Final Home Game of the Season: White Out Wofford

College of Charleston (20-9, 12-4)
Wofford (12-17, 6-10)
TD Arena
Tipoff at 7:30 on ESPN3

It's a tradition that predates our very own TD Arena: the annual White-Out Wofford game. The lack of mid-major star power diminishes the shimmer on this matchup, but Wofford has turned it on since the Cougars blew them out in January and will no doubt look to spoil the evening. Aside from the monochromatically-clad audience, tomorrow night is also special because it will be the final home game for Bart Benton, Matt Sundberg and Andrew Lawrence. If you haven't read my post on their careers, read it here.

Before we begin, a quick public service announcement. Students: if the Cougars win, please do not storm the court. The above video is the only exception. I know you're all dressed alike, the ESPN cameras are there and it's the last game of the season. Do not rush the court. Got it? Excellent. Don't want a repeat of that 2010 game where the fans were just waiting for a rush-the-court opportunity. Now then.

Last time these two teams met Trent Wiedeman dominated with 17 points and 8 rebounds in just 23 minutes. At one point he stared down freshman walk-on Kevin Hickson on the bench and shouted "How you like them apples Dahlman?! Teach you to steal SoCon Championships and All-SoCon selections from me!" to which Mike Young pleaded: "He graduated Trent! He doesn't even play here anymore!"

That was also the game where Theo Johnson came off the bench and torched 3 of 4 three-pointers to contribute to 11 total long-balls for the Cougars. Remember that for the weeks prior to that game the Cougs had been struggling to hit shots from behind the arc (kinda like they are now). The Cougars also held leading scorer Karl Cochran to just 4 points.

It'll be interesting to see what defensive strategy Young goes with. Obviously the Cougars have been struggling against the zone lately, but they burned the Terriers from outside in the last matchup. On one hand I think the Cougars can dominate the Terriers one-on-one. On the other I kind of want to see more zone since CofC will likely face it in the tournament. Better to work out the kinks now.

I can almost assure you of two things. Adjehi will have more than 3 rebounds this time around and Cochran will get more than 4 measly points. It's White-Out Wofford, it's senior night, it's the last time to see a CofC Olympian play at TD Arena. Go Cougars!

Senior Night: A Look Back at the Class of 2013

Tomorrow is senior night for the CofC men's basketball team. Bart Benton, Matt Sundberg and Andrew Lawrence will all be honored at halftime of the Wofford game and ride off gracefully from TD Arena into the postseason sunset (with a stop at Furman). I thought now would be a good time to reflect on each man's career.

Bart is captain of the scout team and a key component in the Cougars' practice and pre-game preparations. He replaced Jordan Turok as my favorite bench-riding white kid and was never a disappointment when he entered late in games. He's usually good for a three-pointer or a couple free throws within a minute of playing time. Bart will most likely become a state judge and put the careers of other Cougar alumni to shame. 

While We-Want-Bart Benton is a fan favorite, Matt "Sunny-D" Sundberg is a King Kresse All-Star. Matt came in as a lanky freshman three-point specialist with little weight to throw around in the block and even fewer post moves. That didn't stop 18-year old Matt from not backing down against Tyler Hansbrough, delivering some hard fouls to keep Psycho T in check and winning the hearts of Cougar fans everywhere. Because of injuries, his own defensive lapses and coaching changes Matt never got to flourish as anything more than a part-time starter. Still, it didn't stop Sunny D from giving us a few awkward haircuts and truly man-crush worthy performances when he lit it up. The career defining shower he rained down on Louisville last year, his Lowcountry-inspired bow ties during his redshirt season and his numerous drawn charges over his career have made Sundberg the most bloggable Cougar player of all time. He may have never starred but he probably bedded quite a few CofC coeds and gave us dozens of memories over his half-decade at CofC.

Finally there's the captain, the Olympian, the Brit: Mr. Andrew Lawrence. Over the past four years there has been nobody steadier on the court than Andrew. As a freshman he was a spark off the bench for Tony White Jr and Andrew Goudelock. His sophomore season he was good for some nifty assists and a couple treys spelling Donovan Monroe at the point. Last year Andrew was asked to step up big with the class of 2011 gone. He was spectacular in increased minutes and single-handily won a couple games at home. After a stint in the 2012 Olympics, Andrew has been the Cougars most consistent player when he's on the court. He can beat teams off the dribble, he can score from inside and out and he can distribute when his shot's not falling. He rarely forces things and is solely responsible for another handful of victories this year. If I were voting, The Captain would be a lock for one of the guard spots on the All-SoCon team. 

Andrew Lawrence will have a long and fruitful basketball career wherever he plays next year. He's got pro-level strength and shooting ability and under Wojcik he has become a better defender and post-passer. All of us Cougar fans would love to send Andrew, Matt and Bart away with a SoCon Championship. 

No Offense, but there was No Offense

Gardner-Webb University 55, College of Charleston 52

Top Performers:

Andrew Lawrence 16 points (4-7 3fg), 5 rebounds, 4 assists

Kevin Hartley 14 points, 6 rebounds

Thank God the SoCon Tournament is played as far from TD Arena as the league will allow. The November Cougars showed up against Gardner Webb tonight. In comparison to the Cougars of late, the November Cougs struggle against 2-3 zone defense, surrender unforced turnovers and do not win the close games. It certainly wasn't the BracketBuster finale we all wanted. Maybe when we get back to SoCon play next week the late January/early February Cougars will come back.

It was another slow start for CofC who fell behind by eight points early before Andrew Lawrence caught fire.  He hit four deep threes to keep the Cougars in it after their initial slow start. An Anthony Stitt three just before the buzzer gave the Cougs a 30-27 lead at the break. The Cougar offense was again stagnant but the Captain's Goudelock impression had gotten us back into the game sooner than expected.

