When I was playing basketball I was taught the best way to bounce back from playing poorly was to be aggressive and take the ball inside. Haidar must have been taught the same thing because he came out of the gate playing aggressive, leading Michigan Tech to an early lead that they never relinquished. He scored 11 of his teams 33 first half points, and continued on to score another 11 points in the second half.

Overall this was one of Haidar's best performances of the season. Along with the 22 points he added a team-high 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. His overall efficiency rating was an awesome 31! Hopefully this is the kind of performance we will see from here on out.

Perhaps this was not the best game to start to follow Ali Haidars season closely . . .

Haidar struggled in the game, ending with totals of 2 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and a block in 22 minutes played. Unfortunately he also had 3 personal fouls and 4 turnovers. On the surface this just looks like a terrible outing. But there is an explanation. For most of the time he was in the game Haidar was tasked with guarding Marcus Jackson, and athletic 6'6' forward who is St. Joseph's second leading scorer. As a sophomore guarding a senior, these are the kind of match-ups that will look ugly now, but pay big dividends in the future.

I wish I had clips or photos, but I listened to this game on the radio. Next game is Thursday, January 6th at 5:30 pm Eastern. Hopefully he will have a better outing against