MBB falls at No. 5 UVa, 73-42 (official story up)

[mat1992 2,235]

https://towsontigers.com/news/2018/11/6/mens-basketball-positives-highlight-towson-setback-to-no-5-virginia.aspx

Ty Jerome scored 20 points on 6-of-9 from 3-point range to lead Virginia over Towson, 73-42 on opening night for both teams. The Tigers were led by juniors  T.J. Howard (10pts) and Brian Fobbs (9pts). Towson was outrebounded, 35-32 and shot just 31.7 percent from the floor. The Tigers committed 14 turnovers, while forcing just five. Remarkably, the Tigers were credited with zero assists. They hurt themselves from the line, making just 12 of 27. Senior guard Jordan McNeill, the Tigers leading returning scorer, was out with an injured hand. 

https://www.foxsports.com/college-basketball/story/jerome-s-20-points-lead-no-5-virginia-past-towson-73-42-110618?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

https://virginiasports.com/sidearmstats/mbball/team-stats;period=F

Here are some comments from head coach Pat Skerry on post game.

"Virginia could win the national championship. They are that good. I didn't like the last 10 minutes. They made shots. Jerome hurt us. 

"We hurt ourselves from the foul line. If you are 22 of 27 (instead of 12 of 27) maybe it's a 9-10 point game. 
I thought Timberlake was hit on pullup that turned out to be a five-point swing. We are a work in progress

It's Game 1, as John Calipari said, there's winning and there's learning. We need everybody back healthy. We can be a pretty good team later in the year. Timberlake is going to be a really good player. We're excited about a lot of our freshman. We didn't come here to lose by 9. We'll benefit from this. They wore us down at the end. All the credit to them. We have things to build off

There's some things that I'm encouraged about. We got to the line and to the rim. We didn't finish, Tunstall (hamstring) wasn't supposed to play but grinded it out. He's going to have a good year. As soon as he gets healthy, he'll be good."

[mat1992 2,235]

Anybody that thought this was game was going to be close as it was at the half, must have been watching through black and gold glasses. This was very encouraging if you are like me, with low expectations and realizing that we have maybe the most turnover of personnel of anybody in the nation. Jordan McNeill missed the game due to a hand injury as he missed the scrimmage as well weeks ago. Was hoping that he would play but maybe by the Bahamas.

But I liked the fight in the first half. Tunstall was everywhere on the boards, even with a bad hamstring. The defense was pretty good early on though I think they were just missing shots.

Sure, there were some rough spots. The free throw shooting was atrocious. Sanders was a terrible free throw shooter at Duquesne (under 50%) and if he continues at that pace, he's really going to hurt the team. Because he is aggressive but he, probably due to their size, was starting to post up 15 feet away from the basket. I'm still up in the air about how good he can be for us offensively. Maybe he'll just be a more athletic Al Thomas. Rebound, defend and score a little more

Unfortunately, that won't be good enough. Fobbs and Howard will score for us and I think McNeill can score 9-10 ppg when he's healthy. But everything else is a question mark. It's tough to judge the freshmen in an atmosphere like that. Timberlake made about 5 threes in that scrimmage and then he had that hitch in his shot again tonight. Not sure if that's due to nervousness or hesitancy. Betrand is going to be pretty good. He's long and athletic. He can really defend and will help on the press. He looked scared when he couldn't even hit rim on a reverse layup. Solomon is there to rebound. Anything else you get from him is a bonus. 

As much as you can't judge them on Sunday against Wesley, I would say the same about this game. Just saw that Delaware lost by just six at Maryland without Ryan Allen. Eric Carter had 29 points. 

 

[TSU88 1,073]

Well, not as bad as I thought it would be, considering no McNeill, practically no production from Thomas & Sanders, miserable foul shooting & zero assists. This year is all about finding out which of the newcomers can contribute next year & beyond. In the process, we might surprise a few teams along the way. 

 

[Chris Datres 423]

No surprise that we got virtually nothing out of Thomas again.  I openly laughed when he attempted that corner 3.  Was actually surprised that he hit rim.  But hey, at least he didn't commit any illegal screens and didn't foul out.

I like Howard at the point.  He seemed pretty confident with the ball and if he gets his feet set, he can be a weapon from the arc.  I like Fobbs and Timberlake being aggressive and going to the basket, just have to work more on the finish.  I think it would be better if Tunstall started.  He seemed to be a lot more active, especially on the offensive end, than what I've seen in the past.  I like Sanders trying to be a bull in a china shop inside but he needs to be a bit more under control.  The rest of the newcomers I couldn't really get much of a bead on them.  See what comes down the line in the next couple of games.

Overall, I liked the way they battled especially in the first half.  Game is probably tied at halftime if they were anywhere close to competent at the foul line and they hadn't lost Jerome on the perimeter in the last 5 minutes.  I also think it's pretty good that for a virtually new team they only had 14 turnovers.  A lot of that can be traced to the vast experience of Virginia's players within that defense.  

[mat1992 2,235]

True, having 14 turnovers against a very good defensive team is impressive. Even though they don't really press full court or a little bit 3/4 court but they have an NBA player in Hunter and some very good players up front and in the backcourt. Sanders to me is the key. If he plays under control and at least makes 60% of his FTs, we'll be ok. He's not going to dominate that frontcourt but maybe some mid-majors. Not dominate but at least produce up to 10 points, 8 rebs. I'm putting pressure on him to score because we're not going to get much from Thomas in terms of production. 

Timberlake was forced to start because McNeill was hurt. With Jordan, you never know what he's going to give you on offense, but you know the defense is going to be there. I think if he plays, maybe he moves over to cover Jerome instead of Howard. I thought T.J. was decent, not great but hit some tough shots. He's the whole key. I know he's better than Starr, nothing against Brian but he's a better shooter, a little quicker. Tough to tell defensively. That might be his biggest question. 

As for assists, not worried. Let's face it, PS teams are usually not loaded with great passers. If we don't have any assists against Wesley, I'll be concerned. An 0-14 assist to turnover ration will certainly put us last in the nation (lol).

[AtlantaTiger 205]

Well, Towson kept their game against Virginia closer than what Kentucky did against Duke, so there's that. 😉

[sr16 158]

Honest to god question, is it a coincidence that this all new Skerry team is horrible at free throw shooting or is this a skerry issue... They should be shooting free throws for the last hour of every practice at this point. 

[TuTigers2012 1,071]

14 minutes ago, sr16 said:

Honest to god question, is it a coincidence that this all new Skerry team is horrible at free throw shooting or is this a skerry issue... They should be shooting free throws for the last hour of every practice at this point. 

Not a Skerry issue, but a byproduct of the type of system Skerry runs. We are never going to be a great shooting team, so hence we will never be a great FT shooting team. I just always hope they make the first, because on the second atleast we can crash the glass and play within our offense.

[mat1992 2,235]

I think people are naive to think that college basketball teams don’t work on free throw shooting. There’s a big difference between shooting a million free throws on your own then shooting on the road in a hostile environment. The only thing you can really do is to try and recreate that with fake crowd noise and loud music. 

Some guys are just bad shooters at the line and they  are a lost cause.

 

[mat1992 2,235]

3 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

Not a Skerry issue, but a byproduct of the type of system Skerry runs. We are never going to be a great shooting team, so hence we will never be a great FT shooting team. I just always hope they make the first, because on the second atleast we can crash the glass and play within our offense.

I think it’s way too early to judge this group with no real history other than Sanders. He was a terrible FT shooter at Duquesne and no matter how hard he has worked at it, it appears he’s not going to be much better. Again guys could go 75 of 100 at practice but that doesn’t always translate to games.