It's Official

Cougars Clip the Buccaneers 72-67

CSU has cavity problems

Final Score: College of Charleston 72, Charleston Southern 67
Top Performers: Andrew Lawrence 18 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists
                              Saah Nimley 20 points

This had all the elements of a trap game. The Cougars were playing an easy-to-overlook Charleston Southern team following a big victory over a ranked opponent. The CSU Buccaneers were playing inside their own "sandbox", with a raucous crowd behind them, to avenge several close losses they had endured at the hands of the Cougs over the past few years. The Bucs threw a number of different defensive looks at CofC in an attempt to rattle the team visiting the Dome. At times it worked well and at other times the Cougars showed enough versatility in their offense to take advantage.

First there was the trap at mid court. As long as the ball eventually found its way into the hands of Andrew "El Capitan" Lawrence this strategy was mostly ineffective. Advantage: Cougars. When Lawrence did cross half court the Bucs would decide whether to go man or zone. For most of the first half it was the 2-3 zone; keeping Baru pinned against the baseline and away from the basket and daring the Cougars to shoot. Not a bad strategy by CSU because so far the Cougars' offense has relied on extra attention being given to Adjehi down low. Two ways the Cougars were able to capitalize: finding Willis in the "cavity of the zone" (thanks Coach Kresse) and swinging the ball around the perimeter to get an open shot before CSU could catch up. When Baru did get the ball he did a really fantastic job of recognizing when to pass and when to attack the basket. He got fouled twice going to the rim but made 3 of 4 free throws. Let's see thats one, two and three things Wojcik said he wanted to see Adjehi improve upon this week. Another strong showing by our only true big man right now.

As the game moved on it became evident that this would be a game of runs and momentum shifting. Maybe it was the crowd and the adrenaline but the tempo of the first 15 minutes of play was insane. Haven't seen the Cougars go that speed since the UMass game last year. We were able to attack that zone though and shoot 53% for the half. Problem was we allowed the Bucs to shoot 58% in the same period.

Another example of Charleston Southern throwing something at the Cougars that we haven't seen yet was the offensive set they ran. They would spread out their players, which prevented us from double-teaming the ball handler, and then would have Nimley or Harper drive to the basket. It allowed CSU's guards to get man-to-man coverage and they were successful at getting to the basket before Baru could slide over to protect the rim. Advantage: Bucs...for the first half.

The Cougars led by as many as 10 in the first 20 minutes, the Bucs by as many as 2. We went into halftime tied at 41. In the second half, Coach Radebaugh and the Bucs played a lot more man (probably to stop getting gouged by three pointers). Right away the Cougars were able to run their own offense at a comfortable pace and went on an 11-1 run. The Cougars also locked up on defense (and maybe CSU went a little cold) to defend the perimeter better. They forced Nimley and Harper to either give the ball up or shoot a contested shot. In the second half the Bucs shooting percentage plummeted back to Earth; 26% on field goals attempts and 1-13 on three pointers.

Of course we should have known after last year's contest that CSU would not go down quietly. As Wojcik noted afterward, "well we were up 12 and in that situation you don't want to shoot too early in the shot clock." Well said coach, but the offense went a little stagnant in the final minutes. Throw in a few turnovers and CSU went on a furious last ditch comeback effort. They drove recklessly to the basket to get to the line and Harper nailed their one three of the half to get within striking distance. Yet again, Lawrence was able to ice the game at the free throw line and seal the Cougar victory.

It was the tightly contested inner-city (county) game we anticipated. Great in-game adjustments by the coaching staff and good to see every player contribute a little bit.

A few more notes:

• CSU is so aggressive going for the offensive rebounds. They're not big but their guards chase down their own shots and they got a lot of long rebounds (that happens when you miss a lot of threes)
• Willis Hall, not to be outdone, was also a beast on the offensive glass
• CSU was the 30th best rebounding team in the nation going into last nights game. The Cougars out rebounded them by 12
• There's a reason CSU's field goal average is low. Aside from their backcourt, the rest of the team attempted a lot of bad shots. Even when the team was hot they were shooting some shots that barely grazed the rim.
• Anthony Thomas had a rough game. Five of the teams 15 turnovers on his own, at least two of which were at critical times. On the plus side he played 39 minutes and his offense was solid.
• Stitt also had turnover issues but he went 6-7 from the field for 18 points before going out with a leg cramp in the second half. Out of those 7 attempts, maybe one was at the rim.
• Great play to end the 1st half. Baru with his go-to hook shot and sunk it just as time expired.
• Loved the decision to have Theo guard Nimley

