Great to see Gregory getting back in form. One thing that could have helped immensely last night would have been better production from the #4 spot. Almost nightly Whitson was a consistent 10-12 point scorer, & was always a fighter on the boards. Was definitely expecting similar if not better offensive production from Arike, but not only has it not been similar production it's gotten worse. It's been most noticeable against higher quality competition recently. Against GCU she had only 4 points, but she did have a decent rebounding evening. However against Tennessee she didn't score a single point, & only had 3 rebounds all game.
If someone of Whitson's persistence had been in the game against UT we would be looking at a much closer game at the end. Arike is a good role player, & has excellent size. I'm not saying she should be totally benched, but it's time to give Monson more of a shot.
I know coach says if you want time on the court you have to show it in practice. But the few times I've seen Monson on the court she may not be perfect, but she appears to show fine effort. Would really like to see us start swapping her more with Arike. At least give her 10-15 minutes to prove her value. After all, if her production isn't great it still couldn't be any worse than 2 points per game. Which is what we're getting now.
Against Purdue, Iowa St, K-State, & Princeton we have to get more from the 4 spot, & if we don't we can be experiencing similar losses. And this team is too good for that to continue.
