That was just a joy of a game to watch. Both teams took care of the ball, only 18 free throws between the two teams, nobody in foul trouble, back and forth, pretty good shooting, toughness by our guys in particular – it really was a well played ballgame by two teams whose arrows are pointing up.
Otchere was terrific. Ten big boards and four blocks, none bigger than the one on Anderson with 45 ticks left. And then I thought the coaching staff drew up a beautiful play out of the timeout – screen the guard on top of the zone, Cornish penetrates, the big man comes forward, and he dumps it to Garcia for the layup. That's just great basketball. Back to Otchere: boy, if he can play like he did today, we are one heck of a well-rounded team. It almost looked like he was ceding ground to Carter knowing that he wasn't going to score over him.
Re: Cornish, just a gigantic second half for him. He was almost invisible in the first, but he made some big buckets for us after the break. His assist/turnover ratio was almost even a year ago, but he's close to 2:1 now. He's made huge strides as a floor general.
You can't say enough positive things about Latimer's development. It used to be that when Yeboah left the game we'd just bide time until he returned. But we're getting scoring from everywhere, and it feels like every time Latimer lets one go, you assume it's going in. We had a little of that with Woodhouse his senior year, but Latimer's a different animal. That three to put us up 70-68 was enormous. His free throws at the end, with the 5.5 or 6 point spread, had the attention of whoever wagered on the game.
Another nice day for Olaniyi. He looks 100 percent. You just love the energy that the whole team's playing with. There were three or four instances in which we leapt from the court to retrieve a loose ball and fired it off a UD player to keep possession. Could've been the difference in the game really.
With 25 more today, that's four straight games that Yeboah's gone over 20, which matches a career best. He's now 22 behind Mike Popoko and Anthony Jackson for seventh in points in the Division I era. Pretty good chance he gets there Wednesday with Hofstra in town. It's the last home game of our non-conference schedule.
Delaware's a nice team. They should do well in the CAA. Love the balance now that Allen's back, and it feels like Carter's good for a double-double every night. They'll miss him next year, but Inglesby has a good nucleus returning.