SoCon/Big South Challenge: Cougars Take on CSU Bucs

Charleston Southern (1-4, 0-0)

College of Charleston (3-2, 0-0)

CSU Fieldhouse

Tipoff at 7:30 on ESPN3

As the ACC/Big Ten Challenge tips off on ESPN tonight, the Southern Conference finds themselves on the short end of a manhandling in the unofficial SoCon/Big South Challenge. The SoCon is a putrid 1-6 against Big South teams this year with the lone victory being Citadel's win over VMI to start the season. Two SoCon teams get a chance to reverse that trend tomorrow when the Cougars travel up the road to take on the Charleston Southern Buccaneers and Wofford faces off against Winthrop.

Last year the Cougars were caught with their pants down by a much more talented CSU team than any they were used to playing in the teams' annual showdown at North Charleston Coliseum. Luckily, Trent Wiedeman and Antwaine Wiggins were there in the closing seconds to prevent the Bucs from finishing off a ten point comeback in the 2nd half. This time around we won't have those two to bail us out.

Watch the above video. Look at how much different our defense looks compared to now. In that clip we're sagging off the shooters, not boxing out and not rotating at all. This was the first time I had watched a highlight video from last year because CSU is the first team we're playing that we have seen before. The Cougars look like an entire different team now defensively. 

Which brings us to why that game was so close last year. The Charleston Southern Bucs rebound at a very high level and shoot a lot of threes. I took the time to underline those because they're very important characteristics of the team. Last year the Cougars nearly lost this game at home because they gave up 16 offensive rebounds and allowed the Bucs to shoot 40% from deep. So far this season CSU has displayed many of the same tendencies.

Despite not being a particularly tall team (the front line is 6'5, 6'6 and 6'7), the Buccaneers are one of the best rebounding teams in the entire country. Even while going against the likes of Arizona and Alabama, CSU still averages 41.4 rebounds a game: good for 30th in the NCAA. Out of those 41 rebounds, 17 are on the offensive glass. The team also likes to shoot from outside. Last year they were a very solid three-point shooting squad but they haven't gotten hot this year. So far their 31.9% from deep is short of last seasons average and it is contributing to the very poor field goal percentage CSU is sporting on the season. In four games this year Charleston Southern is hitting 36.7% of their shots which is worse than all but 12 schools. 

That bodes well for the 2012-2013 Cougars because if there's two things we do well it's rebound and make our opponents shoot poorly. Last year the thorn in our side was the minuscule backcourt of  5 ft 8 inch Saah Nimley and 6'1 Arlon Harper. Those two killed the Cougars at the rim and especially in the final 10 minutes and they're both a year more experienced as sophomores. Stitt was coming off the bench the last time these teams played and he did a great job of limiting each of those guys, especially on the last play. 

The game is being played for the first time in years at the CSU Fieldhouse, which looks like it fits less people than CofC's pool. This is one of the biggest games the Bucs will host this year and the place will be a unique environment to be sure. Wojcik said the game's going to be a real fight so let's hope we can jump out to the lead early and hold onto it this year. Go Cougars!

Hall, Cougars Upend Baylor for First Road Victory

Willis, only giving up 7 inches of height advantage to Isaiah Austin 

Final Score: College of Charleston 63, Baylor 59

Top Performers: 

Willis Hall 12 points (8-10 FT), 6 rebounds

Adjehi Baru 8 points, 15 rebounds, 39 minutes

Andrew Lawrence 10 points, 7 assists

Wow, what a night. First off I'm just really excited for the players and for Coach Wojcik. Baylor hadn't lost a home game to a non-conference opponent since 2009 and this wasn't much of a fluke victory. Willis Hall was tasked with guarding a seven-footer and scored the final six points to break a tied game, Adjehi Baru played all but one minute of the game and hauled in 15 rebounds against a front line of future pros and Andrew Lawrence was masterful in his point guard duties. Credit Wojcik for making the necessary game plan tweaks with Trent being out and credit the Cougars for executing the plan. CofC crowded the paint to limit Baylor's inside scoring opportunities (while simultaneously taking advantage of Brady Heslip's absence), stayed out of foul trouble and hit shots when it mattered. 

