Mocs 72, Elon 68

Well, that was interesting.

It was surprising, unexpected, and just downright fun- if you were a Mocs fan.

We should have seen it coming. Many of the things that were said in the preview played out. Elon played well, but was clearly in a bit of a trap game. The Phoenix did not play Lucas Troutman in this game, in hopes of having him ready for Davidson on Wednesday night, and then having him ready for the SoCon Tournament in two weeks. Those things all played into the Mocs hands.

But no matter what else is said, there is no doubt that Gee McGhee and Casey Jones showed why the Mocs have a future. McGhee set a career high with 24 points and had eight rebounds to go along with it. He attacked the basket all night. When he does that, there are very few players in the SoCon that can keep up with him. We saw it early in the year against Kansas when he got into the lane relatively easily. Jones scored eight points and five rebounds. He showed a little spark. It may have been his best game of the year. Jones is a good player, and will be productive next year, I think.

I'm going to say again, take Rico White (who had a good night tonight for the Mocs), McGhee, and Z Mason (who scored ten with six rebounds) and you have a solid nucleus for next year. Throw in Casey Jones, if he continues to develop, and next year could be good....though wildly inconsistent.

I'm a little mad at myself for giving up on this team after the UNCG game. The Mocs have not given up in many games this year, coming back time and again against their SoCon opponents. They have lost big and then come back and played well previously. So why would this game be any different?

The Mocs dominated the boards against a decent Elon team. They only forced eight turnovers, while turning the ball over eleven times. Turning the ball over just eleven times is good for the Mocs.

Also, three Mocs played 29 minutes or more. This has been a consistent complaint about the Shulman era- that players don't play enough minutes. The best players played the most minutes tonight.

There was also a really nice length of the court drive by Drazen Zlovaric on his senior night. Congratulations to him for another solid night. He scored ten points on 5 of 9 shooting.

The Mocs have to win both games next week at Appalachian State and Western Carolina and Samford has to lose at both Appalachian State and Western Carolina for the Mocs to get the four seed. It's highly unlikely. Much more likely to lose two games and wind up anywhere from the seven seed they currently occupy to the ten seed. Who knows? Things could go anywhere for this team.

I really do think this team could win against any team on any given night in the SoCon or could lose on any given night to any given team. We'll see what that means in the SoCon Tournament. Who knows?

But for tonight, it's a good night to be a Moc fan!

GO MOCS!