Well, this was the first test for the Tigers and the one I was the most worried about just because I was so wanting to see the battle of the short, quick point guards...Pressey vs. Siva. I was afraid that the Tigers might be looking past the Cardinal looking forward to a possible second round game against the #2 team in the nation. Missouri did their job, now Louisville needs to win its game tonight in order to face Mizzou.
Phil Pressey
I thought Phil played a whale of a game. He is such a weapon on offense and the difference when he is not in the game is night and day. He hit all of his free throws, came up with 4 steals, knocked down some big 3-pointers in the first half, tallied 8 assists and 5 rebounds including a big one late in the game where he just went up over the taller Stanford players to grab the ball and control it. He looked like the nation's best point guard to me as Stanford just had no answer for keeping him out of the lane. The pass late to Oriakhi was huge and vintage Pressey. Grade: 9/10.
Laurence Bowers
Bowers finished the game with 19 and 10 and really came through at times in the second half with knocking down shots when the rest of the team went cold. I still get frustrated at times with him though because he still has trouble corralling rebounds when he is the only one there and for whatever reason is unable to control the ball. This seemed to happen a number of times in this game, but it's hard to argue with a double-double. Grade: 8/10.
Alex Oriakhi
Oriakhi finally had some big bodies to go up against and Stanford did a pretty good job of containing him though Oriakhi still went to the free throw line 8 times. I had no idea that he was going to be such a solid free throw shooter. Oriakhi obviously had a bone-headed play when he got caught with the frustration foul in the second half after getting his shot blocked. Otherwise, he had a decent game. Grade: 6/10.
Negus Webster-Chan
Webster-Chan hasn't been able to get the ball in the hoop of late but still provides all the other things that the team needs, mainly in the area of ballhandling. It was obvious in the second half that Haith trusts NWC more than Bell since bell spent almost the entire half on the bench. NWC's one made basket was the second-chance 3-pointer in which Ross kept the ball alive. Grade: 5/10.
Earnest Ross
Ross was 1-7 in the first half and 2-12 in the second half. He just could not make anything, including lay-ups. He did end up with a double-double though as he finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds. He needs to learn that when he gets those offensive rebounds to kick the ball out and reset the offense when there are defenders surrounding him. Grade: 4/10.
Keion Bell
Bell was a mess. He had as many turnovers as the rest of the team combined. He made a great move on the first possession of the game to drive the lane and pass to a cutting Bowers for an easy lay-up. But after that, he turned the ball over almost every time he touched the ball. If you watch Bell (and Ross does this too), when a pass is made to him, his first instinct is to see if he can shoot or score, NOT to see if someone else is open for a better shot. As a result, he appears to be a very selfish player and does not work well in a team context. Haith had enough of Bell when he turned the ball over both times he touched it in the second half, and Bell did not come back into the ball game until the waning seconds for defense. Haith just doesn't trust him. And he shouldn't. Grade: 2/10.
Overall Thoughts
I thought this was a very good win. Stanford was a decent opponent and were fundamentally sound. I was disappointed at times with the perimeter defense as Pressey and Bell got blown by a number of times by Randle who would then pull up for an easy shot at the free throw line. Stanford got A TON of open looks from outside and it was fortunate for Mizzou that they only made 23% of their 3s. Pressey was great and I thought Haith probably used the bench a little more than he needed to, but he was obviously wanting to give the guys some rest whenever he could since they will be playing 3 games in 3 days. Nice to see Oriakhi and Pressey knock down their free throws late. Very nice win. (And decent showing by the Tiger faithful.)
Next up: Winner of Louisville/Northern Iowa tomorrow at 8:30 PM CST.
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