Watching ESPN's highlights of the game one might think we won the upset by getting hot from deep. This would typically be the case in a Cremins team, but it is unfair to think that the game was decided by a surge of offense by the Cougars. This game came down to the core principles that Wojcik has been preaching all year: defense and rebounding. The Cougars did hit seven threes in the first half, one shy of their game high this year, but it was because the shots were wide open. Lawrence did a great job of facilitating and when Walton would back off, the captain took his own shot. Just as well the Cougars didn't get three-ball happy in the second half when Baylor made their run. The Bears were a lot better in the last 20 minutes about guarding the perimeter but the Cougars didn't force anything. CofC finished shooting 9 of 18 from deep for the game. 

The bread and butter of this upset was the defense and rebounding of the much smaller Cougars. Adjehi mentioned after the game that the plan was to keep Baylor's bigs off the block and not letting Austin and Jefferson score over them. Willis Hall did his typical blue-collar Charles Barkley impression by using his backside to block out Austin and hold him to just five rebounds. However the "Man of the Game" goes to Adjehi Baru for his effort on both sides of the court. With Trent out, Baru needed to be an offensive option in order to keep Baylor's defense honest. He went 3-for-3 in the first half, scoring over defenders and looking very polished. He also went 2-for-2 from the free throw line when it mattered. Just as importantly Adjehi kept himself out of foul trouble and was able to stay on the floor. 

Yet again the Cougars managed to out-rebound a larger team and kept their opponent's shooting percentage under 40% for the game. Charleston themselves shot 48.8% including that nice clip from deep. 

In the pregame post I mentioned how Stitt, Thomas and the bench players would be the x-factors. Luckily, the bench played fewer minutes than I imagined because Hall and Adjehi only rarely got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Still, in limited time, Nori Johnson and Matt Sundberg both had strong showings. Nori hit 3-of-3 deep balls including one in transition and one to stop a Cougars' offensive quagmire. He also had a sweet block on Pierre Jackson's drive to the basket. Matt was the sub for Baru when he came out and played a total of 12 minutes. In that time he played solid defense and hit a big three. I said it last week and I'll say it again, letting Matt move around more is making him a more effective player. When he at least stops by under the basket the defense has to adjust, then he does a good job of getting open on the perimeter and finishing the play. Sunny D is starting to look more like a "stretch 4" and less like a spot-up shooter.

Anthony Thomas had a very quiet 35 minutes of playing time and even more easily overlooked 11 points. In the second half he had a scoring streak similar to the one against Boston College where he went to the now-patented running jump hook. He did end up having that mismatch against a guard. Stitt again was troubled by turnovers, this time over dribbling on occasion, but he also continues to play the best man defense against opposing guards.

The turnovers (17) and free throw shooting numbers (12-20) again reared their ugly heads but at least the Cougars proved they could win in spite of those issues. They've been addressed on this blog and hopefully by the coaching staff. 

That's about all I got. Great win for the Cougars and for the SoCon, who has a chance today to pick up some more good victories today. The wins in the Charleston Classic were hard to come by but the team is at least being consistent with Wojcik's preachings. Tonight was a testament to how successful this team could eventually be. 

Cougars Take on #21 Baylor in First Road Game

Baylor (4-1, 0-0)
College of Charleston (2-2, 0-0)
Ferrell Center
Tipoff at 9pm EST on ESPN3

Hope everyone had a fun Thanksgiving and a productive Black Friday. Now you all can spend the rest of your weekend sitting around in your sweatpants and watching college basketball (BCS standings are locked and the NFL is tomorrow people). Unfortunately I was unable to attend Thanksgiving dinner at the Wojcik's house with the rest of the team but I'm sure I was with them in spirit as they flew into Texas yesterday.

This blogger spent Thanksgiving cheering on another Baylor product, Robert Griffin III and my Redskins, but now I'm shedding the RGIII jersey and have clothed myself in unwashed College of Charleston maroon. I got a really good look at the Baylor Bears from my time at the Charleston Classic and if you follow my shamelessly plugged Twitter page you know that I put them in high regard. They just have SO many weapons on their team.

Pierre Jackson will go tit-for-tat with Andrew Lawrence in a battle of the SoCon and Big 12's best point guards. Brady Heslip is a lights out three point shooter that the Cougars can't afford to leave open as he dances around screen after screen. The reason Heslip is able to get so many wide open looks is because defenses tend to get sucked in while guarding the Bears' massive front court duo of 7-footer Isaiah Austin and 6-9 Cory Jefferson. This might be a game in which we miss Trent Wiedeman a little bit. Hell I kind of miss David Wishon.

