They say basketball is a game of runs. After the Cougars fell victim to a multi-point scoring outburst by the Louisville Cardinals on opening weekend I thought the statement had never been more true. In back-to-back games in the Wooden Legacy Tournament, CofC again fell victim to two separate and decisive offensive punches to the mouth. Against San Diego State University on Thanksgiving Day, the Aztecs opened the game with a 17-1 run on their way to a 72-52 win. The following night the Cougars played tight with Arizona State into the second half before the Sun Devils went on a 13-0 run and cruised to an 80-58 victory. Just like last year in the Charleston Classic, the Cougars dropped two games on back-to-back nights and fell to 0-2 in an ESPN Tournament.
Once the Wooden Legacy Tournament bracket was released, we knew it was going to be an uphill battle for the Cougs. The three teams the Cougars could face in the first two rounds of the tournament shared just two losses between themselves. What I wasn't expecting was the Round 1 game against SDSU to be out of reach within minutes.
The word(s) of Thanksgobbleday for Wojcik and his staff were "transition defense." The Aztecs with all of their speed and length advantages in the open court absolutely abused CofC in the first 10 minutes. Canyon Barry and the rest of the Cougs were frequently on their heels as SDSU pushed the pace and attacked the rim off defensive rebounds. No one on CofC was stopping the ball from advancing up court and the results speak for themselves. Couple that with a rushed and ineffective offense on the other end and Wojcik was in a quick hole to dig his team out of.
I don't know if it was because of a fear of fouling but the Cougars did not show any aggression in slowing the ball as defenders. Then they overcompensated by bringing in more bodies to disrupt penetrating guards and left San Diego with wide open looks from outside the arc. It led to an all-around sloppy first half from the Cougars where it seemed like nothing was going their way. The shots weren't falling, the Aztecs were diving out of bounds and saving loose balls and nearly every shot CofC attempted inside was blocked or altered by their opponents.
It was all very reminiscent of last years game against Louisville. The athleticism of SDSU was a clear mismatch for the methodical Wojcik style. It resulted in a huge game-opening burst by both opponents and completely took the wind out of our sails. It's a shame too because in the second half the Cougars looked much better. They got good minutes from both Theo Johnson and Terrance O'Donohue, Baru looked way more deadly offensively and the team defense seemed to rally a bit. But as we have seen against these types of teams in the Wojcik-era (Miami's another good example), the strategy to stay patient on offense even as the defense struggles proved costly. Whether that's a reflection of the coaching staff or apprehension amongst the players is still unknown to me.
Friday's game against Arizone State started much better than the previous day. The Cougars' transition D was much improved against the speedy Jahii Carson-led Sun Devils and the offense attacked the basket again and again. The first half saw the Cougars either holding a lead or staying within a possession thanks to the paint presence of Adjehi Baru, Anthony Thomas and David Wishon (who had a nice bounce back game from the previous night). The Cougars were all over the boards in this game, especially offensively, out-rebounding ASU 41-24 for the game.
These were all good signs for Wojcik's squad but the inability to defend jump shots (a strength of this team last year) again plagued the team. ASU shot over 50% from the field and kept things even in points in the paint to offset any disadvantage they had on the boards. The CofC offense began to fall apart after a brief second half surge and the result was the game-changing run for the Sun Devils.
It's a disappointing development for CofC after the guys couldn't seem to miss against Furman. Chealey and Barry have both had trouble finding the bottom of the basket in Anaheim and it has resulted in (or possibly been because of) a lack of ball movement. Too often the guys are standing around when Chealey or Stitt dribbles the ball at the top of the key and too often they over pass instead of pulling the trigger on a shot or drawing contact at the rim.
One win and two losses were what I was expecting when I saw the schedule for this year's Wooden Legacy Tournament. It's just the nature of the losses that is so hard to swallow. The Cougars will get a chance to avoid going winless on the West coast when they face host Cal State Fullerton tomorrow afternoon on ESPN3 in the consolation game. It's a chance for the Cougars to get back to their winning ways and start the second half of their out-of-conference season.
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