What else can be said? Tonight the boys went into a raucous and nearly full McAlister Field House and come away with a well-fought 84-69 win. It was not surprisingly a game of runs, as we came out shooting hot, on a 13-5 spurt early in the first. El Cid came back to score the final 12 points of the first half - amazing how we can go through such drastic hot and cold swings in a matter of minutes.
Even then, Citadel wasn't finished; Jake Wright, who is shooting an absurd 43% from three-point range this year, hit two long bombs to start the second half, and the Dogs got up 46-35 before the blink of an eye. Of course any knowledgeable Keydet fan could've foreseen a collapse in the making, but Duggar decided to change up the press and our guys started hitting shots. After Ashton Moore made a layup with about fourteen minutes left, VMI ended the game on 40-17 run. Once Tim and Brian got it going - there was no stopping them.
There were too many critical stats for me to pick one that stood out. Where can I start? Citadel's 15 turnovers were impressive, including two ten-second violations. Or, how about the 37% 3P shooting percentage - including 50% (9 of 18) in the second half? Citadel couldn't handle our press and that fed right into our offensive game. We outscored the Dogs 22-9 in second-chance points, and shockingly doubled them up in offensive rebounding (16-8). We won virtually every statistical category, except for free throws. Citadel, who is the most accurate FT shooting team in the SoCon, got to the line twenty times, and not surprisingly made 17 of them. The Keydets got to the line only nine times, which needs to improve. But we did make 7 of them; and, oh by the way, Phil Anglade made 5 of 7 FTs. Incredible.
Individually, Tim Marshall had a field day with 8 three-pointers for a new career-high 26 points (in only 28 minutes). Brian was 6 of 9 from three and had 20 himself, plus four assists and four steals. Anglade, the league's leader in FG%, added another 17 on 6 of 10 shooting, and, as I mentioned, a stupendous 5 of 7 at the line. Trey was solid with 10 points and 4 boards.
Eleby, though struggling from the field (4-13 FG), had a much, much better game than in recent memory. Julian scored 9 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and dished two assits, but more importantly did not turn the ball over a single time. He looked much more comfortable running the point, but still needs to work on shooting.
We did not see much of Weethee, Burton, Craig, and Fred in this game. Those four players combined to go 1 of 6 from the floor in limited action. Watson did come in for eight minutes and had two rebounds, plus a beautiful lead pass to Trey late in the game for an easy layup. Only 12 bench points today, 10 from Trey.
This win puts us now a full game ahead of Samford in sixth place for the final bye. While we play on the road at WCU next Saturday, Samford will host Mercer and then play their final two on the road in a couple weeks. You've gotta think that our final game of the season at home against Samford will determine which team gets that sixth and final spot, if it hasn't already been decided by then. The good news is that if we are to win two games the rest of the way - we will get the sixth seed - or, if we beat Samford in that final game, we clinch the sixth seed, regardless of all other outcomes. Bottom line: beat Samford. If we want to get even loftier, if we finish 3-0 and WCU loses to Citadel on the road in the regular season finale, we could tie the Cats for fifth place. But that's a stretch. For now, it's one game at a time, and I think this team is starting to gel at exactly the right time. The prospectus of winning at least one tourney game is looking much brighter.
Some Notes & Observances
- The ASN commentators said that this was the first game in which Citadel cadets were required to attend. Interesting, given that attendance is mandatory for nearly all Saturday basketball games at the Institute, even some during the weekday if the occasion is special.
- Props to Citadel fans who packed McAlister today, with an attendance of 4,248, by far the biggest of the year for them (they hadn't even hit 2,000 before this). You have to wonder why VMI can't get 4,000+ for a televised home game without it being in the CIT or some such. Of course our record is dismal this year, but then again, so is Citadel's. Charleston is vastly more populated than Lex, so that explains quite a bit, but the Dogs do live in the shadow of CofC which greatly hinders attendance. Not today though.
- For the first time since 2014 (I believe), Duggar chose not to utilize the platoon system. I suppose it worked; Eleby looked much more comfortable running the point, and he is a superior option to Burton, who played only two minutes. All the starters were solid, and as the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
- Home teams in the SoCon are winning just around 55% of their games this year in conference play. Why is this? Possibly the low attendances and the overall parity in the league, with everyone other than Wofford being beatable on the road. UNCG's pathetic 1-9 home record against DI competition certainly has something to do with it (and who was that one win? I think we all shudder to know). We definitely continued that trend today, as Citadel looked overamped coming in and didn't have the legs to keep up with us.
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