83-78 over Tenn Tech, coached by former UK player and Donovan assistant John Pelphrey, who has no conception of a coaches' box....

Is anyone going to concede now that Leffew should not be in the starting lineup? 18 pts off the bench and the only Dawg with a 3 point basket. They killed us from 3 - 33-12. We can't afford to spot a team 21 points. Demary and Cain couldn't throw it in the ocean last night. We did, however, dominant on the glass, as we should as the much taller team. Every time we got a bit of a lead, TT would throw in a couple of 3s. They play a 5 out system that is difficult to defend, as most are taught to play off the opponent to give help defense on the interior. When you do that to these guys, they just kick out for an open 3. 1st game struggles are not uncommon. UNC barely won over Elon last night. We got the win and learned more about our team. That's what matters.

In addition to Newell's team-leading 26-point debut, the freshman grabbed 11 boards off the glass and three blocks to record his first career double-double. Graduate guard Dakota Leffew and junior forward RJ Godfrey also found double figures scoring 18 and 10, respectively.
RJ Godfrey joined Asa Newell in recording his first career double-double, scoring 10 points paired with 10 rebounds on the night.
Dakota Leffew's 18 points were powered by four three-pointers on the night, marking his 16th career game with four or more makes from behind the arc.
Asa Newell's debut performance marked the fourth time in the 2000s with a Bulldog recording 25+ points, 10+ rebounds and 3+ blocks in a game (Trey Thompkins vs New Orleans - 2009, Trey Thompkins at Tennessee - 2010, and Yante Maten vs LSU - 2018).
The Bulldogs outrebounded the Golden Eagles 44-25 on the night.

Argue if you want, but Leffew is our best guard and should start. You can win a lot of games with 2 great players and everyone else doing their parts and filling roles.

We have 21 players?

dawglegright said:

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We have 21 players?

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That's 2. My finger hit both keys when I was typing. I have big fingers. LOL

Monk, I could not watch the whole game but we were getting killed on the back door cut. You think that was just defensive growing pains? We seemed to struggle overall with their termite guards as well.

I confess I left Stegeman a little discouraged, but my expectations were probably a little too high. Play that game 10 times, and they likely only keep it under 10 once. I was never actually worried we'd lose the game.

Tennessee Tech hit a couple circus-type shots in the lane, and they obviously shot well from distance whereas we did not. I remain confident in this team's ability to shoot, so if even 3 or 4 of the 14 misses (we got great looks) go, this is an entirely different outcome.

No attempt to make excuses here - the defense, shot-making, and ball security have to be better, or this season won't go like we hope. But after a day to chew on it, I feel a little better. If we see even small improvements in these areas on Sunday, we'll be fine.

Nostradawgus said:

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Monk, I could not watch the whole game but we were getting killed on the back door cut. You think that was just defensive growing pains? We seemed to struggle overall with their termite guards as well.

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Yeah, they hit us with backdoor cuts because we started trying to stay out on shooters and not helping as much, which gave them open cuts. They were very effective. Sure, it's growing pains, learning to play together and trust one another, making plays when they present themselves. I have no doubt we will improve. We still play some pretty young guys. We started a freshman, 2 sophomores, a junior and a 5th year senior; 3 of them are total newcomers to the team; they have to play together some so they don't have to think so much. And they have to communicate better on the floor....

hopefully we can clean the defense up today