For much of the night GWU went zone on the Cougs. CofC was unable to capitalize. The Cougars shot 25 three-pointers in order to bust the zone- but hit just six for the game (1 in the 2nd half). The two guys brought in to hit those shots and force man again both struggled. Nori and Matt were a combined 0-7 from deep. The overall field goal percentage for CofC was not much better at just 33.3%. The other thing about the zone that really gets the Cougars, besides exposing their hot-and-cold outside shooting, is that it takes away their rebounding edge. With Adjehi pinned to the baseline and almost everyone else on the perimeter, the Cougars didn't get many second chances at the basket against the zone. 

In contrast to recent games, Gardner-Webb was the one holding onto a lead in the final minutes. By the midway point of the 2nd, the Cougar offense had gotten cold enough for the Bulldogs to climb back into the drivers seat. 

Tied at 49 all with a minute to play, Tashan Newsome took an ill-advised fadeaway that was way short. Unfortunately nobody boxed out Kevin Hartley and he easily tipped it in. Cougars called timeout, ran a play that resulted in Trent Wiedeman getting fouled in the act of shooting and had a shot to tie it again with 38 seconds to play. Trent would miss both free throws.

One more opportunity off a missed free throw from Hartley and a good look from three for Willis Hall also came up short-along with the Cougars hopes of winning. Despite the out-of-conference opponent and non-effect on SoCon seeding tonight's loss was still disconcerting. We saw mistakes from the Cougars we haven't seen in a while and the old cardiac mentality bit us in the ass again. Record-wise it means little but from a confidence standpoint heading into Asheville, the Cougars need to show their apathetic fans something of a big bounce back if anybody is going to follow the team to North Carolina next month. 

TD Arena Hosts Gardner Webb in Final BracketBuster

College of Charleston (20-8, 12-4)

Gardner Webb University (17-11, 9-5)

TD Arena

Tipoff at 4pm on CofCSports.com

In it's swan song year, it's times like these we can all reflect on ESPN's 11-year run of the BracketBusters. With all the best of intentions the worldwide leader in sports gave mid-major teams a weekend to play on national television and test their NCAA Tournament resumes against other like-qualified institutions fighting for an at-large appearance. It was a platform that has been good to the Cougars in the past- giving us both Evan Fjeld's mustache and Nori Johnson's career high 27 points in front of Antonio Gates. Unfortunately the event has diluted itself by including way more than the necessary number of relevant teams in non-televised games. A tough pill to swallow this year, but both CofC and Gardner Webb's Tournament resumes aren't going to change after tomorrow evening. It's win the conference tournament or be locked out of the Big Dance auditorium for both squads. 

Still, it shouldn't prevent the Cougars from keeping the momentum going and taking care of business at home against a pretty solid opponent. In the past few weeks GWU has jumped from the Big South's mediocrity to being an actual contender after beating Charleston Southern, UNC Asheville and Coastal Carolina in the second half of conference play. They're a hot team right now and no-doubt jazzed to be playing a big game in the Holy City, but it's hard to get a good read on them.

The Cougars and "Runnin' Bulldogs..." have shared four opponents this season: Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina (x2 for the Bulldogs), Wofford and the Citadel (x2 for the Cougs). In those games CofC is 5-0 and GWU is 4-1 with a loss at Wofford in early December.

One thing that will jump out right away about GWU's team is there height, or rather their lack thereof. Kevin Hartley, at 6'6 is the tallest player in the starting lineup and the team's leading rebounder (6.4 rpg). He is however an outstanding outside shooter and is averaging almost 50% from behind the arc since Big South play began. Sounds like a smaller version of Jake Cohen. Although Cohen has been a nightmare to defend for the Cougars, maybe the shorter Hartley can be contained by Hall instead of drawing Baru or Wiedeman away from the basket. 

Rocking the three guard unit with such little rebounding and shot-blocking abilities, the backcourt tandem of 5th-year senior Tashan Newsome and Donta Harper lead the team in scoring. A lot like fellow Big South rival Charleston Southern, I expect this team to be fast and feisty. The Cougars have always had trouble with smaller guards so the perimeter defense will be something to monitor. 

However the Cougars should dominate the boards. There's no one on the GWU roster to match up with Adjehi Baru or Anthony Thomas and the way Trent Wiedeman has been playing when healthy should have the Bulldogs preparing for 3-4 different big men.

Really this game is not much more than any other out-of-conference matchup to start the year; despite being labeled a BracketBuster. It's a very winnable, albeit possibly difficult matchup, for CofC but may give us an opportunity to work out any more kinks before Asheville. I'd like to see Andrew Lawrence step out of this little shooting slump and some more time for the bench rotation if the Cougs find themselves up double digits.

Lastly, let's please for once build on a late game lead rather than surrender one. We've escaped several times since giving away the Samford and GSU games pre-SoCon Revenge Tour but a dismissal in such a fashion in the postseason would be supremely heartbreaking. Wojcik has been able to fix a lot of things before and during the season: I hope this is next on the list. Go Cougars!

Cardiac Cougars Strike Again

College of Charleston 67, Western Carolina 65

Top Performers

Trent Wiedeman 16 points, 10 rebounds in 20 mins

Trey Sumler 24 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists

With something like 5 minutes to go and the Cougars up double digits, Andrew Lawrence held the ball at the top of the arc and let shot clock time run. Then with under 10 seconds he initiated the offense. Almost every CofC player touched the ball and the play ended with Trent Wiedeman swishing a jumper as the shot clock buzzer honked. That's when I wrote this on Twitter. 

A changing of the tides! The Cougars were closing out a team! 

