we can start to hit a few more 3ās when needed.
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Dont tell Hootieā¦he posted the other night about our āintramural scheduleā.
And Braswell sucks