I think Realfan sorta pinned down what I saw with Ruffin on defense. I'm not sure he was playing poorly, it might have been when he overplayed for the steal or the passing lane there wasn't any help for him. A big part of our defense last year was that kind of play by the perimeter player and then if it didn't create the turnover someone else rotated or switched in and disrupted the play until the defense could reset. It seemed like any time someone got by the perimeter defender there was not a lot of help going. Hopefully that will start working for us as the players get used to playing together--- or if not we'll have to abandon the aggressive D and play a bit more straight.
Offensively, I thought Ruff was fine. I think the stat sheet would tell you he had a lot of turnovers but at least two were total phantom carry calls that were obvious hesitation in his dribble (not carries). I guess he faked out the ref or something. He had some excellent passes. He was as cold as the rest of the team from 3 and hurried a few of the shots, particularly in the second half. His dribble drive was pretty effective because he created some opportunities for others and drew two or three fouls. Josh Mayo took a lot more ill-advised shots, they just went in for him. If they'd done so for Ruff or if Crouch had hit the open 3s, I think this game would've turned into a 20-point rout.
Re: Salley... I didn't see much from him either, though he really wasn't on the floor much since the refs tickey-tacked him out of the first half after just a couple of minutes, and then kinda did the same thing down the stretch. He didn't do anything offensively really (though that was a sweet pass to Singh on the one play), I do think he played nice on the ball defense some of the time he was in.
Sam Singh and Andrew Warren both had nice games. Collins was the big one for me though, he played quite a few good minutes and had some good plays. Looked awkward sometimes, but seems to be picking it up quick.
I also could not figure out the number of mintues Sam M played, particularly in the final ten or fifteen minutes. He wasn't a disaster or anything, but seemed like a bit more size or some TCS could have been nice in there.
UIC played a good game, but talk about garbage shots and hurried shots. These guys took some of the most ridiculous shots around, and they all fell. On the other hand we worked our offense enough to get open looks at three and missed them. I guess that happens sometimes, and if it was going to happen, the first game of the season on the road may be about the best time to have it happen.
Finally, the refereeing was horrendous... Some of the worst I can remember, and I did think the refs altered the game a bit. Seemed like every time Bradley started to mount an attack we'd get some BS moving screen call or a carry. They were bad, but that's going to happen, and you have to play through it.
EDIT - Did he really log 14 assists? Is that his career record?
