Well a disappointing loss tonight especially considering we had a chance to win the game late on the road against the SoCon preseason favorite. It was an up-and-down contest but nonetheless the team played well enough to win, but not well enough to not lose.
We certainly had our chances. After falling behind 68-64 with just over three minutes to go, a QJ jumper, steal, two offensive rebounds, and another floater in the lane tie the score with two minutes left. Then, a rebound and foul on Lee Skinner gives QJ two FT's which he sinks. Karl Kochran of Wofford responded with a trey, but Skinner fouled Anglade again, who, as we've seen all season, missed the free throw on the front end of the 1-and-1.
Then even after that we still had a chance to tie the game, as QJ had the ball in hand for the last possession. What does he do? Lean in to the Terrier defender in an inexplicable attempt to draw a foul. Of course the shot is an airball, CJ Neumann sinks two freebies, and that's your ball game.
First it's surprising that Wofford didn't foul. Most other teams don't do this either and it surprises me because you'd think the chances of a player making two FTs, get the ball back, and hit another shot are better than simply sinking a three. Guess not. But QJ decides to draw contact and the shot goes horrible awry. He should've known that the refs were going to let all contact go, especially on the road. But it didn't happen and we can only hope QJ will learn.
Consider that late in the first half, after an Anglade layup the Wofford lead is cut to one before the final possession. We play great defense for 27 seconds or so, and Jarid gets his hands on the ball after a missed three by Jaylen Allen. But Justin Gordon takes the ball out of his hands, and dishes to Eric Garcia who makes a three pointer as time expires. Those three points turned out to be the difference. Wofford simply makes winning plays and knows what to do in the clutch. Even when the shots aren't falling, they stick to the fundamentals. That is why they are 12-4 and VMI sits at 5-11 and 1-4 in the league.
Julian, who was coming off the flu and back for his first game in a week, clearly made a difference. Although he didn't shoot well (5 pts on 1 of 9 shooting), he had two assists, three rebounds, and sparked the team on offense. But give the game ball to Phil Anglade, who was a monster down low with 22 points, 8 boards, and 7 blocks on 11 of 13 shooting. Incredibly it's Anglade who sorta-kinda costs us the game down the stretch, missing a FT in the final minute and shooting 0-3 from the charity stripe in all. This is the only flaw in his game, but it's a critically important one.
QJ shot 6 of 19 from the field (2-8 from three) for 22 points and 6 rebounds. Marshall shoots 4 of 11 for 13 points. As far as scoring goes that's about it. Only 13 bench points, but we did outrebound a much taller Wofford team, 40-31. On the flip side we commit 14 turnovers, at least two of which were from QJ slipping and falling on the floor unprovoked...some things you just can't explain.
Incredibly disappointing night. We can take some positives from it, mainly that the energy was 100% there and we hung wire-to-wire with the SoCon favorite. It sucks to be 5-11 but at this point the brunt of our schedule is behind us. The next two games are on the road against SoCon bottomdwellers (UNCG and Furman), and the following Saturday is a home matchup with ETSU. One more road game at Chattanooga and from there seven of the final nine are at Cameron. A performance like the one tonight is encouraging, and we can only hope that it persists throughout the season, because we cannot afford to lose more than one game.
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