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UTPB

What was the final? Been at Wurstfest all night, just got home and ready to hear what the locals who attended have to say about the game.
 
Gilyard hit 3's but missed from the free throw line. He could have easily gone for 30.

Efe was cat-like around the rim. He is big but nimble. He shoots free throws well and hit a few from the baseline too. He took advantage of UTPB.

Lathon has a good mid-range game and rebounds the hell out of the ball. He is not PG based on what I saw this game. He seems more like a swiss army knife type player.

Kobe was quiet, but played 40 minutes.

PT is still overzealous on defense and fouls WAY too much. He had a nice jam and then got an 'unsportsman like conduct' foul. CRT was not happy. Freshman move by a senior.

Eze is quick off his feet on defense and is not shy about directing his teammates either. He had a big offensive rebound and was winding up to hammer it home, but 3 guys were hanging on him. Tons of blocks/altered shots.

Giles was a pleasant suprise and played decently well all around.

Overall we scored 90 points by shooting well. Not much driving to the basket. We played man D the whole game. There were no fast breaks by UTEP. FT shooting was good aside from our best FT shooter missing a bunch. Refs called a lot of fouls in the paint.
 
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Not sure what the stats person was watching. I counted 5 blocks for Kaosi. His state line should have read 10 pts, 9 reb and 5 block shots. He also altered half a dozen more shots. Lathon looked a little out of sink but once he figures it out he will be a match up problem for other teams. A 27 point win without Hawkins is a good sign. Efe has really good feet and low post moves. Once his defense improves he will be an all conference type of player. Gilyard has really improved his shot, and the same for Paul Thomas. The team did not shoot free throws well at all making just 25 of 42. The officials called three technical fouls of UTEP and all three were complete BS. Kaosi got on for an illegal substitution but the horn sounded and one official waved him in. Thomas had a big dunk over a UTPB player and they called him for taunting tech and they gave one to the bench for celebrating the dunk. That stuff goes on all the time and has never resulted in a tech.
 
Efe and Eze looked good tonight. Eze is going to be a beast on the defensive side of the ball and is surprisingly a very good FT shooter. The only bad thing with Efe and Eze is they can get into foul trouble very very quickly. It was weird seeing Terry substitute them for each other every 2-3 minutes, but I guess that is going to be the plan to try keep them from getting into foul trouble. NMSU will give us a better understanding of their ability.

Lathon was off tonight. I thought he was going to have a huge game tonight but he just looked a bit scared/hesitant on offense.

Gilyard got hot from 3 in the 2nd half. But he free throw shooting was terrible. Hopefully it was just a bad night.

This years team will not be a top team in CUSA but it also won't be one of the worst team in CUSA either.
 
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Fair report from last night. I was impressed how they played, even if it's against a D2 team. A lot of potential out there. I'm still not a Thomas fan, even after all these years. Lathon really disappointed me offensively, but I like his defense. Giles totally blew me away.....
I love that their names are on their backs, especially since I can't remember who the hell is who yet.
All of the guys that are sitting out were basically additional assistant coaches. VERY involved in the game and helping. Why didn't Raynes suit up?

I didn't see Mary Haskins. She never misses a game. Willie Cager was MIA as well. Jeff Lindburgh wasn't calling the game. Did we change? Or was everyone at the Beto party? LOL
 
Not sure what the stats person was watching. I counted 5 blocks for Kaosi. His state line should have read 10 pts, 9 reb and 5 block shots. He also altered half a dozen more shots. Lathon looked a little out of sink but once he figures it out he will be a match up problem for other teams. A 27 point win without Hawkins is a good sign. Efe has really good feet and low post moves. Once his defense improves he will be an all conference type of player. Gilyard has really improved his shot, and the same for Paul Thomas. The team did not shoot free throws well at all making just 25 of 42. The officials called three technical fouls of UTEP and all three were complete BS. Kaosi got on for an illegal substitution but the horn sounded and one official waved him in. Thomas had a big dunk over a UTPB player and they called him for taunting tech and they gave one to the bench for celebrating the dunk. That stuff goes on all the time and has never resulted in a tech.
It's bull hockey foul calling season. Refs enforce new rules, their authority etc....
 
