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Basketball Mat

Down goes Northeastern, 75-72

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https://towsontigers.com/news/2019/1/24/mens-basketball-takes-down-caa-preseason-favorite-northeastern.aspx

This was a great win for the team. I have never seen them play defense as well as they have played tonight. Skerry’s teaching seems to be paying dividends on that end. In the past I think they have been beating themselves with turnovers and the lost possessions. There were some tonight as well. They seem to be building momentum. Well done tonight anyway and was a good win against a well coached team and some skilled offensive players 

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I get it.  Just 1,000 people tonight at SECU. One person in the chat. Nobody wants to give this team credit when they do the unthinkable. We only want to rail against them and the coach when they lose six straight. Well, I'm not saying we turned the corner tonight but something happened in that second half against Delaware. The freshmen are starting to play better. All three produced tonight and that might be the first time all year they all had solid games. Combined for 26. That doesn't sound like much but they upped their game against one of the best teams in the league.

Rebounding was awesome. This team still can't make threes and tonight, struggled to defend it. But if you drive to the basket, get fouled and grab off. rebounds, you have a chance. I know, that's the old formula but this particular team has to play like that. 

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I had other things to do tonight -- couldn't watch or chat. I had a feeling we might ride the wave from last week, and NE isn't as strong as I expected them to be this year, so they were vulnerable. But I'm happy for our guys; it's nice to see them get some payback for hanging in through tough times.

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I’m drinking the kool-aid!! I was there tonight (I don’t chat when I’m watching the game in person-I can’t multi-task like that).

Anyway, so many positives, in a win against a good team, with 1 of the best players in the conference in Puscia. The great shooting from the 2nd half in Delaware carried over, which was great to see. The most encouraging thing to me was seeing Dottin, Betrand & Solomon shoot a combined 12-19 from the floor. Kudos to McNeil, who probably had 1 of his best games in his TU career. Fobbs only shot 6-17 but still managed 18 points & 8 boards. This W is all the more impressive considering Thomas & Sanders combined for 6 points. 

Maybe there’s a chance we can climb out of the bottom 4 in the conference and avoid the play-in game in the tournament. 

Huge game Saturday vs Hofstra, which has the longest winning streak in the country at 15, & a guard in Justin-Wright Foreman who could drop 30-40 points on us. Would be nice to get a big crowd for this one. I think Hofstra will roll us, but I also thought we’d lose to Delaware & NE, so you never know.

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Comments from Pat Skerry

That's the biggest win on the season to date. We beat a really good basketball team that was playing really well. Well-coached team. Give our team credit, they make so many shots and threes, but overall, we guarded them well. They were around 7th in the country in field goal percentage. Held them to 41%. Our goal was to be +12 on the glass, which was a big number. Our kids rallied up. Dennis' defense was good, Brian was strong on both ends of the floor. Jordan McNeill played the best game he's played at Towson. He scored, really tough defensively. Showed some grit. Big win for us.

On second half performance against Delaware

This group has worked very hard. They have a B- in attitude, which I'll live with in this day an age and an A- in work ethic. Extra shots outside of practice, film, etc. Since our early trip of the season, we've played just one poor game. All our other games have been close. We just haven't won a lot of them. We need to have a clear message about what we can be good at. If we're up 4, down 4. You have a chance to win it. That's what we need to try to do. Hopefully the guys are buying in. Time will tell. We're not playing as fast as I'd like to see us play, but we're playing the way it gives us the best chance to win. That's really what it's about and everybody has to buy into that.

Brian Fobbs on 2nd half

Rallied my teammates together. Working hard on both ends of the court. Playing together as one. Communication is big. 

On 2nd half against Delaware

Coming down from 18 in the first half and rallying back. That game solidified it. We know we can do it and there are no excuses.

Skerry on freshmen

I didn't give Allen (Betrand) enough minutes. I need Brian (Fobbs) on the floor as much as possible. He makes us look good. He's been patient the last few games. Jakigh played well and Solomon is going to be very good. We only play 9 guys. I'd like to have 11 but our depth has helped us the last couple of games. Most teams don't play a lot of guys off their bench.

On Timberlake injury

He's in a boot for a couple of more weeks. It's a stress fracture. We'll evaluate where he is and whether he can get the year back. We'll see if he's able to practice. Likely could be (out for the season).

On guarding threes

We were leading the league in defending threes, well, we were before tonight. We have to rebound, defend and take care of the basketball. We didn't take care of it in the first half. Up 9-0 and threw some pick sixes. Jakigh and Jordan drove the ball hard in the second half.

On Pusica

We made him work. He's really good. He made some tough shots. Brace made some tough shots. That's why they are so good. Most of these games are going to come down to 1-2 possessions. On Saturday, we have a golden opportunity. We're playing against the hottest team in the nation. They have the longest winning streak. We'll need a big crowd against a very good basketball team.

On awarding the scholarship to walk-on Chris

He gets a free scholarship for the semester so I'm sure his family is pretty happy about that. He's a great kid and he's really helped us.

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7 minutes ago, TigerFan54 said:

I had other things to do tonight -- couldn't watch or chat. I had a feeling we might ride the wave from last week, and NE isn't as strong as I expected them to be this year, so they were vulnerable. But I'm happy for our guys; it's nice to see them get some payback for hanging in through tough times.

Understandable but NE was red-hot, winning four straight. They arguably have the best player in the league. We were a 9.5-point underdog. This was not expected but good for Pat and the kids.

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I really think Dottin is the key. PS is basically just giving him the starting job and letting him run with it. Howard can be that guy off the bench who can get hot (or cold), but he doesn't run the team well. If Dottin can limit the turnovers, get to the basket, defend well (he's not bad) and make the right pass, we can compete and hopefully steal a few games. I won't expect much against Hofstra. If we can compete and keep in the single digits, maybe under 6 with a minute left, that's all you can ask for. Compete. You know we will play hard, we will rebound but can we slow them down? Nobody has for over a month.

And as I said at the beginning of the season, we have to hope that the freshmen get better as the season goes on and limit expectations. Winning is the cure for everything and even though we had a horseshoe up our ass late in the Delaware game, that win gave us the boost we needed. But it was more about two things: playing the right way in the second half by sharing the ball an Big Al giving us quality minutes despite being injured.

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I walked off the court after reffing a tense game and see a text saying 'great win tonite'.  That certainly brightens the day.  Have to watch it back whenever TSN gets it on the on-demand portion of the site.

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I listened to Sprio here in San Francisco..  

Sunny Skies and low 50’s.  

+18 on the boards 

+22 in the paint 

Skerry style ball worked tonight.  Huge win.  

3-5 in the CAA...  not bad. 

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