Ensminger, Darlan, Gavalyugov need to impact the game other than scoring
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Graves has 1 ankle and he is the most productive player we have. Where is the help?
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I fear that’s the game. Team gave up in the second.
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Sash the turnover machine?
They are playing lifeless. You can see it in the body language.
You can’t be -22 rebounding and beat even a mediocre team…..and SMC is much better than mediocre.
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SMC playing like they took getting out physicaled last meeting personally. Then saw how the Zags dominated the glass against us and smelled blood in the water.
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Turn off the lights the party’s over!!!
There’s one team that’s playing like a team….
The Sendek curse; hasn’t - Doesn’t win Big games - why he was sent packing by NC State and ASU…
Just let’s them play unhinged…
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Not much we can do inside to stop the rebounds with an injured Graves and a foul prone Oboye. Would loved to have seen a touch of Francis.
As depressing as it may seem running out of steam here, we still have a shot in Vegas and hanging around the bubble…
Also excited to see how our frontline of Bukky, Tadjo, and Francis will line up against tall rosters next year
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I like Herb generally, but the knock when he was hired was that he may cobble enough wins to get you to the NIT or the NCAA, if things work out just right, but he won’t win the big one the lights are bright.
We’ve upset SMC and GU in less high stakes scenarios, but when the pressure ratchets up, we get worked.
For anyone rooting for SCU to win the WCC Tournament, Sendek has never won a conference tournament in his 30+ seasons.
I hope we fluke into Dayton for the sake of the program, but coming into this one and losing by 20 is pretty deflating.
I mean, we could make (or could’ve made) the tournament losing this one, but getting blown out like this looks way different than losing by a few possessions.
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Zero heart zero effort is what angers me. They came out of the half lifeless and lackadaisical. I don’t understand; I’ve come to expect it after the half or a long bye week. Randy did a great job taking Mahi and Christian out of the game Herb never seems to counter to get our other shooters the ball or get Mahi and Christian into rhythm shots. Smh if you want to play with the best you eventually will need to beat the best.
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I think lifeless is unfair. From what I saw in person (to be fair, a couple beers deep because this is what we’ve lived for!) we gave decent effort. Saint Mary’s knew their tournament hopes were on the line.
If you want to knock off the giant, you’re going to have to do it on their terms.
Vegas it is. I’d have taken that in October!
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For as positive as I want to be….. this is why I was ready to move on in December.
I agree with Hoops. It wasn’t a question of heart and effort, more so lack of execution, and losing the physicality battle. Mikey Lewis was the catalyst tonight and he was sensational. We just have to tip our hat to the Gaels. It’s not all gloom and doom.
Flush this one down the toilet, prepare for and beat Oregon St. We may need to beat SMC or Gonzaga in the semis to secure a bid, but not impossible.
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I too was in the building. Broncos out of the half:
• mahi turnover
• knapper missed layup
• Oboye Steal
• Hammond Turnover
• Missed Oboye 3pt fg
•Oboye Foul
•Mahi turnover
•Gaels 3 pt fg
Broncos timeout at 17:23 in the 2nd half. These were sequential plays. This play felt disorganized and dramatically different from the first half. At this point in the game it looked as if the Broncos were less energized although the game was competitive. At this point in the game I recognized that the Broncos were at risk of a fulfilling a poor habit and letting a small deficit balloon. I am proud of what the boys have accomplished for the year. I was proud of how they competed in the first half. Although the Gaels are exceptional at home the Broncos have proven as recent as the first half they can compete. Watching the energy dissipate was upsetting. Win or lose I hope to see the fight in my boys. Lets close out the season and handle business in Vegas. Nothing to it but to do it.
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Going 1-3 against Gonzaga / SMC will put a dent on any chances of making the tourney. I think a semifinal win is now a win and we have a shot and lose and we are out. I can’t see us at 1-4 against the top two WCC teams getting us a bid in. A semifinals tilt on a neural court for SMC vs Santa Clara may very well decide who gets in and who goes home as the winner would be 2-1 in head to head with a neutral court being the deciding factor. Hard to see the WCC getting 3 bids when all said and done.
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Yes, 1st few minutes of 2nd half set the tone for the blowout result. We looked lost, scared, not confident, the classic deer in the headlights look. The question is why? 
We have the talent.
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Like 92B said, all of those offensive rebounds killed us. I wonder how many came off of missed drives versus missed jumpers? Graves and Bukke were providing lots of help on their drives and we didn’t get their bigs boxes out. Maybe next time we give them a little more room to shoot jumpers and try to cut down on the strong hand penetration and eliminate help on weak hand penetration?
@Dualthreat I agree with you about the distinction between 1-4 and 2-3. At 2-3 vs the big dogs, and barring any upsets in our last 2 games against the WCC also-rans, I think we will only need a reasonable amount of help to make it in.
Where I disagree with you is on SMC. I think they are a lock at this point, just as we would deservedly be if we had the same overall record as them.
Edit: We would actually finish 2-4 vs the big dogs, in the scenario where a semifinal win over Gaels is followed by a finals loss vs Zags.
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