mat1992

Skerry opening comments "Hard-fought game. We knew it was going to be a tough game. Charleston is good. Pat Kelsay is a terrific coach. We saw that at Winthrop. They're just so deep and physical. They get to the foul line. They blitz the quarterback on every possession. We knew it was going to be hard to keep them out of the lane and off the glass. We're fortunate. Down the stretch, we had some good ball movement and made some timely shots. On what he said at the half about the rebounding disadvantage "Words of encouragement. Charles really stepped up in the second half. He was a presence in the second half. We had two or three offensive rebounds in the first half. We have to do a better job of blocking out. They come. They have a ton of guys. Their five men: One guy has a 7-6 reach and the other guy is built like an Avenger. They just bash you. They played a tough schedule and won a lot of games. We made enough plays. Can't say enough about Juwan Gray. He had a turnover-bad play call by me coming out of the timeout. He had the mental toughness to make a three on the next possession. Good win." On Juwan "He's an easy guy to root for. Fully torn Achilles. He's back. Good student. Good teammate. We need his defense. Thought Juwan did a good job on Meeks. He helped us filling a lot of different roles throughout the season without complaining." On Nolan's minutes "The goal was to get him to 20. That's good. He made his first couple of shots. Thought his defense was pretty good. Need him to get his legs back a little bit, which will come. We need his energy. This is the fifth game we've had our top eight guys. We have to figure out shot selection, whose night it is. To get where we want to get to, it's going to be different guys on different nights. " On Cam "He didn't finish like he normally does. That kid Meeks is very good and he had to work defensively. That takes a lot out of you. He makes plays. Had a big steal. Made foul shots. He has a really high IQ. He has to play and has to be out there." On Defense "I thought Jason did a good job on (Reyne) Smith, who is a very good shooter. It's tough to keep them out of the lane. They play at the fastest tempo in the country. We had a bad stretch and when we finally settled in, reversed it and got some good shots. It's hard to play against them with their pace and they way they attack the backboards." We were very good on defense other than fouling. We regressed in that area today. We need to keep UNCW out of the lane and off the foul line."

Nick Timberlake "Towson is usually known as a physical team. The new coach at Charleston has done a good job at matching our physicality. THis was the most physical game we had all year." On philosophy of Skerry (whether it has changed) "He hasn't changed it all. It's more personnel. When our offense isn't flowing, our defense is there, so we rely heavily on our defense when we have an off night offensively." On being on a five-game winning streak "Winning is winning. We're happy when we go to practice. It's not any different from anything we ever had." On big dunk "I saw the hoop and no one there. H was trailing me. I went up, closed my eyes and tried to punch it on him." On difference of team from last year's The brotherhood that we have. Off the court. We all like each other. We're always joking around.

Juwan Gray "The key was our defense. On a night where our offense wasn't where it usually is, we always hang our hat on our defense.Just being really aggressive on defense helped us get the win." On offense "We were missing shots. We were a little quick in our offensive set and didn't get into the full flow. Other than that, we just missed shots." We always have to grind it out. Every game isn't going to be pretty. We have to continue to run offense." On his offense "Had the same mindset coming into every game and that's playing your role. I'm always going to play defense. Tonight I was making the right plays offensively. My teammates were setting me up to make shots." On Sixth Man role "It feels good to be playing basketball again. I'm taking every moment and cherishing it. Happy to be on the floor." Differences this year and last "The biggest difference is off the floor. This is a great group of guys to be around. We have a lot of experience. The transfers played a lot games in their previous schools." On being picked 8th "Just let the people talk. We knew we weren't an 8th place team. Now, people will say watch out for Towson. We had that knowledge already that we were a good team. Our mantra is be where our feet are. We're going to prepare for UNCW on Saturday."

Before I get to the comments, thank God Juwan Gray returned this season. He didn't have to, but he gives us leadership and he's playing lights out. And he's become a threat at the three-point line (34%). What I saw out of Charleston tonight was a little what we used to see out of some of the PS teams from the post-Benimon era. No real stars, some outstanding defense and a few good shooters. That defense was as good as we'll probably see all year in the CAA. We got very few clean looks from the outside and they took away Gibby's open threes. Now part of that was that they didn't have to double the post because CT and Cam struggled to finish in the so-called red-zone. I thought Cam made some winning plays as usual, but he didn't seem to have the same lift. I don't know what his diet is with a fractured jaw, but I assume he's not eating a lot of steaks. When you can't eat solid foods, it probably ends up limiting your energy and then he plays 38 minutes. He was also defending a lot of small forwards so that energy may have bothered him on the offensive end. Charles Thompson "It was a real physical game. They have a lot of dudes that look like action figures. We had a couple of possessions where we played really good defense, but we didn't finish because we didn't box out and get rebounds. Need to be more physical than they were." On this game compared to Elon "They have different styles. Elon likes to shoot it and Charleston is more physical. They are the most physical team we played so far. " Coach Skerry says we're a defensive team. When we don't shoot it well as we did tonight, we hang our hats on the defensive end. We weren't really worried. We just stuck to our calling card." On his blocks "I had a similar game like this last season. They had a transfer (Peyton Willis) who went to Minnesota. They had a bunch of guys who would back you into the lane. It was a playstyle that allowed me to have so many blocks today (six)."

