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RTC Live: BB&T Classic

Games #60-61.  We’re back in DC for a solid double-dip of games at the Verizon Center.

There are two games of interest this afternoon at the BB&T Classic in Washington, DC. Florida, fresh off of an upset at the hands of Central Florida, takes onAmerican to kick off the day at 2:45 pm. Florida has had their issues this year. Their backcourt of Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker haven’t improved their decision-making skills since last season, meaning that situations arise like the one that happened on Tuesday. Vernon Macklin was destroying UCF in the paint, but he struggled to get touches. American has a kid named Vlad Moldoveanu that averages over 20 per game, but beyond that I don’t see the Eagles keeping it close.
The nightcap is the game that everyone is going to be paying attention to as Temple plays a de facto road game against Maryland. The Terps haven’t been tested since their 0-2 trip to NYC for the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic a few weeks ago. The biggest issue for Maryland is their backcourt — Terrell Stoglin, Pe’Shon Howard and Adrian Bowie are talented, but they also have a tendency to commit too many turnovers. The star of the Maryland squad is Jordan Williams, and he will be going up against Temple’s Lavoy Allen all night in one of the better individual matchups of the young season. Temple has struggled coming into this game, with a disappointing 1-2 performance in the Old Spice Classic. Their issue is offensively — will they be able to score this season? Juan Fernandez and Ramone Moore will need to get on track.

Recaps

Florida’s 67-48 win over American could have been much more is Kenny Boynton, the Gator’s leading scorer, shot better than 0-9 from the floor. He went scoreless, but he took an 0-fer in another column as well — turnovers. Boynton also added 7 assists, and of the nine shots that Boynton took, only one — a shot at the end of the first half — could realistically be considered a bad shot. He took open jumpers in the flow of the Florida offense. He just missed them. That is something the Billy Donovan can live with. Erving Walker, on the other hand, led the team with 16 points. He finished 5-7 from the floor and 4-6 from three. On nights when both of these guys are hitting their jumpers and playing within the Gator’s offense, Florida will be pretty good.

Temple smothered Maryland with their defense in the first half, holding the Terps to 21 points and sub-30% shooting. Things would have been much, much worse had Jordan Williams not finished with 10 points and 9 boards in the half. In the second half, however, the Terps got a spark from their bench. Terrell Stoglin, Pe’Shon Howard, and Haukar Palsson sparked two separate runs with their energy in the Terp’s press. The first was a 10-0 spurt that cut a 15 point lead down to 40-35. After hanging around the 6-8 point range, it was an 8-0 run after the last TV timeout that eventually tied the game at 56. But Temple was the team that made the plays down the stretch. Immediately after a James Padgett dunk tied the game, Ramone Moore pushed the ball the other direction and found Lavoy Allen for a layup and the foul, giving the Owls a 59-56 lead. On the next Temple possession, Khalif Wyatt stole an outlet pass and scored, and the score was 61-56. Maryland would score a couple baskets late, and eventually Stoglin missed a half court heave that would have tied the game.

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