Delaware thumps MBB 74-62 to end 18-game home winning streak

[mat1992 2,237]

https://towsontigers.com/news/2024/2/8/mens-basketball-towson-mens-basketball-falls-74-62-against-delaware-on-thursday-night.aspx

[TSU88 1,074]

Just incredibly disappointing, especially with the great crowd. DE was by far the better team tonight, beating us in every facet of the game. They rained 3’s on us, and just looked much more athletic and skillful. We just have too many bulls in a china shop type guys. CT played his heart out, but May…did he even play tonight? Just kidding, sort of. I mean last time he scored 23 on them, tonight 2 points.  These kind of wild fluctuations are not the hallmark of a good player. And Tarke needs to stop launching those terrible 3-point shots, and stick with driving to the basket. 7-32 in 2 games vs DE. 

I’m not going to push the panic button yet, but these last two games are alarming, in the sense we aren’t going to win when we score in the 50’s or low 60’s. Again, we don’t have that alpha dog who can take over the game-too many role players types. We all know, or should know, that this stat about being one of the best offensive rebounding teams is just another way of saying we have a lot of bad shooters. 

Need to go on a 3-4 game winning streak, with Elon, Hampton and W&M the next 3 games, but who knows, with 2 of those games being on the road 


 

 

[mat1992 2,237]

Let's start with the Good, Bad, and Ugly

Good

*The Crowd (3,500)

Bad

*Another crappy start. I asked Pat about that and the NE start at home, where they got behind 15. Sounds like there could be changes on Monday night in the lineup. Can't start flat, especially on defense.

*Nendah Tarke is taking way too many shots for a point guard/combo guard//shooting guard. It's fine if most of those shots are within five feet, but those long 3s should not happen. In fact, I'd be looking to start Dylan Williamson in the next game. May was 1 for 6 and 0-3 from 3pt with 2pts and 2 rebounds. Can't have that from supposedly your best all-around player.

*I give Chase P. credit for getting out there, but they needed to go small tonight. He was unable to keep up with them in the halfcourt, especially Davis who just exploded past him off the dribble.

Ugly

*Three-point defense. It's one thing to give up some huge threes (some contested) to Tyler Thomas and Hofstra. It's another to ignore the scouting report (according to PS) and allow Cavan Reilly and Gereald Drumgoole Jr. to make 7 of 11 threes combined. Delaware made 11 of 19 overall and 5-7 in the second half. If that is not fixed, this season is over. Maybe time for another lineup change.

 

Bottom line is that, I hate saying this cliche', but there is little margin for error. If this team doesn't come out, play hard and especially on the defensive end, they are not going to beat quality teams. Defense and rebounding. That's what Pat mentioned tonight because he knows there is no Timberlake, Benimon or even Moto on this team to take over. Listen to some of his quotes when the video goes up.

[mat1992 2,237]

6 minutes ago, TSU88 said:

Just incredibly disappointing, especially with the great crowd. DE was by far the better team tonight, beating us in every facet of the game. They rained 3’s on us, and just looked much more athletic and skillful. We just have too many bulls in a china shop type guys. CT played his heart out, but May…did he even play tonight? Just kidding, sort of. I mean last time he scored 23 on them, tonight 2 points.  These kind of wild fluctuations are not the hallmark of a good player. And Tarke needs to stop launching those terrible 3-point shots, and stick with driving to the basket. 7-32 in 2 games vs DE. 

I’m not going to push the panic button yet, but these last two games are alarming, in the sense we aren’t going to win when we score in the 50’s or low 60’s. Again, we don’t have that alpha dog who can take over the game-too many role players types. We all know, or should know, that this stat about being one of the best offensive rebounding teams is just another way of saying we have a lot of bad shooters. 

Need to go on a 3-4 game winning streak, with Elon, Hampton and W&M the next 3 games, but who knows, with 2 of those games being on the road 


 

 

May, Tarke, and Jones were just bad or invisible tonight. Shit happens. Towson has to learn their lesson and not just beat Elon, but wax them on Monday night. They need to come out with a purpose. I think that the pressure of the streak gets to you at some point. You can't change who you are. You can't just sit there and watch Dylan dribble the ball into the wood. Tarke can't play like he's at North Avenue. He's capable of being the best passer on the team. He's not Gary Neal. Move the ball or drive it.

[TSU88 1,074]

1 minute ago, mat1992 said:

Maybe time for another lineup change.

There are only so many changes that can be made. Other than DWill, who is there on the bench that moves the needle in any meaningful way? You can start Lowery, but he’s a major liability in a half court offense, which is basically all we do. Like you said, there’s no Timberlake or Benimon, or even to a lesser extent Zane Martin, Morsell or Moto. Our leading scorer will probably finish the season averaging 11-12 points a game, which is pitiful. As you also point out, there is precious little margin for error for this team. 

