I only got to watch the second half of the game (fortunately). I saw that Buzz shortened the bench and that Wilcher, Hefner, and Payne didn't play in the second half. The first two make sense, but I was surprised that Payne didn't get any minutes. Was there something specific that he did/didn't do in the first half, or was Buzz just going with his most trusted guys in the second half?

He missed some bunnies in the first half and didn't seem to handle the ball well when they bodied him up (although the defense onnhim was pretty physical early on and seemed to get away with some fouls).

Also his freethrow shooting was bad. My guess is coach didn't want any empty possessions (we feed Payne, he gets fouled, he misses freethrows).

I think it was a combination of things, coaches didn't like the way he played in the first half from an effort standpoint maybe, the game also wasn't really conducive to his style of play because of how small Southern was.

Also looked a little bit to me like Buzz was trying to prove a point to some guys. Yes we want to build depth and play a lot of guys, but if you're not going to put in the work on both ends we'll be just fine with a short bench.

He might have been making a point to fans as well…at least I thought the change from first half to second was deliberate!!!