MBB tames UNCG 74-64

[mat1992 2,231]

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=370331

https://towsontigers.com/news/2021/12/14/towson-mens-basketball-knocks-off-defending-socon-champion-uncg.aspx

Senior guard Terry Nolan scored 19 points and seven assists to lead a balanced Towson attack in a 74-64 home win over UNCG at SECU Arena on Tuesday night. Nicolas Timberlake added 14 points and four assists, while Charles Thompson chipped in with 11. The Tigers led from pretty much start to finish and were never really in trouble until the final 30 seconds when they gave up two straight three pointers from the Spartans' De'Monte Buckingham to cut the lead to eight. 

The Tigers shot 49% from the field and more importantly 56% from three-point range (10-18). The Towson defense was not spot-on all night as UNCW shot 52% from the field and made 6-of-10 of their three-pointers. But the difference was at the line, where Towson made 16-of-19 and UNCG converted 8 of 11. Towson struggled a bit with the press late in the game and turned the ball over 14 times. UNCG turned it over 16, including 11 in the first half. Towson also won the battle of the boards against a very good rebounding team 26-23.

[mat1992 2,231]

Comments from Terry Nolan on having the baby 

"Trying to get more rest but she (his child) dictates everything now. It's life. I love being a father. I love everything that comes with it. I'm not trying to let my outside life affect my basketball life. If I'm tired, I just have to push through it."

On start

"As the season goes on, we're jelling more. At the beginning of the season, we started a bit slow. Now, we're starting faster and finding our rhythm."

"We're just hitting shots now. In the summer, we did the same thing. We're not doing much differently, We're just hitting shots."

"The guys we have, if I'm not having a good night, Cam can step up, Antonio can step up. Gibby. We have a lot of pieces."

Continuity

"That Vegas trip was a little rough. We were down three guys. Now everyone is back and healthy. We're definitely catching our stride going into conference play."

"Coach Skerry stressed that the ball has to move. That has to be something that defines us. When we're swinging the ball left and right, we're tough to stop. We're just going to keep sharing the ball. We believe that everyone is capable of making shots. We just have to put them in position to score."

[RundaPower 153]

Cam Holden has been sick since since the Kent State game and Still gives you 10 rebounds!  He’s makes everyone else on this team better.

Edited December 15, 2021 by RundaPower

[mat1992 2,231]

CT on post play

"We always try and play the bigger guys up the line so they don't get the ball. Object is to get them as far away from the basket as possible."

On the boards

"I don't get a lot of rebounds. Cam got like 10. I cancel out the bigger dude and let other guards get the ball. If it's in my area, I grab it."

On playing with so many shooters

"It stretches the floor out. They take threes and there are long rebounds. I don't have to do much work."

"We play well with each other. Our chemistry is up right now. We get offense from our defense, We get turnovers. We get fastbreaks. We get defensive rebounds and we're pushing it. We have a weird lineup. We have Cam at the 4 and he's not really a 4. I think a lot of teams are confused on how to guard us because we have so many weapons and we really share the ball."

On Ohio State loss.

"We were bound to have a good shooting night. Our coach always tell us we're a good shooting team. The last couple of games we're had good shooting nights. Good to see."

"It's encouraging to see that we can get the lead and we can keep it. There was one little segment in the last couple of minutes that it looked shaky, but we were still able to maintain the lead. We hope to do that more often going forward."

 

[mat1992 2,231]

Skerry opening comments

"That's a good team win. I have a lot of respect for (Coach) Mike Jones. I know how good Greensboro is. They've won 20 games five straight years. I tried to get (former Cal State Bakersfield forward De'Monte) Buckingham as a transfer. He's terrific. He liked Mike more than me. Most people probably like Mike more than me so I don't blame him for that.  This will be a good team win for us later on the year, I really believe that. We couldn't stop them, I don't know the defensive numbers other than the pressure. We really want people to watch our team and not just say we play hard, but that our ball movement defines us. That has been our focuses. Just really happy the way our guys share it. We have guys that can make shots. A couple of guys have been under the weather. Haven't been able to practice. Strapped it up and fought through it."

