That was a tough one out there last night. Congrats to Coach Jones and UCF, they played a great game, and capitalized on a couple of runs that kept us out of the game. There were some positives out there last night, so let's get right to them.
1. The Front Line. Ron Anderson Jr. is making a case to earn a starting spot isn't he. He had another fantastic game down low, scoring a game high 18 points on 4-7 shooting, but even a more impressive 10-11 from the free throw line. Ron attacked Keith Clanton and Herzog, and got them both into foul trouble in the first half. Augustus Gilchrist quietly had 14 points and a couple of ferocious dunks. Toarlyn Fitzpatrick also chipped in four rebounds in 11 minutes yesterday.
2. Rebounding. Continuing the thread above, the Bulls did a great job on the boards last night. As a team, USF had 10 offensive rebounds, and a lot of those were put back dunks, highlighted by JAWANZA! Poland's monster dunk in the 2nd half. Anytime you have a 33-25 advantage on the boards, you should have a chance to win the game, and it kept us from getting blown out.
3. Hugh Robertson. Had his first good game of the season last night, and really disrupted Dave Diakite, limiting him to only one point. Hugh was a monster on the boards, grabbing a team high eight, while also dishing out a team high 5 assists. Hugh also had a couple of great put back dunks when he had a free lane to the basket.
And now to the three negatives.
1. Free Throw Shooting. Take Ron's free throws out of the equation, and the Bulls went a horrendous 3-10 from the line. This has to be corrected if the Bulls want to even make it to .500 this season.
2. Anthony Crater. Oof, that wasn't the best game from Crater. 1 point. 0-3 from the field. Two assists and three turnovers. Not making the correct decisions in the halfcourt offense. Getting dominated by A.J. Rompza on the defensive end. It also didn't help that the crowd screamed airball for 38 minutes after Crater whiffed on his first attempt of the game. I could go on and on, but I still have a hangover from the bleach last night. We might see a lot more of LaVonte Dority or Shedrick Haynes in our next two games against Liberty and Georgia Southern.
3. Fan Support. It was pretty much covered in the FanShot posted earlier today, but it was a game only 90 minutes away. Get to the game. You could have skipped buying a suitcase of Natty Light to make it to this one.