The missed free throw by Riley, the one by Jeff and the foul by Toye unfairly erased gutsy, impressive, and resilient performances by those three guys and dumped lots of heavy, harsh scrutiny upon their heads. Tons of great, very little bad. Life certainly isn't fair. If any of those three things had gone an inch or so differently, we'd be praising all three for gutting out a mammoth win against all odds and doing so with very little confidence equity in their banks during this brutal season.
Toye was super until that last infamous blunder. His three from the left wing was the shot of the game. To put all of it together in such a frenzied environment was impressive. It was especially surprising and welcomed in light of how epically he has struggled all year long. He has been fair game for heavy criticism. It's almost sickeningly poetic that he can't even enjoy one great night.
Jeff was simply stellar...again. Such an efficient 23 points. Battled guys 4 and 5 inches taller...again. Played 43 minutes, the last 13 or so with four fouls. Only missed one FT. And it was arguably a good one to miss at that...had the ball not bounced all around the gym to wind up in the perfect spot for that fateful contact. He was a warrior and has been in each and every game!
And Riley will simply never make enough tough plays in crunch time to overcome any misses from this point on. He took the whole bunch of McDonalds All Americans to the rack for a crucial left handed layup just before that effing free throw. Huge winning play!!! He has done that scores of times in the past two seasons without anyone apparently noticing. It's like people have been blind to it. Did it against SEC competition time and again last season leading to crucial wins in that huge run. Did it to Northwestern for what should have won that game for us. He's hit lots of late free throws to help ice games, too. Late threes, too. In fact there are only two games in his career that I can recall where he missed crucial ones in the last minute or so. Both against UK. Both will be etched in stone by some as defining not only his career, but his character. Puke!!! He's a warrior. He took four good charge attempts and got the block call four times. Had four fouls for the last 23 minutes of that game. He's efficient with the ball so folks want more shots. He takes some more contested shots and misses some, so some say he can't get it done against good comp. I think it's OK to dog a lazy player. I could even understand criticizing one who continually makes late, losing plays. Riley is neither of those. FAR from it!!!
Toye was super until that last infamous blunder. His three from the left wing was the shot of the game. To put all of it together in such a frenzied environment was impressive. It was especially surprising and welcomed in light of how epically he has struggled all year long. He has been fair game for heavy criticism. It's almost sickeningly poetic that he can't even enjoy one great night.
Jeff was simply stellar...again. Such an efficient 23 points. Battled guys 4 and 5 inches taller...again. Played 43 minutes, the last 13 or so with four fouls. Only missed one FT. And it was arguably a good one to miss at that...had the ball not bounced all around the gym to wind up in the perfect spot for that fateful contact. He was a warrior and has been in each and every game!
And Riley will simply never make enough tough plays in crunch time to overcome any misses from this point on. He took the whole bunch of McDonalds All Americans to the rack for a crucial left handed layup just before that effing free throw. Huge winning play!!! He has done that scores of times in the past two seasons without anyone apparently noticing. It's like people have been blind to it. Did it against SEC competition time and again last season leading to crucial wins in that huge run. Did it to Northwestern for what should have won that game for us. He's hit lots of late free throws to help ice games, too. Late threes, too. In fact there are only two games in his career that I can recall where he missed crucial ones in the last minute or so. Both against UK. Both will be etched in stone by some as defining not only his career, but his character. Puke!!! He's a warrior. He took four good charge attempts and got the block call four times. Had four fouls for the last 23 minutes of that game. He's efficient with the ball so folks want more shots. He takes some more contested shots and misses some, so some say he can't get it done against good comp. I think it's OK to dog a lazy player. I could even understand criticizing one who continually makes late, losing plays. Riley is neither of those. FAR from it!!!
