MBB falls at Clemson 80-75

[mat1992 2,237]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401482903

https://towsontigers.com/news/2022/12/7/mens-basketball-towson-hangs-tough-in-80-75-loss-at-clemson.aspx

Nicolas Timberlake scored 21 points and Cam Holden added 18 points, six rebounds, three steals, and five assists, but that was not enough as the Tigers fell at Clemson 80-75 on Wednesday night. Charles Thompson was held to 11 points and nine rebounds in just 21 minutes due to foul trouble. Yet, despite not having him Thompson for the last six minutes of the first half and more than half of the second half, Towson led most of the way. 

But Clemson's offense was too tough. They made 14 of 23 from three-point range (61%) and 54% of their shots overall. The Towson Tigers outrebounded the Tigers by three (36-33) and shot 42% from the field and 9-of-26 from 3-point range (35%). Towson falls to 8-2 on the season and will play Navy at home on Sunday afternoon.

Comments from PS on TSN after the game

  
"Clemson is good and well-coached. We didn't guard the 3-point line. In the guts of the game, we had some key defensive breakdowns. Had some bench guys in and they weren't ready for prime time. Charles needs to stop fouling. We're bummed out right now. That was a back and forth game.

 
"A couple of key errors defensively late.  (mentioning backups) Didn't come up with big blockouts. Walling out without fouling. "Charlie has to stay on the floor. We tried three different guys on Hall. Tried zone and that didn't work.  

 "Have to break down the film. Hoipefully get somebody back healthy."(Still ranting on performance staff).

[mat1992 2,237]

Have mixed feelings about this game because I didn't have a good feeling going into the game without Gibson and Hicks. Then we played probably our best 30+ minutes of the season. Losing Charles was devastating because you don't know what you're going to get from Paar or Biekeu and they gave some good minutes and well, some not so good. Skerry talked about the lack of blockouts in key situations when Charles was not on the floor. CT was a beast tonight with 9 rebounds in 21 minutes. If he plays his normal 30 or so minutes, I think Towson wins. But you can't pick up cheap, reach-in fouls. He's too important and yes, there's a drop-off after he leaves. Chase and CB can give you a decent 2-3 minutes here and there but if you leave them in for 8-10 minutes, well, we saw what happened.

Kudos to Timberlake for showing up big against a quality team. He was good tonight and Cam was Cam. There were about five plays (aside from Charles' fouling) that hurt us tonight. 1)Ryan Conway inbounding the ball after CT missed two FTs (also big). Throws it away after their flagrant foul that we score no points off of. 2)Conway, who played well at times tonight with 14 points and just 2 turnovers in 26 minutes. But those two turnovers were glaring. The other one came late with Towson down 3 and Ryan penetrates too deep on transition, looking for Nic cross court and charges into a Clemson opponent. 3)Christian May had two point blank layup attempts missed with under 6:00 left in the game. I have very high hopes for him and Conway but that was rough and this is where you needed a Sylla to step up. 4)Cam going up for the dunk instead of just laying it up or trying to draw the foul. It was late in the game and maybe his legs were gone. 5)Free throws are free. Cam, who terrific most of the night, misses two FT and then the front end of one. You can't beat good teams on the road missing FTs.

Biggest concerns right now are the health of the point guards Gibson and Hicks. The other is the terrible three-point defense. We were around 34% after this game and probably over 35% after Clemson made 60% of their shots. There are a million reasons why but guys are just leaving too many players open and not contesting enough shots. Screens, mismatches off of screens, getting sucked in the paint for help and then leaving guys open. Personally, the loss of Juwan Gray, a 6-8 long defender I think hurt the most. We have to overcome that. It's possible but we're not going to be a great defensive team against the 3 this season. I just hope we hold team to around 32% or less, which is soild. Hopefully 30% or less in conference play.

[TuTigers2012 1,071]

12 minutes ago, mat1992 said:

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401482903

Nicolas Timberlake scored 21 points and Cam Holden added 18 points, six rebounds, three steals, and five assists, but that was not enough as the Tigers fell at Clemson 80-75 on Wednesday night. Charles Thompson was held to 11 points and nine rebounds in just 21 minutes due to foul trouble. Yet, despite not having him Thompson for the last six minutes of the first half and more than half of the second half, Towson led most of the way. 

