I think Orange44 summed it up best. Losing to #19 Notre Dame isn't so bad, its how we lost that leaves us feeling so gross. Between giving up 61 first-half points, gobs of three-pointers, Eric Devendorf's donut, giving up 103 in the Dome...this season is falling apart faster than Barbaro's leg (what?...too soon?).
The Orange lost their third straight Big East game, 103-91 in a match-up that wasn't even that close. Things got so bad that Coach Boeheim just started randomly throwing out the inverted shocker to anyone who annoyed him (see left). Demetris Nichols led the way with 29 points and Terrence Roberts added 20 while Eric Devendorf provided the aforementioned goose-egg (0-11 from the field, 0-6 from beyond the arc). The Irish had a balanced attack with five players scoring at least 14 points. It's the first time the Orange have given up 100 points at home since 1996 (West Virginia for those keeping track).
What seems to be troubling offensively for the Orange (and I have no statistical evidence to back this up...calling OrangeHoops...) is that they are so reliant on Roberts, Nichols and Devendorf to all have good games that when even one of them if off, there's no one else to pick them up. The depth we were hoping to get from Josh Wright and Paul Harris offensively just hasn't materialized and it has left this team with no margin for error, which is a death knell in Big East play.
But it was the defense that was exposed in this game, if not already. The Orange are usually beaten in the 2-3 zone by any team that can shoot lights out from three-point land but this was ridiculous. The Orange switched to man-to-man to compensate and STILL got torched. Cutting down turnovers and the ability to convert rebounds into second-chance points are crucial and we haven't seen proof all year that this team is capable of either.
The team is now 15-7 (4-4) and without even one signature win or any opportunity to get one for the rest of the regular season. Cuse Country has started the call for Big East Tourney Three-Peat and honestly, that's probably our only shot at making the NCAAs. Assuming that at best, this team goes .500 the rest of the way that'll leave us at 19-11 and that kinda record's got NIT written all over it.
The Orange lost their third straight Big East game, 103-91 in a match-up that wasn't even that close. Things got so bad that Coach Boeheim just started randomly throwing out the inverted shocker to anyone who annoyed him (see left). Demetris Nichols led the way with 29 points and Terrence Roberts added 20 while Eric Devendorf provided the aforementioned goose-egg (0-11 from the field, 0-6 from beyond the arc). The Irish had a balanced attack with five players scoring at least 14 points. It's the first time the Orange have given up 100 points at home since 1996 (West Virginia for those keeping track). What seems to be troubling offensively for the Orange (and I have no statistical evidence to back this up...calling OrangeHoops...) is that they are so reliant on Roberts, Nichols and Devendorf to all have good games that when even one of them if off, there's no one else to pick them up. The depth we were hoping to get from Josh Wright and Paul Harris offensively just hasn't materialized and it has left this team with no margin for error, which is a death knell in Big East play.
But it was the defense that was exposed in this game, if not already. The Orange are usually beaten in the 2-3 zone by any team that can shoot lights out from three-point land but this was ridiculous. The Orange switched to man-to-man to compensate and STILL got torched. Cutting down turnovers and the ability to convert rebounds into second-chance points are crucial and we haven't seen proof all year that this team is capable of either.
The team is now 15-7 (4-4) and without even one signature win or any opportunity to get one for the rest of the regular season. Cuse Country has started the call for Big East Tourney Three-Peat and honestly, that's probably our only shot at making the NCAAs. Assuming that at best, this team goes .500 the rest of the way that'll leave us at 19-11 and that kinda record's got NIT written all over it.