I was. First of all..the officiating was absolutely atrocious...especially on us. MSU went to the line 22 times in the first half, converting 20. Every foul call on us was a shooting foul. Coupled with two technicals (and they made all four of those), their FT were the only thing that kept them in the game.
Twice we had two 10 point leads in the second half only to be whittled away as at one point, MSU grabbed the lead briefly. I'll say this, Vinnie McGhee is a stud. Not only is he a decent point guard, he can score..something DaShawn had some troubles with early in his career...and McGhee is doing it now.
Justin Eller has no business being on a Div. I basketball court. He is simply awful. He doesn't hustle when there is a loose ball, he doesn't know how to really pass to his teammates. The tech on Aboubakar was a joke...they said he was taunting with his mouth after a block shot; the "t" on Thomas was warrented because he did hold onto the rim about a second too late.
MSU was awful shooting the ball in the first half as they only made 25%...their FT kept them in the game. Justin Williams had an ok game and really redeemed himself hitting the game winning shot.
We rebounded the ball well and we did not commit many turnovers. I tell you, the scheduling leading to this game I think really hurt the team's chemistry. We should have never played 37 days away from home...and we should have never scheduled four top-25 teams. That said, now with a little confidence, who knows.
It was ugly, but we will take it. Anything can happen in this wacky conference as it has shown the past five years.
