The Mocs really had some bright moments on Thursday afternoon, but just couldn't complete the game. They never seemed to be able to get back on defense and slow down the fast moving Eagles. The Mocs hung around, rebounding decently, on the back of Gee McGhee in the first half and Z Mason at the beginning of the second half.
But the simple fact was that they never could get anything consistent going. When the Mocs scored 19 points prior to the first media timeout in the second half, that should have been more than enough to get them the lead in a game they trailed by nine at the half. But the defense was so bad, the Mocs gave up 15 during that same stretch, and wound up still trailing by five. After that, the Eagles defense clamped down, and the Mocs couldn't ever really get back into the game.
There was some effort there, but the fact is that you can't play that poorly in transition defense and expect to beat a team like Morehead State. This is a growing fault with these Mocs and something I've been harping on for a while- if the Mocs aren't forcing turnovers, they aren't stopping the other team. I hope that the Mocs can figure out how to stop the other team eventually without needing to force turnovers, but at this point, they aren't there. That is the major flaw for the Mocs.
Morehead State shot 72% from the floor. You read that right- 72%! There's no way the Mocs will be able to win games allowing teams to shoot 72% from the floor. The Mocs shot over 50% from the floor, which should have been enough to be right in the game, but it wasn't even really all that close during the final ten minutes of the game.
Posthumus only scored 11, but Kareem Storey and Billy Reader combined for 37 points. Z Mason finished with 23, while Gee McGhee scored 18.
Another flaw in today's game was that Greg Pryor wound up with ten turnovers. When the starting point guard winds up with as many turnovers and points, and both are in double figures, that is never good, especially when it is accompanied by only two assists.
The Mocs played the second best team they have played this year when they played Morehead State today. There's no doubt about that. They were significantly better than they were against UCLA. That's a positive sign. It would be nice to salvage a win for the Mocs on this West Coast swing and they may be able to do that on Friday afternoon at 3:30 against IUPUI. We'll wait and see what develops. This team is still growing and maturing. No reason to give up hope yet.
GO MOCS!
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