MBB holds on to beat Penn 80-74

[mat1992 2,234]

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=427424

Towson has opened with a 3-0 record after beating Penn 80-74 from the Wolrd-Famous Palestra on Sunday afternoon.

Let's start with the recap.

Towson didn't play a great game by any means, but they played fantastic defense for about 31.5 minutes. With 10:28 left in the game, Towson took a 57-36 lead on a layup from Charles Thompson. Penn then went on an 11-0 run to cut the lead to 57-47 with 7:50 left. The Tigers were able to hold on to the lead by making most of their foul shots and making just enough from the field.

Nicolas Timberlake had a fantastic game with 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting adding five rebounds, two steals and two blocks. Cam Holden added 17 points on 4-of-12 shooting, but also had five turnovers and just three rebounds. Charles Thompson contributed 14 points and 8 boards. 

The Tigers shot 44% from the field, 39% (9-23) from 3-point range and 23 of 32 from the line (72%).

Skerry after the game on TSN:

"I just told them that (that they played around 35 really good minute). Penn is picked to win their league. Things we need to clean up the last five minutes. They fought back and hit some tough shots.

"It happens late. To the casual observer, the fact that they came back, there is no respect for them. They played Missouri to the wire."

"They made some shots and our defense let us down late. Hicks did a nice job for us 3 assists no turnovers. Not bad from the line. Timberlake is playing at a high level."

 
"Charles stayed out of foul trouble. CB (Biekeu) is really good. We have some things we have to clean up and we will. If we were complete right now...we're not. Two tough road wins. We led for 37 minutes. Our guys really want to be good. Guys are perfectionists. This is hard. Hard to win games on the road. Let's enjoy it.
Try to figure some things out. This group wants to be really good. Will be at some point."

 
"Everyone else that supports our program wants us to be very good and it's a process."

[mat1992 2,234]

So, we are 3-0 and I think the rotation still needs to be cleaned up. Hicks was much better in his hometown with 3 assists and no turnovers. It would be nice if he could make a 3 every now and then. But as long he takes care of the ball and plays D, it's fine. Was a little worried about Jason Gibson's back after that play where he dove on the floor and started holding his back. He had a solid game with 11 points in 25 minutes. Would be nice if they can get more from Sekou Sylla who isn't stretching the defense with his shooting and then is struggling to score against bigger players. 

We can be super critical about everything but I'll take 3-0 for a team that hasn't really played a complete game yet on both ends. That I'm not worried about. Would still like to see a Conway or a May for a few minutes.

This is a good basketball team and now many of us are expecting greatness. Just want to cut the nets down in March. Might need to be great to get there.

[TUTigers 119]

At least they were clutch with the free throws. Good win. 

[TuTigers2012 1,063]

Ugly game once again.  Playing with fire we will get burnt soon. 
3 of the caa 7 wins so far. 7-14 as a conference (unless wm wakes up and stuns Va tech). There’s a top half that’s good and a bottom half that’s beyond awful, especially since we have added anyone s d everyone (stony Monmouth Hampton and nec a and t). We were here a few years ago but this is an unbalanced league. 
 

can we get depose, smarter, Better offensively?  Can’t lean on the press clippings to help us. We have been To busy  looking at how great people think we are than actually doing it.  32, 55 where are you?!?

[TuTigers2012 1,063]

7 minutes ago, mat1992 said:

So, we are 3-0 and I think the rotation still needs to be cleaned up. Hicks was much better in his hometown with 3 assists and no turnovers. It would be nice if he could make a 3 every now and then. But as long he takes care of the ball and plays D, it's fine. Was a little worried about Jason Gibson's back after that play where he dove on the floor and started holding his back. He had a solid game with 11 points in 25 minutes. Would be nice if they can get more from Sekou Sylla who isn't stretching the defense with his shooting and then is struggling to score against bigger players. 

We can be super critical about everything but I'll take 3-0 for a team that hasn't really played a complete game yet on both ends. That I'm not worried about. Would still like to see a Conway or a May for a few minutes

3-0 is nice especially since we have played awful. But 3 games in and still playing poorly is a point of concern 

[TSU88 1,073]

5 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

3-0 is nice especially since we have played awful. But 3 games in and still playing poorly is a point of concern 

I’d like to look at it as we’re  a work in progress and certainly don’t want to peak too soon. No doubt there’s room for improvement, but I’ll take 3-0, with 2 W’s on the road. Vexed/disappointed that Conway is MIA. The pessimist in me is concerned he may turn out to be a ballyhooed lost cause, but too early of course to make that conclusion. I guess my other concern is Sylla, who’s production has decreased in each game. As Mat has pointed out, he’s not athletic enough to score from the perimeter and he’s far too small to be a consistent inside scorer. I’m thinking his ceiling is a season average of around 7ppg. But we don’t need him to score 20ppg. Nice to see Biekeu making some contributions, and Hicks as well. On to Greensboro 

[mat1992 2,234]

11 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

3-0 is nice especially since we have played awful. But 3 games in and still playing poorly is a point of concern 

Awful is a stretch. We played well for about 30 minutes today on the road against a pretty good Ivy League team with a great player in Dingle. I don't have expectations of playing a perfect game on the road in a 125-year old arena. Just win, get better and improve the rotation.

[mat1992 2,234]

2 minutes ago, TSU88 said:

I’d like to look at it as we’re  a work in progress and certainly don’t want to peak too soon. No doubt there’s room for improvement, but I’ll take 3-0, with 2 W’s on the road. Vexed/disappointed that Conway is MIA. The pessimist in me is concerned he may turn out to be a ballyhooed lost cause, but too early of course to make that conclusion. I guess my other concern is Sylla, who’s production has decreased in each game. As Mat has pointed out, he’s not athletic enough to score from the perimeter and he’s far too small to be a consistent inside scorer. I’m thinking his ceiling is a season average of around 7ppg. But we don’t need him to score 20ppg. Nice to see Biekeu making some contributions, and Hicks as well. On to Greensboro 

Conway got in today! I'd like to see him play minutes in a real game before judging him.

[mat1992 2,234]

We've played "poorly" or "awful" in recent years and have gotten our asses kicked. This is a good team with flaws and should get better assuming some of the "others" like Russell (1 for 7 today), Sylla and Conway contribute in some way. Russell was really good defensively in the first half and while Dingle went off in the second half, I don't think many of those baskets came against him.

[TSU88 1,073]

6 minutes ago, mat1992 said:

Conway got in today! I'd like to see him play minutes in a real game before judging him.

Of course. It’s not, in my mind, a question of judging him. Indeed, that’s the crux of my concern-that Skerry, for reasons that may be perfectly legitimate from his perspective, isn’t going to give him any real minutes 

Edited November 13, 2022 by TSU88