Not much to say about this loss, other than the fact that it was the most pathetic effort I've seen in several years, including the Navy game last December. We bumbled, fumbled, and stumbled our way around and got manhandled in own gym by an athletically superior team. No defense, no offense, no nothing. Many of our possessions featured aimless passing around the perimeter, where after sometime one guy would drive alone and either get stuffed or throw up an errant contested layup. Pitiful in every sense.
Brian led the way with 16 points on 4 of 10 shooting, and by golly that was it. No one else contributed. Trey had 7 but made only two FGs and connected on 2 of 5 free throws. Oh by the way, we shoot 63% from the line, saved by a late-game barrage. At this point there is really nothing you can do but shake your head and try to fathom our incompetence at the line. Blame Duggar if you want, but Duggar can't tell players how to shoot free throws. This is the simplest part of the thing and we have consistently failed at it the last seven games, perhaps beyond.
For a UNCG team that came in giving up 74 PPG (330th in the country), they hold us to 56 and obliterate us in every fashion. Anglade was 2 for 6, 6 points. Hinton had a solid game with 8 points but got destroyed on the boards. Eleby had 5 on 2 of 16 shooting (1 of 5 from three). Marshall did not make a field goal and had a single point. No one else had more than two. Burton chocked up a couple airballs, fittingly. Overall we shot 16 of 72; no, that is not a typo: 16 of 72. 22% for the game, and most of these were two-point field goals. We have played teams with better defenders but tonight UNCG did what they had to do and allowed us absolutely nothing. And they did that the entire game, constantly blocking shots and playing tight on-ball defense (not that they needed to try very hard) to the very end.
We shoot 20%, nothing unexpected given our shooting touch as of late. The players we have simply are not good shooters, at least not without a quality point guard. It kind of shows how much DJ and Rodney carried this team last season, because without them we are nothing. I doubt QJ would've made much of a difference; he certainly wouldn't have won us this game.
UNCG pulled down 56 boards and 21 assists, nine better than us. We forced 20 turnovers yet couldn't capitalize on any. A team that lost to Samford by 11 not long ago comes into Cameron on "Red-Out" night and controls the game from horn to horn. I feel embarrassed for anyone who attended and would not blame a soul for demanding a refund on their ticket.
Losing by 29 to a 6-17 team at home (RPI 335) is not an aberration of any sort. It is indicative of the athletes on this team, the shooters, the rebounders, everything. This game was a travesty, and the best part of it is that we got to show off in front of a large regional TV audience. I don't care what kind of pep talk or come-to-Jesus meeting the players have; there is no way we will drastically improve from this point out. I only dread what Wofford will do to us. And after that game, we should be 1-3 on this homestand which we needed to go 4-1. An embarrassing loss to say the least. Credit UNC Greensboro: they decided to play basketball tonight.
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