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| Coach Shulman practices his favorite dance move, the "dice roll" |
We all new it had to happen at some point. As great as going undefeated in the conference would've be, this Cougar team is just too inconsistent to pull off such a task. Coach Cremins put it best when he said "We can beat anyone, but we can also lose to anyone".
The game started off predictably enough. The Cougs opened the game with I think an 11-1 run against the Mocs. We were hitting threes (and just about everything else) and it looked like the team would roll to another victory. But something didn't feel right about this game. The speed wasn't right. The Mocs came into the contest with a blistering pace that at first did not faze the Cougars. If UTC wanted to run, the Cougars can run with them. After all, teams had done this before against the Cougars.
In one of the first Socon games of the season, Georgia Southern found themselves in a huge point deficit against the Cougars. What did they do? Turned it into a track meet in hopes of wearing out Charleston's short rotation of players. It worked for a few minutes, but then CofC was able to shut the Eagles down offensively and their shots stopped falling.
The game last night was different. The Mocs set their torrid pace early, but didn't let up. At all. Worse yet, they were making a lot of their shots. Deep threes, backdoor cuts, circus shots off the glass in the lane, they were all falling. Before long the Cougars' lead had been erased and they found themselves in a most unfamiliar place at halftime. Down five points.
The first play of the second half would only be a preview of what was to come. Sniffing out the passing lane, Willis Hall reached out to intercept a pass on the perimeter from Keegan Bell and began furiously sprinting down to the other end of the court on a fast break. The Chattanooga crowd, returning to their seats after downing multiple Krispy Kreme Bacon Cheeseburgers, reeled their faces in disgust as Willis was about to throw down a jam and ignite the CofC bench...
Only that's not what happened. Willis lost the handle at the free throw line and the ball went out of bounds under the basket. The Mocs promptly got the ball back and extended the lead. It was the beginning of what would be a frustrating half for Drew Goudelock and the Cougars. The threes that Drew, Donovan and even Antwaine drain with regularity were not finding the net. Jeremy Simmons had some strong plays inside, but the Cougs were so harassed around the perimeter that they rarely found him. The offense was out of rhythm, Goudelock could not get the magic going and Chattanooga remained undefeated in the conference.
However morbid this game summary may be, it is certainly not the end of the world. The most important thing still remains the conference championship. Going undefeated in conference play would have been great, but the fact remains that the only way for a Socon team to go to the Big Dance is to claim the trophy. If the Cougars want to cut down the nets, they will have to do better than last night. There is a strong chance these two teams will meet again, on the same floor, with a postseason appearance on the line.
Links
- CofCSports Recap
- Summary from Tommy Braswell at the P & C
- Summary from the other side. Taken from the Chattanooga Times
- Box score (it's not pretty)
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