Good battle for most of the way. We were up 22-19 in the second half (with 8:00 left) before the Tar Heels outscored us 11-0 to finish the game. We were shorthanded underneath, missing all our bigs except for Kali‘a and Kyle (ankle). But our defenders did a solid job of challenging their 3-point shooters on almost every attempt.
Tar Heels are always prepared, well coached. We've had their number the last few times, but they clearly did a better job tonight down the stretch. I scanned through some of the second-half video and that was a horrible timeout I called at the 8:00 mark as Jared fed Kali‘a the ball in the low post. Players win games and coaches lose games. That was true tonight.
It's been more than a week since our last game, the tournament in Anaheim, and for some of our guys, the rust showed. With so many of our guys busy with other things, we have to be prepared to line up with this group for every game. We'll be small, but quick. Aggressive and opportunistic. There will be times when we'll sit back in a 2-3 zone and let the shot clock (PAA and CAL leagues) work for us. But there will be other times when we have to get out and challenge good-shooting teams like the Tar Heels.
When we're missing several key players, especially our bigs (Tanielu, Chris, Kalai), there are opportunities for other guys to step up. We got some nice plays from Javan and Ryan. As a whole, we played pretty well, but fatigue was a factor. We're not practicing every day, so it's important for guys to take initiative and get their conditioning. Jog for 30 minutes. Run sprints. All the workouts on those days are up to you, and with winter season around the corner — playing for school teams for some of us — it's definitely worth the effort.
The one thing that will definitely be different in our next game: I'll have to go deep and use our entire bench all game long. We just aren't in good enough shape right now to rely on our best guys for heavy minutes. If that means we have an all-guard lineup on the floor at times — we did it in the first half tonight for a few minutes and did pretty good — then so be it.
For now, we have Saturday off, then Sunday 11:00 am practice, followed by the 13U team party at Dave & Buster's 3:00 pm that afternoon. Next game for 13U is Monday night, 6:45 pm at Kaimuki Park gym against Sharks Black.
WE LUB THIS GAME.
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