Literally. This game was a struggle and you could see it on the players’ faces as well as in the box score.
Like we had seen for more than a few games over the Mick Cronin era, and thought was behind us with this year’s roster, his players seemed to hesitate and second guess themselves with the ball in their hands. It was as if the fate of the planet was on the line with every shot, in the minds of the players.
Not this season, though. Not with prolific shooters, almost excessively so, such as Farad Cobb and Kevin Johnson as well as a front court loaded with Octavius Ellis and Gary Clark to clean up misses and boost the point total regardless of the perimeter shooting.