A new article has been posted on www.latechsports.com:
Louisiana Tech opened up Conference USA play in impressive fashion, defeating Marshall by a final score of 79-56 inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.
More...
Discuss it here.
Anyway, Marshall doesn't play good defense at all. Cobe Williams completely dominated the game on both ends. Hunter got some good minutes. Willis finally hit some wide open 3's. His drive and pull up was good too. AA was solid. Our entire defense played with good energy most of the night. Cobe Williams took the game over. Absolute bullshit Technical foul on Lofton.
Have you considered those Dogs?
Bullshit call on the personal foul too.
College hoops is a guards' game. That was shown again tonight.
We shot only 28% from the arc and 60% from the FT line, and still won by 20+ points. Our guards took good care of the ball, minimal turnovers. Collectively our guards had 3 turnovers total. Junior had 3 by himself and Hunter had one. I think Lofton should sit more often...
ESPN launched on September 7, 1979. ESPN broadcast the Tech/Arkansas State game played on January 21, 1980. According the the "Lagniappe 1980" - "... on January 21 the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network televised the Southland conference game between Louisiana Tech and Arkansas State. The television cameras brought out a large crowd, but unfortunately the fans were disappointed. The Bulldogs were unable to overcome the team from Arkansas..."
I can't read lips, but it didn't look like Konkol was telling Junior to keep launching 3-point shots when he was pulled during the second half. Konkol definitely said something to Junior when he came out, and I don't think it was something Junior necessarily wanted to hear. Does anyone know what Konkol said to him?
I have not spent any time around Konkol, but my impression of him is he is not one to chew people out just to be chewing people out, but he will speak forcefully when he feels it is necessary to get his point across.
Ruston had ESPN on cable. We watched the replay of the game at 4am, looking for ourselves. Back then ESPN had bullfighting until the whiney-asses complained it was too brutal. And they had segments on movie reviews and other popular programming, emphasizing their original intent of being the ENTERTAINMENT and Sports Programming Network.
Memorial was packed. Students were sitting on the floor...guess the fire marshal either didn't know or didn't care.
The way in which they collapsed on Jr left guys wide open and he's getting better at finding them. That said, Hunter rebounded with authority last night. That's something I've been wanting to see more from him. Jr was fine. He took a couple of 3's but they were open and I think he'll eventually hit more of them. We need to find ways to win when teams focus on Jr like that, and I liked to see our guards driving the ball.
Have you considered those Dogs?
My trailer park was out of town a ways. I don't think we had cable.
BTW, we drove down to Natchitoches Wednesday. Had lunch at Fontenot's (not bad), dinner at Maglieauxs (pretty good, but short staffed). We got a great rate on a suite at Chateau St Denis. It was very nice! Had a great time for a quick trip and beat the crowd. Still a beautiful town! Only downside is that you guys have picked up some street trash like they have in New Orleans. Police should be a little more present than they are.
It will definitely "need be." If Williams had enjoyed a good shooting game vs. LSU we would have won that game.
Williams and Archibald have developed into a very, very good guard duo. And if Willis can get, and stay, consistent hitting 3's, we will have a dynamite backcourt. Best in CUSA for sure.
Lofton has to let the game come to him. I thought he had a good attitude last night, that is until he started getting cute trying to play guard, launching 3's and throwing the ball away. Prior to that...yeah, he was rightfully pissed off at the bogus calls in the first 3 minutes...he was an all-in team player. Lofton is very, very, very (need more "very"s) good! He just has to keep his head and play his game.
Saw the same thing when Karl Malone first started. Early in the 1982 season, prior to conference play, Malone thought he was "all of that" and he was unstoppable, invincible and he had to carry the whole team. The best example was our home game vs. Texas-Pan Am. Malone fouled out early in the 2nd half with 4 of his 5 fouls being offensive charges. He scored less than 10 pts...and the Dawgs won by 25 anyway since that was a very talented and deep team. When Malone got coached-up by Andy Russo and Tommy Joe Eagles and started letting the game come to him, and his passing...Wow! he had a bunch of assists, his game elevated.
Lofton is smart. He plays older than his 19 years and I think he knows this stuff already. BTW, Archibald should have just laid it up and not spoiled Junior's perfect outlet pass.