mat1992

I'd have to see that flagrant again. I thought the call on Nolan against Phillips was horrible. Where he had his hands up and the refs said he reached in. He didn't. I think it's tough to see them shoot 26 FTs and for us to shoot 14 at home. We're not the most graceful driving team, but it would be nice to get a few more calls. When Nolan and Timberlake are going at a breakneck speed without really changing hands or spinning, I don't know why they don't get the calls, but maybe the refs think they are out of control. But Nolan did get the call late in regulation and didn't make both shots. So I don't blame the refs when you are -2 on the boards and can't keep Philips out of the lane. Or miss 9 straight three-pointers and blow a 12-point lead. Missed three-pointers in regulation until Gray got that lucky bounce to go in. It's a bit of a wake up call on how to hold on to leads. How to defend a quicker team. Which players to go with. What defenses to play? Can't just rely on your freshman 6-0 foot point guard who is not able to play, because he's your best on-ball defender. It's why they need Nolan to get his game back, because he can defend most guards in this league.

Just 13 points off the bench when Gray obviously had a big game (15pts) against Charleston. Went 2-for-7 today and some post ups as well as open 3s. Paar is also and obvious target and in 14 minutes, you need more than two rebounds and four points. Dropped at least two defensive rebounds and had a chance to dunk the ball or lay it in and missed the rim completely. As PS said, no real practice time. It's not like they are going to go full throttle on Sunday with the Hens on Monday night. They just have to continue teaching and hoping they respond to rebounding issues and defense. Though I don't there's much you can do against a guy like Phillips when he's just quicker than everybody else other than playing some junk defenses. Have a big come help out when he drives and risk him passing it up or just go zone with Gray up top.

Well-coached team with a lot of veterans and a very good point guard. No real inside presence and we gave up 16 offensive rebounds and didn't finish well enough inside. Probably should have pounded inside more than we did, considering we didn't make a lot of threes.

Skerry opening comments Tough loss. Have to watch the tape. They are good and playing well. There are a lot of plays that we'd like to have back. Credit to Wilmington. They found a way." On rebounding "Very (disappointed). Disappointed in our rebounding. Our fouling. Telling isn't teaching. We didn't get our message across about keeping the ball out of the paint. DIfferent styles. Playing without the foul. Keeping the ball out of the paint. Not a lot of practice time. It's good that we can make shots and move the ball around. We can't lose sight of the fact that if we don't shoot it great, we have to be better in other areas. In the last three games, our defensive rebounding percentage is not where it needs to be in order to win. Block outs are bad. Easy targets are big guys, but it's the perimeter guys. All those perimeter guys." "We're trying to get everyone back in the lineup. Some will need to take less shots and get less minutes. We're not there yet, executing that. They just took us one-and-one. They don't turn the ball over because they isolate you. I thought Juwan made Sims take tough shots. He lived at the foul line. Youg get up 10 and 8. We had a couple of live ball turnovers for runouts. Nick was late on Fornes for a 3. We went zone late to keep them out of the lane and keep from fouling. If I had my druthers, I would prefer not to do that. Overall, the defensive numbers are ok. But t wasn't good enough to where it should be." "I would have liked to see us defend better in that stretch. We ran good offense and didn't score and maybe let that affect us on the other end. We have a chance to have a very good team. We don't have a lot of practice time. I told the guys in the locker room, we have a chance to be a good team. This was the Super Bowl today and we didn't get it done. We still got better, even if we were fortunate enough to win today. There are things we have to figure out pretty soon." On Terry Nolan "He played hard. Not his best game. How do you get to where you get to without practice time. We have to get him into a rhythm through playing in games. We're a tick off in certain areas. We want him to relax and play. He's capable of playing better. When you take 9 or 10 days off, it's not surprising."

Coach Siddle on today's game "Give a lot of credit to Towson. I have a lot of respect for Pat in how he runs the program. They are so physical and tough. They play the right way. I enjoy watching them, but don't enjoy playing them. We didn't play our best game. At the 11:50 mark, our guys did a really good job of toughening up and making winning plays. We had a good shot at the end of regulation. We made plays down the stretch. I'm proud of our guys. Keys to winning "Toughness. I thought they were tougher than us. We were driving the basketball. We had 16 offensive rebounds. We started defending. We got out and ran. Toughness changed the game for us. On halftime. "We scout. That's one of the best things we do. We locked in the scouting report. Offensively, we wanted to come off pick and rolls and get two on the ball which they hedge out. We wanted to spray the ball out of it to try and get an advantage on the backside or the strongside. Our guys weren't buying into it. We showed them our pregame film again. On defense, we lost a couple of guys and for the most part it was a pretty clean half. We were tougher later in the second half." On Phillips "He's tough. He can make plays off the bounce. You don't have to run things for him. He's one of our better defenders. Maybe people key in on (Sims, Okauru) and that helps Phillips. He's one his way up and can be a special player for us." "If you watched our games this year, we go old school. Can you guard me? We didn't think that some of their kids had the footspeed or defensive ability to keep up with him. He's to guard because he's so shifty and strong."