And really that's where the Cougars will have to hope and pray they can survive. Having Trent at least gave us a puncher's chance. Without him, Willis and Adjehi will both be seriously overmatched in size under the basket. Theo and Matt coming off the bench doesn't provide any more matchup solutions. If our forward rotation can at least neutralize Austin and Jefferson, then our guard and bench play will have to outplay that of Baylor.

Anthony Stitt, Nori Johnson and Anthony Thomas may be the x-factors for this game. Sitt will likely be matched up against AJ Walton, who will pressure the sophomore guard when he shoots but can't keep up with him when he drives to the basket. Anthony Thomas (assuming he stays at the 3) will have physical advantages against whichever guard in Baylor's three-guard lineup he is faced with. Thomas stepped up big in the last half of the Boston College game and he needs to stay aggressive offensively because he might have the weakest defender on him. Nori is the first offensive option off the bench. If he finds himself against Baylor's second string he might be able to get some good looks from three.

Willis mentioned in the game preview that facing the tough schedule that the Cougars have to start the season will pay dividends in conference play. It teaches the team what they need to work on sooner than if the schedule was a bunch of cream puff teams early. This is going to be a real tough road game for the Cougars against a top-tier national program. Right now all we can hope for is development from the players and smart team play. Anything else is just gravy. Go Cougars!

What I Learned at the Charleston Classic

Writing the title to this post reminds me of all those vague and elaborate essays I wrote on the first day of school entitled "What I Did Over Summer Vacation". Except I guess this is kind of the opposite; I'm returning from school. Unlike those grade school essays I can assure you that I accomplished quite a bit at the 5th Annual Charleston Classic.

Even though the Cougars didn't perform up to expectations (what SoCon basketball team is?), the trip was well worth the high-level brand of basketball I was fortunate enough to watch. Colorado was your eventual champion, defeating Dayton, Baylor and Murray State along the way, but other All-Tournament performers like Isaiah Canaan and Pierre Jackson provided entertainment all weekend. There was a lot to take in so we're switching to power outline format:

• Trent Wiedeman will miss/be limited for an important stretch of OOC games
• When Trent pulled up suddenly while jogging down the court, there was a collective wince from the crowd at TD Arena. As if not having our other All-SoCon performer wasn't bad enough during that Auburn game, the fates decided to make things a bit tougher on the Cougars. We can all speculate as to how long "indefinite" means until we hear more from the the school, but an ankle injury to our best inside player will hurt in the short term. 
• There's just one conference game between now and January 5th. That out-of-conference stretch includes games at Baylor on Friday and against Louisville in Charleston two weeks from today. It's already evident that the offense moves through Trent and he's one half of our interior defense. If he misses significant time, the Cougars become very thin and small all of the sudden. Willis and Adjehi did a great job Sunday but Wojcik is going to have to do a lot of tinkering to get the most out of his lineup against the BIG Cards and Bears.
• Theo Johnson and Matt Sundberg can contribute in spurts
• Out of everything that went down this weekend, the most pleasant surprises (especially in light of Trent's injury) were the performances by our bench forwards. Theo especially, who looked lost in his first game against Towson, really came on and can contribute with his defense and occasional three-point shooting. Johnson amassed 8 blocks over the weekend and looked more comfortable at the free throw line. He's a great one-one-one defender and Wojcik's decision to substitute the freshman in for defensive plays down the stretch against BC proved to be a wise one.
• Sunny D will always have his liabilities on defense but he was a huge factor in the Auburn game. The craziest part was that it wasn't even his shooting that made the difference. Matt got a couple of big offensive rebounds, played around the basket and had a steal in just 10 minutes. Time will tell but I think the coaching change might actually be good for Matt. Offensively he's not being asked to exclusively spot-up on the arc which accounts for the rebounds. On defense, when the Cougars double-team, Matt can use his length on the perimeter and gets more help bodying up the post players. 
• Andrew Lawrence also makes a big difference
• Senior, leading-scorer, team captain. Hurts the team when he's not playing. I think him missing the middle game with a stomach virus was a reminder to fans and the team how important Andrew is to achieving our goals this season. 
• Adjehi Baru may have had his breakout game
• Adjehi puts a ton of pressure on himself. He works incredibly hard and he's really bought in to playing defense and rebounding at a superior level. Through three games, Baru was struggling offensively. Especially in the St Johns game where no one could make a shot, Adjehi was routinely missing shots from inside 6 feet. With Trent out against Boston College, our center played a complete game. He was on the floor for 38 minutes, played his usual excellent defense, made his shots and "did the dirty work to get Willis his 11 rebounds" (Wojcik's words not mine). On Thursday an NBA scout asked me why Baru wasn't shooting as much when he had such a nice stroke last year. My guess was it's a confidence thing, deferring to the scorers to finish a well-executed offensive possession. Whatever the reason, seeing him make shots and smile was encouraging heading into this tough stretch of games.
• The offense is struggling, rebounding and defense are great: Coach is well-aware of this
• Wojcik mentioned in this week's podcast (watch it here) that the offense is still too predictable and the guys need to do more than just swing the ball around the perimeter or dump it into the post. That includes more penetration, more inside-out ball movement and more motion by the guys. Coach is confident that these things will come. In the meantime the defense and the rebounding are vastly improved. The Cougars have outrebounded every team they have played so far and, with the exception of St Johns, they have held their opponents to a lower shooting percentage than themselves. Even the free throw shooting got better! My guess is it was the visit from Rick Barry. 
• So far the SoCon is performing at near record lows this season
• The Southern Conference is on track to rank 28th out 33 conferences in RPI this year. The middle-of-the-road teams are struggling against their peers (The SoCon as a whole is 5-28 against D1 opponents at the time I'm writing this), the good teams are faltering (Davidson lost to Milwaukee) and the teams can't close out games. Even the most avid conference realignment fans couldn't have called a start this dreadful.
• In order to defeat Baylor this week, the Cougars only need to stop Isaiah Austin, Pierre Jackson, Cory Jefferson, AJ Walton and Brady Heslip...