On getting the lead and holding onto it

"I told the team before the game that I read something from (Minnesota football coach) P.J. Fleck that said bad teams have no leaders. On good teams coaches lead; Great teams players lead. These guys have a mutual respect for each other. It's really their team. We're not really running nearly as much as we had in the past. We trust these guys with ball movement and spacing. It's a fun way to play. We've tried to make some changes on that side of the ball. Hopefully it will continue. There are a couple of games I'd like to have back. We played but we just didn't make shots. It's a long year.. but we're tired right now. It's good to get a couple of days off."

On playing in Ohio for two games

"We really played well against Kent State. I think at the end of the year, people will be surprised how good Penn is. San Francisco is an elite team. We went out there minus Gray, Rizzuto and Gibson. They are pretty good players. We hung in there without them and beat New Mexico. We've learned that it's a long season. You can have guys hurt or sick and somebody else has to step up. We didn't have Terry out at Kent State. He came in at around 2:30 for the Ohio State game and we hung in there. Cam Holden has been out the last couple of days. It was good to see him grind it out. These are really good guys and hope people will get behind them and support them."

On forcing turnovers

"Mike does a really good job with what they run, their spacing. They don't beat themselves. We felt like we had to be very aggressive in ball pressure, on hedges and close outs. I thought we did a good job with that. We did a good job defensively until the last couple of minutes. We needed that because they are a hard team to stop around the rim. They have a lot of guys that make layups. That doesn't happen a lot in college basketball. I told our guys that this was going to be a line of scrimmage game. They are going to go for it, a QB sneak on 4th and 1. Can you stop them? I thought we had a much better effort on the glass in the second half. They are the sixth-best rebounding team in the country. I was proud of guys' efforts on the backboards."

On passing

"We have all summer. We have guys that are good players. But the guys that came back: Gibson, Timberlake, Gray. Those guys had surgeries last season. They were playing hurt. They couldn't practice. They are good players and competitive. The transfers we added are good players and high character guys. I feel we have a couple of good freshmen. They have to stay with it. It's hard to get them on the floor right now."

On Juwan Gray

"I played him more the last couple of games and I should have played him more earlier in the season. That was my mistake. He came back 8 months after a ruptured Achilles' in practice. First game gets an infection. Another surgery to clean it out. We get him back. He's been great. Great guy. Great ambassador for the school."

Additional weight (10-15pds?)

"He's finishing better. He's being stronger with the ball. He's a really intelligent guy. Really good teammate."

On three-point shooting

"We have guys that can really shoot and it's a really good passing team. That's a credit to the guys. Two years ago, we had the second-best offensive efficiency in the CAA. But we weren't a heavy three-point shooting team. Last year, was a forgettable experience. We tried to adjust some things. We had a chance to re-evaluate things. We're going to take a lot of threes. I'm comfortable with taking a lot of threes. When the ball goes in the basket, it looks like you're coaching and we have some guys that can put the ball in the basket."

On playing Navy

"I have to watch tape. They are physical. They are going to hit you and pound you. Well-coached. A big game. Play early in the afternoon and these guys get to go home. These kids haven't been home in awhile. You don't get home a lot being a D-1 athlete. They look like the best team in their league along with Colgate."

On Nolan

"He has great energy every day. In practice. He's positive. Jason is positive. Cam and Nick argue with each other sometimes, but they are alpha dog mentalities. Charles is positive. Two weeks ago, we're getting ready to play a game. Usually these guys are watching movies where people are killing each other. These guys are watching Harry Potter. Different group of guys. Great guys.  Really good guys."

[mat1992 2,231]

Ok, good game tonight. Their press hurt us a bit at the end. Maybe it was our inbounding, which needs some work under our own basket. But there's nothing wrong with getting layups and dunks off the press instead of just waiting to get fouled. 