You guys know the rest of the story. Turnovers, missed free throws, Trey Sumler and-ones. I won't get into the late game collapse because A) it negates the 38 minutes of good basketball the Cougars played and B) the Cougars still found a way to win. That way to win was Andrew Lawrence not hesitating a second after Sumler tied the game up with 4 seconds to go and turning on the jets with one destination in mind: the rim. He got fouled with 0.6 seconds on the clock and sank both free throws to guarantee the win. Actually he sank two of six free throws. Reading Coach Wojcik's mind and knowing Lawrence would intentionally miss the second to run the clock out, Larry Hunter kept advising his players to commit lane infractions to delay the inevitable. Accidentally or not, Lawrence made a non-challenged free throw, the Catamounts full-court heave was picked off and the Cougs won their 20th game of the season.

Because of video issues I was only able to see the second half of this game. Which may not be a bad thing based on how ugly Jeff and Edog made the 1st half sound. Neither team could hit the broad side of a barn or keep the ball in their hands. A sign of things to come, both Willis and Andrew had tough shooting nights but were able to get points from the charity stripe. As a team the Cougars hit 20-28 from the free throw line but only 3-13 from three.

Trent Wiedeman was the Wee-da-man last night. He was the only Cougar big to get a double-double and he did it in just 20 minutes of playing time. Anthony Matchup-Nightmare Thomas also had his usually quiet 8 points and 7 rebounds. Rounding out the three stars of the game for the Cougars was Anthony Stitt who not only kept Sumler in check, but also hit two of CofC's three made long balls and finished with 12 points.  Last year, Anthony Stitt finishing at the rim through contact was one of my favorite highlights of any game. This year I jump out of my seat every time he swishes a mid-range jumper. It's just so sweet and such a rarity on this team for someone to hit from that distance.

Despite his inflated box score stats and late game heroics, Trey Sumler had an inefficient shooting night. He was 9 of 19 from the field (1-4 on 3's) and would have had only 12 points if the Cougars had refused to make things interesting in the final minutes. Tawaski King also had a tough time finishing through his old high school rival Trent Wiedeman and over Adjehi Baru. 

With the win the Cougars reach several milestones: double digit road victories, 20 wins on the season (already better than last years total) and the #3 seed in the SoCon Tournament. With the one seed out of reach, the 3 spot is the best place to land. It means we won't play Davidson until the Championship game (if it comes to that) and the best team on our side of the bracket is Elon- a team we already beat at their house. Better yet, if WCU can rally and get the #4 spot, some combination of Western Carolina, Georgia Southern or Samford could give Davidson quite a few bruising battles to get to the finals. 

Despite how things unfolded this was a great road win for CofC. We hadn't won in Cullowheeeee in five years. Up next is the BracketBuster against a very hot Gardner Webb team. 

Road Warriors Travel to WCU for Only Regular Season Matchup

Western Carolina

College of Charleston

Ramsey Center, Cullowhee NC

Tipoff at 7pm on Catamount Sports Network

With the SoCon Revenge Tour in the rearview mirror, it's time for the Cougars to turn their attention to building some momentum with positive play to finish out the season. Tomorrow night the Cougars take on Western Carolina for the first, only and last time as Southern Conference opponents. Actually I shouldn't say that. Last year Western Carolina shocked all of us SoCon followers when they took Davidson to double overtime in the Tournament Championship game in Asheville. That was when Harouna Mutombo, Trey Sumler and Tawaski King summoned the power of both the Dikembe and the local-fueled Asheville crowd to almost win the entire conference. 

This season the Catamounts are fighting Samford and App State for the #4 bye spot. WCU is a team that no one wants to face in the tournament because of their aforementioned magic in Asheville. Being the #4 team would also put them on the same side of the bracket as #1 seed Davidson, a team they surely want revenge on (much to the delight of everyone else in the SoCon). Then again Samford and App State would also be tough tournament draws for the Cougars. Stupid SoCon parity. 

Mutombo is gone but guard Trey Sumler, who is 2nd in the league with 18.1 points per game, and big man Tawaski King are still in the starting WCU lineup. When I look at this team I can't help but compare them a little bit to UNC Greensboro. They are led by a volume shooting guard who can light it up or force some bad shots. The team offense follows suit with lots of shot attempts and not much emphasis on defense. On the one hand they can blow teams out of the water, but on the other they can struggle against the top-tier SoCon defenses like Wofford, Davidson and CofC. The Catamounts have been in just about every SoCon game this season so the Cougars are going to have to be sure not to beat themselves again late in the game.

To keep the UNCG comparison going I think the Cougars can win this game, even on the road. I expect the combination of Stitt, AT and Theo to contain Sumler enough that other players are going to need to step up. Let's take the comparison even further. King might be the Kayel Locke of this game. He is skilled enough to get his points with attention directed more at Sumler on the perimeter. The Cougars probably won't double him outside 3 feet and he can take Willis or Trent one-on-one. But I don't think it will be enough for the Catamounts. 

I think the Cougar front line rotation with their rebounding and ball movement will be too much to overcome. After King, Sumler is the next best rebounder on the team. Also, the Catamounts have a tendency to over-foul when they are mismatched. Against Elon and Tennessee this year, Western Carolina allowed over 40 free throw attempts. If everything goes according to plan for CofC they should force some bad shots and hopefully turnovers out of the Catamounts. Offensive execution could be trickier. It's going to come down to the Cougars' ability to hit the shots that Western's defense will give up: inside and outside. No more napping on offense! Go Cougars!

SoCon Revenge Tour Wraps, Cougars Go 3-1

College of Charleston 69, Georgia Southern 60

Top Performers

Willis Hall 18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists

Eric Ferguson 22 points, 5 rebounds

Save for an ugly final 10 minutes of the game that saw the Cougars nearly surrender a 23-point lead....it was a pretty good bounce back victory for CofC. Following the letdown that was the Davidson game it would have been easy for the Cougars to dial it in playing at home with the 3 seed pretty much locked. Maybe they did dial it in when they were up big in the second half, but Willis Hall came out on fire in the first half and Anthony Stitt eventually finished things off to ensure a vengeful victory against the Eagles.

