Sure am glad I didn't drive 8 hours to Asheville. With the season on the line, the Cougars decided to play one of their worst games of the season and let the 5N App State Mountaineers cruise to a relatively easy first round victory.
The first half was competitive enough. Despite being out-rebounded, 26-18, the Cougars used their half court pressure defense to force the Mountaineers into 11 turnovers for the period. Anthony Stitt and Antwaine Wiggins were instrumental in the 1-2-2 press that frustrated ASU into some costly mistakes. This led to the easiest buckets CofC would get all afternoon. In yesterday's Day 1 preview I said that the Cougars had to hit shots in order to keep pace with what was likely to be a negative rebounding margin. Boy did they drop the ball on that one. The Cougars shot an abysmal 0-9 on treys in the first half and missed some really easy layups to stay behind on the scoreboard. Not only that, but once App State figured out how to break the press, they hit their shots. The Mountaineers went 4-8 from three and shot 44% from the floor in the first 20 minutes.
The second half is when the lead really became insurmountable. App State blew things open, hitting difficult shots from all over the court. Even when the Cougars were able to run the shot clock down, ASU would hit another dagger. Once the game was pushed far enough above double-digits, the Cougars started playing with desperation but it was too little to late. Before Nori and Wiggins hit some late shots to keep a glimmer of hope alive, CofC shot an embarrassing 6.6% (1-15) from outside the arc. Compare that with ASU hitting over 50% of their outside shots and cleaning the glass and you have the final score of 93-81.
My X-factor in this one was Sundberg. Just like the last time these two met in the conference tournament, Butts and Carter really destroyed us. Sundberg isn't able to handle Isaac Butts inside, so I mentioned how he would need to make some threes to justify his court time. His final stat line: 1 point, 0-2 on FGs, 1-2 from the line, 1 rebound, 4 fouls. He wasn't the only to blame though. Everybody on CofC struggled to some extent with their shooting and the physicality of a tournament game.
It's definitely a tough ending to swallow for College of Charleston fans. It's been such a roller coaster ride of a season. From low preseason expectations, to surging aspirations during the first few weeks of action, the whole injury bug/coaching change/losing streak that quelled any expectations and then the pre-tournament run that got our hopes up. It's hard to remember that four of our eight man rotation has never played in a Southern Conference Tournament before. Stitt, Baru, Johnson and Scott really struggled with the pressure early on and it didn't help that the vets never really got it going offensively. Wiggins was the only Cougar to shoot over 50% from the floor. Trent was the only one getting it done offensively in the first half but he still struggled against Butts and finished the game shooting 9-19 with 7 rebounds. Lawrence tried to spearhead the late rally but he also contributed to the shooting drought.
Hopefully this game acts as a strong source of motivation for the guys this summer and into next year. Trent will be getting surgery over spring break to finally fix his ankle issue, Willis Hall will be back and the young guys will understand the college postseason game a little bit better. Fortunately the future is still bright for the Cougars. I expect the buzzards to still circle over Byington's head but that decision is not up to most of us. It was an interesting season to say the least but I'll still cheer for my alma mater no matter what. Best of luck to whoever should represent the Southern Conference come March!
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