Two games for the championship…
Posted by frankpos on February 29, 2008
ESPN: “This is a great win for us, but we can’t relax,” Padgett said. “We want to finish it like the way we’re playing now. We want to win two more games and win a Big East championship.”
Pitino said he thought the Cardinals could run with the Big East’s highest-scoring offense, and they did it during a dizzying first 10 minutes.
“Now we’ve got two games to go to win a championship.”
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=280590097
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Out-shooting Notre Dame to win… whoda thunk it.
That was a great game against a very good, solid ND team.
Not flashy, ND rebounded, scrapped and shot well in the second half.
The Cards just played extremely well the first half, and gutsy enough in the second.
We continue to shoot very well–didn’t take many wild or contested shots–and shot > 50% both halves.
Our assists/turnovers > 1 for the game, and we rebounded them evenly and held them to 33% shooting through he first half.
David Padgett was brilliant, and demonstrated he was Harangody’s daddy in the post. Earl Clark returned from his recent walkabout, with a strong effort. Good Edgar suited up.
Up with the flu all night, T Will posted an amazingly strong line of stats–but he certainly didn’t have his hops.
The only mis-firing cylinder remains a regressing DC:
First Half Points
13 minutes with David Padgett on the floor: 40
7 minutes without David Padgett on the floor: 2
As you can imagine, the Card faithful were near delirium at the mid-point of the first half as the Cards race-horsed to a 32-16 lead–and as the lead bounced to 19 a with 6 minutes to go. Sedat was doing handstands on the 2nd floor stadium railing at its peak.
But we lost the second half by 10, got out rebounded by 7 , and let them shoot over 50% from 2 and > 60% from 3 in the half.
Obviously, still need work
but
That was a top 10 effort against a legit top 15 opponent– and that’s 2 out of the last 4 big ones in our pocket–and 8 in a row.
And….we’re tied for the Big East lead, with a chance to determine our own fate by winning out.
Now, for Senior Night for David, Tello, and T-Far– and Nova.
Man, what a ride…
neptunetownship said
Great game, great effort against a team that has been playing at a top 10 level, better than Georgetown in February. I too am concerned about the FT shooting in a tight game. If Andre McGee is your technical shooter that is not good. Not because he’s a bad foul shooter, he’s just not comfortable in that spotlight leadership role. I’m not sure why Jerry wasn’t in down the stretch but he is the only guy you can trust (and maybe Padgett) in a tough spot. Yes, we did convert 75% in the last 4 minutes, but the pressure would have been tighter if not for the T-Will dunks. I’m more concerned about the 4 for 8 at the beginning of the ND comeback, especially the front end of the bonus. Since T-Will is going to be in that situation he has to shoot them better.
I am also concerned about Tello, not just last night but the last 4-5 games he’s just looked out of sync, unable to finish opportunities.
DC – take the positive, he had a big assist to E5 for the dunk. For him to be as effective as possible he will need more minutes, and playing our point center fewer minutes is not an option. Now is not the time to experiment, but I wish Pitino had played him more at the 4 spot throughout the season.
frankpos said
Our missed free throws did keep the lead under 20–but we made 75% of the last 10 down the stretch.
ND is a well coached, and well disciplined, great shooting, geat rebounding, team–and we whupped up!
I assume Digger picked us to lose?
kylures said
It was a tremendous showing, Digger take note. You were wrong. TWill had an off night. But still I worry about their freethrows in close games. Telo had an off night. If he made anything, I missed it. They actually looked tired, but after that great defence, it is no wonder. Everyone else played about as well as all year. If these guys meet again, someone will have to break Luke Harangody’s legs. Maybe that was Pitinos strategy. Make Luke shoot threes. Defence is the only way to beat ND. You have to step out all over them. And the Cards did.