Thursday, February 20, 2014

Eagles 77, Mocs 61

The Mocs jumped out to a 16-5 lead and then a 32-23 lead late in the first half. And then it all fell apart, in the most horrific ways imaginable.

There was not a lot of sustained energy from the Mocs for the final 25 minutes of the game. They did not get after loose balls or play consistently tough defense after that. Every time something went wrong, it seemed to balloon into multiple things wrong. One such situation was when the Mocs were down by 7, 48-41, and Rico White was at the line to shoot two. The best free throw shooter on the Mocs missed them both. Georgia Southern came down and drained a three. Instead of being down five, the lead had ripped up to ten suddenly.

That may have been the turning point of the game in a lot of ways.

The Mocs did not shoot well from the free throw line, and despite actually playing a team that is smaller than them, they were outrebounded. After forcing seven early turnovers, they only forced seven in the final 35 minutes.

This was one of those performances that the Mocs need to put behind them. Quickly. UNCG looms on Sunday and that will not be easy. The Mocs need to win two of their final three to get the three seed locked down. If they want the two seed, they would be advised to win all of them, though if Davidson wins out, simply winning two would be enough.

How are the Mocs going to respond to this? I'm not sure, but Will Wade pulled a lot of players late and let some of the subs play. They played hard and Wade seemed to be using them to teach a lesson to his starters. I think the Mocs could come out and play a tremendous game  against UNCG on Sunday. Then again, the Mocs have looked less than good in recent games.

This is the time to get going again for the Mocs. Now is the time. We'll see how the team responds on Sunday.

GO MOCS!

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