Drexel upends MBB 73-66 in overtime

[mat1992 2,231]

https://towsontigers.com/news/2023/2/11/mens-basketball-mens-basketball-forces-overtime-falls-73-66-at-drexel.aspx

Despite missing two of their three top scorers in Justin Moore and Coletrane Washington, Drexel was able to upset Towson 73-66 in overtime thanks to 19 points and 12 rebounds from Lamar Oden Jr. and 18 points from Luke House. Yame Butler added 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Big man Amari Williams was held to 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting, but he had 10 rebounds, four assists and for huge blocks. One of those blocks came late in regulation when Cam Holden drove the lane to keep the game tied.

Towson had several chances to win this game late in regulation and in overtime. They had a four-point lead in overtime but Charles Thompson fouled Oden Jr. on an attempted dunk. He made both free throws to cut the lead to two and the Dragons made every necessary free throw going 20 of 21 (95.2%). They also shot 45.3% from the field and outrebounded the Tigers 36-27. 

Rebounding, free throw shooting (13-of-19), defense, fouling, and situational play were all poor for the Tigers, who fell to 9-4 in the league, while Drexel improved to 9-5. Towson will face William & Mary on Monday night on the road. 

Cam Holden led the Tigers with 25 points.

Some quotes from Skerry after the game on TSN

 
"I think the reason the pace didn't get going, our defensive rebounding % is going to be poor. Mid to high 50s and we want to be 70% or better. We foul late in the clock. On cuts. The tougher team won today. We got outrebounded and out toughed mentailly. Had some guys play well.

 
"Fought back. Everyone is trying. A couple of guys have to play better. It wasn't their day today (Russell? CT? Timberlake?)"

"Our defense isn't where it needs to be esp. on nights when we're not shooting it well."

"If we're just going to rely on making 3s, that's not a good recipe'. We've been heartbreak city in our losses."

On being 9-4
"We have higher goals."

"Need to be tougher. Disappointed in that. Trying to review time and score situations. When to foul, when not to foul.
Just didn't do a good enough job in that. What guys will quickly turn the page and figure out how to get a win on Monday?"

[mat1992 2,231]

Rough loss meaning that Monday's game is a must-win. Rough game for Nygal Russell on both ends. He couldn't slow down Butler, missed a 3 in the corner and took a hook shot that hit nothing but air. I get that his offense is going to be hit-or-miss, but his defense and rebounding hasn't been there lately. In fact, he's only averaging 4.5 rebounds per game compared to last season, he was averaging over 6 at SE Missouri. In his last six games, he's shooting 10 for 38 from the field and  7 for 26 from 3pt. He's shooting 31.9% from three-point range, which is close to his average. But the decision-making and situational awareness, fouling when we didn't need a foul late in OT. 

Not going to blame one player. Because Nic struggled when he was face-guarded basically all day and he couldn't get separation. Sometimes, where there is a bigger and slower player on you, you have to try and shake him and attack the basket. His missed dunk though was just huge. Still such a game-changer.

Charles had 14 points and 8 rebounds today, but wasn't always cleaning the defensive glass. He had five offensive rebounds and just three defensive rebounds. If you are going to push the ball against a very slow and methodical team, you have to defensive rebound and we didn't today. Liked the pressure in the second half. Though maybe we should have taken off the pressure once we had that 4-point lead. There was no need at the time. We're better using it when we're behind or if it is forcing a lot of turnovers. We did force 18 and they committed nine without pressure in the first half.

[TSU88 1,070]

5 conference games left-W&M, C of C & UNCW on the road; DE & NCA&T at home. I guess if you’re a complete cockeyed optimist, you might think we’ll go 4-1. If you’re a complete pessimist, 1-4. The reality is probably somewhere in between, say 2-3 or 3-2. It’s not unrealistic (unfortunately) to think we’ll fall out of the top 4. Before today’s debacle, I still had some semblance of hope we could run the table in the conference tournament. I no longer cling to that notion. If anyone honestly thinks our big 3 are going to all click during the same game 3 (or maybe now 4) games in a row, well, if you do, I have some prime beachfront property in Kansas I’d love to sell you. 