https://towsontigers.com/sports/womens-basketball/stats/2021-22/drexel-university/boxscore/22418 Extremely poor effort on the boards for the second straight game, getting outrebounded 40-29. Drexel is a better basketball team. They pass the ball extremely well. They make the extra pass. They make backdoor cuts and all sorts of cuts off screens, ala Princeton. It's a slow, methodical team just like Princeton and we let them dictate. With our depth, I would expect more pressure than we showed to try and speed up the temp. I know their point guard is terrific, but she's small. Try and get the ball out of her hands. Sure, easier said than done. I thought we adjusted to the zone a little late. That's getting the ball to the foul line and let Kubek pass it or shoot it. But the defense was good enough to win, yet you can't keep playing defense when you constantly give up offensive rebounds. They were quicker than us to nearly every 50-50 ball and every long rebound seemed to go to them. I said the same thing last game. Forget about the break and leaking out. All guards have to help on the boards and Tucker, Rivera and Kubek need to do a better job of boxing out. We lost because we give up 14 offensive rebounds and turned the ball over 16 times (11 in the first half). One of my concerns about this team early on was their lack of height in the post (that's no excuse not to rebound. We're big enough). Tessa Brugler is 6-1, but she blocked or altered a handful of our shots. Maybe our post players need a jump hook, though I get Tucker's short fadeaway is effective. Also, other than Taryionna Gary, who had 14 and 7, the guards struggled. Aleah Nelson had six assists but four turnovers in 38 minutes. I know they want to move her to the 2, but Kylie Kornegay-Lucas fouled out in 20 minutes. She needs to be more disciplined on the defensive side, not going for every steal. On the offensive side, she needs to DISH the ball to her teammates. If you are playing point and running the break, you have Rivera, Gary, Nelson, Kubek. All can shoot if they are on the floor with her. She had one assist and four turnovers. She's only played five games here and you can tell so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, because it again seems like she's trying to gell. But for Towson to win the title again, they need her to play to her potential. As a 5-10 point guard, she can defend, block shots, rebound and offensively, just needs to spread the ball around and trust her teammates. Doesn't mean don't shoot, but she isn't Melo Jeter. We don't need a superstar who can take over like that, but we don't need one when you have so many good players that can score in a variety of ways. BTW, Drexel has won 10 straight. Really good team. I think we'll be fine, but to me, undefeated Delaware and Drexel are the teams to beat currently. I think we'll get better as Kornegay-Lucas adjusts to her new teammates. That and we have to get better on the boards.

Rizzuto has one more year

Junior Jason Gibson scored 22 points and hit six 3-pointers to lead Towson over William & Mary 91-69 on Monday night from Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg. The Tigers improved to 4-1 in the CAA after the victory and reached a mark of 13-5 overall for the first time in school history. Gibson, who missed the Elon game on Saturday due to a death in the family, came out on fire, nailing five threes and 17 points in the first half. But the Tigers were only up by 11 but they completely dominated the second half to the point that Pat Skerry could empty the bench with under four minutes left in the game. Cam Holden added 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Nicolas Timberlake broke of a shooting slump to pump in 17 points (all in the second half). Here are some comments from Skerry after the game on the post-game show on TowsonTigers.com: "Really proud of our guys. Really good performance. Only six turnovers. Made 3s. Glad Jason Gibson was able to get down today. Death in his family. Says a lot of about his toughness and high quality kid. Nick's defense and intelligence. Chase Paar was really good. Tyler Gill had 2 assists and no turnovers. Any win on the road is gold. The ball movement on offense was sensational. "A little bit of foul trouble early and Chase stepped up. Charles was a man inside. I've said this before. Darrick Jones and Chris Biekeu have practiced well and are getting better. Guys have to stay ready. I hope it's a really long season. That would be great. Cam makes those plays like the team gets it down to 10 and he comes up with a man's rebound with two hands. He's just so tough and competitive. Same with Timberlake and Antonio (Rizzuto). It's a fun group to watch when they move the ball."

https://towsontigers.com/news/2022/1/17/womens-basketball-travels-to-drexel-for-first-caa-road-test.aspx