CCSU vs. UMASS wrap

Wow, was I wrong. I went up to UMass because I actually thought CCSU was going to have another good game against a big-name opponent. The Blue Devils are getting healthy and coming off a solid effort against Michigan State and a near upset of Northwestern.
Then came tonight. An uninspired, flat, ugly beating that was more troubling because of the acceptance of that beating in the second half.
The Blue Devils cut into the UMass lead a number of times early, and were a couple of very long jumpers by the Minutemen froml being in the game at halftime.
Then the second half happened. Terrible.
So let's go man-to-man, something the Blue Devils didn't do well.

Joe Efese: Much like this team, he's maddening because he can be so good and then disappear.

Ken Horton: 16 and 12 vs. an A-10 team. He's legit. The problem is, because he missed the La Salle game, he will need two really big games next week to break the record at home.

Kyle Vinales: Couldn't shoot tonight but had two steals to just one turnover. I was surprised, this was his pace.

Malcolm McMillan: Freshmen go back and forth. No need to panic about him. That said, this was not a good night.

Robby Ptacek: Tom O'Brien gave me this great stat that is in my other bag, but it boils down to this: When Robby Ptacek shoots well and takes some pressure off of Horton, CCSU usually wins. When he doesn't, they don't. Tonight was the exception to the rule, but it was still nice to see Ptacek have a big night.

Adonis Burbage: He kept CCSU's 3-pointer streak, which dates back to 1996, alive.

Shelton Mickell: Some solid numbers that perhaps he can build off of as he works on getting back in the groove. The fact that he nicked his shoulder again is a concern, however.

Mark LaPorte: Didn't get a shot up. That could be the upset of the night.

David Simmons: I didn't make a big deal out of it in my story because it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but someone should be in a lot of trouble for Simmons dunking the ball and picking up a technical. for dunking in pregame warmups. Either he didn't know the rule and should have been coached that at some point in the last four-plus years, or he knew the rule and ignored it, or he knew and forgot.
Regardless of how it happened, there's no way CCSU, or any other team in America, should be down 1-0 before the game starts. That's embarrassing.
By the way, I know I come from a family of refs, but I knew that rule. I didn't see the offending dunk, but I knew something was up when I saw the refs conferring, then chatting with the coaches.

Side note: Big thanks to referee Jeff Anderson for coming over at my request and explaining the situation to me. If you look him up online you'll find a story from Rochester about him giving back to kids. Really nice guy.

Terrell Allen: Hardly got in, which I found surprising.