We are still early in the season, but things are starting to kick into gear with our first huge shot of the (regular) season. Like we stated after opening night, if you are interested in participating in this feature and getting your site linked to contact us at rushthecourt@gmail.com.
Game of the Night
Maryland 75, College of Charleston 74: “For 39 and a half minutes, there was no shortage of things I could’ve said about Maryland’s game against College of Charleston: the missed free throws, the turnovers, the sensational Andrew Goudelock, the fact that Maryland lost to College of Charleston in their second game, and so on. And then Pe’Shon Howard happened. And then I was left speechless.” (Testudo Times: Part 1 and Part 2)
Top 25
#4 Pittsburgh 97, Illinois-Chicago 54: “Pitt played nearly perfectly in every facet of the game. The team shot about 60% from the field, rebounded extremely well, and only turned the ball over six times. When the Panthers play that well, they will be nearly impossible to beat.” (SB Nation: Pittsburgh)
#16 Illinois 84, Toledo 45: “This was more like it. Illinois played its first complete game of the season on Wednesday with a 84-45 blowout of Toledo at Assembly Hall. All 11 Illini players that saw playing time scored, including walk-on Kevin Berardini.” (Chicago Breaking Sports)
#25 Texas 89, Louisiana Tech 58: “Through two games, this Texas team has looked as solid as anyone could have imagined. They are playing as a team, moving the ball, crisply on offense, and not settling for jump shot. On the other end, they’ve been able to win the rebounding battle in both games and held both opponents to under 40% from the floor. J’Covan [Brown] and [Jordan] Hamilton look like different players; [Tristan] Thompson and [Cory] Joseph have already been impactful; and [Gary] Johnson and Dogus [Balbay] are leading by example. Heck, even Jai Lucas and [Matt] Hill have provided some quality minutes. The competition takes a giant step up next week, but, again, through two games, I’m impressed.” (Burnt Orange Nation)
There really wasn’t going to be any question tonight, was there? Pe’Shon Howard announced his presence to the college basketball world by spinning, driving and fading his way into a 12-footer from the right side that dashed the dream of College of Charleston earning a statement ACC road win to use as a shiny gold star on its postseason resume. What — we’re talking about postseason resumes on only the second night of the season? Of course we are. For SoCon schools like Bobby Cremins’ club, there are limited opportunities available in a season to notch the marquee win that could give the Cougars a shot at an at-large NCAA bid (or a nicer seed if the auto-qualifier), and Howard’s play down the stretch of this game may have single-handedly eliminated that possibility. CofC will have more opportunities with games at North Carolina and Tennessee plus a home date versus Clemson, but it’s unlikely that the Cougars will stumble into the same perfect storm of a turnover-prone home team that goes 5-18 from the line and makes only two treys during the entire game. If Cremins’ team looked up the phrase “missed opportunity” on the Google, we’re pretty sure they’d see a mirror image staring back at them.
As for Gary Williams’ Terps, it’s clear that they still have some things to figure out. But don’t be fooled — we’ve watched Maryland teams that looked like they belonged in the MEAC in November playing as well as anybody in the country by March. RTC Live was courtside for the Terps’ 75-74 win tonight, and our correspondent Rob Dauster writes that “the Terps need a point guard and a leader… [despite] a dominating, 26/15 performance from their star center, Jordan Williams. They have other holes — perimeter shooting, depth up front — but in two games they now have 47 turnovers. Is Howard the answer? Right now, he looks like it. He’s an excellent passer, a talented penetrator, and a capable shooter. But perhaps the more telling sign was his poise and confidence at the end of the game. He wanted the ball in his hands with time winding down. And he succeeded. That kind of leadership is what Greivis Vasquez provided.” And it’s true — in merely two games, Howard is 8-11 from the field with 12 assists and five steals. Throw in the ability to finish ballgames as he’s already done once, and Gary Williams definitely has another star in the making on his bench.
The Tournament That Isn’t. Right, it’s actually a “Classic.” Not a tournament, remember. The 2kSports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic played three other games tonight that at first blush appeared to be tournament-style, but actually were just glorified fixes (average margin = 37 points). #5 Pittsburgh “moved on” with a 97-54 win over Illinois-Chicago behind dominant performances from Ashton Gibbs (24/7 assts), Brad Wanamaker (17/6/9 assts) and their glass-eating corps (+22 rebs), while Bruce Weber’s #16 Illinois squad “advanced” with an overpowering 47-18 first half en route to a 39-point victory over Toledo. Texas also looked impressive in another destruction at home, this time over Louisiana Tech 89-58 to “survive.” In two games this year, the Horns are proving to be a second-half team, breaking open both games by wide margins in the second stanza.
