We played a pretty solid 1st half (after a slow 1st 4 minutes), but started the 2nd half really slow, allowing Western to pull within 2, only to pull away late. Oquendo was spectacular on both ends at times - 18 pts and 2 big blocks on defense; his only blemish was 4 TOs. Moncrieffe suffered an ankle injury right in front of me pretty early in the game but played a fair amount that half. The ankle must have stiffened up at the half, and he did not play at all the 2nd half. He will be a player for us I think; he seems very active on the floor. He had 4 rebs and 6 pts in the 1st half. Both Roberts and Hill look pretty effective at PG; between them they only had 2 TOs. Unfortunately, our 2 posts had 5 TOs each. BIG MEN SHOULD NOT PUT THE BALL ON THE FLOOR!!! A power dribble at most before a shot. We missed a ton a chippies throughout the game. I think those shots fall as the season goes on.

The team played really hard on defense; I want to particularly mention the freshman Lindsay and the transfer Holt. Lindsay is really active and has a ton of potential. Holt really got extended minutes in the 2nd half because of his defense. JAR was money on FTs but still stands up too straight on defense and gets driven on. We struggled early in the 2nd - hitting one of those patented UGA scoring droughts with which we are all familiar and having some trouble getting stops as Western started making 3s. We did finally right the ship, but the game got too close.

The team ended up with 42 rebs and outrebounded Western by 16, though we should because we had more size. Moncrieffe would have made that difference even greater. Final was 68-55. There's a lot to build on. I really liked the energy, particularly in the 1st half. Can't blame the PGs for the TOs, so that's a good thing. Even though the game was close in the 2nd half, our defense was generally much better. Now, a big test on Friday at Wake Forest....

I forgot to mention what seemed to me to be an abnormally high number of fouls for moving screens called against us. I remember 3-4 of those calls. This must be an area of emphasis for officials early on this season. Honestly, I saw little to no contact on most of these calls. I thought the calls were unnecessary and ticky tack calls. We lost several possessions as a result. Oh, and it REALLY ticks me off when no replay is put on the board after a questionable call. Are officials really afraid of having their calls examined that they won't allow replays? If it's a conference rule, then that is ridiculous. I would think there are more important things to worry about.

This team looks as if it will really play hard.

I agree with Microwave, we improved a lot from the exhibition game. I think we will see improvement each and every game with this coaching staff. It's great to see Kenny Gaines and Charles Mann on the staff. Fans need to buy some tickets and support this team. Lots of fun ahead. I'm looking forward to watching how we measure up against Wake Forest Friday night at 8:30 on the ACC Network.