Mocs 83, Elon 75

FOUR FACTORS (plus two)

eFG%
Mocs- 58.2%
Elon- 50.8%
Advantage- Mocs

TO%
Mocs- 13.7%
Elon- 15.2%
Advantage- Mocs

OR%
Mocs- 35.3%
Elon- 37.5%
Advantage- Elon

FTRate
Mocs- 29.5%
Elon- 16.4%
Advantage- Mocs

FT%
Mocs- 66.7%
Elon- 63.6%
Advantage- Mocs

3PtRate
Mocs- 39.3%
Elon- 44.8%

PLAYER RATER

Overall
1) Omar Wattad 37.5
2) Ricky Taylor 31.8
3) Jahmal Burroughs 25.7
4) Drazen Zlovaric 24.8
5) Dontay Hampton 13.0
6) Rico White 9.9
7) Keegan Bell 6.1
8) Jared Bryant 1.4
9) Drew Baker 1.0
10) Lance Stokes -0.3

Per 40
1) Omar Wattad 55.6
2) Ricky Taylor 43.8
3) Jahmal Burroughs 42.8
4) Rico White 33.0
5) Drazen Zlovaric 30.1
6) Dontay Hampton 28.9
7) Drew Baker 10.0
8) Jared Bryant 8.0
9) Keegan Bell 7.2
10) Lance Stokes -1.0

ANALYSIS

What a nice win for the Mocs on Thursday night! It is such a relief to finally be celebrating a win again instead of yet another loss. There is plenty to talk about in this game, like how Ricky Taylor finally looked like himself again, or how Omar Wattad made a bunch of big shots, or how Jahmal Burroughs returned from injury and provided all the little plays that help win basketball games.

You could even talk about how unselfish Keegan Bell played, taking just one shot, but being in control of the game throughout and contributing as a coach on the floor without the stats coming his way.

But the question that everyone is wondering is if this is some kind of "turn the corner" game for the Mocs. The answer is, we just don't know. The Mocs certainly need to keep on winning. But let's look at some of the positives from this.

Omar Wattad looked like himself. His back did not appear to be bothering him tonight like it has for much of the year. Ricky Taylor's wrist finally looked back to normal, as he was clutch and knocked down several big shots. Jahmal Burroughs was back from his injury and playing the way that he had played before the injury. That leaves just Z Mason still out with injury. If Mason comes back, is there reason to think that this team, now that it is getting healthy, is actually a threat to win a bunch of games?

I'd say that there is reason to believe that. Let's not get completely carried away here. The Mocs still need to win games. They need to carry this slight kick start to momentum over to Saturday night against UNCG. They then need to take it to the road against Appalachian State and at home against The Citadel, and at Furman, and then finally at home against Samford. If the Mocs, by some minor miracle based on the way the previous weeks have gone, comes up with four wins in their final five games, could they get a three or four seed out of the North? It's still out there. They are down just two games on third in the North, and one and a half on fourth, with games against both Samford and Appalachian State ahead. There is still opportunity- they just need to keep on winning.

For tonight, this one win is enough. Getting hot the rest of the way could really help the Mocs in their quest to do some damage in the SoCon Tournament. With the team getting healthy and the contribution from those healthy players, that does not seem as far fetched as it did just yesterday.

GO MOCS!