Next Week in NYC. With tonight’s wins, the four regional hosts now move on to face each other in next week’s semifinals in Madison Square Garden. Unlike this week’s games, though, next week’s contests are not already predetermined past Thursday night’s double-header of Pittsburgh vs. Maryland and Texas vs. Illinois. The winners and the losers will play each other on Friday night for the right to claim the championship, and based on what we’ve seen thus far, those should be two pretty great matchups. More next week on that, of course.
Tonight’s Quick Hits & Misses.
The Pitt Backcourt. In two games, Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker are averaging 44/7/14 APG on 60% shooting with a ridiculous 4.6:1 assist to turnover ratio.
Andrew Goudelock. His jump shot was ripping the Maryland nets with such exceptional rotation that it was actually changing the trajectory of the ball as it zipped through. Goudelock’s 27/10 (although with eight TOs) showed everyone why he’s the projected SoCon POY.
Olu Ashaolu’s Breakaway Dunk. This was fantabulous, from one of the best names in the game today.
Jordan Hamilton. Hamilton, so smooth on Monday night, didn’t look nearly as good this evening, too often settling for the three-ball (1-6) when it clearly wasn’t dropping.
Peterson Events Center. Pitt’s home court has witnessed 134 wins versus only 11 losses in its nine years, for a winning percentage of 92.4% in that span.
Terps Fans. Ok, it’s one thing if Texas fans can’t be bothered to show up; but Maryland? Not only is UMCP unequivocally a basketball school, but the Terps were playing a solid mid-major (as proven by the close finish). There better have been a reason we’re not aware of for such a lackluster fan showing.
Tweet of the Night. Tonight’s best tweet comes from SI.com’s Andy Glockner, a fella who captured what the rest of us were thinking as we watched the Andrew Goudelock Show turn into the Announcement of Pe’Shon’s Presence.
***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game
Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.
The 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer continues with four games at regional sites tonight. Here’s your schedule/bracket, as well as one game you might want to check out. All times eastern.
College of Charleston @ Maryland – 7 pm on ESPNU (**)
Cremins Will Face His Old Foe Williams Tonight
You just get the feeling that this is one of those Maryland teams that Gary Williams always finds a way to overachieve with. The Terrapins, picked sixth in the ACC preseason poll, are coming off a 105-76 rout of Seattle on Monday night. Jordan Williams led the folks from College Park with 17 points and 15 rebounds on 6-10 shooting while teammate Sean Mosley led all scorers with 21 points. Maryland also received a nice lift off the bench from freshmen Terrell Stoglin (15/5 assts) and Pe’Shon Howard (8 assists/3 steals). However, the game was incredibly sloppy on both sides. Maryland committed 29 turnovers to Seattle’s 27 for an astounding total of 56 in a forty-minute game. Against College of Charleston tonight, 20+ turnovers could cause problems for the Terps. Led by former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins, who led the Yellow Jackets to the 1990 Final Four, the Cougars have some key pieces back from last year’s 22-win team which knocked off #9 (at the time) North Carolina and also won at George Mason. Charleston’s leader is senior Andrew Goudelock, a contender for Southern Conference player of the year along with Noah Dahlman of Wofford. If you’ve heard of him, it’s probably because of the big time triple (28 feet away) he hit to send the game into overtime against UNC last season. Point guard Donavan Monroe (15/6 assists vs. UNC) and low post presence Jeremy Simmons (18/13 at George Mason) are the key players for Cremins’ team. Charleston averaged 75 PPG last year so you’d think they’d like to push the pace a little. For a team that scored that many points, their turnover average wasn’t bad at all last year (11.2 per game). The turnover battle is something to pay attention to tonight, especially considering what happened in Maryland’s first game. Though he led the team in turnovers last year, the loss of Greivis Vasquez may create a little uncertainty on the part of Maryland’s ball handlers early this year. A good matchup should be the one down low between Williams and Simmons. Williams has the height and weight advantage but Simmons can certainly hold his own on the glass and in the paint. If Williams has another big game, it’s hard to see Maryland losing at home even to a somewhat talented mid-major. For Charleston to pull the upset, Goudelock, Monroe and Simmons all have to be at their best. The Cougars also can’t allow Maryland to shoot over 50% from the floor as they did on Monday night. Defense, rebounding and turnover margin will be the keys for Bobby Cremins and his team if they hope to steal a road win against a storied ACC program. As for Maryland, another solid effort from the starters along with some positive contributions off the bench should be enough to earn a win.
