The Mocs won the Dr Pepper Classic Championship for the 15th time. Say what you want about whether or not the competition was that good, but the Mocs came up with two wins in two games. They have now won three straight games. Considering that many people thought they would only win five or six games this entire season, the Mocs now are at five wins overall.
There is absolutely room to improve. Their field goal percentage was not good again. They allowed Holton Hunsaker to make 8 of 15 from three point range and score 37 points.
That being said, the Mocs did a lot of things really well in this one again. Farad Cobb again did not commit a turnover. He did only play 18 minutes. But the starting point guard for the second straight game did not commit a turnover. That's pretty solid work. They committed just fourteen turnovers for the game, after just twelve in the game Friday night. That's not a tremendous total- it is too many. But the fact is that the Mocs actually have cut down on them, and this is a major improvement.
The Mocs got back to something they did well. They dominated the boards, winning the battle against Utah Valley by fifteen. Friday night, the Mocs lost the battle of the boards. That was unexpected, so their result in this game was very impressive.
Gee McGhee has not been great from the free throw line this year, but he made 9 of 12 in this one. Z Mason also made 9 of 12 from the lane. The rest of the Mocs went a combined 2 of 5 from the line. However, the Mocs ability to get to the free throw line was again a key to the game.
Alex Bran made 4 of 7 from the floor and scored 9 points. He is a walk-on. He has some shortcomings. One of them is not his offensive performance. He makes the offense more dynamic just by being in the game. He shoots the ball very well, forces the opponent to come out and guard him and often leave other players open. It happened in the open court in this one once, and he hit Eric Robertson for an open three. It was great, and Bran deserved a lot of credit for the shot to go along with his points. He lead the team in assists tonight with three. Bran makes the offense run a little bit better. I like what he brings to the floor. I'm not saying he needs to be the starter or play 30 minutes a night. But a nice ten minutes a night- he can be a very solid contributor to this team. Against better guards, he will not be as quick as they are, but he can be a solid performer.
The Mocs offense is running so much smoother in the last three games. It's not been amazing, but it has been clearly improved. Moving Farad Cobb into the starting lineup at point, playing Alex Bran more, seeing Rico White move to a more natural position, and watching Z Mason and Gee McGhee continue to improve have really helped the Mocs to be more smooth on offense. They are getting better and better to watch on that end of the floor.
McGhee scored 11 points and had nine rebounds. Mason contributed 26 points and thirteen rebounds. Rico White also scored eleven. Drazen Zlovaric scored eight points, all in the first half.
Can the Mocs keep this up in the future? I don't know. They play Georgia Tech on Wednesday night before getting into SoCon play. The Mocs have a bit of a monkey off their back as they head into this weeks games. The Mocs really needed that. With how completely mediocre the bottom of the SoCon is, I think the Mocs can get wins in the SoCon.
It's always nice to win the Dr Pepper Classic. I'm very pleased to come up with these two wins.
GO MOCS!
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