A great win over Maryland 81-71 at home

Just a nice win and a nice 2nd half of play after an up-and-down 1st half. Like many out-of-towners, I had to listen to on the internet. Some comments

1. This game was really about 2 players - Will Bynum and Luke Schenscher!!!! They absolutely dominated the game in the 2nd half. In the after-game interview Hewitt vigorously applauded their efforts and said "those two guys carried us in the 2nd half". "I have been telling the people up in NY what we are trying to do and that Will hasn't shown his true colors. But you saw tonight why we are so excited to have the little guy on our squad".

2. The crowd sounded FANTASTIC!!!!!! After the game Hewitt said "This is the loudest I have heard AMC in my 4 years. They were great!!". I love it!! Way to go fans.

3. Offense - GT shot 42% from the field and 43% from 3-point range. A nice outing offensively. However, the points came from a different mix of players, as I will discuss below

4. Defense - very nice, particularly in the 2nd half. Maryland shoots 36% and only 25% from 3pt range. GT forces 19 turnovers. Other than a weak stretch or two in the 1st half, a nice effort. Again, the game plan of wearing out the opponents seems to work as Maryland didn't have a lot left in their tanks.

5. Ted Valentine - I thought we were going to have a replay of the UGAg game for awhile. The crowd was really upset with Teddy for awhile and Hewitt even got T'eed up once. But things settled down and there didn't seem to be too many issues after that.

Individual performances

1. Will Bynum - EN FUEGO!!!!! Scores 25 points in 19 minutes. Goes 8-14 and 5-7 from 3pt range. Makes all 4 free throws and also gets 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and only one turnover. He was the man tonight and we saw what he is capable of (or at least heard for some of us). At one point he hit a 3 point shot that evidently gave "rainbow" a new meaning. Wes Durham said "that looked like a lob wedge. Remember the movie MoonRaker? That's what that shot was". We are seeing Bynum play more and more WITH J.Jack and it seems the combo works. A lot of energy and excitement from this young man.

2. LOOOOOOOOOKKKKKEEE !!! The Aussie CONTROLS the paint. Double-double baby!!! We are talking 15 points (7-10) and 10 boards (5 offensive). Throw in 3 blocks and 2 steals and Luke has his game of the year. Hewitt really had high praises for him in the post-game interview calling out all those who continue to dog him. But Luke showed everyone tonight that PH is right. Way to go mate!!!!

3. J.Jack - a subpar first half, but picks things up the rest of the game. Ends with 17 points (5-9), 5 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal and 5 to's. Not Jack standards but a nice outing none-the-less.

4. C-Moore - Only scores 3 points on a long-distance shot, but grabs 11 boards (3 offensive), has 1 block, 1 assist, 2 steals and 4 to's. Another "glue" performance, doing the dirty work. Nice outing.

5. Isma'il - off-night shooting. Ends with 9 (1-7), 7-11 from the line, 9 boards (3 offensive), 1 block, 1 steal, 1 to. He got hacked a lot tonight, but MADE his free-throws better than recent games. Hopefully that will give him some confidence. A good effort tonight.

6. BJ Elder - another subpar performance. Ends with 7 points (3-13), 1-4 from 3pt, no rebounds, no blocks, 2 assists, no steals and 5 to's. I wonder what is going on with BJ. If there is something physical going on, I hope team doctors can find it. If it is a confidence thing, he is the type guy who can work through it.

7. The "rest". Lewis ends with only 5 points (2-6), McHenry/Brooks/Tarver combine for only 15 minutes, no points, only 1 shot, no rebounds, 2 blocks. McHenry just keeps losing minutes, but interestingly it is NOT because Tarver is getting them. Tarver only played 6 minutes tonight. So where did the minutes go? Jack, Luke and BJ all played over 30 minutes. In fact Luke played EVERY minute in the 2nd half. His outstanding play just didn't let the other guys get their chances.

Lastly my hats off to Gilchrist. That kid can play, as he proved tonight as well as their win versus UNC.

College hoops is getting interesting. We take down #1 UConn earlier in the year, then get beat by UNC. UNC takes down UConn again today giving them their 2nd loss of the season. The message - respect the ACC. Maryland takes down that same UNC team earlier in the week, the same MD team we just took down. The ACC is brutal!!!!

Everyone said GT was overrated when we lost in double OT to UGAg (with Teddy V's help). The same UGAg team that lost to Winthrop by 20 and also lost by 24 to Tenn and 21 to South Carolina. However, today that same UGAg team takes down #5 Kentucky AT Rupp Arena!!!! Another impressive win. As much as I hate to see Dawgs win, this works in our favor. If the Dawgs can just get up for the average opponents they might get somewhere.