But other than a bad few minutes and some leaky defense, we were exceptional at moving the ball and draining threes. We didn't play perfect basketball, but we weren't playing Coppin. You could tell Cam has not been right the last few games and sometimes all that travel gets to players. Cam didn't have the same energy and he did not get to the line. He also didn't take one three-pointer tonight. Yes, PS admitted he was sick in the press conference.

I think people overrate the term this "team doesn't have an identity." But we knew what the identity of most of the teams in the last decade. Play hard. Go to the rim hard and get fouled. Rebound on both ends. Defend. 

This team is all about ball movement. When we don't move the ball, we won't win many games because we don't have a lot of guys that can create off the bounce and finish at the rim. We do have shooters. Rizzuto and Gibson should well over 40% from beyond the arc. Gibson is shooting an outrageous 46% (23-50) and it's not a small sample size, while AR is shooting 41%. Then you have Holden shooting 42% from the three-point line, a lot better than he did last season (25%) at UT Martin. Timberlake is at 38% from three-point range and to me, he's not what I'd call a pure shooter like Gibson, but he has become a really solid player. Sure, he'll have his 2-for-10 games, but he's rebounding (5rpg) and is passing better. He hasn't been turnover-prone and I know had two charges tonight. One came on a pass and another on a drive. I don't know if Timberlake is a second option or Nolan or Gibson or maybe we have no first option, but a lot of pretty good number twos.

Nolan is shooting just 25% from the three-point line, but you can see he's capable of putting the team on his shoulders sometimes when he gets hot. I'd prefer him to mix it up. Get some shots inside the arc, some in transition and some (open threes). When his shot selection is better, he shoots 6-for-12 like tonight and gets to the line six times.

I think the pleasant surprise has been Juwan Gray off the bench. He's about 10+ pounds heavier and he's finishing better. He's also made 5 of 12 from three-point range. He had five boards tonight against a very good rebounding team. If he can give you 7 and 5 off the bench in 15-20mpg, that's great for the team and the bench. Unfortunately for Radhir Hicks, they played just eight guys tonight which is fine. We're used to playing 9 and 10, but good teams play eight or even seven (Hofstra). I want Hicks to improve his offense because that defense will be needed at some point and he will get his turn along with Darrick Jones Jr. Unfortunately in this climate (COVID), if it's not injuries, it's something else and we will probably need those guys to play more than spot minutes in conference play.

[mat1992 2,231]

 

[Bay Area Tiger 347]

CT comment about Cam playing the 4 and confusing teams..  absolutely love that.  
 

And credit to PS..  he said weeks ago we will shoot better and he’s been spot on. 
 

We look so damn confident.  Again the pieces just fit together this season.   
 

We are a legit CAA contender!!!!

[TuTigers2012 1,061]

Good offensive game against a team that limits possessions and plays slow. Like NE. But they don’t take many threes abs are undersized but a very good rebounding team.

Defense needs to get alittle better but like mat said you trade shooting for stops and we are better at hitting shots right now, than probably anytime under skerry.  Uncg plays so slow and turns it over a ton which helped.  They had to have Atleast 12-14 dead ball turnovers where they threw it out of bounds or just traveled .

Really like gray and Gibson off the bench. Playing their roles and doing something different than most of the starters.

[Blounge 520]

Juwon Gray is a veteran leader and you can tell he has the team’s respect. He’s playing hard and confident off the injury. He’s a glue guy that can get the team a bucket when we need one. Gibson is shooting lights out. Terry continues to play with energy even though I’m sure he hasn’t slept in weeks. Timberlake shooting well from 3. Cam continues to contribute in whatever way he can and scoring cam should return after this break. Hope the team gets some much needed rest and recover and does well on their finals! I know club cook will be more packed than secu with all the students cramming lol the line for the Starbucks was out the door back when i was there in 2013