The players change over the years, and still we are incapable for the most part of winning close games. It’s just seemingly baked in. There is however one constant which I’ll leave for any readers of my rant to figure out who that is.
 

 

Edited February 11, 2023 by TSU88

[Blounge 520]

For a towson program that prides itself on toughness and rebounding we got manhandled. Our guys were pussyfooting around getting blocked by Williams time and time again. Mr. 30 point sharpshooter nick did not show today, instead we got the familiar pouty head case Nic. Missed a dunk, didn’t get a call on a foul and let that ruin his day. Conway’s regression hurts, I get he’s injured but somebody’s gotta give us some points outside of the big 3. Mays inability to play on the road doesn’t help our cause. Cam tried to play hero ball and it wasn’t enough. Needed somebody out there trying to Will us to victory. Charlie Thompson was not himself today, not sure what his deal was (maybe the boys ate Philly cheesesteaks in the locker room and came out there fat and sluggish?) 

this team when firing on all cylinders can hang with anyone in the league, but when that’s not the case we can get punk’d by just about anyone in the league. Consistently inconsistent under Skerry. 
 

hope we can get lucky is basically our strategy for the rest of the season

[TSU88 1,070]

In fairness to the “big 3,” there’s a disturbing trend amongst the supporting cast the last 6 games:

Russell 5.5ppg in the last 6 games;

May 5.5 ppg in the last 6 games;

Sylla 4.6ppg in the last 6 games;

Conway 4 ppg in the last 6 games (Conway has either lost confidence in his shot and/or he’s injured just badly enough that he can play, but not effectively).

If all these guys are going to collectively only score 20 ppg, that means CT, NT and Holden have to each average 17ppg just for us to hit 70 points for the game. On some nights (where NT has an outlier 30 point game) we can get away with this, but thats the exception, not the rule. 

 

 

 

[Tgr4life 167]

The three players that are referred to as The Big 3 are, in my opinion, pretty good players at this level. The Big Three should mean players that they continually dominate games. That does not happen. All in all, this team is above average, but certainly not the one we read about before the season started. They are capable of winning a tournament because the conference is so weak. It is hard to win when you really don't know who is going to show up on any given night. 

[TSU88 1,070]

3 minutes ago, Tgr4life said:

The three players that are referred to as The Big 3 are, in my opinion, pretty good players at this level. The Big Three should mean players that they continually dominate games. That does not happen. All in all, this team is above average, but certainly not the one we read about before the season started. They are capable of winning a tournament because the conference is so weak. It is hard to win when you really don't know who is going to show up on any given night. 

Your point is well taken. They’re our “big 3.” NT is maddeningly inconsistent; CT occasionally has “wow” games, but unfortunately has some “meh” games, like today. Holden is the best of the bunch (leads team in assists, 2nd in scoring and 2nd in rebounding) but with him you have to live with the turnovers and the poor foul shooting. Given the lack of support from the surrounding players, I don’t see this as a recipe for winning 3-4 games in the conference tournament 

[mat1992 2,231]

Not sure I'd call those guys a "Big 3., Charleston doesn't have that and Hofstra has a "Big 2". What those other teams have, including Drexel, are other players who are capable of having big games every now and then when you need them. Timberlake is not a consistent scorer, but he's the best we have. Every opponent knows that so if a Hofstra or W&M doesn't pay enough attention to him, he's going to go off. If they double CT or Holden down low, he's going to get good looks. Drexel doesn't need to double the post with Williams down low so offensively they need to find other ways to score. We don't have that guy that can get those mid-range shots (some night NT can) or drives to the basket. Last year, we had Gibson (9.8ppg) who could step in and give you 15 points when Timberlake was off. Terry Nolan, with all his physical issues, averaged 9.7ppg and nearly 4apg. Rizzuto averaged 7.4ppg as a 3 man and played solid D. Gray averaged 6.3 ppg and 4.0 rpg off the bench. 

