MBB falls to #26 Charleston in OT 76-74

[mat1992 2,236]

https://towsontigers.com/news/2022/12/31/mens-basketball-towson-battles-to-force-overtime-falls-76-74-against-charleston.asp

 

Good, bad and ugly.

Yes, they showed some heart by coming back and sending it to overtime. If Charles Thompson makes both FTs, we're not talking about a loss. But good teams find ways to win on off days and struggling teams don't know how to finish.

The Good: Crowd. Give marketing credit for getting 2,472 on a New Year's Eve day in the fog. They really helped the team through that comeback. Even if you just get crowds of over 2,000 without students, that's a big boost.

Christian May. Had a near one-handed flying slam dunk and had two big threes in that comeback.

Bad: Awful start allowing the Cougars to make their first six shots. Didn't see the effort or intensity either on the boards or on 50-50 balls in the first half. For some reason, maybe because they started to believe in themselves, they started hustling.

Rebounding? Not surprising that they got outrebounded by the best team in the conference who is a very good rebounding team. But they are not as huge as last season and went with some smaller lineups. Cam Holden (6-5, 200) often gets exploited because of his lack of size on the boards. Yet, there's no excuse for the guards and wings to not help out on the boards. Russell, who averaged around 6 rebounds last season had just 3 boards and Hicks, Conway and Timberlake combined for 3 rebounds, which is really bad for a 45-minute game.

Didn't get the last lineup with Russell on offense instead of Conway. I want to win the game and not go to second overtime by adding another 3-point shooter.

Ugly: Turnovers. You can say both teams, but if you force 24 turnovers you need to win the game. The major issue with the team right now is that they have turned it over 18 or more times in four straight games and partially explains the five-game losing streak.

Missed layups. By CT off a pass from May down that he laid up with his left instead of dunking it and a Cam miss on a fastbreak attempt.

Leadership? I'll leave the one alone.

Point guard? That also explains the turnovers, but also the ball movement. There was none in the first half, hence the two assists. But if you watch most of Charleston's guards, they know how to penetrate and kick. 

 

[TigerFan54 102]

I put this in another thread when I didn't see a postgame piece, but it probably best belongs here, so I'm pasting it below:

 

That was quite an amazing comeback, given how poorly we played in the first half. Also, the crowd was into the game -- that's the loudest I've heard it in quite a while.

Still, our weaknesses -- on the player level and coaching -- are just so glaring that it's hard to see us putting it all together this year. Among them:

-- We can't run a set play to save ourselves. (Exhibit A: the last 13.5 seconds of OT)

-- We too often can't finish near the basket, ESPECIALLY on fast breaks. (Christian May, just lay the ball in; forget the dunk.)

-- Cam tries to do too much, to the team's detriment. Yes, a lot is expected of him, but he had a string of turnovers on consecutive possessions in both halves. Bad decisions, bad passes, poor shots. And his frustration level is mounting -- he practically threw Conway into position midway through the second half when Charleston was bringing the ball up-court.

--Hicks gives us next to nothing. And why did he twice back into the lane like he's CT, resulting in turnovers both time.

-- Nick was no-show throughout the first half. Yes, he was being guarded closely, but too often he just wasn't moving without the ball.

-- And Skerry ... there's not much I can say that hasn't been uttered many times on this board, but here's one example that illustrates his "curious" substitution approach: late in the first half, Russell made several strong defensive plays, then scored at the other end ... and Pat pulls him! Why not ride the hot hand, coach?

 

•  

[mat1992 2,236]

2 minutes ago, TigerFan54 said:

I put this in another thread when I didn't see a postgame piece, but it probably best belongs here, so I'm pasting it below:

 

That was quite an amazing comeback, given how poorly we played in the first half. Also, the crowd was into the game -- that's the loudest I've heard it in quite a while.

Still, our weaknesses -- on the player level and coaching -- are just so glaring that it's hard to see us putting it all together this year. Among them:

-- We can't run a set play to save ourselves. (Exhibit A: the last 13.5 seconds of OT)

-- We too often can't finish near the basket, ESPECIALLY on fast breaks. (Christian May, just lay the ball in; forget the dunk.)