Willis had 13 points in the first half alone- utilizing and capitalizing on all the little things he can do. He posted up Ferguson and converted, he hit a three, he rebounded, he assisted and he forced a travel call. The Cougar offense as a whole looked a lot better than the Thursday game. Consider the level of competition. There was much more emphasis on running the break after missed shots (maybe they picked that up watching the Davidson tape) and the CofC bigs got a ton of easy buckets when the Eagles switched to a press.

If I were to nitpick two qualms with the Cougar offense it would be Adjehi Baru's ability to finish through contact and our execution against the zone. Adjehi made 13 trips to the line last night and, although he made nine and got another double-double, the team could have easily gone up 25-30 points and Adjehi could have had a season high in if he hadn't missed so many bunnies. One of the biggest developments Baru made this year was that he seemed to realize how much of a physical advantage he has over his peers in the SoCon. Now he should expect to draw contact (as well as double teams) and not let the foul disrupt his shot. 

When the Eagles dropped back into the 2-3 zone in the 2nd the Cougar offense took another nap. It looked like they were trying to run down the clock but they were slow moving the ball around the perimeter and never got the sort of wide open threes you want to take in that setting. Georgia Southern took advantage of their length and athleticism, picked off a few passes and got themselves back in it late. Couple that with the sagging CofC defense and you can imagine how the lead evaporated. Fortunately Anthony Stitt and Nori Johnson were good enough down the stretch to not let the Eagles all the way back.

Some very interesting notes from the bench in this one. Trevonte Dixon, used sparingly throughout the year, played 10 minutes when the Cougars were up double digits. Meanwhile Theo Johnson and Matt Sundberg so no court time. I think that TD is solid enough to plug into three-guard lineups for the Cougs. As long as he doesn't turn the ball over. He's a smart player and can hit from the outside. Last night his only buckets came off a nifty dribble-drive where he got his man turned around and cruised in for an easy layup.

No one needs to remind Cougar fans about the importance of depth in the SoCon Tournament. Wiedeman and Nori make a very solid 7 man rotation every game. If Matt Sundberg is on from deep and Theo is locked in defensively you have a formidable 9 man unit. If TD can play sustainable minutes against a team like Davidson, Elon or Samford and give a break to Stitt and Lawrence I'd be even more relieved. So far we have not seen the bench from Wiedeman all the way down to TD/Pat Branin used to it's full potential, but bits and pieces are there. Moving forward I'm interested to see under what circumstances Wojcik goes to the three-guard. I also don't mind this trend of pushing the tempo against like-minded teams. 

Davidson Takes Cougars to School

Davidson 75, College of Charleston 59

Top Performers

Jake Cohen 32 points, 3 rebounds

Trent Wiedeman 10 points, 6 rebounds

Welp, all good things must come to an end. After winning six straight conference games the Cougars finally fell at the paws of the Davidson Wildcats. Does it suck to lose at home? Absolutely. Is it the end of the world? No- as long as the Cougars can learn from it and move on. 

The Wildcats came out with a clear agenda and all the momentum to try and shut up the TD Arena crowd early. Right out of the jump they rallied off 10 straight uncontested points and forced a handful of turnovers out of the Cougs. It wasn't until Andrew Lawrence nailed a three that the Cougars finally started showing life. CofC then went on a run of their own to make it a game in the first half. The Cougars won the rebounding battle in the first half, got Brooks and Cohen to fall into foul trouble and limited Davy's trips to the line. However despite their toughness the Cougars never put any consecutive offensive possessions together to really challenge or pull away from their opponent. In the second half things would quickly turn sour.

In stark contrast to the last meeting (and most of the season), the Cougars could not defend the three point line. For the game Davidson shot a torching 10-24 from behind the arc. It was an offensive clinic by McKillop to swing the ball inside, out and around the line before the Cougars ball screen double teams could recover. That got the entire team defense in trouble for CofC. One-on-one the Cougars couldn't stop a monster game from Jake Cohen. Adjehi Baru, who again struggled against Davidson, couldn't keep up with Cohen on the perimeter and got schooled a couple times by up-and-unders and spin moves. I don't completely fault Baru for not being able to check Cohen, but he didn't help the team with his game-high three turnovers and he seemed to regress offensively. 

Meanwhile the Davidson defense wasn't allowing anything. The Cougars have proven several times this year that they can win with defense or offense when one facet is lacking. Last night they couldn't stop Davidson's execution anywhere, especially in the second half. Far too often the Cougars were left with the shot clock under 10 and no signs of a Plan B play or any movement. They got bailed out a few times by Lawrence making tough shots (couldn't blame him with the offense getting stagnant at times, he finished with 0 assists) but never looked like they had the upper hand.

Every time the Cougars flirted with seizing the lead, Davidson made big plays again and again to deny them. An offensive put back, a three or a transition bucket would take away any momentum. The Cougars also didn't help themselves from the free throw line. After getting the Davidson bigs in foul trouble, the Cougars only went 4-10 from the charity stripe, a lot of times on the front end of a one-and-one. Going against the world's greatest free throw shooting team you have to at least keep the margin close.

As Wojcik would say after the game, "they were tougher than we were at critical moments" and "in the end your best players need to be at their best". That's a near perfect rendition of how it looked from my vantage point. Those momentum-swinging plays Davidson made whenever they were challenged were the difference. When Trent went down with his ankle injury (he said he'll play tomorrow), CofC could have really rallied, but Davidson was the aggressor from that point on and put the game away. 

