Game 5: UNI @ St. Bonaventure

[sivert]

This game was so much fun:

- AJ GREEN: Any time anybody questions Green as a potential NBA level talent, I'm just going to attach a link of the last 3 minutes of the first half. I'm not saying he's a first round pick or anything crazy, but guys that get in a zone like that are next to impossible to find. That is rare elite scoring ability. If a team thinks they can unlock any more of that, you bet your ass they are going to take chances on him..

Definitely shed some rust today!
- 60% from 3...
- Maybe half of those 3s were against a double-team
- that reverse layup...
- later drove in for the layup(defended) - started for the reverse layup(defended) - passed it out to Heise in the corner for 3. kaboom.
- 4 Assists 3 TOs
- 31 pts on 18attempts +3 TOs = 1.48 ppp

- NATE HEISE: When we recruited him and Born, I watched so much of their highlight video and every time I did, I loved his game more and more. Born was the freshmen of the year, and I think Heise is better, now. THAT IS NOT A KNOCK ON BOWEN. It just shows how fortunate we are to have both of them. He is such a smart, strong, player. I can't wait to see him as he continues to get stronger. He's already one of our best finishers at the rim.

14 pts on 9attempts + 3 TOs = 1.17 ppp
He is Mr. QuietConsistentGood

- AUSTIN PHYFE: Phyfe was great today. He did all the dirty work and even hit a couple threes. It was great to see him contribute like that again.

And 1 PF in 22 minutes.
14 pts on 8att + 3 TOs = 1.4 ppp, which is really high.
His Box +/- was +14.2

- COLE HENRY: This kid has improved so much from last year. My goodness, the coaches and Cole deserve so much credit for how he is playing this year.

Yes, and Cole still needs to learn (today he learned some) what he can do and not do in the lane. With as good as Phyfe is playing, giving Cole 15 minutes in a game like this takes a lot of guts and it paid off - both today and in the future.

Noah and Trae played 17 and 15 minutes. Both are great players who will have their nights - pretty nice to be able to sit great players like that when they have an off night. Out of 200 minutes, 56 came from our bench.
The St.Bon bench played 8 minutes. I don't know - that seems weird.

[BCPanther]

Bonaventure rolled with 5 guys last year (6 when the big guy had fouls) and that's the plan again this year.

Really sucks that they won't be near the team they are now when they come here next year.

[UNIChippewa]

My top 5 wins: #1 Kansas round of 32, 2010, #1 UNC at home 2016, #10 Missouri round of 64,1990, #11 Iowa at home 2001, and #16 St. Bonaventure at Allegany, NY. That was the best true road win ever. So, many times the Bonnies threatened, but we were up to it. We're dancing. No one recalls the bad start, now.

It's certainly fairly subjective, but I would put winning at Colorado a couple of years ago right up there at well.

[not a drake fan]

What I don't understand is that they bring in a transfer who gave Pitt 22 minutes a game in the ACC last year but they don't let him play more than 10 minutes a game even though this team has severe depth issues. They are 357th out of 358 teams in bench minutes played.

UNI is 310th btw; Jake is pretty reliant on his starters too.

['70 Grad]

It's certainly fairly subjective, but I would put winning at Colorado a couple of years ago right up there at well.

Agreed.
I'll also put the win over UNLV (neutral court) on the list somewhere if we are making one - gets overshadowed by the Kansas game two days later, but was a great & important win. Close too!

And I was there!

['70 Grad]

I wasn't convinced that we needed Pickford to come back this year, given our depth; but he is certainly playing his age. I'll take 5 offensive rebounds and a 3 pointer to go along with his other assets any day!

[BCPanther]

Agreed.
I'll also put the win over UNLV (neutral court) on the list somewhere if we are making one - gets overshadowed by the Kansas game two days later, but was a great & important win. Close too!

And I was there!

We also don't give the Texas win in the tournament near the credit it deserves. That team was red hot coming in and had the two best defensive players in the Big 12.

[UNIChippewa]

Agreed.
I'll also put the win over UNLV (neutral court) on the list somewhere if we are making one - gets overshadowed by the Kansas game two days later, but was a great & important win. Close too!