[mat1992 2,237]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4I-9fdio4k

This is supposed to be the press conference, but it's the highlights. 

[mat1992 2,237]

2 minutes ago, TSU88 said:

There are only so many changes that can be made. Other than DWill, who is there on the bench that moves the needle in any meaningful way? You can start Lowery, but he’s a major liability in a half court offense, which is basically all we do. Like you said, there’s no Timberlake or Benimon, or even to a lesser extent Zane Martin, Morsell or Moto. Our leading scorer will probably finish the season averaging 11-12 points a game, which is pitiful. As you also point out, there is precious little margin for error for this team. 

Can't just do nothing. Benching Tarke would be a start. All these guys play about the same minutes anyhow except at center. Starting shouldn't matter, however, I'm not talking about changing the entire scope of the game. I'm talking about coming out with more of a sense of purpose. Energy. Maybe enthusiasm. Dylan gives us that energy. Lowery defense. Tejada is fine off the bench (I think). He plays with little emotion, which is fine in the clutch because he has that poise but I want some MFers to start. Sulaiman and CT. Dylan providing the energy. Lowery the D. May hopefully shows up on both ends.

[Chris Datres 424]

Unacceptable performance at both ends of the floor tonight.  We know what our offensive shortfalls are but defensively is where we should make up for those.  Instead, we're late on rotations, not recognizing shooters, and then when we do make the right rotations, our closeouts are freakin terrible.  Delaware hit 3 3's in that 2nd half where a defender got out there but one little pump fake and there's the fly-by to set them up for a clean look.  11 of 19 from 3 is usually an anomaly but with the looks that Delaware had tonight, it's surprising they didn't make a couple more.  Offensively, they failed to recognize early on how easily UD was leaving open the area of the lane just below the free throw line to set up pull-up J's.  Tarke and DW took advantage once each in the first half but then it was decided to take that extra dribble and that's when they'd run into trouble since we're so good at finishing at the rim.  Whenever the ball settled, we got nothing out of the offense except chucked 3's or forced turnarounds by someone who has a bigger hitch in his swing than Charles Barkley.  We saw in that 2nd half that when Tarke and DW can get out on the break and run with it, good things will happen.  Can't imagine why we're still too stubborn to not make a faster tempo a priority.  But again, with how we finish at the rim, it would likely be more frustration.  

Of all the damn teams, it had to be these clowns to spoil another nice thing of ours.  I'll be more than happy when they're gone and failing in their quixotic attempt for football glory.

[tualum 108]

And the typical late swoon begins… can’t make this up..

[mat1992 2,237]

Since the press conference never came out on YouTube, I had to do the old-fashioned transcription of the press conference

Opening comment

"Obviously, not our best performance. Guys are disappointed. Give credit to Delaware.. We were just running up hill all night. Our team has a narrow path to have success. We're aware of that. I've done a poor job of keeping us focused on that. It starts with our defense. Five of our last six halves, we just haven't guarded to the level that we need to."

On Tarke

"He's not a point guard. We'd like to see him drive the ball more, Barkley it. Playmaking. He's settling for too many jump shots. We haven't shot the ball well the last few games. If we don't have a really good effort defensively, we don't have a type top 10 scorer, it's not how we're wired. If get into shootouts and you give up a high percentage, we're not going to have a high success. He had a bad game up there and we won by 11. Our guys are probably worried about making shots. It's human nature that we have a great crowd, home and you want to do well. You lose focus of the things that cause you to have success. Maybe a little bit at Hofstra too."

On Delaware's 3-point shooting

"They do have good shooters. I'm disappointed in my ability to get us to understand the scouting report. Had to take away the 3-point shot from 1 (Drumgoole) and 3 (Reilly). That didn't go so well. We flunked the test. In their wins, those guys were shooting 44% from 3pt and in their losses, 35%. That's something that we tried to hammer home and it clearly didn't resonate."

On Jones and May

"Christian had zero offensive rebounds in 26 minutes. That shows you he was hanging around the perimeter hoping to get some jump shots. Making shots would be great. We're just not going to consistently have the success we can have. He wasn't great defensively. Messiah looked lost on some cuts. They looked like they were running in sand."

On potential changes

"We've earned the right to practice tomorrow. We were going to be off. We won't be off. We have to get back a little bit of our edge. There could be some lineup changes. We have to keep playing a lot of guys. There are a lot of good teams in this league. Since school has started, we haven't guarded the way our teams normally guard. We have to get back to that."

On motivation

"I don't care where they find it or how. I want us to execute the way we're supposed to execute. If you have to motivate guys, this is probably not the right level for them."