Well-Rounded Cougars Blow Out Towson

Final Score: College of Charleston 75, Towson 58
Top Performers: Andrew Lawrence 16 pts, 7 rebs, 5 assts
                              Trent Wiedeman 17 pts, 6 rebs

The Doug Wojcik era at the College of Charleston got off to a blazing start last night as the Cougars defeated the Towson Tigers 75-58. That final score is little indication of how sharp the team looked in the first half, holding Towson to just 14 points and putting up 40 offensively. That lead grew to as much as 49-16 in the second half until the Cougars seemed to pack it in and started getting a little sloppy. Trent and Andrew both had big games but there were still some things to be desired from the rest of the Cougars. There was some really good, some not so good and some things that still need work.

The Good

• Just about everything in the first half- Could not have asked for a better start to the game and the season. TD Arena was rocking, the players pinned their ears back and got after it on defense and the offense was efficient. Towson committed a lot of unforced turnovers trying to go one-on-one against guys like Trent and Anthony Stitt and then traveling or double dribbling. On offense, the Cougars were moving the ball and getting wide open looks around the rim. Towson finished the half shooting 23.1% from the field and committing 12 turnovers. 
• Wiedeman having a bounce back game offensively- Trent was pretty down on himself after the exhibition game so it was good to see him dominate against a pretty talented Towson front line. He ended up with his game-high 17 points on 8-13 shooting and looks to have really mastered some go-to moves in the paint. He also worked that dump pass from a few steps out to get some easy dunks.
• Anthony Stitt as the starting point guard- In 30 minutes of playing time, Stitt racked up 12 points on 4-7 shooting (including 3 of the team's 4 made threes), 3 assists, no turnovers and some great defense. Even with the sophomore running the offense, Lawrence was still able to facilitate and hit shots. I can't restate Stitt's defense enough, he might be the best on the team one-on-one.

The So-So

• Mental mistakes and sloppiness- I was hoping these would be some of the most easily correctable mistakes to fix after the exhibition. For the first half it looked to be the case but when the lead was pushed past 30 the starters really stopped being aggressive. Lazy passes, backcourt violations, giving up offensive rebounds off free throws, those are all things that shouldn't occur at this level of competition. I get that it's hard to keep your head in the game when the result is already known but these are things we fans don't want to worry about against opponents like Baylor and Louisville.
• Baru's defense on the perimeter- Adjehi quietly had a near double-double. On defense he was matched up a couple times against Jerrelle Benimon (the Georgetown transfer who looks like he'll be Towson's best player this year). Benimon drifted out toward the perimeter a few times. Adjehi did a great job of denying shots out at the arc but he also got caught with his feet flat after going for the block or steal. This caused opponents to fly right by him.
• The transition offense- It's only one game but when the defense is that good you'll have a lot of long rebounds, steals and opportunities to get out on the break. Wojcik mentioned before the exhibition game that this would be a major part of our offense we didn't see much of it. There were maybe a half dozen times where we were running the floor with a man advantage and pulled back to set up the offense. One time in particular was when Stitt was running a three on one and the Cougars turned it over. I'm not sure exactly what the issue is. We'll see in the next few games.
• Trent and Adjehi as facilitators- The Cougars only attempted nine three-pointers last night, hitting four of them. That's got to be a record low going back before Cremins got here. After the game Coach Wojcik wanted to reinforce that he's not against the three point shot and we should expect to see more attempts as the season goes on. When you establish the paint early, like Trent and Adjehi were able to do, you'll start to draw defenders from the perimeter to double-team. That's when Wiedeman and Baru need to act as facilitators and pass the ball out of the post to the shooters. Wojcik continued that Lawrence, Stitt and Sundberg are all more than capable shooters and he wants the big men to find them more. The Cougar's starting forwards had 3 assists combined. 

The Bad

• The bench- Willis Hall was the leading scorer off the pine with 6 points but he also fouled out in 17 minutes of play. After that the next leading scorer off the bench was walk-on Harrison Bowne, who played the final 60 seconds and made a layup as time expired. Nori played some great defense but was held scoreless on one field goal attempt. Theo Johnson and Matt Sundberg both were liabilities, Matt on defense and Theo from the free-throw line. All four of those guys are going to have to do better in the Charleston Classic next week, where our depth is really going to be tested. 
• Turnovers- Remember when I talked about how many turnovers the Cougar defense forced out of Towson? Well, the Cougars themselves had two more for a total of 17 for the game. I'm sure coach would like to see about half that number.

Overall though there's little to complain about when you dominate a team like the Cougars did last night. Towson was not much more competitive than exhibition opponent USC Aiken. The next test begins Thursday as the Cougars begin the Charleston Classic against St Johns. I'll be attending all the Classic games so stay tuned for some world-class reporting. Go Cougars!