This is a frustrating game ECU could have easily won. I'm not sure what J. Small did to get benched, but that contributed to the loss IMO. He struggled shooting the ball, but he's still found other ways to help, and last night he had 8 assist and 7 rebounds. LaCount did less than that in his extra minutes and hasn't performed well all year.
You always want your best player out there because how many times has a player shot poorly all game and caught fired the last 5 minutes. Give them the chances at least, and Small didn't have the chance in this game only playing 31 minutes (with no in game rest) instead of his normal 36 or 37 minutes. If it wasn't bad enough to be suspended the entire game or get kicked off the team what are we doing here. Most other teams aren't benching their star player. They figure it out a way to punish without punishing the team. I'm sure some of them are late or whatever disciplinary thing this was too.
B.Johnson had another great game. He's probably most of the reason why ECU was even close. He only played 29 minutes had 16 points on 5-5 shooting and went home with a foul. I think you got to squeeze more minutes out of a player making everything. He can't go home with a foul and likely could have gotten another 3 or 4 minutes instead of Ludgy which helps in a 3 point game.
Johnson picked up that 4th foul at 4:39 to go and was taken out immediately with ECU down 8 points. It's beyond go time at that point. The odds say you are highly unlikely to even win down 8 with less than 5 minutes to go. In the NBA that's like a less than 20% chance of winning probability it appears. They also have more possessions with a shorter shot clock.
Small and Johnson need to be on the court every minute they can. These things sound minor but in a 2 or 3 point game it's the kind of things that can cost a team the game.
The rest of the rotations and play were about as expected. I know at least 2 plays Tabbs was taken advantage on defense for easy baskets. I don't mind giving Tabbs chances, you probably need the upside of him getting hot for some of these games coming up, but Walker should be starting over him to optimize his rest periods. The free throw shooting is another highly disappointing area. ECU is now 287th in percentage. For as good as Ausar is he really hurts the team at the line. It's getting to the point teams should consider hack-a-ezra. Overall there were things you like ECU did, but it felt like Temple and another blown opportunity.