• Any one of those guys can star against an opponent. You've got the Big 12 Pre Season Player of the Year, a surefire NBA Draft lottery pick, a versatile forward, a lockdown defender and a sharpshooter. Jackson, Jefferson and Heslip each had a big day in the Charleston Classic and that's not even including the sort of game-breaking plays a three-point shooting 7-footer like Isaiah Austin can inflict 
• St Johns, Boston College and Auburn will be better this year. 
• Big East teams will have trouble with the wealth of athleticism and length on St Johns roster. Boston College's collection of five starting freshman from 2011 are a year more experienced and Ryan Anderson is a player. Auburn will upset a few SEC teams.
• Murray State won't have another magical year, but Isaiah Canaan will lead them to the top of the OVC again

• Ed Daniel and Dexter Fields also impressed me this weekend but for my money Canaan is the best point guard in the country.
• Dayton fans travel better than any other mid-major program I know of
• The Flyer faithful replace the George Mason Patriots as the largest fanbase to follow their team to Charleston. They filled the arena for all three Dayton games and had enough leftovers to help supplement some solid crowds at the other games. I've heard for a long time that Dayton is one of the premier basketball towns in the country and this tournament proved that their fans are mad outside the month of March. Murray State gets an honorable mention
• The strength of next year's Charleston Classic will largely depend on who the final two teams are
• ESPN has already announced six of the eight teams in the 2013 Charleston Classic: Clemson, Georgia, Nevada, Alabama-Birmingham, New Mexico and Temple. That's a solid, if not a bit underwhelming field for next year. One of the teams will likely be out of the host Southern Conference and who knows who the other could be. Cremins and the rest of the Classic board talked about the credibility of bringing in a Top 25 team like Baylor for this year's tournament. Hopefully the organizers can bring in another. 
• The King Kresse Charleston Classic Superlatives
• Best Trash Talker - Baylor's AJ Walton who continually chirped stuff like ALL BY YO SELF to whoever he was guarding. I think TD Arena eventually caught on because they would go silent whenever Walton was on defense
• Grittiest Performance - Frankie Sullivan's injury on Thursday is still fresh in my head. He hit the scorers table SO hard that a lot of us in the audience were expecting the medic team to trot onto the court with the stretcher. Luckily (I guess), Sullivan broke the tumble with his elbow first. A gash that nearly caused Coach Barbee to lose his dinner and 25 stitches later, Sullivan torched us for 20 points...in just the 2nd half.
• Worst way to close out a game and still win - Against Baylor; Colorado shot 4-18 from the free throw line, missed their final six shots, gave up a pinpoint, full court, Grant to Laettner football pass that landed in the hands of the person it was destined for, who got the shot off...and the Buffs still won. 
• Best Hair - Murray State's Ed Daniel - the refs couldn't miss an afro that big drop to the floor. Daniel got a lot of positive calls thrown his direction when him and his hair were on defense
• Best Name - St John's Sir'Dominic Pointer is... THE RUNNER UP because his twin sister is named Miz'Unique Pointer. 
• Best dunk that didn't count - Andre Roberson had a filthy slam over the defender in the championship game that would've have been a SportsCenter and #POSTERIZED highlight had it not been called an offensive foul. Blake Griffin knows how that goes. 

