MBB falls to Elon, 75-72

[mat1992 2,243]

http://towsontigers.com/news/2018/1/2/mens-basketball-towson-falls-short-at-elon.aspx

 

Steven Santa Ana scored 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting to lead Elon to a 75-72 win over Towson. The Tigers have now dropped four straight after winning 10 straight. Zane Martin led Towson with a career-high 27 points on 11-of -18 shooting (4-9 3pt). Eddie Keither added 10 points. Towson shot 50.8 percent from the floor and 8-of-22 from 3-point range. Elon shot 48.3 percent and 11-of-32 from 3-point range (34.4%). But they shot 69 percent from the field in the second half. Towson also had just nine assists and 15 turnovers.

The Tigers are back at home on Friday night against UNC Wilmington.

[mat1992 2,243]

Now to the analysis. This game goes on the defense first. They helped when they didn't need to help out Brian Dawkins, who just simply fed to some wide open player on the perimeter and they nailed an open 3. Worst defense they've played all year against a pretty slow team. This wasn't Oakland, however, Elon does have five returning starters and I picked them second ahead of Towson.

Now to Brian Starr, who was 1-of-8 from the field with three rebounds, no assists and one turnover. NO ASSISTS. I don't get it. The job of the point guard is to create for others. 

So finally back home after a month. Not sure what to think of this team. This wouldn't have as bad a loss if we had beaten Pitt and held onto that nine point lead.

But I'll say this again. We didn't replace John Davis or Moto. They were two guys that could score down low or get fouled. We don't have a post presence. Gorham feels more comfortable on the perimeter.

At least we played the best teams in the conference on the road. That's about the only positive other than Zane's 27 points. And yes, not sure why Starr takes the last two shots and Zane doesn't touch the ball. Zane did have five assists as well but also had four turnovers.

Kind of in a catch-22 with guys like Morman and Tunstall. They both are very useful defenders. When Morman puts the ball on the floor, something will happen and it's usually not a good thing. Yet he made his best pass of the night to Tunstall for an easy layup and he dropped the ball out of bounds.

We just don't make enough winning plays when it counts against good teams. Not talking UMBC or Morgan State. Charleston is a very good team and Elon might be a top 3-4 team. I had them second though their defense isn't that great.

[mat1992 2,243]

One piece of good news I heard Pat mention on the Press Box show this past Saturday was that John Davis signed a pro contract in Australia. Best news in a long time.

[TSU88 1,074]

I wonder if we have too many “athletes” & just not enough shooters.  I can’t quote chapter & verse on the stats during the 0-fer road trip, but Morsell couldn’t have averaged much, & he’s a senior & supposedly our 2nd best scoring option. 

Youre correct when you point out we simply have no inside scoring presence. When you couple that with a team that’s generally always struggled with 3-Point shooting & that’s not a good combo.

Season is far from over, but the giddiness of the 10-1 start is looking a bit more like fools gold. A successful home stand is imperative 

 

[TuTigers2012 1,071]

 Couldn’t defend and get back to back stops.  Don’t rebound well anymore. Can’t get to the line.  Bad play calling at the end. More blown leads. Starr’s been borderline awful recently

 

kmew the game was going to turn when we could have went up 12 with Zane shooting 3 fts and only got one

 

good news is that we played the best two teams in our conference already. Bad news is we get one again in 5 days and then Hofstra and wm. Protect the home court or we are looking at 1-5 Start again..

[TSU88 1,074]

In 30 minutes, Starr 1-8 from the floor with 0 assists. 

[mat1992 2,243]

2 minutes ago, TSU88 said:

I wonder if we have too many “athletes” & just not enough shooters.  I can’t quote chapter & verse on the stats during the 0-fer road trip, but Morsell couldn’t have averaged much, & he’s a senior & supposedly our 2nd best scoring option. 

Youre correct when you point out we simply have no inside scoring presence. When you couple that with a team that’s generally always struggled with 3-Point shooting & that’s not a good combo.

Season is far from over, but the giddiness of the 10-1 start is looking a bit more like fools gold. A successful home stand is imperative 

 

Morsell is more of a catch and shoot guy, but he's never ready to shoot when he's wide open or at least not always ready. I wouldn't put Mike in that athlete category. He has everything you want in a wing. He's 6-5 with a long reach, decent athlete and can shoot. He just can't handle the ball and that's the problem with our entire team. This is Pat's best shooting team. Ballzhandling. We shot 51 percent from the field so shooting wasn't our big issue. Defense was the bigger issue and ballhandling comes into play when you have 15 turnovers.

Now Morman is an athlete and not a great offensive player but an outstanding defender. You can say the same thing about Eddie. Ingram is a phenomenal athlete but doesn't play now. Jordan is a pretty good athlete. I wouldn't consider Starr a great athlete by any means. He doesn't have the speed to break down many guys. I'd just like to see him create for others. I'd like to have just one starting point guard that is unselfish.

[TSU88 1,074]

Winning can cover up a multitude of sins; losing exposes those sins. We’re getting poor PG play, our #2 scorer isn’t scoring, we’re getting next to nothing out of Thomas, we lack an inside scoring presence & rebounding, without the 14 boards a game that left with Moto & Davis, is no longer necessarily a game in, game out strength.  We’re going to have to be dominant at home going forward.

 

[mat1992 2,243]

21 minutes ago, TSU88 said:

Winning can cover up a multitude of sins; losing exposes those sins. We’re getting poor PG play, our #2 scorer isn’t scoring, we’re getting next to nothing out of Thomas, we lack an inside scoring presence & rebounding, without the 14 boards a game that left with Moto & Davis, is no longer necessarily a game in, game out strength.  We’re going to have to be dominant at home going forward.

 

1

What frustrates me more is that we should have beaten Elon and Pitt but really had no chance against Oakland and Charleston. Forget Oakland, but as for Charleston, we don't really have an answer for Brantley. EK is a little small against him but also has to guard the perimeter. The rebounding advantage is barely there. We still go to the offensive glass pretty well but we're not domianant. Also still not a fan of the Jamie Dixon hedging on the screens. When that big hedges, there's always a big on their team that flashes to the basket. We end up usually with a guard covering him. I also wondered if zone defense may have been used in the second half. I hate zone but maybe you matchup on Santa Ana. Just something different to confuse them for a few trips.

Gorham is getting better and better-offensively. His defense though leaves a lot to be desired. If you start him with EK, you lose a lot of size and defense but you gain offense. 

[mat1992 2,243]