by jayball » January 12th, 2011, 9:34 am
Well, hopefully this is a good one.
I wasn't around for the last few games, so don't have anything other than articles and comments to go by. It looked like MSU beat WSU due to limiting transition offense, frustrating Murry into some bad decisions, and a poor shooting night by WSU.
WSU lost to MSU by 3 and we lost to them by 12.
I think this is an uphill climb for the Jays tonight. Our strength (on the inside) is going up against a strong point for WSU. I know we will try to control tempo and slow things down, but I have a feeling WSU perimeter players are going to pressure AY and our guards. I can see that forcing some TOs and easy buckets. We are very deliberate trying to get the ball inside, so it can be easy to frustrate us on offense for long stretches. If you can get Gregory in foul trouble that will really change the gameplan.
On the plus side both Korver and Doug have started to be a little better from behind the arc. I think we will need them or someline like Ashford or Manigat to have a big shooting night. AY has been really good for us this year, although he seemed to have some breakdowns and fatigue in recent games. If he can limit TOs and shoot well that will be huge. We will need WSU to have another subpar shooting night.
I would love for the Jays to grind one out here, but I see something like 61-53 Shockers. It could be worse if we can't control tempo. I know WSU is fired up after losing. I'm hoping the Jays are ready.