mat1992

Anderson and Ryan Allen have been there seemingly since Mike Brey coached there. They have four good players, but none are stars. Anderson is a solid player who averages around 12.5ppg. Nelson as a nice pickup similar to Nolan. You can’t leave Anderson open from three. Painter has improved but their defense is iffy as hell.

I'll say this again. Hicks is the difference. Yes, Holden is a terrific all-around player and Nolan can score. He's super athletic and terrific in transition. I think Rizzuto will be fine on both ends of the floor. But Hicks is the electric and energetic point guard we've lacked in transition and on the defensive end. I wouldn't say we're the 80s Lakers, but we are running even when we're not forcing turnovers, Holden is pushing the ball and Hicks, who had 8 rebounds, is as quick a point guard as we've had in forever. He's only going to get better as the season goes on and yes, the shooting isn't there yet. I think he'll be limited to layups, short jumpers and floaters but he also went 3-for-3 last night, so it's not like he can't do it. He just somebody who needs to work on that three ball. We had 10 fastbreak points and I know that seems like nothing, but we probably had four or five more baskets in transition that turned into hard fouls. They just put us at the line and for the most part, we converted. I love the fact that we can have Hicks, Nolan, Gibson or Holden the break and Timberlake, Nolan, Holden, Rizzuto and Gray fill the wings and finish in transition. No, we're not going to shoot 40% from 3pt or 47% from the field after the season is done, but can find other ways to score. If we can get 20 points in transition and that includes finishing at the line, that will take pressure off of our half-court offense, which can get stagnant at times. But was terrific in the first half.

I think we started playing stall ball around the 8:00 mark and we didn't score a basket the last 3:40ish. I would prefer stalling at the 4:00 mark and then running offense at the 10 second mark. Not letting the shot clock go to 2 seconds before throwing up a prayer. The stall ball/four corners made sense due to the lead and the fact we were probably tired. Surprised that Pitino never went the fouling route, which was fine for Towson fans.

Somehow I lost the quotes from the postgame, but I know Coach Skerry mentioned how they will need to look at the rotation when Antonio Rizzuto, Jason Gibson, and Juwan Gray return, hopefully next Thursday against LIU at home. I think it's going to be tough to take Radhir Hicks out of the lineup, despite the fact that he's not going to give you DD points. He's so good defensively and is getting better at running the team. With Nolan and Holden, he doesn't have to run the offense all the time. I thought Darrick Jones Jr. played hard, but not sure where he fits. Maybe as the 10th man or during pressing situations. You basically had Chase Paar as the only bench rotation guy this tournament with Jones and Chris Biekeu as the seventh and eighth guys. It's no wonder why you see the big minutes for Holden (38), Timberlake (40) and Nolan (38). Timberlake was fantastic. I know the shooting percentages were poor this season and last season, but he was super-confident tonight. He has the nice 3-point stroke as long as he doesn't hesitate. Forget the mid-range shots. Just shoot 3s and get some baskets in transition. Nolan had the first layup of the game and he's finishing better off the dribble. Some of those 3-pointers were a bit much and the FT shooting, but I thought definitely, he was excellent. Very active hands notight. Really good win despite those losses and the fact that Jamal Mashburn Jr. is a walking bucket and Jaelen House is a pretty good player. Wasn't impressed with their post players and they will have many issues on the boards this year. Kind of a transition year for them with Richard Pitino taking over. TBH, pleasantly surprised about how well we played from start to finish and if you're Pitino, why not press early on against a tired team? He had the deeper bench, but I guess he thought we would stop making shots.

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=365599 Nicolas Timberlake scored 25 points, including a career-high six three-pointers in 40 minutes to lead Towson over New Mexico 73-58 in the consolation game of the New Mexico Invitational. The Tigers led from wire-to-wire, opening up a 12-0 lead and never really looked back. The Lobos put on a desperate full-court press late in the game and closed the lead to 13 at one point. Towson struggled some against the press and played stall ball the last few minutes, but they were able to put the game away mainly due to defense and rebounding. The Tigers outrebounded the Lobos by 14 and held them to 32% from the field and 32% from beyond the arc. Towson shot 47% from the field and 41% (9-22) from beyond the arc. Terry Nolan added 15 points, 3 steals, 5 assists and 4 rebounds (1-5 FT) in 38 minutes. Radhir Hicks went scoreless in 34 minutes, but has eight rebounds. Cam Holden had a solid game with 16 points and 10 rebounds in 38 minutes with two steals.

https://towsontigers.com/news/2021/11/26/mens-basketball-towson-mens-basketball-comeback-attempt-vs-san-francisco-falls-short-in-las-vegas.aspx It was almost the same score as last season (Dons won by 11). Towson fought hard late to stay in this game to cut the lead to three, but had some poor offensive possessions. The Dons were a bit sloppy in the second half, but they were ultimately too good. Terry Nolan Jr. led the way with 15 points, while Nicholas Timberlake added 14. Cam Holden had 12 points and nine boards, but went just 3-of-10 from the field and committed five turnovers. Despite playing against as big a team as they'll see all season, the Tigers outrebounded the Dons by one. Ultimately, shooting 38% from the field is not going to get it done against a quality team. Towson played without Juwan Gray, Jason Gibson, and Antonio Rizzuto who should be back next Thursday against LIU, but won't play on Friday night against New Mexico in the consolation game at 9pmET. Here are some Skerry quotes after the game "USF is very good. Boyea is great. Credit to Todd and his guys. They made timely shots. Couldn't stop them enough. Some of that is due to our inability to score the ball. We didn't shoot the ball well at the rim. Thought the offense moved in the second half. Moved the ball better. Liked the effort. No moral victories. Need all our main guys to play well to beat a team like that. Terry did a good job getting to the foul line. Chase is playing better and better. Really happy with Radhir Hicks. They make timely shots. Eventually, we're going to be a pretty good shooting team. That's the least amount of 3s we've taken. Part of that is our personnel. All these teams are good. Helps prepare you for this league. San Francisco is good. They're big. Point guard is really good. He just has a feel. We got down to 3 and couldn't get over the hump."