UND & NDSU

[epx]

Halloran had a career night against UND. Ervin also had a better offensive night. With a little more experience I think we'd have won this game. Perhaps we should have won anyway. Overall shooting was much better at 46% and 47% on 3 pointers. Halloran had 21 pts with 4-4 3pt shooting. Ervin was 4-9 overall which is good, but that included 1-3 on 3pt shots. As a 3pt "specialist" I would expect at least 6 attempts with 3 made, but overall he did better. Watson had an off night at 2-8, but those 2 were 3 pointers and he shot 6-8 free throws. Overall I thought we were competitive and looked as good as we have so far.

Watson had a great game against NCSU going 6-14 FG, 4-8 3pt and 4-6 FT, for 20 points. Halloran reverted back to his earlier ways but did have 6 assists. Sherry went 2-5, 1-3 and 3-3. Mackinnon was 5-7, 1-3 for 11 points. Michael only played 11 minutes but went 2-2FG, 1-2 FT and had 2 rebounds in that time. Ervin was 3-12 FG, 0-5 3pt no FT. We had many good open looks which was a good sign against an ACC team and never were we out of the game. 

I felt we looked better overall and feel encouraged that we might win a game or two along the way this season. Again, I'm not changing my overall expectations, but at least right now we have been competitive against these two good teams. Hopefully this will continue. At least the games have been fun to watch. I would still like to see more of LA Pratt. He moves very well with the ball. I think he will continue to improve over the year. 

[elonhoops4life]

Agree to an extent but N. Dakota is not a good team. We were favored by 6 in that game and ESPN had up as a 80%+ percentage to win that game. N. Dakota was picked to finish 10th in the Summitt Conference this year and playing a road game a long ways from home. We should have won this game easily. After that game I was wondering if we would even match last years win total.

On to the NC State game - They looked fantastic. Moved the ball well. Lots of good cuts to the baskets with some great passing. They took care of the ball and stayed out of foul trouble which kept State off the line and kept us in this game. State looks to be a good team and we played right there with them. It's one game so who knows but perhaps they are getting more comfortable in Taylor's system. I am curious how they play on the road against Jacksonville St. Tuesday night. ALl the non-conference games are really meaningless and can be thought of as preseason games for the conference. In a one bid league, Conference play and seeding is all that really matters. I am hopeful they continue to improve.