Fair report from last night. I was impressed how they played, even if it's against a D2 team. A lot of potential out there. I'm still not a Thomas fan, even after all these years. Lathon really disappointed me offensively, but I like his defense. Giles totally blew me away.....
I love that their names are on their backs, especially since I can't remember who the hell is who yet.
All of the guys that are sitting out were basically additional assistant coaches. VERY involved in the game and helping. Why didn't Raynes suit up?

I didn't see Mary Haskins. She never misses a game. Willie Cager was MIA as well. Jeff Lindburgh wasn't calling the game. Did we change? Or was everyone at the Beto party? LOL

Jeff hasn't been doing football either. Did he quit? I think if he quit UTEP would have put out some sort of "Thank you Jeff Lindburgh" press Release
 
Fair report from last night. I was impressed how they played, even if it's against a D2 team. A lot of potential out there. I'm still not a Thomas fan, even after all these years.
I am very disappointed in Paul Thomas. He is going to be a complete non-factor this season. Eze, a true freshman, playing in his first college game showed way more leadership out on the court than the senior Thomas. We have been lacking leader on the team for the past 8 seasons, and Eze is going to be that guy.
 
I am very disappointed in Paul Thomas. He is going to be a complete non-factor this season. Eze, a true freshman, playing in his first college game showed way more leadership out on the court than the senior Thomas. We have been lacking leader on the team for the past 8 seasons, and Eze is going to be that guy.
I got the same impression of Eze. Very vocal and a take charge kinda guy....
 
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My 2 cents...

Stanman pretty much called how the game would go beforehand--yaaay!

If anything, the team exceeded my expectations. Admittedly, it is difficult to determine when up against a middling D-2 team.

Individual efforts--New big guys looked better than I expected under the basket.

I didn't get to see much out of Lathon, as he seemed a bit out of sync.

Gilyard showed that he can still "catch fire."

Magee seems to be settling into his role as the floor general.

Thomas will come around--he may be trying too hard at this point.

DeKonnick gave us some good minutes (after getting into the flow of the game), and looks like he can shoot the ball.

Dill and Averitt came in at the end of the game.

As others have noted, it will be nice to see Hawkins mixing it up.

Our bigger guys will have to stay out of foul trouble due to our lack of depth--it will most certainly hurt us against taller, more muscular D-1 teams.

I tried not to repeat everything that had been reported...but basically concur.
 
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I agree with what everyone has above about Lathon being lost at times and it showed in in his 8 turnovers and 2/6 shooting but he did do somethings well:

10 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 2 Blocks. and some decent defense

His rebounding is going to be needed this year with the lack of depth that we have
 
The guy that was a pleasant surprise to me was Efe Odigie. I am impressed with how hard he has worked to get himself in shape in such a short time. He's not a bouncy guy by any means, but he showed a higher skill level than I was expecting offensively. On the defensive side, like all freshmen, it is going to be a steep learning curve. I thought Eze was pretty much as expected, which is a good thing. We will know a lot more a couple of weeks from now. We definitely need Hawkins to return and contribute. He is a guy that Terry has raved about early on.
 
Love this reaction in the post game conference to the question about how this team compares to last years team. I don't know what it means but the reaction is awesome.

 
Couldn't find a stream for the game, but i did listen.

Playing against a D2 school, it will be tough to say how well prepared our bigs really are. D2 teams simply don't get quality big men, so there isn't a lot of resistance under the basket. It's going to get real interesting when they go against talented guys who are their size
 
I thought our 6'10 post Ezeagu looked great. Blocked and altered a bunch of shots. He's athletic, and from what I saw, it looks like he can have a great career here

He is good and only a freshman, he reminds me of marlon maxey...the way he plays and his body build.
 
I didnt see Deon Stroud out there with the rest of the kids sitting out the year. Is that the norm for the position he's in?? Wells Fargo wasn't prepared for their Tee's for threes promotion as they ran out of shirts half way thru the second half lol
 
I am glad utep is taking this year off because no one is gonna beat duke this year..... anyone seen Zion Williamson play?? Good lord ... or any of there other top 3 freshman? We need one freshman like that ...
 
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I didnt see Deon Stroud out there with the rest of the kids sitting out the year. Is that the norm for the position he's in?? Wells Fargo wasn't prepared for their Tee's for threes promotion as they ran out of shirts half way thru the second half lol
Stroud is a prop 48 so I don't think he is able to practice with the team or be on the bench during the season. I'm sure he was around.
 
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