Defense Steps Up, Rebounding Still Not There in Win Over Furman

Two of these freshmen led the Cougars today, and all four saw playing time

Final Score: College of Charleston 66, Furman 43
Top Performers: Anthony Stitt 14 points in 37 minutes (first career start)
                              Adjehi Baru 14 points, 7 rebounds

This was a good win. Not a great win, but a good one. Furman doesn't look like the type of team ready to compete for a bye in the Socon Tournament, but a conference road win is always nice. Put it this way, had we lost this game, there might be reason to start panicking a little bit. The two main areas where we came up short against Wofford and George Mason were defense and rebounding. One of those areas was far and away better than the last two games. The other still has me asking questions.

Here are three things that impressed me and three more that had me frustrated. First the good:

3 Cheers
1) The level of intensity and focus the Cougars displayed on defense- We came out so lethargic on defense against Wofford that the Terriers scored about 15 points above their average on us and 50% from three in the first half.  From the tipoff tonight we were actively scrambling and rotating quickly enough on D to frustrate Furman into 23 turnovers. It could've been Stitt's defensive mentality rubbing off on the starters or a verbal tongue lashing yesterday by the coaches that caused the sudden change. Whatever it was, it made it possibe for the Cougars to have a poor shooting day from the arc and the stripe and still come away with a 20 point victory.

2) The reserves- Anthony Stitt was such a spark off the bench for us that I was worried we would have no second unit when he was named the starter for tonight. Playing in his most game minutes ever, Nori performed very admirably considering he's never really been given a shot on the floor. His natural position is still up for debate but he's got a nice looking shot from outside, drives to the hoop and plays solid defense. Speaking of driving, Sundberg didn't hit a single three but still finished with 6 points by taking advantage of his height and going to the basket. Even though he was held scoreless, Jordan Scott didn't fold when coming off the bench. He was also active on defense and had the two prettiest assists of the game: one on a backdoor cut to Nori and one to Trent in the post.

3) Baru's post moves- I think his best offensive production was still his game against Coastal, but Adjehi had some nifty moves in the paint aside from just his pull-up jumper. Not only that, but he followed up offensive opportunities by getting the o-rebound. He had four on the night.

3 Jeers
1) Rebounding, rebounding and rebounding- Please no more tip-outs, no more running back on D before the ball misses the basket or not chasing a long rebound. With Trent battling a nagging foot injury (he was in a boot up until game time), the front line of Johnson, Sundberg and Baru is not going to collect many rebounds. But the 17-6 edge Furman kept until the final minutes of the first half is unacceptable. Gotta continue to work on that in practice.