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2011-12 Focused On Defense

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Explorers Miss Golden Opportunity To Bury Gophers

March 14, 2012
by Jack

Explorers Wright Misses Free Throws, Then Travels After Flagrant Foul To Cost Explorers Points and Momentum.
The Explorers (21-13, lost in first round of NIT) ended their 2011-12 season with a loss on a surprising late second half slump against the Minnesota Golden Gophers (20-14). The Explorers took early control of the game in building a 21-13 lead as Jerrell Wright (12 points, 7 boards) made the basket that caused Minnesota coach Tubby Smith to call a timeout with 9:16 left. Minnesota tried to edge closer but a layup by Tyreek Duren (6 points, 4 assists but 5 turnovers and 4 personal fouls in just 26 minutes) and a second slam by Ramon Galloway (13 points, 5 boards and 2 blocks) for a 28-22 surprised many including the ESPN2 game announcers. Unfortunately the Explorers got sloppy and made unforced turnovers, took crazy shots and committed bad fouls. Offensive flow is something Coach John Giannini must work on for next season. Minnesota closed the half on a 14-10 run and led 40-37 at the break.

The second half turned out to be a nightmare for the Explorers. They fought to grab a 45-44 lead at 15:35 on a Wright dunk. Wright was pushed with an elbow to the back into the camera man on the baseline. The Minnesota player was correctly whistled for a flagrant 1 foul by ref Jim Burr. Unfortunately the Explorers did not come away with any additional points as Wright missed two consecutive free throws and then on the possession he walked. This gave Minnesota life instead of being down by 5 or 6 they only trailed by a point. This also zapped the crowd and they were less energized after this. The Explorers fought to keep the game close but could not overtake the Gophers despite two shot clock violations by Minnesota. Earl Pettis (19 points, 3 boards and 3 steals) did his best to keep his college career alive but it was not enough. Earl will be missed.

The bar for next season is set much higher and the goal is the NCAA Tournament.

Watch Replay of Game - CBS Sports needs to provide us ESPN3.com type coverage at no additional charge (we already pay top dollar for Cable and Internet services) starting next season. Need to have more exposure and CBS has to compete with ESPN (ABC Sports) via generating advertising revenue.

Minnesota 70, La Salle 61 FINAL. Explorer Top Performer of the Game: Earl Pettis.

Explorer Most Valuable Player of the Year: Tyreek Duren
Duren 12 games; Pettis 9 games; Galloway 6 games; Wright 3 games; Mills 3 games; White 1 game.

LaSalle shot 47% from the field on 24 for 51 (and 50% from beyond the arc on 5 for 10) and 62% from the foul line (8 for 13). The coaches did a better job in having the guys ready to play at the start of the game. The one major problem that keeps resurfacing on Giannini led teams is the lack of offensive flow in the second half. The coach needs to call set plays at times. Other times Tyreek and Ramon have to be creative. Ramon needs to work on driving to the basket and be able to finish around a defender like Duren can. Duren must value the basketball like Mills does and eliminate the unforced turnovers. Mills must develop a mid-range jumper in the off-season. Jerrell must work on his defense and Zack must be more aggressive on the court. Coaching Grade: C

Coaching Grades for the Season: A+ 5 games; A 8 games; B+ 2 games; B 4 games; B- 2 games; C 2 games; D 6 games; F 5 games. 21 games above average and 13 games average or below. If the coaching in half of the below average games were above average then this team would have been an NCAA team with 25 wins going into the Atlantic 10 Tournament. We need to see drastic improvements in this area next season. John needs to hire an assistant who can help him understand end of game strategies as well as provide advice on correct substitutions.

Officials: Bryan Kersey, Jim Burr, Clarence Armstrong.

                      
      
               Kersey            Burr          Armstrong

The officials allowed far too much contact throughout the game. Even after Wright was fouled flagrantly, the officials allowed heavy contact on Wright and did not warn Minnesota like they should have immediately following that foul. Minnesota took advantage of the the lax rules and pushed off to get open looks.


Grade for Officials: C (Average) - The crew treated this like a neutral court game and kept the foul calls even at 14 each. They did not affect the outcome of the game.

It appears we may need to do another report on officiating this off-season as we still see some non-professional refs officiating in important games across the Atlantic 10. Reggie Greenwood is starting to understand that fans in the A10 are no longer going to tolerate corrupt/incompetent/unprofessional officiating.

Box Score