And I was there!

Oh, absolutely. Beating Kansas doesn't happen without beating UNLV first.

And I was also there! Greatest live sporting event of my life!

[hoopfan]

I wasn't convinced that we needed Pickford to come back this year, given our depth; but he is certainly playing his age. I'll take 5 offensive rebounds and a 3 pointer to go along with his other assets any day!

Go back and watch him shut down Lofton the last 12 minutes of the game yesterday after it got tied up. I believe he scored 2 points, but was forced into several bad looks late in the shot clock. He's as good on the ball as Morgan or Brown was. When the team can get 15+ on any given night from AJ, Phyfe, Trae, Heise, Carter or Born, you don't need Pickford to worry about offense. The argument of playing 4 vs 5 doesn't hold water when Loyola has had as much success as they've had with Uguak(sp?) who is atrocious offensively. I don't think there is a lineup that will go on the floor where Pickford would be the 1st, 2nd or 3rd option on offense. He knows his role and appears to have bought in. Along with the 9 rebounds yesterday was another 3 or 4 where he tipped it out or kept it alive for someone else to get their hands on.

Was great to see AJ knock some shots down. Would have loved to see more of Phyfe despite Henry playing pretty well. Phyfe was scoring just about at will in the post. It's nice to remember how fun it can be to watch UNI basketball. Looking forward to more of these.

[kochrab]

Didn't catch this one live yesterday, but my gosh, what a fun game. It was incredibly fun watching AJ go off at the end of the 1st half. About had a heart attack when St. Bona came storming back. Such a gritty win. And... 90 points? This offense is fun to watch when it works like this. I'm starting to understand why Coach Jake has talked up this team so much. When they're healthy and clicking, we could beat just about anyone.

Also, side note, went on the St. Bona board this morning. What a nice bunch of people. They were super complimentary of UNI. I hope they have a great rest of their season.

[Panther AC]

What I don't understand is that they bring in a transfer who gave Pitt 22 minutes a game in the ACC last year but they don't let him play more than 10 minutes a game even though this team has severe depth issues. They are 357th out of 358 teams in bench minutes played.

UNI is 310th btw; Jake is pretty reliant on his starters too.

Part of that metric is that neither Henry (suspension) or Born (injury), both strongly in the rotation now, played in the first three/two games of the season.

[1994grad]

My top 5 wins: #1 Kansas round of 32, 2010, #1 UNC at home 2016, #10 Missouri round of 64,1990, #11 Iowa at home 2001, and #16 St. Bonaventure at Allegany, NY. That was the best true road win ever. So, many times the Bonnies threatened, but we were up to it. We're dancing. No one recalls the bad start, now.

I don't remember the year (2016?), but when we beat ISU when they were ranked #5 was amazing.

[CyCarp]

I don't remember the year (2016?), but when we beat ISU when they were ranked #5 was amazing.

Good call, I think that was within a couple weeks of when we beat UNC.

[not a drake fan]

Part of that metric is that neither Henry (suspension) or Born (injury), both strongly in the rotation now, played in the first three/two games of the season.

True

If I was a bonny fan I would be keeping this team at arms length emotionally. Yeah they are awesome, but it's only going to take one injury to derail that season. Especially now during covid times. The A10 is the best mid major league, but the margins for that team is razor thin.

I believe they went all year last year without any key injuries, good for them. Can they do that two years in a row? That's not super common

[mcpo117]

I really liked what I saw yesterday. I've very much turned into a cynical fan, but something definitely feels different post-Dubuque. We were turning the ball over like JV bench players against Nichols and Vermont, but we haven't seen those kinds of lazy passes or lost balls off the dribble since Vermont. I've always been kind of low on Phyfe but he made some nice moves and shots yesterday. I'm not exactly sure what's different - probably just having Born and Henry healthy, but the offense seems to work 100% better now than it did in our first two games.

Definitely had a pit in my stomach when we struggled to get the ball over halfcourt once or twice there at the end, but we got through it and closed them out. Still feels like we set ourselves up for failure with our late-game in-bounds plays.