-- Cam tries to do too much, to the team's detriment. Yes, a lot is expected of him, but he had a string of turnovers on consecutive possessions in both halves. Bad decisions, bad passes, poor shots. And his frustration level is mounting -- he practically threw Conway into position midway through the second half when Charleston was bringing the ball up-court.

--Hicks gives us next to nothing. And why did he twice back into the lane like he's CT, resulting in turnovers both time.

-- Nick was no-show throughout the first half. Yes, he was being guarded closely, but too often he just wasn't moving without the ball.

-- And Skerry ... there's not much I can say that hasn't been uttered many times on this board, but here's one example that illustrates his "curious" substitution approach: late in the first half, Russell made several strong defensive plays, then scored at the other end ... and Pat pulls him! Why not ride the hot hand, coach?

 

•  
•  

I'm absolutely fine with May trying to dunk that ball because he got fouled and made both. Is he a good enough finisher around the rim? It's a very small sample size, but he tried some ridiculous circus shot that missed. That type of play pumps the team up and the fans so if you got the hops, use them. I'm more concerned that he had one rebound in 24 minutes.

[TigerFan54 102]

One other thought: How did the refs not call traveling when a CofC guard took FOUR steps without a dribble into the lane when we were down by three with about six minutes to play in regulation? A foul was called (on us, of course) and Skerry instantly ran far onto the court, exuberantly expressing his disbelief. The old lament of "ARE YOU BLIND, REF?!" was front of mind for just about everyone in the crowd not wearing red (or black-and-white stripes).

[TuTigers2012 1,071]

18 minutes ago, mat1992 said:

https://towsontigers.com/news/2022/12/31/mens-basketball-towson-battles-to-force-overtime-falls-76-74-against-charleston.asp

 

Good, bad and ugly.

Yes, they showed some heart by coming back and sending it to overtime. If Charles Thompson makes both FTs, we're not talking about a loss. But good teams find ways to win on off days and struggling teams don't know how to finish.

The Good: Crowd. Give marketing credit for getting 2,472 on a New Year's Eve day in the fog. They really helped the team through that comeback. Even if you just get crowds of over 2,000 without students, that's a big bost.

Christian May. Had a near one-handed flying slam dunk and had two big threes in that comeback.

Bad: Awful start allowing the Cougars to make their first six shots. Didn't see the effort or intensity either on the boards or on 50-50 balls in the first half. For some reason, maybe because they started to believe in themselves, they started hustling.

Didn't get the last lineup with Russell on offense instead of Conway. I want to win the game and not go to second overtime by adding another 3-point shooter.

Ugly: Turnovers. You can say both teams, but if you force 24 turnovers you need to win the game. The major issue with the team right now is that they have turned it over 18 or more times in four straight games and partially explains the five-game losing streak.

Missed layups. By CT off a pass from May down that he laid up with his left instead of dunking it and a Cam miss on a fastbreak attempt.

Leadership? I'll leave the one alone.

Point guard? That also explains the turnovers, but also the ball movement. There was none in the first half, hence the two assists. But if you watch most of Charleston's guards, they know how to penetrate and kick. 

 

Might be the first time we agree. Would just add cam, Nick and Charles need to be better players and leaders. They aren’t anywhere close to what they were last year. Seasons flying by. Pleas stand up.
Also the really bad rebounding. We have been horrific rebounding this year. 60 offense rebounds allowed the last 5 games. Again looking at you seniors.
 

maybe this was finally (doubtful) the wake-up call they needed.

7 minutes ago, TigerFan54 said:

I put this in another thread when I didn't see a postgame piece, but it probably best belongs here, so I'm pasting it below:

 

That was quite an amazing comeback, given how poorly we played in the first half. Also, the crowd was into the game -- that's the loudest I've heard it in quite a while.