Just like we've had a lot of team victories this year, this was a team loss. The guys got beat by the better team. It didn't come down to one play or player fault. There's another chance to finish out the SoCon Revenge Tour strong with a victory at home against Georgia Southern tomorrow. The Cougs could use it. 

SoCon Revenge Tour Part 3: Unfinished Business

College of Charleston (18-7, 10-3)

Davidson (17-7, 12-1)

TD Arena

Tipoff at 7:30 pm on ESPN3

The last time these two teams met, January 19th in Davidson, the Cougars were coming off a road loss to Georgia Southern and playing their final game of a tough five-games-in-nine-days stretch. The Cougars played well for all but about the final five minutes of the first half but it wasn't enough to gut out a victory. Since that meeting neither team has lost a game. The Cougars will look to exact a bit of revenge on the Wildcats and for Davidson, the College is the last roadblock in possibly winning out in the Southern Conference. It all adds up to a little more than the average Valentines Day drama level at the College of Charleston.

Back to that last game these two teams played against one another. Things started off well for the Cougars but they encountered some issues that would throw them off balance. For one, Anthony Stitt was still in that awful road shooting slump- going 0-8 from the field against the Wildcats. Second was the quick exit of most of our formidable front court. Baru picked up two quick fouls that would see him only play limited minutes and tally a season low of just 2 rebounds. Our second leading rebounder, Willis Hall caught an elbow to the eye/face/head that would cause him to miss most of the game with a Psycho-T injury. With Baru, Hall and Anthony Thomas all in foul trouble for better parts of the game, Davidson dominated the boards 31-23. 

A negative rebounding disparity like that has been a rarity this year for the Cougars. One has to think Andrew Lawrence will not lead the team with 5 rebounds again tomorrow night. It's also unlikely Sunny D will come off the bench and torch Davidson for 8 points in 12 minutes again. But that is neither here nor there (do it for the student section Matty). 

There a couple big keys for the Cougs tomorrow in order to defend their home court again from the Wildcats. 

• Stay out of foul trouble
• For obvious reasons 1) CofC is going to have their hands full maintaining the rebounding margin against Cohen/Brooks (maybe the only SoCon tandem that matches up with the Cougars). Baru and Hall picking up early fouls and being forced to sit will not help to keep the Cats off the offensive or defensive glass. In their big losses this year Davy has been out-rebounded bad 2) The last thing any team wants to do is send the nations best free throw shooting program (81% as a team this year) to the line for easy points
• Drive and kick
• One chink in the armor of McKillop's team this year is containing penetration off the dribble. Kuhlman and Cochran don't have the lateral quickness to stay with quick guards and they'll have a tough matchup with Stitt and Lawrence. There's two ways to penetrate the defense, off the bounce or dumping it into the post. Baru and Wiedeman will probably see a few double teams so if the guards and AT can get to the rim they should be able to finish or dish it to someone else who's open. So either our shooters get wide open looks, our guards beat the defense off the dribble or (maybe best case scenario) Brooks/Cohen pick up some early fouls trying to rotate over. 
• Stop the transition game
• This is what Coach Wojcik touched on immediately after the game in January and in this week's podcast. Davidson has the tendency to sneak out behind a defense right after they force a turnover or missed shot. Even their big men run the floor. The best way to prevent this would be to not miss shots or to not turn the ball over. But regardless of how well the Cougars shoot, someone needs to be back to prevent Davidson from outlet passing to a wide open man who leaked out. 

If the Cougars can do these things they put themselves in a position to win. Stitt, Baru and Willis should all have much bigger games than they did a month ago. The three-point shooting and defense were solid enough against Samford and Chattanooga last week but it needs to be our strong point yet again at home tomorrow. It's a big, big game in the SoCon Revenge Tour. Go Cougars!

Cougars Escape Chattanooga for 6th Straight Win

College of Charleston 71, Chattanooga 68

Top Performers

Trent Wiedeman 16 points, 10 rebounds

Z Mason 27 points, 6 rebounds

The road warriors are back! With The Roundhouse celebrating their Legends Weekend and hosting the largest audience of the season thus far, the Cougars responded in winning their second straight away from TD Arena and denied the Mocs a chance at revenge. 

Lots to touch on in this game. So much so that I cannot/am too lazy to string it all together in a concise post. So we're switching over to bullet point format. 

• Z Mason. The junior big man had the game of his life last night. He almost eclipsed his career high of 21 points with 17 in the first half and finished with 27. I knew it was going to be his night when he found himself pinned outside the three point line, without a dribble or anyone to pass to and threw up a shot that banked off glass and in. Luckily he ran out of steam toward the end (he admitted postgame he had no legs late in the 2nd half), committed a turnover and lost Trent a couple times on defense. 
• Shulman decided to stick with what worked against El Cid and called for full court pressure after most Mocs made baskets. The Cougars were mostly unfazed. I only counted about 2-3 turnovers that occurred specifically because of the pressure defense. As I predicted the guys did a great job moving the ball laterally and keeping UTC on their toes.
• Two early fouls on both Willis Hall and Adjehi Baru allowed for a big run by the Mocs offense to keep the game close. Chattanooga went right at Matt Sundberg in the post and he couldn't do much to stop them. I can forgive Matt for that but I won't forgive him for missing his three-point attempt. I had this gif copied and ready to paste on Twitter. Missed opportunity Sunny D...
• Trent Wiedeman picked up his second double-double of the year. He was everywhere on the court and if I had a nickel for every time he was found for easy baskets behind the Mocs defense I'd have a nice pocket full of change
• There was one stretch in the 2nd half where Anthony Thomas took over. He scored on two straight possessions and assisted on another. It was similar to the Boston College game. Sometimes you forget about AT and then he goes on a tear and you think "Oh yea I'm glad we picked him up"
• Not to be out Anthony-ed, Anthony Stitt also had a marvelous game hitting two of the teams three treys and dishing out 6 assists
• SoCon refs were back to their inconsistent antics (on both sides) last night. Fortunately for the Cougars the Mocs missed on 10-of-16 free throws. CofC meanwhile made 16 of 21. 
• Another cool shooting night from behind the arc by CofC (5-19). A bit disappointing because most of those looks were wide open
• And how about that final decision(?) not to foul by UTC. Down two with 16 seconds to go, Shulman and the Mocs let the Cougars take the ball up the court. They didn't even try to touch us until there were like 6 seconds left on the clock and the Cougs were able to move the ball around for another 5 seconds. Look at Lawrence's face when he gets the inbounds. He waits for the foul, then looks over at Shulman like "Oh..you're not going to...ok...didn't plan for...alright I'll take it"
• Then Lawrence split his free throw attempts and the Mocs were left with a full court heave to try and tie the game that was so tantalizingly close you could here every Mocs fan in attendance regretting the decision to bring back their head coach

