MBB Dominates Delaware 95-72

[TSU88 1,070]

We stitched a clown 🤡 suit on those clucks tonight. Doesn’t make up for the loss in the tournament last year, but a satisfying W nonetheless. Our stats tonight were otherworldly-63% from the field; 73% from 3 (that’s gotta be a school record) and 27 assists. I don’t know when we’ll see the likes of this again anytime soon.

I’ll avoid the obvious observation about how NT torched the clucks tonight, other than to say that it’s amazing how he can look like a borderline NBA prospect one night, and look completely lost the next.

Also amazing that we won going away with Holden scoring 5 points. His 11 assists was brilliant. We really are a better team when he doesn’t have to try to force the scoring.

The guys who really shined tonight were Hicks (7 assists and a couple of nice drives for scores); Russell, who rediscovered his shooting touch, at least for 1 night, and Conway, who’s shooting was lights out. We’re so much better when these supporting actors play well.

My only regret is that we didn’t drop a hundred on them. Unfortunately, it appears our chances of a 4 seed aren’t great. We have to win 2 out of 3, and that ain’t going to be easy. Or, NE does us a solid and beats Drexel. 

 

 

Edited February 17, 2023 by TSU88

[TuTigers2012 1,061]

1 minute ago, mat1992 said:

They didn't give up tonight in their 77-62 win over a hot Monmouth team.

Lmfao. Ok. 😅

 

Back to the positives. (Since the that’s what i Am about. And there likely isn’t any left). best shooting game in tigers history?  Best full game in a year. Hens stink 4- end of foster but 1-4 when healthy they are legit. Smoked us badly early on when they were short handed. We smoked them tonight when they were short handed. 25 and 32 finally showed up. The other 7 role players slaps played well at home 

[TuTigers2012 1,061]

2 minutes ago, TSU88 said:

We stitched a clown 🤡 suit on those clucks tonight. Doesn’t make up for the loss in the tournament last year, but a satisfying W nonetheless. Our stats tonight were otherworldly-63% from the field; 73% from 3 (that’s gotta be a school record) and 27 assists. I don’t know when we’ll see the likes of this again anytime soon.

I’ll avoid the obvious observation about how NT torched the clucks tonight, other than to say that it’s amazing how he can look like a borderline NBA prospect one night, and look completely lost the next.

Also amazing that we won going away with Holden scoring 5 points. His 11 assists was brilliant. We really are a better team when he doesn’t have to try to force the scoring.

The guys who really shined tonight were Hicks (7 assists and a couple of nice drives for scores); Russell, who rediscovered his shooting touch, at least for 1 night, and Conway, who’s shooting was lights out. We’re so much better when these supporting actors play well.

My only regret is that we didn’t drop a hundred on them. Unfortunately, it appears our chances of a 4 seed aren’t great. We have to win 2 out of 3, and that ain’t going to be easy. Or, NE does us a solid and beats Drexel. 

 

 

Or we don’t choke away any of the last 3 losses and it’s a moot point.  I digress.  Over the years we have been gifted late season help. We have to pay the price some time. 

[TSU88 1,070]

7 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

Or we don’t choke away any of the last 3 losses and it’s a moot point.  I digress.  Over the years we have been gifted late season help. We have to pay the price some time. 

Well, FWIW, Drexel only beat Hampton by 6 earlier in the year at home. Of course that was before this kid Butler exploded for Drexel. He dropped 25 on UNCW tonight, So, hope springs eternal. Go Pirates. Oh yeah, we gotta handle our own business Saturday vs Agriculture, which can be a dangerous team. Hoping for a good crowd Saturday. Nice to see 3K tonight. Lower bowl (let’s face it, that’s all that really matters) was pretty full. 

[mat1992 2,231]

Comments from the players starting with N. Timberlake

Nic on turnaround 

"Just defense. Wasn't up to par today. We've been drilling defense since Monday. That was a big key in both losses. Trying to get back to Towson defense."

