The Mocs did not bring a high level of energy tonight. The Citadel brought about as much energy as they contain.
Still, the Mocs found a way to win.
It was obvious early in the game that the Mocs did not seem fully engaged. They were not completely fired up. While I don't like that, there's nothing particularly wrong with it. Let's face it- this road trip to Charleston against The Citadel and College of Charleston contained one game where the Mocs absolutely have to bring their best game in order to win, and one game where they could bring a very average game and win. It's a good thing not to get those two confused. This was the game where they could be average and win.
That's what they did. They came out and allowed The Citadel to come up with a better OR% than the Mocs had, which is not like the Mocs. They allowed the Bulldogs to make eight threes, their second most of the season. They allowed the Bulldogs to make eight of their first ten shots in the second half, which put the Mocs in a huge ten point hole.
But you could see the intensity change before the score actually started changing. The intensity level kicked up a notch, and the Mocs started playing harder and more effectively.
Dontay Hampton made a couple of huge threes in this one. I take back all my fears that Hampton would mess up the rhythm. Farad Cobb and Hampton combined for 19 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals, and three turnovers. Yes, that was absolutely massive. If the Mocs get that kind of production out of the point guard spot the rest of the year, they will win a lot of games.
Z Mason did not play particularly well in my opinion. Yet, he did make the clutch free throws down the stretch, just as he's been doing all year long. This team is turning into a very good clutch free throw shooting team. They shoot better than 80% from the free throw line in the closing minutes. They made 13 of 14 in this one.
The Mocs are turning into a pretty good shooting team. They made nine threes against Samford, and nine threes against The Citadel. It's starting to become a bit of a trend. That's a good sign for the Mocs, assuming they don't become too reliant on the three. They shot 41.5% of their shots from three point range in this one, which was probably a touch too high (I'd prefer closer to 30-35%, but I'm splitting hairs here).
Mike Groselle scored 13 points and had seven rebounds, basically right at his season averages (a hair over 14 points per game and a hair over seven rebounds per game). Matt Van Syoc scored 20 and Rae Robinson scored 15 in his first start. The Bulldogs shot well from outside, causing a lot of problems for the Mocs again. They made one less three pointer than their season high.
The Mocs now have gone 2-0 on the road in SoCon play and have won three road games this year. That's substantially more than last year, when they won zero road games all year long.
This team is now 7-9 on the year. If you take out the BCS opponents and the non-D1s, the Mocs are 5-6 overall. That's downright mediocre, but with five wins in six games, this team is learning to win.
A team doesn't bring their best game, falls behind by ten points on the road, and wins? Yep. That's a team worth getting behind.
GO MOCS!
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