More Thoughts on the Huskies' 89-54 Win Over Portland

Big win last night for the Dawgs. . . So long as they can follow it up with a victory Tuesday against a much tougher opponent, Texas A&M.

Here’s some more thoughts on the Huskies’ 89-54 win over Portland Saturday night:

Tonight, we saw Venoy Overton defense circa 2008/2009. Yes, he’s our better point guard right now, but I still like him off the bench. The energy he brings, preying on a slightly tired opposing backcourt, just can’t be replicated when he starts.

Pondexter looks downright Ewing-esque with his play along the baseline lately. Spotting up, fading away, turning around — he’s becoming a truly dangerous shooter from that part of the floor.

Every time Isaiah hit a three tonight, he made an okay sign and then brought it up to his eye. Not sure what that was all about.

I know it’s picky, and maybe I noticed because Portland only managed 17 points in the first half, but four of those points came when the Huskies got beat backdoor.

Venoy Overton thoroughly dominated T.J. Campbell tonight. I was surprised when I looked at the stat sheet after the game and saw that Campbell only had six turnovers. It felt like something bad happened every time T.J. touched the ball.

MBA got his goaltend again tonight! I wish they kept a goaltending stat, because I think Matthew is leading the country.

Saw a bit of frustration or resignation on Abdul Gaddy’s face tonight as he walked back to the bench after his fourth foul. He’s looking better in a lot of ways, and as coach pointed out, they do play a little more organized with Abdul out there. But, tonight was the first time it looked to me like his semi-slow start was starting to get to him.

Coach said he normally wouldn’t switch out four guys during his first substitution, but I actually liked the hockey-style line change. He brought in Overton, Suggs, Holiday, and Breshers for all of the starters except Isaiah. It’s certainly not textbook coaching, but a good way, I think, to throw the other team a complete change-up.

I loved the Turner/Suggs combo tonight. They combined for 20 points and both looked very strong on the defensive end.

It didn’t show up in the stat sheet tonight, but I think defending bigger players is going to be a problem for the Huskies all season long. Despite the shotblocking/goaltending ability, MBA isn’t a great man-to-man defender. Darnell Gant excels mostly when he has a size advantage. And Tyreese Breshers still picks up too many ticky-tack fouls.

We saw Breshers’ up-and-under move a couple of times tonight and it looked great. He seems like he’s a big game away from putting it all together, and even looked a little more explosive when he jumped tonight than earlier in the season.

Thanks for coming!