MBB 7:30 pm Wednesday: Aggies (1-0) @ Pacific (0-1) The curious thing about this game is that you would think that the Ags were playing well when they got up by 17 at the midway point of the second half. But, it was more because Pacific was ice cold and they were turning the ball over about as much as the Ags were. Aggie passes were sailing into the stands, guys were dribbling off their feet and dribbling into double and triple teams and getting tied up. It was ugly for both teams.
We have to have more offensive balance or we will not have a good season. Chima and Siler can not carry this team offensively all season long. Mooney has shown that he can shoot but our offensive schemes are not creating many open looks from the perimeter and it doesn't appear that we have shooters who can confidently create open looks off the dribble by themselves. So our offense is going to have to create openings for the shooters off high screens and kicking the ball out off dribble penetration. TJ Shorts had a nice game at UNC and I think we'll continue to see him get better as the season progresses.
As you said, we seem to be very thin when comes to help from the bench. It appears that AJ John is going to be the first big off the bench so I hope he'll continue to improve with playing time and Mooney is capable of being a big scorer when he's feeling it. After that though, the few other bench players we've seen have not looked comfortable at all on the floor. It's early but that's a big area of concern right now.
Everyone knows that Les preaches defense first and foremost and I think he recruits for players that he feels have a very high work ethic on defense. We haven't seen him bring in much elite offensive firepower outside of the Hawkins' era group with the exceptions being Chima, Siler and Brynton Lemar for the most part. He produced a winner with last year with that philosophy so what do I know!