SoCon Revenge Tour Part Deux: Chattanooga

University of Tennessee Chattanooga (9-14, 4-6)
College of Charleston (17-7, 9-3)
McKenzie Arena
Tipoff at 7:30 on GoMocs.com 

Not every team CofC faces on this SoCon Revenge Tour has defeated the Cougars this season. There's one, Chattanooga, who lost to CofC in dominating fashion. After the Samford collapse the Cougars responded with their absolute best game of the season and crushed the Mocs inside TD Arena just two days later. This is a revenge game for the Mocs, not for the Cougars.

If the Cougars aren't careful they could drop this one. The game back in January was a bit flukey. In scoring 86 points (still a season high) the Cougars shot way above their average percentages. They also mixed in their usually stout defense against a team that started the desperation heaves about 6 minutes into the game.

The Mocs are a bit different now. First off they're playing at home, an arena that has never been kind to the CofC Cougars (damn you 2009 SoCon Tournament). Secondly they are rocking a new lineup with senior Dontay Hampton out the rest of the year. That means more time for talented underclassmen Rico White and Gee McGhee. The Mocs looked mighty impressive last night against our lowcountry brethren the Citadel, so much so that fellow blogger JohnMoc described it as "their most complete game of the year."

There are still things the Chattanooga Mocs do very well. They rebound at an elite level. They are lengthy and quick on their feet which makes running an offense against them extremely difficult (especially *gulp* a team that has tendencies to turn the ball over). Last night Shulman implemented perhaps my favorite wrinkle in SoCon basketball this season by demanding full court pressure from his guys the entire game. Now, the Cougars have not been terrible against full court this season-even Chattanooga's, most of our turnovers in the beginning of the year came from feeding the post. I think Willis, Anthony Thomas and whoever is off ball between Stitt and Lawrence actually do a good job of navigating full and 3/4 court pressure. However I hope this is something the coaching staff is prepared for.

If it's going to be a run and gun game expect big-time plays from Anthony Thomas and Theo Johnson. Remember last time these two teams met Andrew Lawrence only had seven points and Trent Wiedeman was still recovering from injury. I would love to keep this momentum going into the Davidson game next week and I would love to sweep a team from the North division. If the Cougars lost this one it would not be the end of the world but it's time to put away teams we're supposed to beat.

A Dish Best Served Cold (Shooting, That Is)

College of Charleston 69, Samford 65

Top Performers:

Adjehi Baru 15 points, 10 rebounds

Raijon Kelly 21 points, 8 assists

The SoCon Revenge Tour started off exactly how I wanted it to and I'm still having trouble understanding exactly how it happened. Maybe it's my conditioning as a student during the Goudelock/Cremins days that sees a 2-15 3PT on the boxscore and can't compute how we still won. But before we get into the first 39 minutes of the game I'd like to talk about the final 60 seconds. 

Last time these two teams met the Cougars squandered a 9 point lead in the final 6 minutes. This time around we found ourselves with a 12 point lead with 1 minute to go. Nori Johnson had just sunk two free throws, the Cougar D had held another opponent in the 50's and things looked splendid. You know how teams will sometimes resort to one of those hack-fests and attempt a dozen threes when they're down double digits and just push the game for another 20 minutes when you know it's all over anyway? Well, Samford did that and it was actually working. They hit FIVE threes in the final minute with the Cougar defense sagging off. A lot of those were prayers that somehow went in (including the half courter as the final buzzer sounded). Luckily Anthony Stitt was hitting enough free throws on the other end to keep it a two possession game. But still, one of the more ridiculous endings I've ever seen in college basketball (but not the craziest of the night).

Aside from an 11-2 run to start the game the Cougars did not look good in the first half. Raijon Kelly and Tim Williams continued to run pick-and-roll in abusive fashion. Williams was able to get around any defender on him not named Baru on the roll and when he was covered there was still too much room for Kelly to operate (shooting or distributing). Also in transition Williams too often would get himself so deep in position under the basket that resistance was futile for the Cougars. Kelly meanwhile had no trouble knocking down shots from mid-range. 

Couple this with the Cougars going on one of their now-patented offensive naps and you get Samford going on a second "quarter" surge to take the 5 point lead at halftime. In the first 20 minutes the Cougs went a combined 0-9 from behind the arc. The Bulldog defense is solid but a lot of those shots were pretty wide open. Part of me thinks the guys may have been trying to compensate for the lack of a perimeter game by forcing shots too. 

In the second half Coach Wojcik reminded us all to not lose faith. The Cougar defense tightened up again (in Coach's words we "wore out" Samford's short rotation), we made due on our numerous offensive rebounding opportunities and Nori Johnson had himself a game. 