Cam Holden comments after the game "We had a couple of outbursts from some veterans, even myself. As a leader on the team, I have to be calmer. I'm proud of my guys. I thought we fought. We had a couple of errors that cost us down the stretch. Being older, we take accountability. Time to focus on Delaware." What happened after being up 12 "I feel like we had him going a little bit. He got in the lane. Basketball is a game of runs. He got his team going. We switched defenses. That slowed him down. In order to be successful, we have to keep him out of the paint and be better defensively." On missing nine straight 3s "Everybody has confidence in us shooting the ball. We can't hang our hat on the three-point line. We have to better defensively and rebound. THree-point shot if it goes in, it goes in. We can't hang our heads on that. We have to find a way to win without making three-pointers. Unfortunately, we didn't do that tonight." On free throws "We have to get better in practice. Be less physical. Stop complaining to the refs and most importantly keeping guys out of the lane. They were in the lane all night, right-handed drives." On Flagrant foul "(The refs) said I stepped on him. I felt like I was running. I didn't get too mad about it. I was running down the court and he said I was trying to step on his face." On how he is physically "I'm a little banged up. That's conference play. We have to be tougher to get over the hump. We're going to keep pushing forward. I have to break out some of my food. I have to chop up my hamburger. I get milk shakes. Sometimes it affects me in practice but I have to get over it." On calling timeout I slipped and fell. My instinct was to call timeout. That was my fault and I take full accountability for it. I apologized to my team when I got to the huddle." One thing we are big about it is turning the next page. It's still early. We showed teams in this league that we're just as good as them.

There is a reason why we recruited Phillips but another reason we recruited Hicks. To slow down Tyson Walker and Phillips. He's probably the only guard quick enough to slow him down Phillips, though Phillips is much bigger and stronger. We're only going to see him one more time, maybe twice. Gibson had the same issues against Walker and well, most teams did. I'm more worried about the rebounding.

Ok, now to the comments about the game. One of the most disappointing home losses in recent memory. Good crowd. Spirited crowd. Facing an undefeated team and they figured out a way. The rebounding issue is a major concern now. It's one thing to get outrebounded by a physical Charleston team and it's another to give up 50-50 rebounds. Holden can only do so much with a fractured jaw and there's no doubt his energy is not where it was before the injury, since he's not really taking solid food. So you need Timberlake and Rizzuto (1 reb) to get on the boards more. That's basically what PS said in the press conference. The guards have to help out. As for Phillips, did we go to zone a little late because he was getting what he wanted against Gibson, Rizzuto and Timberlake? Sure. I probably would have looked for Nolan on him, but that's where we miss Hicks. As PS also sort of insinuated and his staff has to figure out, whether they are too slow on the perimeter to go zone. Or to forsake offense and go quicker with Nolan and Hicks, if he was available. Maybe more zone is needed with Gray at the top of the zone in a basic 1-3-1 or 3-2. Offensively, we missed the last nine three-pointers. We certainly had our chances with drives to the basket and shots underneath. Nolan (1-for-8) is really struggling right now and it's not just coming back off his medical issues. Sure, it would be nice to see him get a call or two on drives, though maybe he was looking for the all too much. He had five assists today and when it's there, he's the best passer on the team. I thought he made a poor decision on a 2-of-1 and had Timberlake for the easy flush or layup had he just dished it to his left. He's so important to the success of this team due to his athletic ability and as a passer. He still needs to give us 10-12 pts for us to have a shot. I also think we need to get Gibson more shots. Going 1 for 4 is not enough and maybe if Nolan is ready, you go back to Gibson at the 1 or bring him off the bench. Run him off screens because he needs to get at least 4-6 three point shots a game. They really need to get him in rhythm. But for the second straight game, we were not able to get many open looks from 3. The passing was good (16 assists), but still would like to see 11 get more 3 looks. Timberlake had a wide open look late that he missed completely. Gray had a corner look. Rizzuto missed his last few threes. Don't think Cam should be shooting 3s anymore or at least he gets the mask off. I know he called that timeout with no TOs left and had the Flagrant, but I can't question a kid who gives it his all and arguably one of the best people we've had off the floor. Can't rest with Delaware coming up on Monday, but this one hurts.

May is 5 in the dark jersey. His team finally lost

https://seahawkperch.substack.com/p/uncw-towson-meet-for-first-in-caa

Sounds familiar

Starting to slump some. Poor guard play on both ends

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=370335 This was one of those games that you need to win to have a successful season. When your best player goes 2-for-12 from the field and grabs just four rebounds (but does have five assists and three steals) in 38 minutes, you need somebody to step up. That player was Juwan Gray, who had 15 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Charles Thompson added six blocks and 10 rebounds. Nicolas Timberlake led the Tigers with 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting (5-5 FT). He hit four big free throws down the stretch to cement the win. Towson shot just 39% from the field and had 11 turnovers with 12 assists. It was a sloppy, never performance on offense and they were outrebounded by five. But they made 8-of-21 from beyond the arc (38%) and held the Cougars to just 33% from the field. More later...

No students on campus save for athletes

Speaking of academics

Interesting. One good year. They won 25 in 2013-14, 20 in 2015-16 and 20 the following year. If tournament success is your only factor for a successful coach in a one bid league, than he’s a failure as was Tony Shaver. I think it’s a part of the equation but so is winning games, graduating players and running a clean program with very little off the court problems. This is a good team and we’ll find out how good on Saturday.