With the win, the Mocs improved to 12-7 overall and 4-2 in league action, while Furman fell to 15-4 overall and 3-3 in league action in what was the final game of a three-game homestand for the Paladins, as Furman dropped two out of three on its temporary home floor.
The Paladins jumped out to an 11-0 lead and up 22-6 early in the first half, as the Mocs connected on just 2-for-17 from the field, it would seem that Furman had finally found a game and an opponent it could rest easy against. However, while it might seem that way to the casual basketball fan, who is unfamiliar with the Southern Conference, it's never that easy. That has been especially true against Chattanooga this season.
The Mocs, which trailed their previous SoCon Wofford by 20 just last Wednesday night only to come back and win in overtime, seemingly is never out of a game. In fact, of UTC's six league games, four of them literally have come down to the wire. Only a 13-point win over The Citadel (W, 81-68) and a 25-point win over VMI (W, 91-66) being the exceptions.
Meanwhile, entering Saturday's contest against the Mocs, the Paladins had won all of their close games this season, posting a 9-0 record in games decided by 10 points or less and sported a 4-0 record in games decided by five points or less this season.
Since beginning Southern Conference play, the Paladins have also had trouble keeping teams off the offensive glass, and it was an area that the Mocs exploited on Saturday evening to come back and win the game. At one point in the game, the Paladins were outscoring the Mocs 10-0 in the points in the paint category, however, would end up losing that category for the game, 34-22, and a 17-3 margin in second-chance points had a lot to do with the reason the script ended up flipping in favor of the Mocs.
Furman was beaten on the boards for a third-straight game, and blitzed by double digits on the glass for the second time in the past three games. After Wofford, which owned a 52-35 margin on the glass in an 81-62 win at Bon Secours Wellness Arena just this past Monday and would own a 19-12 advantage in the second-chance points category, as the Terriers corralled 12 offensive rebounds in that lopsided game.
In Wednesday night's 73-70 win over ETSU, the Paladins lost the battle of the boards just 36-32, however, yielded 15 offensive rebounds to the Bucs, which led to ETSU holding a 23-13 advantage in second-chance points.
Over the course of the week, it's been a glaring weakness for the Paladins against its last three opponents. In Monday's loss to Wofford, the Paladins surrendered a total of 20 offensive rebounds to it's I-85 rivals, which led to 19 points of offensive production for Wofford.
Finally, in the loss to Chattanooga in the most-recent contest on Saturday, the Paladins surrendered 12 offensive rebounds to the Mocs, which led to 17 points. All told, Chattanooga, Wofford and ETSU finished the week by totaling 59 points on 47 offensive rebounds. Furman was outscored 59-19 in second-chance points and were outrebounded by a total of 126-94 in three home league matchups, which is a minus-32 on the boards if you are scoring at home. Chattanooga out-rebounded Furman 38-27.
The other major area where the Paladins fell short and an area in which Chattanooga excelled in Saturday's game was at the charity stripe. In Furman's 67-63 overtime win at The Citadel, the Paladins benefitted from 17 missed foul shots by the Bulldogs in getting the four-point road triumph, however, on Saturday, the league's top free throw team showed its quality, while Furman, which had the same amount of attempts from the free throw stripe--28--missed 11. Chattanooga missed just three, finishing a stellar 25-of-28 from the line, which included an impressive 16-of-18 effort in the second half alone.
The one area Furman excelled defensively was defending the three-point line, holding the Mocs to just 4-of-13 shooting (30.8%) from three-point range, and that's an area the Mocs had been excelling in, as the Mocs had connected on 46% of their shots from long range in five conference games entering Saturday's contest. In fact, Chattanooga's four treys were its lowest total 87 games under head coach Dan Earl. The Mocs did have a streak of 86-straight games of having made five or more three-pointers in a game under Earl.
Chattanooga's early shooting struggles would quell midway through the opening half, and after going 2-for-17 to start the game, the Mocs would make 60% (21-of-35) of their shots for the remainder of the game and finished the game even a shade higher than the Paladins, despite the fast start for Furman, as the Mocs finished the evening a solid 44.2% (23-of-52) from the field.
