mat1992

No Solly and Victor today. They are out.

https://towsontigers.com/news/2021/1/26/towson-mens-basketball-rematches-jmu-to-complete-caa-series.aspx

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=318621 https://towsontigers.com/news/2021/1/24/valiant-comeback-effort-comes-up-just-short-for-towson-mens-basketball-at-hofstra.aspx Hofstra opened up an eight-point halftime lead and held on in the second half to beat Towson 74-69. The Tigers' first-half defense was atrocious, especially again Tariq Coburn, who had 21 points, including six 3-pointers. He wound up with 26 points on 8-of-12 shooting (7-9 3pt), but he was unable to get as many open looks as he received in the first half. But the bottom line is that Towson's defense is just not good enough right now. They once again struggled to defend the three-point shot as the Pride made 12 of 24 and the Tigers converted a miserable 3-of-17. That includes an 0-for-5 from Zane Martin, who had a decent floor game with 17 points and seven assists. He also apparently put Towson ahead by one with 23 seconds left, but was called for a foul on an offensive rebound attempt, in which he banked the shot of the glass. Towson couldn't recover from that, though the halfcourt offense left a lot to be desired down the stretch with the game in reach. Martin did not touch the ball for whatever reason down one and three with Jason Gibson handling the ball and settling for a mid-range shot and a turnover. Nicholas Timberlake added 15 points on 4-of-9 shooting, while Victor Uyalaunmo had one of his best games with 5 points, 7 rebs and yes, one block. He altered or blocked at least five shots in the second half. Towson outrebounded Hofstra by five, which was impressive considering the Tigers went small most of the second half. By Towson going small with Demetrius Mims at power forward or even Jakigh Dottin (with Martin, Gibson and Timberlake), they were able to get out on Hofstra's shooters easier and get around screens. They also pressed at least half of the game and forced 13 turnovers. They also had 10 fastbreak points. Another loss due to poor three-point defense and awful three-point shooting drops the Tigers to 2-3 in the CAA and 3-7 overall as Hofstra improves to 5-3 in the league.

Of course, it's Pat's responsibility to replace him. I didn't say it was an excuse, but there is a reason we've gone from 32% three-point shooting defense to 38.7%. Some of it is the loss of Gray, who had his struggles offensively, but was a smart defender who could guard perimeter players. You lose Fobbs and Gray and replace them with Solly and Timberlake. You replace Betrand with Martin. I think Zane and Curtis Holland were adequate replacements on paper for Betrand and Fobbs. What I didn't realize is that Zane's defense is still shaky to be kind and Holland obviously hasn't played due to a foot injury. And the fact that Zane completely lost his three-point shot (though at least 2 of his shots today looked like they were going down and rolled out), doesn't help. He needs to play like point guard/slasher role and only shoot the three if it's a last resort. He's not James Harden or remotely close. Personally, I love the zone pressure and I want to see more Darrick Jones and Mims. They are the future at the 3 and even 4. Hofstra puts out a lineup of Jalen Ray (6-2), Isaac Kante (6-7, 250), Caleb Burgess (6-3, 170? looks bigger), Tariq Coburn (6-5, 205). Kvonn Cramer (6-6, 205). Small lineup but those guys look a lot bigger than those listed weights and they play much bigger. Yet with Victor at center, we matched up against them with Mims, Timberlake, Gibson, Zane or throw in Dottin for Mims. You lose Thompson or Solly, but we need to match up with the smaller teams because we have the athletes in Jones, Mims and Timberlake. We just need those guys to play bigger and more physical. You don't need to be 6-7, 240 to play power forward anymore. You can be 6-5, 210 or 6-6, 205ish. Mims does need to add weight next season and hopefully, he will with a healthy off-season assuming his shoulder is fine. They need to help Victor or Charles on the boards. I can see us going with that more on Wednesday afternoon against JMU. Not saying we're going to match their tempo, but we don't need to slow it down all the time. Let the young guys run!

Losing Fobbs is also hurting us on both ends. Offensively, he was similar to Zane as a powerful lefty, but more athletic and with a better 3-point shot. He shot 34.2% last season from 3pt. But his defense was vastly underrated. Was hoping that the combination of Zane and Holland would help, but no Holland and Zane left his 3-pointer in Towson three yeras ago.

Excuse crew. Nice. I'm not giving him an excuse. Maybe against JMU and he has struggled with a back injury. But he probably is more of a two he needs to play off the ball. Zane needs more help. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like he does.