But Clemson's offense was too tough. They made 14 of 23 from three-point range (61%) and 54% of their shots overall. The Towson Tigers outrebounded the Tigers by three (36-33) and shot 42% from the field and 9-of-26 from 3-point range (35%). Towson falls to 8-2 on the season and will play Navy at home on Sunday afternoon.

Comments from PS on TSN after the game

  
"Clemson is good and well-coached. We didn't guard the 3-point line. In the guts of the game, we had some key defensive breakdowns. Had some bench guys in and they weren't ready for prime time. Charles needs to stop fouling. We're bummed out right now. That was a back and forth game.

 
"A couple of key errors defensively late.  (mentioning backups) Didn't come up with big blockouts. Walling out without fouling. "Charlie has to stay on the floor. We tried three different guys on Hall. Tried zone and that didn't work.  

 "Have to break down the film. Hoipefully get somebody back healthy."(Still ranting on performance staff).

Passing the buck? Sounds like a recent former tigers coach. Our bench doesn’t play. Feeding them to the wolves and calling them out? Come on. Blaming the performance staff, but you brought in two injury prone guards who miss always significant time or have various ailments. 
we don’t practice or play zone. So why do that against a good shooting team?? That’s on you pat. Not parr who has 15 minutes played all year or a career d2 player. 

missed fts and missed wide open layups along with awful defense lost the chance to beat a solid acc team.

[mat1992 2,237]

 

[mat1992 2,237]

 

[mat1992 2,237]

 

[tualum 108]

Performed better than expected. Kudos to the team for keeping it close and they looked competitive from the small pieces of the game seen on tv..

[AtlantaTiger 205]

I know that beating a team from the big, bad ACC would have been a feather in our cap and would have been a notable win on Skerry's resume but ultimately this game means absolutely nothing.  We could have beaten them by 20 and it would have made ZERO difference come March.  For all intents & purposes there's no difference if Towson plays Clemson or if Towson plays FDU, Holy Cross or Mercer as our entry into the NCAA Tournament isn't determined by strength of schedule or "quality wins" with no At-large bids in the CAA.  Please also note that I'm not throwing shade at any of those other schools I just mentioned as they've all had more success reaching the NCAA Tournament in recent years than our Skerry-led Tigers.  To scrutinize or agonize over an early season non-conference game seems like a waste of time.  It all boils down to 3 days in early March.

Just. Win. The. Conference. Tournament.

[Blounge 521]

I believe in our guys! Hung tough with a bigger team when we were playing bench guys getting their first minutes of the year. Gotta work on the free throws, gotta see more improvement outta the new guys. Should be back to our winning ways by Sunday

[mat1992 2,237]

34 minutes ago, AtlantaTiger said:

I know that beating a team from the big, bad ACC would have been a feather in our cap and would have been a notable win on Skerry's resume but ultimately this game means absolutely nothing.  We could have beaten them by 20 and it would have made ZERO difference come March.  For all intents & purposes there's no difference if Towson plays Clemson or if Towson plays FDU, Holy Cross or Mercer as our entry into the NCAA Tournament isn't determined by strength of schedule or "quality wins" with no At-large bids in the CAA.  Please also note that I'm not throwing shade at any of those other schools I just mentioned as they've all had more success reaching the NCAA Tournament in recent years than our Skerry-led Tigers.  To scrutinize or agonize over an early season non-conference game seems like a waste of time.  It all boils down to 3 days in early March.

Just. Win. The. Conference. Tournament.

Well our Net Rating would have gone sky high and what does that mean? A higher seed if you win the CAA Tournament and we basically had to go undefeated in non conference play and lose only a few games in conference to be considered for an at large. 
 

But I never understand all the BS about these games don’t matter. A win over an ACC school on the road would have gotten us huge publicity even if it’s just social media. Alums who don’t care would wake up and notice. Outside of winning a CAA Tournament this would have a big feather in our cap. Great for the conference as well.