Furman finished the game connecting on 43.1% (22-of-51) from the field and a solid 43.5% (10-of-23) from three-point range and had been 9-0 prior to Saturday's game when connecting on a double-digit total from three-point range in a game. Furman has allowed only two opponents (UNCG and Wofford) to connect on 10 or more three-pointers in a game against it this season.
The Mocs finished with three players with 16 points, with the most impressive of the three having been Frank Champion, who finished the game with 16 points and nine rebounds on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and 1-of-1 from three-point range. He just missed a double-double by grabbing nine rebounds. His presence in the paint was huge in Saturday's road win by the Mocs, and it was clear to see why he was so highly thought of and decorated as an All-American at the NCAA Division II level.
Trey Bonham and Honor Huff were their typical nightmare to guard for the opposition, with the dynamic backcourt duo contributing 16 points apiece. If the duo wasn't causing havoc on the offensive end, it was their quickness on the defensive end, causing live-ball turnovers, which led to run-outs on a fast-break for the Mocs, which was dominated by Chattanooga as well, as the Mocs held a 15-4 advantage in fast-break scoring. Bonham and Huff combined for four of the team's 11 steals in the game, with Bonham recording three.
Bonham and Huff also contributed five of the team's 17 assists, with Huff recording three helpers and Bonham two. Huff did commit five of the team's 14 turnovers, but overall, the backcourt duo for the Mocs was stellar on both ends for much of the evening.
The Paladins ended the night being led by their own talented backcourt duo, in PJay Smith Jr. and Nick Anderson, who posted 18 and 15 points, respectively, while redshirt freshman guard Eddrin Bronson and sophomore forward Cooper Bowser finished on the cusp of double figures, finishing with nine points apiece. Bowser also led the Paladins with seven rebounds, posted four assists, two blocks and had a pair of steals for a solid performance in the loss.
Smith finished 4-of-15 from the field, including going 4-for-11 from three-point range. He also finished 6-of-7 at the free throw line. Additionally, he added four rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal.
Anderson finished off a solid performance, taking only seven shots, however, made five of them. He was perfect from three-point land for his second-straight game and for the week finished going a stellar 7-of-8 from three. He was an uncharacteristic 2-of-5 from the charity stripe, having only missed two free throws the entire season (39-for-41) entering Saturday's game.
How It Happened:
Things couldn't have started any better for the Paladins in the opening half of the first half for the Paladins, jumping out to leads of 11-0 and 22-6 before Chattanooga began to find its rhythm offensively. The Mocs would rally over the final nine minutes of the half, outscoring the Paladins 21-12 to cut Furman's lead to single digits by the time the teams headed to the halftime break, as the Mocs trailed only 34-27.
In the second half and after taking an early 13-point lead (41-28) less than three minutes into the second half, it appeared Furman was going to push the lead to double digits once again on at least three occasions later in the frame, holding an eight-point lead at three different points in the latter 20 minutes of basketball. However, Chattanooga would always have an answer and would never led the margin get to 10 or beyond the rest of the afternoon.
The first opportunity for Furman to push its lead to 10 in the second half came when Cooper Bowser converted a layup in the paint at the 15:30 mark of the frame, giving the Paladins a 43-35 lead. Chattanooga's response came on a quick 6-0 spurt, which was buoyed by a pair of Paladin live-ball turnovers--both caused by Bonham--as he took the ball from PJay Smith Jr. and converted the fast break layup on the other end to make it a six-point game with 14:56 remaining.
Bonham stole the ball from Smith once again a minute later, but this time passed to Bash Wieland in the open floor to cut Furman's lead to just two, at 43-41, with 13:50 remaining. Furman would eventually push the lead back to six, at 49-43 when Smith made a layup and Anderson connected on a three and a free throw to make it a 49-43 game with 11:30 remaining.
The second time in the second half in which the Paladins threatened to push the lead to double digits came when Davis Molnar converted a pair of free throws with 8:25 remaining to give the Paladins a 56-48 lead. However, Chattanooga freshman forward Latif Diouf, who hails from Gouda, Netherlands, and was celebrating his Birthday on Saturday, connected on a pair of foul shots to get the Mocs back to within six, at 56-50 with just under eight minutes left.
