Maybe having Tate coming in off the bench took some pressure off him. I always thought his shooting woes were mainly psychological.
Whatever the reason, maybe Porter found the solution using Tate as the sixth man.

This IS a good TEAM especially on DEFENSE KEEP it going RAMBLERS !!!!

What a game from Tate. Looked like last year. That was great to see. You have to give Porter credit for shaking things up. Clemons earned the start, and he played great, too.

Imagine if we were hitting threes... we have been in a huge slump since the calendar turned.

Love that we are winning games without shooting the lights out.

For tomorrow, I hope to see better rebounding and mpre from Krut.

_________________
MBB Scholarship Chart

Unbelievable defense in the second half. Made them work hard for every shot - and very quick hands slapped a lot of balls away. Kudos to Porter for making a starting line up change - I think Keith had his best game of the year....and Tate had his best game of the year (including making 6 straight free throws if I am not mistaken).

Also glad Porter kept Marquise on the floor as much as he did. He missed some shots he normally makes - but he was everywhere. He is the most instinctive rebounder on our team and kept a lot of possessions alive. He seemingly ignores Porter's strategy to get back on defense when a shot goes up. And thank goodness he does.

Now - if we can just start shooting the 3 better in the first half of games.

He hasn’t been getting crap, as much as he’s been criticized for not playing up to his potential, which was warranted. He scored 10 points combined in 54 minutes of a action against ISUb as a starter and 24 points off the bench tonight, alone. I’m thrilled he had a great night and had the type of game we all know he’s capable of! If that’s what he will do off the bench every night, I say keep him there! After all, starting is for high school!

40 points came off the bench tonight. We are not going to lose any “Game 2’s.” We are the deepest team in the league.

I know Krut struggled, but him only getting up 10 shots tonight is disappointing. Some of those shots were jumpers and hook shots. We need to challenge Phyfe next game and make him to defend Krutwig. Draw fouls and wear that dude out.

Overall - happy with this game. It’s nice to be able to win even when we don’t shoot well.

Did anyone notice Uguak didn’t play second half? Did I miss him getting in for a bit? Injury?

I'm really pleased with Porter for switching up the lineup. Taking the pressure off of Hall worked wonders, and Clemons looked good tonight. He has been pretty quiet this whole year, which makes some sense with the limited minutes. But he played like he did last year, and that was nice to see. Also, Porter didn't keep Uguak in for 30+ minutes. That frustrated me in past games when he wasn't playing notably well. Welch had some good minutes, and Cooper had some bad ones. I wonder if and when we'll see Damezi play more minutes. He seems pretty athletic to me. We don't see what Porter sees in practice, but I think he can be a difference maker off of the bench.

But on the other hand, our first half performance was pretty bad. Had AJ Green played, I'm not sure we would have won this game. As many have said, we will have an advantage over any team for the second game in each series, but I'm worried about the Drake games.

3 to 1 assist vs turnover ratio for the game...plus 11 steals. Ramblers won’t lose many with those results. NO Iowa with 18 turnovers and I think 11 assists. Very rare to see a college game with only 5 turnovers, maybe it was the matchup, maybe the juggling of the lineup, but it was great to see.

The big takeaway for me was that it was the bench unit that got things going in the second half. Awesome to see. I thought Clemons had a great game. He's an underrated part of our success and it was good to see him go.