RTC Live: Legends Classic Semifinals
Posted by rtmsf on November 19th, 2011
It’s Feast Week around the hoops nation and RTC Live is in New Jersey tonight for the semifinal round of the Legends Classic. Interestingly, the only team with a loss is the only ranked team here, but Vanderbilt vs. NC State followed by Texas vs. Oregon State should make for a great evening of college hoops. Join the conversation from the Izod Center, after the jump.
Games 21-22: North Carolina State, Texas, Vanderbilt and Oregon State, representatives from the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big 12, the SEC and the Pac-12 face off at the IZOD Center in the New Jersey Meadowlands Saturday in the semifinals of the Legends Classic. Vanderbilt may be the only ranked team (#20 in the Coaches Poll) going into the semifinal games Saturday, and losing Festus Ezeli for the tournament (an NCAA-mandated seven game suspension) will hurt, but Kevin Stallings still has John Jenkins, Jeffery Taylor and Lance Goulbourne, starters all last season, along with a strong supporting cast as the Commodores face off against NC State in the first semifinal. NC State returns three starters from its 2011 squad, including sophomore CJ Leslie, a McDonald’s All American, but most importantly, the Wolfpack has a new head coach, Mark Gottfried, to guide the program out of the ACC basement. Texas is rebuilding… in typical Rick Barnes fashion. Though the Longhorns lost all five starters from their 2011 squad, former McDonald’s All American J’Covan Brown, a junior guard this season, will lead a herd of seven freshmen, four of whom are four-star or better recruits (Myck Kabongo, Sheldon McClellan, Jon Holmes, and Julien Lewis). The Longhorns are matched against Oregon State in the nightcap. Beaver coach Craig Robinson returns four starters from a squad that struggled through much of last season but managed to upset Stanford in the opening round of the Pac-12 Tournament last March and then gave NCAA-bound Arizona all it could handle before bowing out, 78-69. Master thief Jared Cunningham is back at the off-guard spot, with either Ahmed Starks or Roberto Nelson at the point. With six sophomore and junior frontcourt players available, the Beavers will counter Longhorn potential with experience. The winners will play in the finals Monday night.
Recap
The Legends Classic semifinals featured two well-contested games, with Vanderbilt downing North Carolina State 86-79 in the opening game and Oregon State surprising Texas 100-95 in overtime, to take the nightcap.
“…if we sit around and wait for him (Festus Ezeli) to come back, we’re going to be in trouble…” Vanderbilt was not waiting for Festus Ezeli on Saturday night. Kevin Stallings went with senior Steve Tchiengang and the Commodores beat NC State 86 -79 in the first semifinal of the Champions Bracket in the Legends Classic at the IZOD Center in Secaucus, New Jersey. Vanderbilt’s mentor was not happy with his team’s defense: “When and if we get (Ezeli) back, we’ll be a different team…”, and with good reason. The Commodores gave up 1.05 points per possession in a 76.5 possession game, but behind the shooting of junior guard John Jenkins (28 points), senior Jeffery Taylor (17 points), senior forward Lance Goulbourne (15 points) and senior guard Brad Tinsley (14 points) who sank a three-pointer as time expired in the first half, the Vanderbilt team posted 1.14 points per possession and simply outshot the Wolfpack, hitting 28-54 field goal attempts including nine of 25 from beyond the arc, posting a strong 60.0% eFG% to North Carolina State’s 53.7% eFG%.
Sophomore guard C. J. Leslie, fresh off of a three game suspension came in off the bench less than five minutes into the first half. The forward scored six points in his first four minutes back, and went on to pace the Wolfpack with 20 points on 7-9 shooting from the field and 6-10 from the line. The sophomore added five rebounds, two assists and two steals before leaving the game at the under-five minute mark with a sprained ankle. Junior forward Richard Howell chipped in 16 points while sophomore guard Lorenzo Brown added 13.
In the nightcap, Oregon State, led by all-Pac-12 junior Jared Cunningham’s 37 points, stunned Texas 100-95 in overtime. Taking the lead by one, 31-30 on a J’Covan Brown three at the 7:33 mark of the first half, the Longhorns seized control of the game and established their hold on the lead through the end of the first half. Down by eight on a Myck Kabongo “and-1” at the 1:01 mark of the first half, Craig Robinson’s team began their climb back into the game over the next 10:26 with a 20-10 run. Texas responded with a 12-2 run of their own, and though they kept the lead until literally the last possession in regulation, Oregon State, whose roster contains nine sophomores and juniors, never folded, staying within two possessions as the half wound down. The Beavers kept the ball in Cunningham’s hands as regulation finished out, and the junior did not disappoint, hitting 11 of 12 free throw attempts from the 2:50 mark of the second half to the end of the overtime period. Cunningham tied the game in regulation with two made free throws with eight seconds left to play. Sophomore point guard Ahmed Starks hit a three-pointer at the 3:41 mark of overtime to give the Beavers a one-point lead, which they did not yield. The Longhorns were paced by Brown’s 25 points. Freshman Kabongo chipped in 13 points, while freshman forward Jonathan Holmes contributed 12 points before he fouled out.
Vanderbilt will meet Oregon State Monday in the championship game, while North Carolina State and Texas will face off in the consolation game at 6:30.
