Day 2 Wrap Up

UNCG 65, Appalachian State 55
Not a pretty game by any means but UNC Greensboro came back from an 11-point deficit to knock App State out of the tournament. Early on the Mountaineers looked good, they continued to hit difficult shots and they really pressured the Spartans into tough possessions. The difference maker was when Trevis Simpson finally started hitting shots in the second half. Once he got going, things seemed to get easier for Armstrong and Parker to make plays. The Mountaineers hit their final field goal of the game at the 9:03 mark of the second half. They simply ran out of gas. Too many careless turnovers and forced one-on-one plays by ASU down the stretch cost them the lead and the victory.

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Western Carolina 82, Wofford 59
The Terriers may have just overtaken CofC for worst first game of the tournament. Wofford just couldn't buy a shot going against surprisingly stingy defense by the Catamounts. Brad Loesing and Kevin Giltner put up some pretty heroic efforts in trying to make it a three-peat in the Big Dance, but Western Carolina was just too fast and too aggressive for Mike Young's team. Recently-named Freshman of the Year Karl Cochran really struggled in his first tournament game and looked noticeably frustrated on the floor.

Wofford's bigs got in early foul trouble and it's been said here before how weak that bench is. Once Skinner and Crowell were forced to stay on the floor with four fouls apiece, Mutombo and King were able to drive untouched to the basket. Didn't help matters that the crowd at US Cellular Center was largely Catamount favorable. Every time WCU delivered another big basket that place got loud. Needless to say this is a HUGE loss for the Terriers and a big win for the North Division, which is now guaranteed to have a team make the Championship game. Tough ending for those seniors from Wofford, something tells me that team is going to take a step backward next year.

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Davidson 73, Furman 54
Who needs UNC-Duke when you have a matchup like this? I didn't watch this game live because the Tobacco Road matchup was on at 7. Plus you gotta watch the pregame shenanigans on College Gameday. Furman actually outrebounded the Wildcats 34-31 but they allowed Davidson to shoot 47.4% from the floor and 10-26 from three. Kind of surprised the Cats took that many treys but so continues the tournament trend this year of one team completely outshooting the other. Davidson was paced by Brooks and Chris Czerapowicz (I've decided his nickname will be Michael Czera) both of whom scored 17 points in less than 30 minutes of play. There was also one other player who scored 17 points. Tyler Kalinoski, who I totally struck out on as my Most Important Player, came off the bench to drill 5 three-balls. Every Davidson player sounds like they come from a Polish family who emigrated to Minnesota.

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Elon 65, Georgia Southern 58
Charlton, your defense....woof. The Eagles had enough offensively to win most regular season games. If you look at the boxscore you'll see that both teams put up very similar stats on the night. Offensive and defensive rebounds, assists, turnovers all match up pretty equal for GSU and Elon. But the one glaring issue with Georgia Southern last night was that they allowed the Phoenix to shoot 53.3% of their field goals. Elon had very balanced scoring within their rotation and jumped out to an 11-point halftime lead that they never really looked back on. The Eagles didn't have an answer for Isenbarger and sent him to the line again and again. He made the Eagles pay by sinking all 9 of his free throws on the night. Eric Ferguson had another impressive game for GSU (21 and 9), but he was also part of the problem defensively.

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Elon's win gives us three North division teams in the semi-finals. Of those 4, WCU was the only one to play on Day 1. I'm still in favor of scrapping divisions.