Nori has had his name thrown around a lot in the postgame conferences this season by Coach Wojcik. Sometimes it's because of his instance offense, sometimes because the team needs more from him and sometimes to praise his defense (last week agains Simpson). After last night's game it was all positive. Nori almost single handily shut down Kelly and this disrupted the two man game he had with Williams. Johnson also hit the second three of the game for the Cougars to just put the game out of reach for Samford. Despite their crazy three pointers at the end. 

This was a bigger win than it gets credit for. On the road, making no shots in the first half and much of the second, the Cougars kept an impressive win streak going and took down a team fighting for the same bye spot. Next up is Chattanooga tomorrow. Let's get it. 

SoCon Revenge Tour Part 1: Samford

Samford University (7-15, 5-4)

College of Charleston (16-7, 8-3)

Hanna Center

Tipoff Thursday at 8pm on http://www.samfordsports.com/showcase/

With March in sight, the Cougars face another tough stretch of games coming up. Over the next two weeks the Cougars will face five teams competing for byes in the SoCon Tournament. Of those five, three have already defeated the Cougars once this year. Samford on Thursday, Davidson at home the 14th and Georgia Southern at home the 16th are all critical games not only for revenge but also for an abbreviated Southern Conference Tournament. These three games should be especially important mentally because the Cougars coughed up leads and easily could have one two or three. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger (Kelly Clarkson taught me that) and the Cougs have momentum on their side. 

Back when CofC lost to Samford, GSU and Davidson the team was still playing inconsistent basketball. They were not scoring, Trent was not fully healthy, Anthony Stitt was in a severe slump and late game execution was still a thorn in the side of the team. But recently things seem to have fallen into place. The Cougars have one four straight in dominant fashion since the Davidson loss. The offense has improved dramatically with the decreased turnovers and increased bench contributions. Defense is still the best in the league. Realistically the Cougars could run through the rest of the schedule virtually unscathed if they keep up this play.

First up on the SoCon Revenge Tour is the Samford Bulldogs. Freshman Tim Williams has virtually doubled his collegiate experience since the last time these two met but his team is struggling. After being the surprise of the league the Bulldogs have dropped three straight games to some of the SoCon's best offenses (UNCG, Davidson and Elon). 

You'll remember the last time these teams met for this epic collapse and the subsequent apathy from the CofC student section.

Not now Clyde...not now...

But it's water under the bridge. Despite Bennie Seltzer's team losing three straight they are still breathing down CofC's neck for a bye. A win at home against the Cougs would be huge for them; a victory for the Cougs would mean much-needed breathing room over Samford and others. 

I expect CofC as a team to look a lot better defensively against the Bulldogs. The pick-and-roll and late three pointers by Samford killed us last time. With Trent back and the Anthonys tuned in, the pick and roll defense qon't yield as many easy opportunities. The three-point shooting defense has already been sited by myself ad nauseum. We still haven't been tested in the whole always-be-closing metric, but as road warriors the Cougars can keep up the current winning streak tomorrow in Birmingham. 

Should Theo Johnson Get More Playing Time?

Ten days ago against Wofford, freshman Theo Johnson had a statement game. With the game in cruise control Coach Wojcik left his bench players on the court for some developmental minutes and the team's only freshman contributor responded with 12 points in 12 minutes of play. Theo had played well in spot minutes up to that point and fans had been lauding his potential but until that game Theo hadn't put it all together. Since then he has followed it up with more solid performances when he's given the minutes and a certain "swagger" according to Wojcik. So now the question is, does he deserve more playing time?

First let's go over what Theo brings to the table. Right now he is second on the team in blocked shots per game (0.3 per game behind Adjehi despite playing half the minutes). For a player his age he's got exceptional timing and concentration to get a clean block without fouling. His quickness off his jump is probably the best on the team and he's shown not only an ability to come over from the weak side, but also the athleticism to block shots in transition and all the way out to the perimeter. My favorite play of the Davidson game was when Cochran and Theo sized each other up one-on-one at the end of the first half and Theo blocked him behind the arc as the buzzer sounded. 

Defense is where Theo has the tools to thrive. Like Anthony Thomas, Johnson is long-limbed and quick enough laterally to stay with most players in the SoCon. He's always a threat to block a shot and this will make opponents less likely to drive to the rim when he's sharing the court with Baru. 

This defensive ability has been evident since the Charleston Classic (really the last time Theo got consistent big minutes with Trent out). But his shooting left a lot to be desired. For the first half of the season Theo couldn't hit his free throws and his three point shooting hovered around 30%. The last three games the shooting behind the arc has improved to 4-8 and he's finishing plays by drawing contact and making 80% of his free throw attempts. 

Cougar fans see these improvements and the potential that has been there and some clamor for him to see more minutes. But for all the positives there's still some typical freshman mistakes we're seeing. A few times this year Theo's gotten himself into trouble by trying to go one-on-one or taking a bad shot. These are the mistakes we're used to seeing from college freshman as they make the transition from being the top player in high school to a rookie in the NCAA. The adjustments are not easy to make and the fact that Theo has minimized these errors and earned more minutes lately is a testament to his hard work.

If he's going to get more minutes it will come at the expense of Anthony Thomas, Nori Johnson and Matt Sundberg. Theo is generally used at small forward, a position that is the 5th option offensively in Wojcik's system and locked up pretty tightly by AT. Nori has had just one more double-digit scoring game than Theo but his versatility and recent defensive success against Trevis Simpson should keep his minutes regular. Then there's Sunny D. Just when you thought it was safe to put the freshman in over the senior, Matt has begun to find his stroke again and become a valuable player off the bench. He's still inconsistent with his shot and defense but the fact that Wojcik brought him off the bench first against Greensboro may mean he's finding his niche.

