by GoldenWarrior11 » Wed Nov 22, 2023 9:57 pm
Very competitive game, and I for one enjoyed every moment of the week watching. I'm not down after the loss, as there is a long season ahead of us. I am confident if we play Purdue again, we can/will beat them (similarly, if we play Kansas again, not so sure we get less than their best effort). Edey is a special player, and one that changes the way an opponent plays just by being on the court. He opens up so much for the Purdue guards/wings, and they capitalized today. We struggled shooting the 3 this week, but am confident that we get better as the season progresses.
The refs, IMO, called a fair game. There were way more fouls on MU than Purdue, but we were very aggressive (rightfully so). Oso had an unfortunate 2nd foul in the 1st where he didn't need to be as aggressive. Ross had a number of rebounds bounce off his hands. Joplin wasn't aggressive at all and only took two shots all game. The bench was 0/7 shooting 3's. Take away the incredible 70-ft 3-pointer at the half by Purdue and it is an OT game, or playing to win at the end.
MU will be fine. I'd rather have this group experience defeat now for added fuel for March. A Maui Championship would have been nice, but I would have been worried that we could have peaked as a team early. The team plays better with a chip on its shoulder, and it just got one.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone on HLOH. There is no better collection of basketball schools and fans than the BIG EAST!