2nd half was very encouraging. Loved the D
Gutsy win, I love this team!
Other than defensive rebounding (which felt a little fluky - seemed like every odd bounce went to Creighton) - there was a lot to like tonight. Simpson certainly was a lot more comfortable and when he’s on his game, it’s usually a good night. Really encouraged. And this is without Franz!
Love the stuff that Howard is drawing up. The team looks really dynamic on offense.
Agreed, glad a few others noticed that as well. It was bad but crazy unlucky bounces magnified it.
This win hopefully shows the team has a solid floor. And Juwan is clearly no Penny Hardaway from a coaching standpoint. Which is a compliment
How long do they keep having Nunez start?
Until Wagner is healthy
Really like the progress of DDJ and Brooks. Hoping to see Johns pick it up
There were some weird long rebounds and bounces, but I wonder how much of that could be related to positioning. Teske chasing more blocks, other players in different positions, etc. A lot of grabbing long rebounds is being in the right spot at the right now. It isn’t that guys don’t want to rebound, but maybe they are doing something earlier in the play to take them out of position.
I was really struck by how tough some of the attempts Livers was taking (and making)
It seems like they want him eating all he can from three
Great piece, Dylan. I agree with everything you said, and I thought your Player Bullets were spot on and very fair. I love your ability to critique without criticizing.
I thought hot shooting covered up a lot of really wild shots in first half. 2nd half much improved, obviously. Much more discretion on offense— although even then 3 years suggests X will not finish like that against a Big 10-sized team.
Still a very good win. Worries about Nunez are clearly legit but the kid is still incredibly tight out there, I’m sure. Even if he is just a tolerable defender (more fouls please!), his stroke is so pure it will have gravity. I am not saying he will beat out Wagner. But I am less convinced about Livers playing 25-30 min at 3 than I was before. Eli>Johns seems pretty clear already.
A lot of this. Both he and Colin were going after everything and were out of position or just plan shoved under on a lot of defensive rebound opportunities. Defensive hero ball.
To Nunez, certainly he has shown some weaknesses defensively, but he is getting lots of opportunities, under fire, to learn and to grow and to improve, and it’s happening on the stage. As a coach (formerly) I really believe that what happens in practice is incredibly important, but there is really no more effective way to learn how to play on the big stage than to actually play on that stage. Weaknesses are exposed to a greater extent there. There is no place to hide. You learn, and you grow, and you improve, or you don’t get to play much on the stage anymore. I hope Adrian Nunez is embracing these opportunities he is getting now. And I hope we, the fans, will support him as he seeks the growth and improvement we, as well as his coaches, his teammates, and he, himself, would like to see. Embrace this opportunity, young man!
Juwan discussed this in the post game presser. I think we’ll see improvement. 
call me crazy, as far as “there are no must-win games in November,” i think Kentucky-Evansville in Lexington qualified as a “must-win” for Kentucky, at the very least from a “oh please don’t get pantsed in public” perspective
I would say Kentucky is kind of a great example why there aren’t must win games in November. They are going to be fine and play two dozen quality games over the next four months and will win plenty of them. They already have a win over MSU on a neutral, which will be as good as any win in the country.
Will be in play for a 1-seed if they play well and this Evansville game will just be a footnote.
I was at this game. The first half was uninspiring for sure. Other that the odd choice of Nunez as a starter, I was really bothered by Z’s play in the first half. In particular, those long bullet passes that Z was making are a real bad idea. JB would never allow that.
2nd half, totally different story. Z stopped with the long passes and played a great half. Teams energy was great. Very encouraging all around.