With Trent fully healthy the rotation of players under the basket is pretty set in stone, that leaves Matt and Theo to fight for the remaining minutes at the 3 and 4 spots. Matt is a better floor spacer and scorer but Theo brings more athleticism and defense. If Anthony Thomas were struggling I might suggest giving Theo more time but AT is quietly giving the Cougars solid defense, 10 points and 5 rebounds a night. So to answer the initial question- probably not. As good as Theo has been of late his minute increase would come at the expense of someone else. For now Theo just needs to give us the best he can for 12-15 minutes per game. The team needs spark plugs off the bench (defensively and offensively) and Theo fits the bill. His minutes are going to increase throughout his career and his surprising success this early should have CofC fans very excited about what's to come. 

Cougar Defense Disarms Greensboro

College of Charleston 81, UNCG 59

Top Performers:

Trent Wiedeman 14 points, 12 rebounds

Kayel Locke 21 points, 4 rebounds

And the streak is up to 4. What streak you say? Any of them- doesn't matter. Four straight wins, four straight games of shutting down the opponents' best scorer, four straight games of opposing teams scoring in the 50's and four straight games with double digit victories for the Cougars. 

While the defensive look we gave wasn't exactly what I expected (AT ended up mostly guarding Armstrong and Stitt/Nori checked Simpson) the results were exactly what I anticipated. Simpson was held to just 12 shots (11 of them highly contested) and was lucky to get 15 points mostly from free throws. Armstrong didn't get a clean look until garbage time and ended up with just 8 points. Freshman Kayel Locke was the only player the Cougars really gave up anything to. That's fine because as talented as Locke is, even with 21 points he can't carry the team just yet. Especially with Simpson and Armstrong struggling. Simpson alone normally takes around 25 shots. 

Best of all the Cougars were able to hold their nationally dominant 3-point defense stingy against a notoriously hot jump shooting team. With at least one hand in their face on every attempt (the Cougs did a great job guarding the hand-offs on the perimeter), the Spartans shot a cold 2-14 on long balls. That's good for just over 14%. The Cougars also used a huge rebounding margin (45-34) to limit Simpson and company to just one (contested) shot per possession.

Offensively the Cougars were once again firing on all cylinders. Trent Wiedeman had another I-can't-imagine-if-he-had-both-ankles-all-season game with his first doube-double of the year. Willis Hall was one rebound shy of his own and Adjehi Baru was two boards away (he sat with foul trouble for some time). While the Spartans struggled from every place on the floor, the Cougars were white hot from the arc. The big guys did a great job of finding open shooters and AT and Willis were attentive in sealing off space. Stitt, Hall and Andrew Lawrence were a combined seven of nine on three point attempts. 

Things are really moving and grooving for the Cougars. The team hasn't looked challenged at all the past two weeks, the offense (thanks to fewer turnovers and consistent bench contributions) is humming at 75 points per game over the same time period. Not only is CofC dominating it's own opponents, but as the wins pile up they're creating space atop the SoCon bye race. Theres a tough four game stretch coming up (@Samford, @Chattanooga, Davidson, Georgia Southern) but the Cougars are playing their best basketball of the season. 

Reintroducing Ourselves to UNCG with a New Brand of Basketball

The last time the Spartans visited TD Arena it resulted in a drastic change in direction for both programs. UNCG, off to a 2-14 record and a bagel in conference victories, was left in the hands of world's-youngest interim head coach Wes Miller. The College of Charleston was still being led by one of the NCAA's living legends.

The game unfolded in depressing fashion for the Cougars. CofC blew leads late in the first and second half by being a step too slow for a G team that didn't even have their leading scorer. The Cougs were already reeling from the loss of Adjehi Baru (and subsequent insertion of Matt Sundberg into the starting lineup) before fellow freshman Anthony Stitt fell to the floor and returned to the bench with a cast on his arm. Stitt would miss the next 12 games with a broken hand. The Spartans would go on to win 9 more league games and Wes Miller won SoCon Coach of the Year. Bobby Cremins would take a leave of absence before the rematch of these teams a month later and the Mark Byington-led Cougars fell in their first game in Asheville.

Just like Chattanooga and App State, teams built like UNCG are the reason why the coaching search committee went in Wojcik's direction. Fast, athletic, three-point shooting teams usually gave fits to the Cougars in the Cremins days. In their two games against the Spartans last year the Cougars couldn't get defensive stops, couldn't keep up in transition and couldn't secure a rebound when they really needed it. Cut to one year later and those abilities are the calling card of the College's team.

The Cougars are currently holding opponents to a league low 28.6% shooting from beyond the arc. The Spartans have two of the leagues top 5 scorers (Simpson 1 and Armstrong 5), but only one player (Nicholas Paulos) who shoots better than 40% from downtown. They take a lot of threes and play very up-tempo in order to get that SoCon best 72.5 points per game. The rebounding should also favor the Cougars due to a substantial size differential.

Anthony Thomas will likely be tasked with slowing down the aerial exploits and volume shooting of Trevis Simpson. It's a role that AT has been looking forward to for some time and his length and blocking ability will definitely cause some discomfort for the SoCon's leading scorer (I also expect Theo Johnson coming off the bench to check Simpson). But don't forget the Spartans have the luxury of two premium scoring threats on their team. Anthony Stitt will probably be asked to hold down senior guard Derrell Armstrong. Armstrong is the less explosive of the two so Stitt's ability to stick to his man one-on-one could work in our favor.

In order to win the Cougars are going to have to play stellar defense (what I'm least worried about), make shots when they're open (they will be) and not turn the ball over (more worried about that one). However, signs point to this being a very winnable game. The Cougars have a 1.54 assits-turnover ratio over the last three games and that stat about defending against the three is huge. G's defense is bad enough that the Cougars should put up enough points to win; as long as the pressure stays on Simpson and Armstrong we can get a W.