UIC v George Washington

[UICJohn]

UNCG is the best team we have faced so far.

They’re now 4-1 with a win over Arkansas, a close loss to Vanderbilt, and are #7 in the midmajor top 25.

[Big D]

I checked the score with 2 minutes to go and we were up 6. Couldn’t follow the rest of the way. Very happy to see we pulled it off. Good win against a 5-0 team in the conference currently ranked just above ours.

It’s good to play a close game. This team needs to learn how to close and can only do that with tight games. Have to make FTs. Can’t make losing plays like technical fouls. That is stuff we can control and need mental toughness to not let frustration get the best of us.

So far I’m ecstatic about our start. A few more wins and they may actually convince me we’re good this year. Can’t get hopes my hopes up just yet. Tomorrow will be another big test. I think this would be our first MTE title in like 15 years.

[goveybaseball]

Cloud 9 success is great. Yak finally coming thru!

[uiclaflame]

Some thoughts from watching live today:

-Rivera cramped up late in game after making a tough layup. That probably affected his FT shooting towards end of game.
-Rivera mentioned in post-game interview that Drew King had to stay in Chicago. With Kennedy seeming injured/out for tomorrow and King out, it made sense why walk-on Brown got some tick today to relieve Jones a bit. We will have will rely heavily on Jones to handle load tomorrow like he did today - which is a litte scary as it seems like UNCG has a 16 ppg PG.
-Clay may have had the biggest play of the game today with a massive clutch end-to-end block with game close at end.
-Rivera got us out of trouble at end of game with some clutch drives/buckets - the second half was basically the Rivera/Toby/Jones show - and they were getting lots of iso buckets
-Our starters were on fire with 3s today - and we needed those buckets. I dont know if that level of shotmaking is sustainable/normal for us - but will be hopeful it is!

[Greg]

Thanks for the info again uiclaflame, based on some tough situations we are probably going to have a tough test
Looking forward to it

[lalman]

Nov 25, 2023 20:13:25 GMT -6 UICJohn said:

UNCG is the best team we have faced so far.

They’re now 4-1 with a win over Arkansas, a close loss to Vanderbilt, and are #7 in the midmajor top 25.

Should be a great test, this is probably the deepest team we've had in a decade, have a legit 10 man rotation when healthy.
And we're getting some national attention:

[Greg]

Thanks lalman, that's some good stuff

[UICJohn]

And to think Rivera is just a Junior. He could end up being one of the most impactful transfers we’ve ever had.

[Greg]

Nov 25, 2023 21:54:58 GMT -6 UICJohn said:

And to think Rivera is just a Junior. He could end up being one of the most impactful transfers we’ve ever had.

I thought Rivera is a Grad transfer and this is his last year

[UICJohn]

My bad on that. He’s listed as a Senior. Not sure why I thought that.

[Big D]

Wouldn’t Rivera get an extra year from Covid? So he may be a senior but may have an extra year if he wanted to play again.

[bigsaltine]

That’s a good question Big D, I actually think Rivera and Okani could play one more year even though they are seniors because of Covid. The only player I think is out of eligibility after this year is Kennedy.

[stormflamefan]

Nov 26, 2023 1:58:18 GMT -6 bigsaltine said:

That’s a good question Big D, I actually think Rivera and Okani could play one more year even though they are seniors because of Covid. The only player I think is out of eligibility after this year is Kennedy.

Yes, Isaiah would have one more year if he would want to use it. The COVID year.