Steak Ends at 10

Hey Warrior fans, Coach Moore, with a look back on our game from Saturday night with Augustana College in which we fell by a final score of 88-72. The loss ended a ten game winning streak for us and it dropped us out of first place in the NSIC into a second place tie with UM-Duluth.

Once again we started the game out flat and dug ourselves an early 9-2 hole as we allowed Augie a wide open three to start and then some easy buckets in transition. This was not the type of start we were looking for, our energy level was not there and we seemed a step slow on the offensive end but after a timeout we found ourselves a little bit and battled back quickly to take a lead in the game with about 15 minutes to play. We continued to hold a lead, as many as 7 points until the 3 minute mark of the half but then Augie took the lead and went into half leading by six points.

The first half I think we played okay at best but you could see something was just not right with our guys. Our energy level that we had been having on the defense end was not to be seen as we were getting beat off the dibble too much and left shooters wide open too often. Offensively our spacing was terrible, we were a step slow with our decision making and our reads at times made no sense. Overall in the first half we were getting beat down the floor in transition, they were getting second chance points, getting loose balls, they basically were doing all the little things needed to get the win and we were not. While those things didn't show up big on the score board in the first half as the game wore on you could see those things pile up on us as the game continued to get farther away from us. Some bright spots in the first half even though we were not in sync was that we were only down six and if we could get going we would be okay. We were not shooting the ball that great but it wasn't bad either. Actually to have the offensive problems that we had and to only be down six was pretty good I felt considering all things.

The second half though was much of the same as the first half. We made a couple of runs at them as we banged home a couple of 3's in a row but we couldn't get stops on the defensive end for more the two consecutive possessions it seemed and in the end that was the main reason we ended up on the short end. Once again it all comes down to the defensive end of the floor to win ball games. Sure our offense was not the best for most of the night but our defense was the reason for the loss. We put up 72 points which is more then enough to win any basketball game and it was an off night for our offense. But when you give up 88 points to someone you are not going to win too many ball games. Our defense has to get so much better and we have to play so much more aggressively on the defensive end if we want to win ball games. Hopefully this week our guys can turn things around on defensive end and we can get back to playing the type of basketball that got us to the position we are currently in.

That is it for now. Take care everyone. Go Warriors