A 3-pt game at halftime was turned into a second half rout, even with Daniels
and Thomas in foul trouble. According to Scott Howard, this was UGA's largest
margin of victory over
LSU since 1966.
JH can't recall winning an SEC game by this margin. The early games that
were played without Thomas helped today, as guys were plugged in and we kept
on going. We shot the ball very well in the second half and the defense was
outstanding. We have a great ability to score when Ezra and Jarvis Hayes are
both in synch.
A caller well into the show was concerned about what would happen if Ezra ever
lost his confidence .. JH said not to worry - Ezra never met a shot he didn't
like.
JH also thinks it was nice to play these two big games at home. You should win
your home games. It is an upset if you win on the road.
The tough road games are paying off now. We were exposed by playing tough road
games in December and had to work on some things. This was LSU's first big
road game. They have to go back and work on stuff now. JH is a firm believer
that you have to take your team on the road early in the season to learn what
you have. Lots of guys just want to get 20 wins by whatever means. JH even took
his Pepperdine teams on the road.
Jeremy from Memphis gets a DH sweep today (called in to football and hoops
shows). JH said he liked our rebounding today, as well as in the Pitt game.
We tried too hard today in man-to-man defense, but the zone worked very well
and we shut LSU down in the second half.
To another caller who asked about our defense, JH talked about using a 2-3 zone
on out of bounds plays just to see how opponents react to it.
In reply to a call, JH also thinks the HS phenom is not as good as Jarvis yet.
Jarvis has not yet made up his mind on the NBA. We will try to get Wayne Arnold
more playing time.
Tamara from Sugar Hall asked whether Gibson and Q. Moses will be joining the
team. JH had told Moses he was welcome to come out. In fact, JH has a uniform
ready for him. But football is a grueling sport for young people. Those guys
are home right now, and school starts Thursday. Gibson will make his decision
Tuesday.
DA Layne is in town (has been at last few games) and has gone into business
with his stepfather, probably in Marietta.
Next two games are on the road - Saturday at
Florida.
JH refused to answer a question regarding poor officiating. Uusually officials
don't win or lose a game. There are so many calls in a game. Lots of fouls
were called in the first half & JH wants to review the tape. The refs weren't
noticeable in the second half. Coaches do have means to grade officials. JH
can't recall calling John Guthrie (supervisor of officials) about
anything in four years here. One thing to remember - you're not going to
win.
When you play these big intersectional games, we've had great officiating.
JH finally relented and said today's game was not a stongly handled game.
Sometimes you put a good lead official with a guy with some experience and someone
just learning.
The officiating topic persisted. A later caller asked JH more about refs. The
really good ones have an answer for everything. JH thought there was goaltending
today, and the official came over and said he didn't see it. After the LSU
coach got a T, JH didn't say a word the rest of the game.
Al from Knoxville also gets the DH sweep .. he wanted to make sure JH got a
good contract just like CMR got recently.
George from Memphis called in with a quick report on the Memphis game vs. Villanova.
(Calipari got a key OOC win today; that was the other CBS game.) JH
told him we're not sure how we'll defend Florida, but JH will be watching
tape this week to come up with a plan.
Florida is led in scoring right now by two freshmen. Be sure and watch their
game at Miss. State on Tuesday. We've got a nice bunch of teams in the league
this year. Florida is currently the highest-ranked SEC team at #7 in the polls.
JH thinks 11-5 will win the East this year (compared to a 3-way tie at 10-6
last year). By comparison, the Pac 10 could have several high-ranked teams
because there are a few weak teams in that league.
Damien Wilkins is a wonderful guy to be around. He's feeling his way for
how JH likes the game played. Part of it may be JH's fault since he's
plugging him in where and whenever needed. DW wants to be impressive and do
well. Once he relaxes, he'll start really doing well. His strength is passing
the ball and getting everyone else into the game.
Scott from Lilburn changed the subject completely … what about moving the Tech
game back to a neutral site, such as Phillips. He's still eaten up by losing
to them, since he's convinced we're a better team. JH thinks education
is for kids, so he likes having the game on campus. Our students wouldn't
get to participate at Phillips. JH thinks playing once on a home & home
basis, and once in Phillips each season, would be great. And if he were calling
the shots at Tech, he'd play the game at Phillips since he thinks it should
draw 20,000. We sold out the LSU & Pitt games mostly because of students.
A UK fan called and wants to know how JH might play them this year. JH did watch
some of their
Louisville game.. thought UK was magnificent the first half, but
had little energy in the second half. We were fortunate to beat UK twice last
year... got some bounces of the ball. JH likes playing in Rupp, one of the true
Meccas of college hoops.
Comments