Danny last night said that many of the players didn't have the fire to want to give it their all. He went a little deeper than he had the last couple of games on the bench, I believe, simply because of this. The foul situation didn't help any. He also said that, mentally, we just don't execute. He pointed out Obinna's fourth foul as an example. Said he went up to defend and attacked the ball and therefore fouling the player. Toussaint on offense was another example he gave. Said that he didn't know where to be when Akron played zone. Said he should have been roaming the baseline instead of up top sitting a pick and roll. He took longer to come out for the postgame interview than normal. He said they had a longer talk after the game than normal. He also mentioned the free throw shooting. Last night on his postgame show, Paul Swann said the percentages didn't matter, just the number of attempts. That's bull. We shoot 70% at the line like Akron did and we win the game. We missed 8 shots at the line. Hit half of those and we win.
Our defense has always been questionable at best. We allow too much penetration from the opposing guards, which puts our big men in trouble having to defend which leaves the opposing big men open. Danny said we came out soft last night. That is usually the case every night when it concerns our big guys. With few exceptions, that has been a trait since Danny has been here. He was really upset last night with the performance. I know I was shocked when he called a timeout early. Because of all the fouls, I would have put Goran back in there just to absorb some of them. Overall, this was the worst performance of the year and we still almost won. Looking forward to seeing how this team responds on Saturday to Duquesne.