A quick review of the stats confirm we were beat in all phases of the game.
Bama shot 39% from the floor to VCU 47%.
We got 28 rebounds (8 off) to VCU 31 (11 off). That number is close only because they shot 10 more shots than us.
We had 18 Turn overs to VCU 11.
We are on a three game lossing streak. We can take lossing a close game to Top 15 Cincinnati on their home floor. We can not allow teams like Dayton to come to our gym and beat us badly. The final 5 point margin was misleading in that game. They were up by 16 with 3 minutes to play. VCU is a good team and play better at home but we were never in the game. VCU lead by 26 with 9 minutes to play. The closest we got in the second half was 11.
We do not play tough physical basketball. We are getting beat bad in the paint. We miss Engstrom on the defensive end. He filled the lane, altered shots and gets rebounds. We also miss Steele. He is a team leader. He is 6-4 but he has a thick body. He could play the small forward and bang with the big guys and draw fouls. He was not a big scorer but he had a way of scoring a basket when we needed it. We have to find a way to replace these guys production.
Jacobs needs to get back to the level he showed as a freshman last year. He was 0-1 and did not score or get a rebound in 11 minutes of play. Gueye played 13 minutes and went 0-1 from the floor and had 2 rebounds. He hit 2 free throws. That is basically no production from our big men.
Pollard played his best game yet. He had 13 points on 5-7 shooting. He was 3-4 from from the line. He also had 8 rebounds with 3 of them being offensive rebounds.
We can not give up 73 points and expect to win. We need to hold teams in the low 60's. Dayton and VCU played a similar style of basketball as we do but they play it better. We need to improve quickly or we are looking at the NIT.
I was thinking the same thing during the game. We lost 2 guys who could bang inside and play tough under the basket. The Engstrom loss was huge for us.
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