Aggie Hoops Instant Reaction: No More Kool Aid

1. Flashes of a good zone offense

About halfway through the second half the Aggies had three straight possessions of picture perfect zone offense. Spacing around the perimeter was perfect. Ball movement was perfect. Moving without the ball was perfect. It led to 6 straight points from free throws and two easy layups from Kourtney Roberson. If the Aggies can develop a consistency at breaking down a zone like that, they can force teams to play man against them. Of course, that would require us to have some consistency.

2. Too much derp on the road

You can't go on the road in conference play and have as many lapses in performance as the Aggies did today. They were up 10 with 10 minutes to play and almost gave all of that up in just under three minutes. The derp was strong down the stretch with a terrible play call out of a timeout with just over 20 seconds remaining. The Ags take the clock down to 10 seconds and then feed a Guard coming off a cross screen just to look for another pass? I give that play three nopes. I'm not going to talk about the turnovers in the backcourt because I'm running low on whiskey and don't feel like putting on pants to go to the liquor store. Factor in all of the missed free throws and wide open jumpers, yeah, that's making it tougher on yourself.

3. Bouncy ball gonna bounce

Jamal Jones and Davonte Fitzgerald have pulled away from everyone else as the scorers on the team. Jones had 24, Fitzgerald had 20, Caruso had 12, and everyone else only had 16 combined. Jones and Fitzgerald are getting better and more confident every week. The question that has to be asked is how is this loss going to impact their confidence. I'd be a little more worried about Jones due to the ejection at the end of the game. He played a heck of a game and let his emotions get the best of him at the end. You aren't going to get every call on the road in conference play, and you definitely aren't going to get every lucky bounce of the round ball (stupid lob pass three pointer). With Roberson and Caruso fouled out, the writing was on the wall in overtime.

The Good Bull Game Ball

I've got to go with Davonte Fitzgerald for today's game ball. 7 of 15 shooting for 20 points and you can see the confidence in him grow with each made bucket. The reason I'd be more concerned with Jones' confidence is because Fitzgerald played with fire today and came out on top. He set career highs in points and both field goals attempted and made. The reigns on Fitzgerald should start coming off a little more, and we're going to need it.