MBB falls to Wake Forest 71-61

[mat1992 2,236]

https://towsontigers.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2023-24/wake-forest/boxscore/28113   

https://towsontigers.com/news/2023/11/17/mens-basketball-mens-basketball-hangs-tough-falls-71-61-against-wake-forest.aspx

Kind of the same old story against Power 6 teams. Even mediocre ones. Towson went toe-to-toe with Wake Forest for about 35 minutes and then went scoreless for over 4:00 late in the game to fall 71-61 in the Charleston Classic. The Tigers will play North Texas at 12:30pmET on Sunday on ESPN+. 

Freshman Tyler Tejada went 7-for-16 from the field and scored 17 points to lead the Tigers. But he was 0-for-4 from the three-point line and Towson shot just 2-of-11 from long range. In fact, they only took three treys in the first half and took a handful of late threes in the last minute or so to try and get back in the game (Dylan Williamson made one). Towson also lost point guard Radhir Hicks (played 5 minutes) to an undisclosed injury and Williamson ended up playing 24 minutes and had two turnovers and one assist.

Another tough game for Christian May. going 3 for 10 and Charles Thompson going 4-of-13 with 11 points and nine rebounds. They struggled finishing down low against a pretty weak frontcourt featuring Delaware transfer Andrew Carr. Towson was +19 on the boards with 22 offensive and lost by 10, scoring just 61. Just crazy.

 

[Chris Datres 423]

I like where we're at defensively and on the glass.  

But offensively, good lord.  There isn't anyone YET who can get their own shot.  Williamson and Tejada are most likely to succeed in that department.  We've got good pieces with Sulaiman, CT, Messiah, and Lowery.  However, these guys are horrendously weak on drives to the basket and finishing at the rim -- the guards take one or two too many dribbles and go from having a nice 8-10 footer to a contested shot at the rim that usually rolls off with no foul.  CT said in the preseason zoom that he was looking to be better at decision making.  He can't be a black hole in the post like what I saw tonight.  That hook shot is just not dependable and everyone seems to stand around when he gets the ball in the post.  There needs to be more cuts and more off-ball moves so CT can pass out of that post.  Then maybe he gets a re-post with leverage to the basket.  But for someone as big as he is, he's the worst offender when it comes to finishing at the rim.  It's incredibly frustrating to see all that size go to waste because we don't want to absorb contact.

All that said, I don't believe in moral victories but there's encouragement to having played Houston well in the 2nd half and being there with Wake.  Until we find our shots, we're gonna be stuck in rock fights.  Speaking of, if you want the definition of rock fight, watch Sunday's game.  If that game touches 60, I'll be surprised.  North Texas brings the D and the rebounding and their offensive game is a work in progress thanks to a lot of transfers out of last year's team.

[TuTigers2012 1,071]

Keep playing the same style with the same type of players and same coach and philosophy and we expect different results? That’s on us as fans and alums.  They play hard but that’s not enough. Caa is about guards but pat recruits forwards who can’t dribble or shoot,

 Wake is bad and a 12-0 run to put the game out of reach? Same old same old. Look forward to the excuses  from Chris, bay, Ed, blounge. I’m here for it and it’s tiring. CAA is  a bottom 6 conf so 8-10/9-9 will excite you, no shock

Steve eigenbrot, Don’t fall for this fools gold. Bring in your coach who can coach and bring in Guards!! 

[TSU88 1,073]

11 hours ago, mat1992 said:

Kind of the same old story against Power 6 teams. Even mediocre ones.

Boston College, Pitt, MD (remember the game where we went toe-to-toe with them); Wake Forest (I might be forgetting other examples. Players come & go, but the result is always the same. There is 1 common denominator that comes to mind though 🤔

 

[TuTigers2012 1,071]

22 minutes ago, TSU88 said:

Boston College, Pitt, MD (remember the game where we went toe-to-toe with them); Wake Forest (I might be forgetting other examples. Players come & go, but the result is always the same. There is 1 common denominator that comes to mind though 🤔

 

Add Clemson. Georgetown. Ole miss. Oklahoma state. Alabama.  List goes on.

You are right, wonder what that is?!

sad thing is we were in and or winning most of them late. Then we stop scoring (coaching) and shit the bed.  It’s like they realize they aren’t supposed to be winning and just lose it. If wake forest payers wore Morgan state or Elon jerseys last night, we would have one. Convinced of that

[TSU88 1,073]

4 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

Add Clemson. Georgetown. Ole miss. Oklahoma state. Alabama.  List goes on.

You are right, wonder what that is?!

sad thing is we were in and or winning most of them late. Then we stop scoring (coaching) and shit the bed.  It’s like they realize they aren’t supposed to be winning and just lose it. If wake forest payers wore Morgan state or Elon jerseys last night, we would have one. Convinced of that

I now remember Clemson and Georgetown, but don’t remember close L’s to Ole Miss, Oklahoma State or Bama. I am now remembering a close L to Florida though. It’s like watching the same movie over and over, and hoping for a different ending. Or like Charlie Brown-Lucy-football 

[Bay Area Tiger 347]

On a positive note when is the last time we’ve had a “diaper dandy” average over 11 a game and be shooting over 40% from the field and beyond the arc?  Only a small sample size but it looks like we landed an actual impact freshman.  
North Texas tomorrow..  heads up.  This group is gonna get those two guards back eventually and be fine for CAA play. 
 

[mat1992 2,236]

Guard play is a major reason for this loss and so many others. When you don’t have anyone that can create their own shot at this moment and you’re trying to run the ball through an overachieving 6-7 center, this is going to be the result against teams that are similar to us talent-wise. But as bad as Wake’s frontcourt was, they had a big advantage in the backcourt, Then Hicks goes down and we’re basically left with one guard. Excuses? Hicks is poor offensively but much better than Dylan on defense. Yes, playing three freshmen at once is never the norm for us or most teams. Passing thus far has been awful or nonexistent,

Forget this tournament. I’d love to win on Sunday but who knows? My big problem with the offense is that there’s very little ball movement and as I’ve said several times before, that when Charles gets the ball down low and we’re not moving without the ball, the end result is not going to be points on the norm. Love that Charles returned but the fact that we’re trying to turn him into Benimon is a big mistake. He’s needs to find open guys and if they miss, that’s not on him.He should not be taking 3s and 14 shots is too much.

I said in preseason I was hopeful that May would step up but wasn’t sure. He’s not only missing open shots but badly. As good as Tejada has been and he ahould get even more plays run through him, this team would be so much better if May found his shot again. Kid shot 39% from three last season and even if the joke was that he stood around the three point line at least he was making them, 

He’s also another guy that I think can benefit from a more uptempo style along with Lowery. That’s not going to happen tomorrow, but if we get Cole back shortly, playing slow is not going to help a 6-4 long wing either. There’s no reason to press with nine or 10 scholarship players in a tournament but if we have 11 or 12, no excuses not to. Would also be nice to force more than five turnovers.