Still, our weaknesses -- on the player level and coaching -- are just so glaring that it's hard to see us putting it all together this year. Among them:

-- We can't run a set play to save ourselves. (Exhibit A: the last 13.5 seconds of OT)

-- We too often can't finish near the basket, ESPECIALLY on fast breaks. (Christian May, just lay the ball in; forget the dunk.)

-- Cam tries to do too much, to the team's detriment. Yes, a lot is expected of him, but he had a string of turnovers on consecutive possessions in both halves. Bad decisions, bad passes, poor shots. And his frustration level is mounting -- he practically threw Conway into position midway through the second half when Charleston was bringing the ball up-court.

--Hicks gives us next to nothing. And why did he twice back into the lane like he's CT, resulting in turnovers both time.

-- Nick was no-show throughout the first half. Yes, he was being guarded closely, but too often he just wasn't moving without the ball.

-- And Skerry ... there's not much I can say that hasn't been uttered many times on this board, but here's one example that illustrates his "curious" substitution approach: late in the first half, Russell made several strong defensive plays, then scored at the other end ... and Pat pulls him! Why not ride the hot hand, coach?

 

•  
•  

We run awful sets. Never score out of time outs.  Inbounding is a nightmare. That’s on coaching. Having a stale staff like we do, causes that. 
skerry is a poor coach. Year in year out this comes to Fruition.  He’s out coached by almost everyone. 
 

what happened late in the game with the stoppage and shove?  Refs totally blew this game. Also Missed a moving screen on the 3 to give them the lead late 

[mat1992 2,236]

Comments after the game

PS

"Credit to Charleston. They are a top-25 team. That was a hard-fought game. Thought we played really hard. I have to look at the tape. We still have room to grow. We had a lot of turnovers and are not able to get under control yet. We have to finish better around the rim. That's a team that wasn't holding teams to a low % defensively. When we look at the film, we're going to kick ourselves for not making enough shots in the paint. They are good. Hopefully we can progress. We had some practices this past week, We need those. Game 1 of CAA basketball."

On replay at the end of regulation

"They said they couldn't see, different angles. Our guys on the staff said that one of our guys got pushed. I don't know. I know right before that we did not trail a flare re-screen that we had covered three times in a walk-through with a veteran guy. The kid makes a tough 3. Those are the things we have to be a little bit better than that."

On playing without Jason

"We haven't had Jason for awhile. We don't know if we'll have him. That's an excuse. We're capable of playing better. We had four good days of practice. The difference between in our team last year and this year is that we're not taking care of the ball. Last year we were top 12 in live-ball turnovers. Jason had a lot to do with it. We're playing through guys that are good players, but we can't commit live ball turnovers, leaving our feet, putting the ball over our head. They did a good job of locking onto Nic in the first half and we did a better job of getting him shots in the second half. If you're a good player and you have the ball, you are still responsible for the ball. Our ball security is not where it needs to be."

We missed two back-to-back layups in the open court. We're not trying to miss those. We did and we're better than that. They are a team that doesn't take care of the ball the way they'd like. Until we figure that out (turnovers), love the effort and great environment. We're capable of playing so much better. Charleston is terrific.

On the difference in first and second half

"Hyped up a bit. We were late on a couple of closeouts. I thought the ball moved better in the second half. Ryan had a decent spurt. Has to take care of the basketball. Hard to win when you throw it to the other team, it's hard to stop them in any sport with a ball."

"We've had a lot of travel. We had more pratices this week since the season has started. You still have to play 18 games. I like the fight against a very good team, but we have a lot of work to do."

On Christian May

"He's strong. I thought he came out of his shell today. He can shoot. Nygal Russell has been good. Nic, is talented, has to play at a much more consistent level. Nic and Cam have to play at a really high level and that means defensively and ball security. That was a big boy game today and it showed. We didn't do a good enough job on the backboards. "

On losing streak

"I like our effort and talent. We're just not there. If we stay connected, we can get there. We have to practice and get better. We don't have classes so we have a lot of time to get better. Great crowd and good opponent. Will we have the same intensity next Thursday."

