Final Score: Miami 70, College of Charleston 54
Top Performers:
James Kelly 18 points (6-9 FG, 3-3 3PFG)Willis Hall 12 points, 7 rebounds
Apologies for the late posting, work duties called this week. My thoughts from Mondays game:
As great as it would have been to defeat the reigning ACC Champion Miami Hurricanes on our own floor, the Cougars could not catch a break Monday night. Seeing the Canes struggle to hit outside shots in their two games, the plan seemed simple: keep up with Miami on the boards, limit their looks at the rim and neutralize their size advantage with quick ball movement and deliberate offense.
The Cougars came out of the gates hot, jumping out to an early five-point lead but then our defensive game plan was thrown for a massive loop. Miami, the same team that shot 16% from outside the arc in their two OT games on the season, started torching the nets. Led by James Kelly, starting his first game, the Hurricanes would eventually go on to hit 7 of 11 from behind the arc. Once those shots started falling the Cougars were stuck with their pants around their ankles. Wojcik tried switching defenses multiple times, daring the Miami bigs to beat the College with jumpers only to watch the plan backfire again.
On offense the Cougars did some good things. They attacked the rim better than they had all season (going to the line 22 times), started hitting shots again, even Anthony Stitt got out of his shooting slump. The problems CofC encountered offensively were two-fold. They really struggled with Miami's length and quickness. On several occasions the freshmen (Barry and Cook immediately come to mind) were caught off guard by how fast Miami could close out and it affected their shooting motion. This resulted in missed opportunities. The fact that the Cougars had struggled to put the ball through the basket against UNC Asheville two days prior may have also contributed to their propensity to pass up open shots last night. It wasn't until the second half that I think it dawned to some of the guys in white that they were not going to get a comfortable shooting space with how fast Miami could swarm: no matter how much hot potato they played with the ball.
The second (and more major) issue was @#)(&$^!&"{:)_@!^^% - ing free throws. What started as a grumble-worthy disturbance earlier in the season is now turning into a full blown nightmare. CofC simultaneously crushed any offensive momentum they were experiencing and inflated Miami's lead by missing on half their 22 free throw attempts. All the while, ironically enough, as the greatest free throw shooter of all time sat four feet behind the Cougar bench. Most of these misses were of the pull-your-hair-out-in-frustration bricks and several more were on the front end of one-and-ones.
A few more quick hits:
- Freshman Jonathan Burroughs-Cook is fearless. His attempt at slamming another highlight reel dunk, this time over an ACC team, came up about 2 inches short but his aggression off the bench was a welcome sight. I'm still unsure of what exactly his role or per-game numbers could look like but mark me down as excited.
- Burroughs-Cook getting minutes wasn't the only substitution change we saw. Wojcik elected to bring yet another freshmen, Terrence O'Donohue, off the bench before Wishon. He also got Theo Johnson into the game earlier. I think this was a good move. With Miami's athleticism, coupled with the extra-long UNCA game just 72 hours prior, getting the guys who can run into the lineup earlier was probably the right call.
- Cougars attempted 16 shots in the first half, the Canes made 16 shots
- As much as I loved CofC's energy to start the game and the second half, the habit of lapsing toward the approaching halftime is a bit disconcerting
- Adjehi for the first time all season was not double-teamed for a possession, he scored and got double-teamed the rest of the night.
- Beat Furman this weekend and the sky will not be falling
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