On his performance

"Not going to lie, but I was in a dark place after W&M. Went 1 for 9. Probably my worst game I've had here. I have a short memory. Get back in the gym. Get shots up."

How important was this win

"It's huge. Coming back home to a huge crowd. Just to get a win to get us back on track."

Ryan Conway

"The games prior to that. I was having some lower back issues. That seemed to finally clear up. Ever since that cleared up, I'm moving better and shooting better. I do felt like that it contributed to that mini-slump I was in."

Cam

"I mentioned to the guys in the huddle that they beat us twice in a row. Told them that we had to end that streak. Energy was great. Great vibe in the locker room."

On going up 33-13

"Credit to Skerry. We stayed calm during their run. We threw our punch early and they threw their punch later. But we cam out on top."

 

[TuTigers2012 1,061]

1 minute ago, TSU88 said:

Well, FWIW, Drexel only beat Hampton by 6 earlier in the year at home. Of course that was before this kid Butler exploded for Drexel. He dropped 25 on UNCW tonight, So, hope springs eternal. Go Pirates. Oh yeah, we gotta handle our own business Saturday vs Agriculture, which can be a dangerous team. Hoping for a good crowd Saturday. Nice to see 3K tonight. Lower bowl (let’s face it, that’s all that really matters) was pretty full. 

haha. I’ll sit behind the band again if it mEans another win

[mat1992 2,231]

Skerry opening comments

"Good crowd out there tonight, Our guys responded really well after a very tough weekend, when you lose two games like that...We really shared the ball, shot the ball and did a good job on the glass. We still have to take care of the ball better. Can still guard better. When you make 16 threes, you should win."

On bad starts and better start tonight

"I've never said, in 32 years, hey, let's not get off to a good start. Before the game at Drexel, Nygal Russell said I should be a motivational speaker. I said, it doesn't seem to be working very well. We were down 7-2 early. I have to do a better job at. Our pace was good. We got off to a better start in the second half. The other night, we didn't. We are 1-7 in one possession games. That starts with me. Our offense has played at a high level. Top three in offensive efficiency. Still think we can guard better. "

"We have live ball turnovers on 4 of 5 possessions. There's no defense when you throw a pick-6. The guys re-set it. Charlie is a warrior every night. Cam didn't shoot the ball well, but had 11 assists. Nic was disappointed after the weekend. I know he brought the team together at 2am after we returned to campus and had a meeting and apologized. He took ownership."

On shooting

"That won't happen again. That's good players and sharing the ball. Ryan works hard and is talented. Playing at a good pace and make shots, the game is easier. We have problems at times when we labored to score. SOme of the teams we had in the past, couldn't score but we liked playing in the mud. This team that doesn't thrive as well in the mud."

On defense

"The other night, they had a kid go 4-of-4 from three that was shooting 21% from 3 and rose up and made shots. In some of our losses, we've had Murphy's Law. Hopefully, we're past that. Happy with the progress of the crowds. A&T is good. Cam Woods is very hard to guard."

[Tiger93 299]

Obviously with 43 points on 18-23 shooting collectively Timberlake and Thompson were pretty damn good tonight. The defensive intensity looked like 2021-22 Charles Thompson, which was good to see. I have to imagine Thompson had a chip on his shoulder after getting physically dominated in Newark earlier this year.

I know everyone shot it well, but I really like the way Hicks played tonight. He was smart about the few shots he took, grabbed five rebounds, dished out seven assist (with two turnovers) and seemed to control tempo when has the main ballhandler. He also played solid defense on the night. We keep saying it, but it is important that guys like Russell, Hicks, Conway and May find ways to score cheap points so we are not looking to Nick, CT and Holden to score all of the time. We all agree that none of them can take over the game by making their own plays. They all have to play off others to heat up.

