Cougs Lose Fourth Straight, Miss Bye

Final Score (Thursday):

Northeastern 58, College of Charleston 57 (Jarrell Brantley 15 pts, 10 rebs, 2 asts, 2 stls, 1 blk)

When I fill out my NCAA Tournament brackets each year, one metric I always put a lot of stock into when making picks is momentum. Teams that head into March riding high and playing their best ball of the season, whether that is courtesy of a victorious conference tournament, good health or luck, tend to make noise in the Big Dance.

As of March 1, the Charleston Cougars are sputtering. The four game losing streak they just completed is their longest win-less streak all season. Earl Grant has publicly disagreed that the Cougars are playing bad ball, going so far as to say that the defensive efforts have been the sharpest all season. He may have a case for that (the Cougars did have one of the most difficult closing stretches of any CAA team), but his team's inability to get over the hump and come out on top in must-win games has no cost them the all-important first round tournament bye.

The Cougars' unfortunate loss at Delaware assured that the game at Northeastern would be a must win if they were going to avoid the CAA play-in game. After taking the Huskies' opening jabs, the Cougars zeroed in and put together another defensive performance on par with the Towson and Drexel games. Northeastern struggled to put the ball in the hoop and, as the broadcasters groaned, so did the Cougars. Again, it was not necessarily a stout defense that prevented the Cougs from taking advantage of their strong defensive effort - Charleston just missed open looks. 

Against the NU zone, the Cougars were dared to make shots from outside and they responded with an astonishing 0-12 mark from the arc in the first half. Those would prove costly, because Northeastern's three first half long balls (two contested, one a four point play) were about the only offense the home team mustered.

In the second half, the offensive action mercifully picked up. Pointer and Brantley were bright spots for CofC that period, the former canning a pair of threes to open the period and the latter avoiding foul trouble to produce on the floor. Unfortunately, and this was the toughest thing to swallow about the loss, the Cougars omnipresent defense disappeared for a spell in the second half. The Huskies ran some different sets and the Cougars got lost on play after play that resulted in layups. It was such a jarring sequence that Grant probably waited too long to call a timeout because he thought the guys would find their way.

Even as the Cougars refocused, this game was back and forth down the stretch. With the ball and down one with 34 seconds to go, CofC put the rock in the hands of Cam Johnson and BGC converted a floater from his favorite spot in the paint. 

Then, with the game in their hands and needing one stop, the moment that blew up the CofC message boards happened. Evan Bailey, helping off Quincy Ford, looked like he slid over and established position before Ford trucked through him. The refs disagreed and awarded NU two free throws. That play was the difference between playing 3 games in 3 days or the yet-to-be-done 4 games in 4 days. 

Final Score (Saturday): 

Hofstra 72, College of Charleston 63  (Marquise Pointer 19 pts, 4-10 3pt, 8 rebs, 2 asts, 2 stls)

Still, there was a slight chance for Charleston to salvage a bye. All they had to do was defeat first place Hofstra on senior night and hope Northeastern lost to last place Drexel. Easy right?

Fortunately, the scoring in this game was much more closely aligned to that of a typical mid-major college basketball game. Led by CAA Player of the Year candidates Juan'ya Green and Rokas Gustys, Hofstra was getting buckets early. Charleston, to the credit, shook off that dreadful shooting from 48 hours prior and got enough shots to fall to stay close and even take a small lead about midway through the first half.

The Pride have one of the shortest rotations in the league, but the guys they do have all play a specific role. As Green and Gustys played toward their own double-doubles, guys like Denton Koon and Brian Bernardi complimented them with timely shots.

The Cougars were facing an uphill battle most of the game (O'Donohue did not play despite being listed as probable) and did not have enough in the tank to pull the upset. With CAA seeding to play for (Hofstra would win the tiebreaker with UNCW if they beat CofC), the Pride were not going to drop their final home game. 

Meanwhile, Northeastern used a 15-0 run to edge Drexel and secure the final bye spot. Now the Cougars will have to do what no CAA team has done to win a championship - score a W in four straight games.

The records reset in March, but this young Charleston team needs to quickly find a way to put the past few results behind them. Defense does win championships after all, but the Cougars will need some hot shooting to pull out victories. It all starts on Friday night against Delaware.