It is very difficult to judge a game that you don't watch or listen to. Having access to neither one, it's hard for me to make any real judgements about this game.
But looking at the boxscore, I think it is safe to make a few assumptions.
Because, you know what happens when you assume. And I don't care if you call me that.
The win is nice, 82-52. Here are the gripes, looking at the boxscore. First of all, turnovers. Seriously, 16 turnovers and only 17 assists? Against Tennessee Wesleyan? When are the Mocs going to get control of this? The Mocs always seem to turn the ball over too much. And it annoys me. To no end. STOP TURNING THE BALL OVER! Troy Cage lead the way with five turnovers and Josh Odem had three coming off the bench. The good news, Keegan Bell had only one in 28 minutes. It's good when your point guard doesn't turn the ball over at least.
Another thing that frustrates me is shooting a ton of threes. I like to see an inside presence. I know that in the SoCon, the game is guard dominated. I know that the Mocs need to live with guard domination. But I just don't understand when a team shoots 69 shots and 38 of them are threes. That's 55.1% of the shots the Mocs took last night. That is a ton of threes. The bigger problem? They only made eight, or 21.1% of their threes. Not good. Bell lead the way, going just 3 of 13.
Finally, WILL SOMEONE PLEASE PRACTICE FREE THROWS!?!?!?!?! Nothing annoys me more than teams that miss free throws. Shooting 14 of 27 is unacceptable. What in the name of Chad Copeland is going on here? I'm not in on the practices, but I have to ask, do the Mocs practice free throws consistently under Shulman? Because it seems like we are never a great free throw shooting team under Shulman. Maybe a little practice will go a long way in that regard. I can only hope.
Now onto more positive things. The Mocs outrebounded TWC, but not total domination. They won the battle on the boards 51-39. DeAntre Jefferson lead the way with 12 rebounds and twelve points. Omar Wattad lead the team with 14 points. Jahmal Burroughs was a pleasant surprise with 13 points.
Many Moc fans complain about the number of players that Shulman plays. Well, this box score should please them. Only eight guys played double digit minutes in an exhibition blowout. Jeremy Saffore (considered one of the more important players that will come off the bench) played just eight minutes. The eternally frustrated Mocs fans were annoyed by how much Sam Watson played last year. He too played just eight minutes. Jeff Smith and Dontay Hampton each played just six.
The starting lineup was Bell, Cage, Wattad, Early, and Jefferson. It looks to me (by looking at the stats) that this is going to be the starting five. Throw Taylor, Odem, and Burroughs in there- and that looks like the eight man rotation. And it looks strong. Probably Hampton and Saffore sneak in minutes too, but those may be the ten players that see playing time, and Hampton's and Saffore's could be limited. That is if Shulman sticks with the minute distribution that he had in this game.
We now have to wait until next Friday to see what the Mocs bring to the table against a big time foe in Knoxville against the Vols.
GO MOCS!
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