Down 12...2 minutes to go....

[ChopSooie]

Why was Macon and Gafford stuck on the bench? No on else could score, hell they don't even look to?

[Bad_Intentions]

Wondered the same thing

[sowmonella]

Why was Macon and Gafford stuck on the bench? No on else could score, hell they don’t even look to?

Looked like they had nothing left in the tank.

[The_Bionic_Pig]

Why was Macon and Gafford stuck on the bench? No on else could score, hell they don't even look to?

They were completely and utterly gassed...

No-one else could throw it in the river

[onebadrubi]

Because this coach sucks and his staff can not manage minutes to where our best players play together in the minutes that count.  He's proven to me his rotation and minute management is just piss poor

[RacinRazorback]

Same thing in the first half, we were up big and things going well, then I look up and Gafford, macon, and barford are on the bench! Then it didn't take long for the cats to start knocking chunks out of our lead! Going almost 7 minutes in the 2nd half without a bucket is a killer against any team! Pitiful, just pitiful!

[MountieDawg]

Why was Macon and Gafford stuck on the bench? No on else could score, hell they don't even look to?

Did you not see Macon force about 5 shots in a row trying to do it all by himself?  Macon shot them in and out of the game.

[hobhog]

Same thing in the first half, we were up big and things going well, then I look up and Gafford, macon, and barford are on the bench! Then it didn't take long for the cats to start knocking chunks out of our lead! Going almost 7 minutes in the 2nd half without a bucket is a killer against any team! Pitiful, just pitiful!

This. I know MA likes to use the bench but he yanked our hot lineup and thru in a poor offensive lineup and and bam, KY is within 2. All momentum lost.

Typical.

[Hogz87]

This. I know MA likes to use the bench but he yanked our hot lineup and thru in a poor offensive lineup and and bam, KY is within 2. All momentum lost.

Typical.

He did the same thing against A&M in the 1st half.  We got up 15-6 and he massed subbed out all three of Macon, Barford, and Gafford.  A&M went on a quick little run to get within 2 or 3.  MA had enough sense to bring Barford back pretty quickly that game, though.  I don't think he was out more than 90 seconds of game time.  It also helped that in the A&M game that all three of Macon, Baford, and Gafford brought their A games, so we were able to stave off any A&M runs that were byproducts of our terrible bench and MA's questionable (at best) substitution patterns).

[hobhog]

He did the same thing against A&M in the 1st half.  We got up 15-6 and he massed subbed out all three of Macon, Barford, and Gafford.  A&M went on a quick little run to get within 2 or 3.  MA had enough sense to bring Barford back pretty quickly that game, though.  I don't think he was out more than 90 seconds of game time.  It also helped that in the A&M game that all three of Macon, Baford, and Gafford brought their A games, so we were able to stave off any A&M runs that were byproducts of our terrible bench and MA's questionable (at best) substitution patterns).

Even Joe Kline was trying to be politically correct when you could tell he couldn't explain MAs substitution patterns.

NBA center plays only 22 minutes. Hard to explain.

[EngrHog]

Being at the game I iso'd on Gafford around the 6 minute mark in the first half. He was completely gassed. After he made his first 4 or 5 free throws, he missed his next 5 in a row. Kentucky's game plan was to wear him down and foul him, and it worked. I'm sure he will increase his stamina as he continues to develop. He looked like he could barely make it to the bench, didn't even have the energy to high five anyone when he went passed them. Kentucky had 3 guys with Gafford's height they were able to rotate out, we just couldn't match that for the whole game.

[hawg66]

Gafford and Macon were gassed. The HV geniuses say the solution was to play them more. Anderson took them out after the Hogs went up 5 in the second half. Was he supposed to wait  to rest them until when we got behind ? 

[Silver Hog]

I don't remember Day and Mayberry and Big O getting tired.

[hawg66]

I don't remember Day and Mayberry and Big O getting tired.

That's because they were gods.

[latrops]

Gafford and Macon were gassed. The HV geniuses say the solution was to play them more. Anderson took them out after the Hogs went up 5 in the second half. Was he supposed to wait  to rest them until when we got behind ?

If only there were a way to save a little energy on the defensive end by not pressing, trapping, chasing, and scrambling away from the basket.

[TennesseeRaz]

Don't presume this criticism of Gafford.  I love the kid's game.  But I don't buy that he was gassed!  The kid played 23 minutes!  MAYBE back in the day when there were no TV timeouts every 4 minutes I'd believe this.  Not anymore.  TV Timeouts, fouls every 30 seconds (what's the deal with that assinine "cylinder" call anyway?!?), and an abundance of team timeouts that generally aren't used in the first half.  If I'm Gafford's coach I burn those timeouts to keep what folks are presuming to be a first-round NBA draft pick on the floor.

Think about it.  Kansas does pretty well, and they have a rotation of 5.5 players, generally.   Some of their players regularly play close to 40 minutes a game.  If Gafford goes to the bench, he need 60 seconds to catch his breath, and that's it.

[hawg66]

I thought the bench play was the difference. Jones had several good looks but couldn't knock any of them down. Hall played his worst game in weeks. Thompson was too slow to cover any of the Kentucky bigs.

The Cats length also bothered Barford. I think some zone would have helped but Anderson hasn't played much this year. Maybe he's saving it lol

The most important game is the next one. Go Hogs

[lstewart]

The issue toward the end of the Kentucky game was that Barford could not hit anything, and Macon was basically going 1 on 4 trying to score. He eventually hit the wall and had 4 or 5 bad possessions. I think Mike had Barford out some just because he was missing everything, and then he took Macon out later as he made several poor decisions / bad shots / turnovers. I thank Gafford was just overmatched with Kentucky have 4 or 5 guys that were his equal.  Unfortunately we probably needed each of those guys to have a great game to have a chance to win. The bigger picture, and a legit question is why we demand the constant chasing the ball defense when we don't have elite level depth. I think if we played a little more conservative defense at times, allowing these guys to catch their breath, they could go an extra 5 or 6 minutes per game. So instead of Barford and Macon playing 30 minutes, they could probably go 36. Gafford could maybe go 30 to 32, depending on fouls. I think a lot of his minutes played limitations comes from getting 2 fouls in the first half. Mike's approach is to have everyone going 100 miles per hour, and sub every 5 minutes or so. Unfortunately against elite level talented opponents, we have a big drop-off. So we went from being up around 15 against Kentucky when we started subbing, to being tied 3 or 4 minutes later.

[cityhog]

The game was over w/ 2 minutes left. Heck, the game was over w/ 4 minutes left. No need to risk an injury for those last 3 losses, errr, games.

[alohawg]

Because this coach sucks and his staff can not manage minutes to where our best players play together in the minutes that count.  He's proven to me his rotation and minute management is just piss poor

He wore them out pressing against a deeper team, brilliant.

[Dropkick]

I also think we came out and played with a lot of emotion maybe too much and were flat after we lost that early lead.