You had the "others" like Gibson, Gray, Rizzuto and Nolan who even if they weren't big scorers, could on occasion, put up double digits and that's what we're missing. They also added more size, esp. Nolan at the 1 at 6-4 and Gray at 6-8 combo forward. To win games against average to good competition, we need Cam, Nick and CT to produce at least 45 points combined and 20+ rebounds to beat good teams. They aren't going to get much help from May, Sylla, Russell, Conway and Hicks offensively. Those guys can do some good things, esp. May and Hicks, but Conway is struggling right now and Sylla just doesn't match up at 6.4ish against bigger frontcourts. Bottom line is there is more pressure on those guys to produce and while we haven't really seen any great games from all 3 this season, it's not likely to happen in three or four straight games in D.C. If you don't get production from the "others", we're not going anywhere.

The numbers are similar though considering Russell is averaging 7.7 ppg and 4.5rpg, but he's shooting just 37.7% from the field and 31.9% from beyond the arc. Rizzuto was around 35.5% from three-point range. His defense was pretty solid last season and in some ways, even after the knee issue, he was the better athlete. Conway is averaging more than Hicks, but he's limited defensively and is more scorer than passer. Sylla is averaging 5.9ppg and 4.7rpg on 45.5% shooting overall. Not bad but it seems like he gives you 8-10 points against subpar teams. In the last two games, he's giving us 0 points in just 10 minutes with three turnovers. Again, he's limited defensively and offensively, if he can't score down low, he hasn't shown much of a perimeter game.

Whatever happens this season, I'm thankful that these guys hung around and we're looking at a rare repeat of all three making all-conference again. I would assume Nick makes first-team again at 4th in the league in scoring, Cam while leading the league in assists or tied, but struggling with turnovers, 2nd team. CT likely third team and maybe all-defense. I think we never appreciate guys like these until they are gone. It would be nice if they had some help. And let's be honest, Charles was fantastic last season for a little over a month. Then he got hurt and we've never seen that player again. Sure, rebounding and defense have been there for the most part, but he's a limited offensive player. We keep feeding him like he's JB, but he's not, especially against quality bigs (and there are a couple in the league). Getting back to basics with Charles in terms of rolling to the basket on the PNR, but might be risky in terms of picking up a charge, but he's a layup/dunk guy. Not a great BTB guy. He's made good strides, but again, no JB or even close. With Cam, we needed his scoring today, but I know he's capable of getting 6-7 dimes per game. Same with Hicks. I don't mind him shooting that floater or getting to the basket more (he never gets to the line), but also feed guys that open.

[Bay Area Tiger 347]

Missed today’s game but glanced at live stats when I could.  
Monday a huge game now.  All hands on deck.  
i hope Conway can bounce back offensively and Russell plays like he’s capable of.  
All our eggs in one basket now as we all know if we don’t dance this season it could be another 3-4 more seasons of waiting. 

Monday Monday as the Mamas & Papas hum in my ear.   

[Moleman1 43]

So disappointing. All I can think (besides praying for this bunch to realize whatever potential they do have on "Monday, Monday", then same for the CAA Tourney games) is "what if"?.. 

 

What if Gibson HADN'T been injured? I mean, would his presence on-court been the difference maker to stretch opposing defenses, while spotting for Hicks and Conway + adding his roughly 10 points each game? Or was this season just over-hyped before it ever started? Or was it the loss of Nolan, Rizzuto, Gray & Parr that proved 2B too great to overcome? Probably some combination of the above. The next 6 games or so should unveil some answers, or verify answers already suspected.. 

It would be nice, indeed a welcomed change with Football, MBb or MLax - if (Lord PLEASE!) ONE of our top men's sports programs could excel some measure into post-season success.