Tweet
I arrived at Galen surprisingly early. Traffic was mild, but my lane always seemed to be the one moving just fine. The gentleman working the parking entrance waived me in - said the entire parking structure was paid in advance by some event next door that got canceled. Awesome! Lo-and-behold, the first parking spot was open, so presto! I grabbed my jacket, and walked to the Galen entrance, and the TSA team was extraordinarily efficient and cheerful. Grabbed my program, and walked to grab a slice of pizza and coke for the game - on special for $4 - and proceeded to my seat. My buddy Ben was already there waiting, so we caught up and watched our team warming up. Our not-so-amazing Galen Center pizza was surprisingly good. Then they announced our opponent for the night, and to my surprise, we were playing Sister Mary Ignatious. I thought we were due to play a PAC-12 game against Stanford, but whatever. It's 2021. We're prepared for anything. ...and coming out of our mountain swing, we needed a break. I mean, we can beat these girls.. right??
They looked masculine enough. All things considered, these girls were gigantic! To honor our original scheduling, I guess, Sister Mary Ignatious wore Stanford jerseys. Our fans piled in, but the seat in front of me was vacant all game. From the tip, we were just too much for them. We looked good. We were ready for SMI, even on short notice. Everybody played well. Nobody on the team "played down." The PAC-12 officials were on point. I hardly noticed them at all! Our Trojans knocked down outside shot after outside shot. Our defense was back! We dominated from start to finish, got the bench in early, and it was all smiles. All fans in attendance received a free USC basketball shirt and TWO coupons to Chick-Fil-A. Cardinal, or no Cardinal, it was much needed a night to remember.
Man, it felt that way.
20 THINGS I NOTICED:
1-The entire team played well.
2-Stanford was awful. Missing key players, once again, Sister Mary was just overmatched.
3-Our TEAM DEFENSE WAS BACK! We throttled them into taking bad shots all night long.
4-Peterson looks to have his early season form and confidence back. Awesome.
5-Tahj and Drew handled most of the ball handling responsibilities. (Coaches DO check out our message board!)
6-Many Trojans players have a tendency to run under the basket instead of boxing out. Basics. Find a body, boys. Opponent talent level is about to rise.
7-PAC-12 officials weren't perfect, but when you don't notice them much, you know they've had a good game.
8-Max Agbonkpolo showed up! 22 MIN: 3-6 FG; 2 REB; 1 A; 3 TO; 1 BLK; 2 STL; 8 PTS - I watched through my fingers, and it wasn't perfect, but he had a good game! LOVE to see that!
9-We passed the ball particularly well. I know it was SMI, but still. (Peterson's kick to Tahj and Max's drop pass to Chevez were particularly pretty.)
10-We don't score as efficiently as we should when we get the ball on the block. Our lighter bigs need to create body contact and rise.
11-Noah's minutes were limited, but I thought he looked good when he was out there. I thought this would be a perfect game to get him going...?
12-I thought Evan played well, but he isn't dominating like I think many thought he would at the end of the season. There's still time.
13-After a slow start, Tahj was cash-money.
14-Isaiah Mobley had a nice night shooting from the charity stripe! 5/6 is easily his best outing. Keep it up young man!
15-We have a beautiful court at Galen. I remember how long we waited for our "new gym." Galen is fantastic!
16-Our High-Low game was still lacking. I'd love to see post player come up to set a pick and roll every once in a while.
17-FIFTEEN Turnovers is too many - especially against a bad SMI team.
18-Reese's athleticism is obvious when he's just moving around the court. Hope he continues to get 5 MPG. He played within himself.
19-The pizza and parking were great!
20-We have a 1 game win streak! (Let's make it two!)
✌😎
They looked masculine enough. All things considered, these girls were gigantic! To honor our original scheduling, I guess, Sister Mary Ignatious wore Stanford jerseys. Our fans piled in, but the seat in front of me was vacant all game. From the tip, we were just too much for them. We looked good. We were ready for SMI, even on short notice. Everybody played well. Nobody on the team "played down." The PAC-12 officials were on point. I hardly noticed them at all! Our Trojans knocked down outside shot after outside shot. Our defense was back! We dominated from start to finish, got the bench in early, and it was all smiles. All fans in attendance received a free USC basketball shirt and TWO coupons to Chick-Fil-A. Cardinal, or no Cardinal, it was much needed a night to remember.
Man, it felt that way.
20 THINGS I NOTICED:
1-The entire team played well.
2-Stanford was awful. Missing key players, once again, Sister Mary was just overmatched.
3-Our TEAM DEFENSE WAS BACK! We throttled them into taking bad shots all night long.
4-Peterson looks to have his early season form and confidence back. Awesome.
5-Tahj and Drew handled most of the ball handling responsibilities. (Coaches DO check out our message board!)
6-Many Trojans players have a tendency to run under the basket instead of boxing out. Basics. Find a body, boys. Opponent talent level is about to rise.
7-PAC-12 officials weren't perfect, but when you don't notice them much, you know they've had a good game.
8-Max Agbonkpolo showed up! 22 MIN: 3-6 FG; 2 REB; 1 A; 3 TO; 1 BLK; 2 STL; 8 PTS - I watched through my fingers, and it wasn't perfect, but he had a good game! LOVE to see that!
9-We passed the ball particularly well. I know it was SMI, but still. (Peterson's kick to Tahj and Max's drop pass to Chevez were particularly pretty.)
10-We don't score as efficiently as we should when we get the ball on the block. Our lighter bigs need to create body contact and rise.
11-Noah's minutes were limited, but I thought he looked good when he was out there. I thought this would be a perfect game to get him going...?
12-I thought Evan played well, but he isn't dominating like I think many thought he would at the end of the season. There's still time.
13-After a slow start, Tahj was cash-money.
14-Isaiah Mobley had a nice night shooting from the charity stripe! 5/6 is easily his best outing. Keep it up young man!
15-We have a beautiful court at Galen. I remember how long we waited for our "new gym." Galen is fantastic!
16-Our High-Low game was still lacking. I'd love to see post player come up to set a pick and roll every once in a while.
17-FIFTEEN Turnovers is too many - especially against a bad SMI team.
18-Reese's athleticism is obvious when he's just moving around the court. Hope he continues to get 5 MPG. He played within himself.
19-The pizza and parking were great!
20-We have a 1 game win streak! (Let's make it two!)
✌😎
Comment