Outside of Nick, no one shot it more that eight times tonight. Obviously that is an aberration, but the more the supporting cast shows up the more this team looks the way we want them to. Figuring how to get that done on the road has been an issue all year, and we will need them to show up at least once next week. Wilmington seems like the better shot.  

I know we haven't exactly been world beaters on the road, but I have to believe the UNC-W road game is a very winnable one. To me that is the make-or-break game to keep us in the top four. If we win that game and the NC A&T game that should get it for us. UNC-W lost to Charleston by 2 and William & Mary by 2 at home. They beat Monmouth by 3 pts and Elon by 8 at home, and crushed Northeastern (12), Hampton (17) and NC A&T (24). My point is I don't see a lot of data on UNC-W's end that winning there is an impossible task. Of course, there is a lot of data that we aren't good at winning tight games on the road. For some reason, I think that one is very winnable and I believe we will do it. 

Credit UNC-W for winning on the road at Drexel tonight. There are four teams with only one conference loss at home and they are Hofstra, Charleston, Drexel and us. Charleston over Towson, Hofstra over Charleston, NC A&T over Hofstra and UNC-W over Drexel stand as the most impressive road wins statistically in the conference this year. 

The top five teams average margin of victory at home in conference play is Charleston (21.2 ppg), Hofstra (16.9ppg), Towson (13.8 ppg), UNC-W (8.6 ppg) and Drexel (7.5 ppg).

Also, while Drexel at Hampton looks like a given for them to win lets remember the Dragons are 2-6 on the road in conference play with double-figure losses at NC A&T and Elon, and losses to Monmouth and Stony Brook. 

Edited February 17, 2023 by Tiger93
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[mat1992 2,231]

 

[mat1992 2,231]

A couple of more observations:

1)Great rebound from two rough road losses. Those weren't just losses, but season-killers and could mentally cost us the season and sure they might cost us a top 4 seed. But they bounced back in a big blowout way. It's never bad to smack around Delaware. As long as Davis and Nelson Jr. are on the floor, they are always dangerous. 

2)Ryan Conway's play. As he mentioned in the postgame quotes, he was fighting some lower back pain and had a mini-slump. He's now 8 of 15 from the field over his last two games and 6 for 12 from three. He'll be more of a scorer next season when he can develop more of a floater and also needs to get to the line at some point.

3)Radhir Hicks and up-tempo game. Towson is not going to be playing at an under 300 tempo this season. We're still a slow-down team to a certain point, but when we get the rebound and get it to Rad, we have a semblance of a running game. Had he made a few better decisions on the break, find some open guys in the corner, he and Cam would have had double digit assists and I assume that would have been a first in program history (Cam had 11 and Rad had 7 dimes). We had 27 assists and 18 turnovers. Certainly way too many turnovers, some came late when it was bench time. But turning it over 4 of 5 times after you get a 20-point lead was really the only major annoyance of a 23-point win. 

But getting back to tempo, PS basically insinuated that when the offense struggled in the past, we could get in the mud. I think he meant we had guys to get to the line or we'd miss a million shots but grab a million offensive rebounds. We were able to get points the ugly way, where this team is more about Timberlake or Conway or May or Russell jumpers. They aren't really slashers and Holden wasn't really on tonight and didn't need to be. CT could have scored 20 with ease because they couldn't stop him down low but our entry passes were awful at times. The long-winded point is that we need to push the ball early and often off of turnovers and misses esp. with Hicks on the floor. Conway seems like a good fit right now as that energizer off the bench.

4)Don't worry about going 3-0, 2-1, 1-2 or 0-3. Need to beat NC A&T and then worry about the road. We've lost three straight on the road by 4, 7 (ot) and 2. As Skerry mentioned, we are 1-7 in one-possession games. We are great at blowing teams out. Of our 18 wins, 11 have been by double digits. We desperately need to win a road game by 1 or 2 points. I wouldn't personally want to beat NC A&T by a possession, but whatever it takes.