Christian: “We stopped playing"

Jim Christian seems frustrated. I don't blame him. As I wrote Wednesday night, this team is not talented enough to play well for 30 minutes and still win. They need full effort, for the full game and on each possession. If you watch Christian in the huddle, he's not really a screamer. He has the more sarcastic, passive aggressive way of trying to get through to the players. I don't know if it is going to work, but he's not holding pack with his criticism.

From the Globe:

“We stopped playing,” Christian said. “We basically stopped playing. We stopped guarding. They got layups. We were awful in transition defense." The timeout wasn’t to send a message. To Christian it was already clear. “They know,” Christian said. “They know. It was way before that. I mean, that game was over at that point.”

“I hate to say it, but for me, it’s eye-opening as we move forward with our program, we have to have guys who have more invested in winning, in doing what it takes year-round to be a good basketball player at this level, because you’re playing against guys who, every single day, wake up and challenge themselves to the highest level.”

The Herald:

"We didn’t lose this game on offense. We lost this game on effort.”

The Heights:

“We stopped guarding, we gave up on transition defense, and that’s what our team does down the stretch.”

I don't know if this team will check out completely, but at least we know Christian will be pretty candid about what's going on with his team.