[mat1992 2,236]

10 minutes ago, TigerFan54 said:

One other thought: How did the refs not call traveling when a CofC guard took FOUR steps without a dribble into the lane when we were down by three with about six minutes to play in regulation? A foul was called (on us, of course) and Skerry instantly ran far onto the court, exuberantly expressing his disbelief. The old lament of "ARE YOU BLIND, REF?!" was front of mind for just about everyone in the crowd not wearing red (or black-and-white stripes).

There were at least two walks missed but we got a few calls as well. It evened out. 

[mat1992 2,236]

 

[TuTigers2012 1,071]

42 minutes ago, mat1992 said:

Comments after the game

PS

"Credit to Charleston. They are a top-25 team. That was a hard-fought game. Thought we played really hard. I have to look at the tape. We still have room to grow. We had a lot of turnovers and are not able to get under control yet. We have to finish better around the rim. That's a team that wasn't holding teams to a low % defensively. When we look at the film, we're going to kick ourselves for not making enough shots in the paint. They are good. Hopefully we can progress. We had some practices this past week, We need those. Game 1 of CAA basketball."

On replay at the end of regulation

"They said they couldn't see, different angles. Our guys on the staff said that one of our guys got pushed. I don't know. I know right before that we did not trail a flare re-screen that we had covered three times in a walk-through with a veteran guy. The kid makes a tough 3. Those are the things we have to be a little bit better than that."

On playing without Jason

"We haven't had Jason for awhile. We don't know if we'll have him. That's an excuse. We're capable of playing better. We had four good days of practice. The difference between in our team last year and this year is that we're not taking care of the ball. Last year we were top 12 in live-ball turnovers. Jason had a lot to do with it. We're playing through guys that are good players, but we can't commit live ball turnovers, leaving our feet, putting the ball over our head. They did a good job of locking onto Nic in the first half and we did a better job of getting him shots in the second half. If you're a good player and you have the ball, you are still responsible for the ball. Our ball security is not where it needs to be."

We missed two back-to-back layups in the open court. We're not trying to miss those. We did and we're better than that. They are a team that doesn't take care of the ball the way they'd like. Until we figure that out (turnovers), love the effort and great environment. We're capable of playing so much better. Charleston is terrific.

On the difference in first and second half

"Hyped up a bit. We were late on a couple of closeouts. I thought the ball moved better in the second half. Ryan had a decent spurt. Has to take care of the basketball. Hard to win when you throw it to the other team, it's hard to stop them in any sport with a ball."

"We've had a lot of travel. We had more pratices this week since the season has started. You still have to play 18 games. I like the fight against a very good team, but we have a lot of work to do."

On Christian May

"He's strong. I thought he came out of his shell today. He can shoot. Nygal Russell has been good. Nic, is talented, has to play at a much more consistent level. Nic and Cam have to play at a really high level and that means defensively and ball security. That was a big boy game today and it showed. We didn't do a good enough job on the backboards. "

On losing streak

"I like our effort and talent. We're just not there. If we stay connected, we can get there. We have to practice and get better. We don't have classes so we have a lot of time to get better. Great crowd and good opponent. Will we have the same intensity next Thursday."

He likes the effort and talent so the issue is strategy/coaching ??

travel blah blah blah. He put together the schedule. We were tired and had a longer break.  That break showed early on as we weren’t ready to play and they were.  
since it seems we aren’t going anywhere really, let’s see more of the freshen who can actually shoot a bit

[Bay Area Tiger 347]

Knowing what we had coming back and I’m sure he tried but we should have brought in another PG guard for this season knowing Gibson had back issues and Hicks still very young etc.  

Here’s hoping we can build on this second half effort and make a run.  
 

We should have come out of the gates blazing today….  Home game against a Top 25 caliber opponent.  
 

May was a PTP to open up conference play.   More minutes please.  
 

On to Drexel who shot 1-13 from 3 and 15-24 from the charity stripe today but out rebounded Mary 41-27

It is a must win come Thursday!