Final Score: UNC Greensboro 78, College of Charleston 63
Top Performers: Derell Armstrong 30 points
Trent Wiedeman 21 points, 18 rebounds, 9-11 FT
Well that wasn't very fun. For the second time this season the Spartans of UNC Greensboro crushed the hopes of a Cougars team that appeared to be turning a corner. Just when we were getting our hopes back up after a home win over Davidson, the Cougar men played sloppy and out-of-control for a 15 point crushing at the Coliseum.
This game falls on almost everyone but Trent Wiedeman. From the opening tip the Cougars failed to dictate their own sets and were quickly forced into playing the Spartan's run-and-gun style. The results were less than ideal. The Cougs were sloppy with their passing (22 turnovers on the night) and were jacking up three pointers like they were going to go sour. Many of these shots were early enough in the shot clock to warrant some hair pulling, but what was worse was how many open looks were missed. Lawrence was struggling to score all night (3-10, 1-5 from 3) so instead he was driving and kicking. As long as he was able to sneak it through the passing lanes he was finding Wiggins or Nori on the perimeter. However, the pace was such that the shots seemed rushed and out of rhythm.
Greensboro has a track team of athletes on their squad. I already touched on how this forced us into careless mistakes on the offensive end. On defense, the Cougars got abused by backdoor cuts all night. Armstrong, who entered the starting lineup for the injured Trevis Simpson, was obviously not scouted at all by the coaching staff because he was one of the main culprits behind the offensive beating the Spartans laid down. Again, this falls on just about everybody. Everyone playing the perimeter was caught napping on their man at least a few times to allow cuts under the basket for easy layups (not to mention the 4-5 failed alley-oop attempts).
UNCG does not have much of a post presence at all. Trent was the only one who took advantage of this mismatch and put on a monster performance. His 18 rebounds tied that of the rest of his starting lineup combined and he killed the Spartans from under the basket and at the line. Regardless of this dominance, the Cougars still elected to shoot three pointers at a 20% clip and avoid that scary area inside the arc. Sometimes its honestly like the three point line is a forcefield that our players cannot penetrate. I think the turnovers were making our guys nervous about running the halfcourt offense and we were doing whatever we could to score: whether that be getting out in transition or settling for contested jumpers.
It's easy to get down after this game but since the Stitt injury and Cremins stepping down, the regular season is pretty much irrelevant anyway. Right now the guys need to focus on improving each game up until Asheville. Win or lose, the team needs to improve on what is working and fix what is not. After tonight, shot-selection and man-to-man defense should be the focus in practice before we travel up to Ohio.
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