Stats don't lie. Terrible against the 3. Ok against twos, but we are allowing opponents to make 38.6% of their threes. That's abysmal. And 42.6% overall, which is not bad. Last year, we allowed teams to shoot 32.3% from beyond the arc. That's a huge difference. Is it Zane? His D or lack of? Lack of practice? New players? We had Gibson and Timberlake here last season. We lost Juwan Gray, which does hurt defensively, but it has to be more than him. Now shooting the 3 is bad but I do think Gibson is a capable 3-pointer and Timberlake, though inconsistent, is adequate. Martin was a 39% 3-point shooter here three-years ago and now he's around 17%. Dottin is not a 3-point shooter and Allen shot 39% last season at Cal State Bakersfield, but just doesn't fit here. Agree that it is a major problem, especially when you get the ball inside to guys like Solly and CT or if they are on the bench because you are going small. Yet after all that poor 3-point shooting, we win if we can defend the 3 in the first half and overall.

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=318620 https://towsontigers.com/news/2021/1/23/martin-nets-17-in-towson-mens-basketball-setback-at-hofstra.aspx Towson led 35-32 at the half on a Nick Timberlake three-pointer at the buzzer. But the Pride outscored the Tigers 26-7 to start the second half and Towson couldn't recover. Hofstra outrebounded Towson 41-32 as Isaac Kante grabbed 12 boards for the Pride. He was the dominant focus on the boards and in the paint. Even though he scored just 12 points, Towson had to sag and double him thus leaving open three-pointers for freshman Kvonn Cramer, who had 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting (4-5 3pt). Senior guard Jalen Ray went 0-for-6 in the first half, but went 5-for-8 in the second half and finished with 16 points. Towson was led by Zane Martin, who had 17 points on 7-of-17 shooting and had four assists. But missed all four of his three-point attempts. Nick Timberlake added 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting, while Jason Gibson had 12 points off the bench on 5-of-8 shooting with one assist and four turnovers. Towson finished going 4-of-15 from beyond the arc, while Hofstra made 11-of-25 (44%).

https://towsontigers.com/news/2021/1/22/towson-mens-basketball-plays-first-caa-road-games-at-defending-league-champion-hofstra.aspx I assume I won't be having a lot or any people on the chat tomorrow with the football game being on at the same time. I'll have the Towson game on the big TV in the first half and on the laptop in the second half when the Green Bay/Tampa Bay game starts. If you guys want to chat at least for a half, I'll do it.

I am chatting if you want to check the wild wild west out.

I will be chatting both days. https://towsontigers.com/news/2021/1/22/towson-mens-basketball-plays-first-caa-road-games-at-defending-league-champion-hofstra.aspx

I see what you're saying because Big Al only played about 15 minutes per game. They are using Victor sort of like that. This was based on winning two straight games with the same lineup and my guess is it's more superstitious than anything. Some of this was based on Gibson coming off the bench due to his back injury as well, but he's playing starter's minutes now. And there's no reason to start the same lineup in the second half and then you yank them two minutes into the half. Thompson played 35 minutes in Game 2 vs UNCW so it didn't matter, but today they should have started him in the second half.

Postgame Quote: Towson head coach Pat Skerry: "The second half, we were beat on the backboards, and we settled for too many jump shots. Credit to Hofstra, they made a lot of shots from three. Normally one of our trademarks is that we control both backboards, and we didn't do that. We need to do a better job on Rey and Coburn as well as on the glass."

I actually don't think we got any good looks in the second half against their zone. I know, we went 1 for 8, but I don't remember many good looks. For whatever reason, Zane and others refused to make the extra pass and they just settled for that mid-range jumper in the middle of the zone. But other than Gibson, they have no reliable or consistent 3-point shooters. The zone press helped us get back in the game. We seem to only use it when we're down double digits. May not be a bad idea to use it when Mims comes in so we can get a few turnovers. Their zone also took away Solly and Thompson for the most part in the paint. That and Kante. Not sure why we didn't take advantage of the 7 minutes that he didn't play. Just pound it inside or at least try. If you get those guys to score 10-12ppg, it opens up for the guards.

Apppreciate it.

71-58 final. Hofstra dominated the second half. Still scratching my head at the starting lineup. They started out down 8-0 in the first half and down -6 in the second half with Victor, Solly, Allen, Zane and Timberlake. No reason for Gibson and Thompson not to start. But rebounding was horrendous. They were outrebounded 24-13 in the second half shot just 8 of 29 in the second half. Brutal on both ends. Couldn't stop Kante and even if he scored just 12 points, he had 12 rebounds. He dominated the paint and forced double teams leaving Camer (16pt, 4-53pt) and Ray (16pts) wide open. Hofstra shot 44% (12-25) from beyond the arc. That's been a theme at this time of the year at 2-2 in the CAA and 3-6 overall. It's not becoming a small sample size anymore.

They start back up in 2022 so I guess that could be an option

Since the 2020 class is nearly over and the rest will probably be transfers, let's talk about the 2021 class in terms of offers and hopefully commits by the summer. Not sure he was offered but he did visit Delaware so there is obviously some interest.

https://www.hudl.com/video/3/9572894/5dde59862aa6b005ecf19183 https://247sports.com/player/shafeek-smith-46055195/