Cougars Fall to Auburn, Drop to 0-2 in Charleston Classic

Final Score: Auburn 55, College of Charleston 51
Top Performers: Frankie Sullivan 24 pts, 5 rebs
                             Matt Sundberg 8 pts, 3 rebs (10 minutes)

Last night CofC dropped their second home game in as many days as the Tigers of Auburn held a comfortable enough cushion to outlast the poor-shooting and turnover plagued Charleston Cougars. Without Andrew Lawrence (who was too sick to attend the game) the Cougars were left with just one primary ball-handler in Anthony Stitt, who uncharacteristically had six turnovers with zero assists. The team also struggled from the free throw line yet again with 55.6% shooting from the stripe for the night.

The Tigers were led by 5th year senior Frankie Sullivan. In the night cap of Thursday's slate of games, Sullivan dove head first for a loose ball into the boards with a crash that could probably be heard on campus. He laid on the ground for some time, punching the court in pain, before being carried off and receiving 25 stitches on his elbow. It shows a lot of heart by the Auburn captain to come back on the court less than 24 hours later and put up 24 very gritty points.

Once again the Cougars were unable to knock down shots. Auburn's defense, outside of maybe in transition, was nothing worse than what St John's threw at us and the Cougs still couldn't convert good looks into points. Maybe it's the optimist talking but I can't see how this could be a regular trend over the course of the season. We know guys like Trent Wiedeman and Anthony Stitt can make the shots they're taking: we saw it last year. Anthony Thomas is more of an unknown commodity but from the exhibition games up until now he has not shown that he's the type of player to take contested shots or volume shoot. Those three combined shot 9-30 for the game.

The sky isn't falling despite the frustrations of the fans, players and coaching staff. This tournament is the first real test of how player's perform in the new Wojcik system: defensively and offensively. The Cougars actually held Auburn to a lower shooting percentage (35.8%) from the field than they themselves shot (38.3%). Adjehi Baru and the Cougars also out-rebounded Auburn 42-26 including 6 more offensive boards. Normally these stats are indicators of a victory, but the Cougars' most glaring weaknesses were the free throw shooting (10-18), zero fast break points and especially the 19 turnovers (nearly double what Auburn had).

Fortunately, the Cougars are improving in one area that I thought would be an issue after the first few games: production off the bench. Nori Johnson has been the Cougar's best scoring option this tournament. He was the leading scorer off the bench in Thursday's game and in starting for Lawrence in last nights game he had 7 points, 4 rebounds and two assists. Theo Johnson has looked leaps and bounds better in consecutive games after he struggled against Towson. He once again played major minutes for the Cougars with Willis in foul trouble and Trent getting injured. Despite their similarities in athletic skills, Theo already looks like a more polished version of James Carlton who can give good production in limited time (6 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks in 26 mins last night).

Finally, what more can you say about Matt Sundberg? I was admittedly worried when he entered the game in the first half. The team needed points but Matt's liabilities on defense didn't seem like the antidote to stop the bleeding. Sunny D immediately went to work, getting two big offensive rebound putbacks, a steal and a made three to get the Cougars right back in the game. He was the definition of what you want from your bench players; he did the little things to help the team, didn't hurt us on defense and got the crowd and the team fired up. A lot of us thought Matt was in the doghouse with the new coach in town, but Wojcik said afterward that the concussion suffered by Sundberg in the preseason had the team cautious about bringing him on too quickly.

Right now the Cougars need to use this day of rest to regroup and refocus. It's been a trying two days and the team is real beat up. I'm keeping especially close tabs on Trent's injury. After the game, David Wishon and Canyon Barry were essentially carrying Trent through the hallways underneath TD Arena as the rest of the team huddled up after the game. That would obviously be a huge blow to morale if Trent were to miss significant time and if he needs to take off Sunday in order to avoid another painful season than so be it. Boston College and CofC play for the super-consolation game tomorrow and one team will exit the Charleston Classic with an 0-3 finish. Hopefully it's not the host team.