The ensuing possession would see Eddrin Bronson fouled by Diouf, as he committed his fourth foul of the afternoon, sending the redshirt freshman to the line for a pair of free throws. He connected on both to push Furman's lead to 58-50 with 7:32 left. Furman's PJay Smith Jr. would get a block on the other end, and it appeared the Paladins would have an excellent chance to push the lead to double digits in transition, but perhaps the turning point in the game was when Frank Champion came up with another loose ball in the lane and converted the easy layup to pull the deficit back to just six, at 58-52, with 7:09 remaining.
A missed shot by Cooper Bowser after great defense from Champion on one end and a three-pointer by Honor Huff from the right corner on the other suddenly had the Mocs to within 58-55, with 6:30 remaining. The two teams then exchanged empty possessions, with Anderson missing a layup and Garrett Hien a free throw for the Paladins, keeping the home team stuck on 58, while the Mocs suffered a turnover by Champion and Diouf committed his fifth foul over almost a minute-and-a-half before a Champion layup in the paint off a beautiful euro-step in the lane around Hien got the Mocs to within 58-57 with 5:07 left.
After Smith a fade-a-way jumper off the front iron on the other end, Champion took down the rebound and Honor Huff would eventually find Colin Mullholland streaking down the middle of the lane for a layup, who was also fouled in the process by Hien, resulting a three-point play opportunity. After Mulholland connected on a free throw with 4:35 left, the Mocs would assume their first lead of the afternoon at 60-58.
A Bronson layup off a strong take to the hoop on a nice feed from Bowser tied the game, 60-60, however, Chattanooga hit back with a quick five points on a pair of Jack Kostel foul shots after a foul from Anderson, and after Smith missed a three by the Paladins with 3:48 left, the Paladins would surrender an offensive rebound on the other end after Bonham missed a layup, however, Mulholland came up with the offensive rebound and found Bonham spotted up in the corner just in front of the Mocs bench and his triple was good to give the Mocs a 65-60 lead with 3:33 remaining. To be honest, that felt like the deflating blow if there was one for Furman.
The Paladins got the game back to within two after Anderson connected on a three from the left wing on the next possession, however, two Bonham free throws following a Furman foul and a steal and layup by Honor Huff off a bad pass from Garrett Hien gave the Mocs a brief six-point lead, 69-63, with 1:27 left. Hien made up for the mistake by hitting a left wing three 12 seconds later, getting the Paladins back to within a possession, at 69-66.
Furman then forced a turnover and the Mocs fouled Hien with 20 seconds left, and he would connect on a free throw to get the Paladins back to within two, however, the Mocs went a perfect 6-for-6 from the line to close out the win, with Bonham connecting on four of them, while Huff made two to close out the 75-71 win for Chattanooga.
Down the stretch, it appeared PJay Smith Jr. was fouled on a three-pointer with the Paladins trailing 73-70 with 8.6 seconds remaining, however, the foul whistled against Bonham was deemed to have taken place before Smith went up for the shot, which made it a two-shot foul. After making the first, Smith intentionally missed the second, but the ball didn't hit the rim, giving possession over to Chattanooga.
That play didn't determine the outcome, as Chattanooga won the game on the glass and on effort, however, it was a moment that made you question whether something should be determined on how the intent of the shot or the intent of the foul occurred in what order, or better to say which one happened first in the heat of battle. The play was not reviewed.
Chattanooga returns to action on Thursday evening, hosting league-leading Samford (15-4, 5-1 SoCon) in a game that will play to a national audience on ESPN2/ESPNU, with tip-off set for 7 p.m. EST at The Roundhouse. The Paladins will be on the road in Lexington, VA on Wednesday night when it will take on a VMI (8-11, 2-4 SoCon) team that has won consecutive SoCon games for the first time since Dan Earl was the coach of the Keydets in 2021-22. Tip-off for that contest is set for 6 p.m. EST at Cameron Hall.
Postgame Press Conference:
No comments:
Post a Comment