The defense was what we expected it to be; the offense wasn't there. It was certainly reminiscent of the home UNCG game, although a bit more redeeming this time given that Mercer is a top-three team in the SoCon (but not 28 points better than us). Eleby led us in scoring with 22 points on 7 of 17 shooting (1-5 from three). He also had a career-high 11 rebounds, the team leader. I thought he tried to do a little too much, often getting stuffed on drives in the paint and whatnot, but he certainly gave it all he had. Three of our four other starters had double-figures (surprise surprise, Weethee did not score). Marshall had 12, Brian had 11, and Phil had 10 (5 of 8 FG). The problem was both Brian and Tim shot a combined 8 of 25 and 6 of 18 from behind the arc. Add in Eleby, and that last number drops to a chilly 7 for 23 (30%). Not gonna happen.
We got a grand total of 6 bench points tonight. Hinton had a couple more stupid turnovers and just looks lost on the court. It's disappointing to see from a guy with such great potential. We know he can hit the three but his mind just wasn't in the right place for 70% of the season, including the entire second half of the season.
We had 7 assists tonight compared to 14 turnovers, most of which came in the first half (by then the game was decided and Mercer called off the dogs). Stephon Jelks, a freshman for Mercer, scored 12 points off the bench and hauled in 9 rebounds. The Bears shot 53% from the floor, had 20 assists, and outrebounded us 39-33, all without the services of starting guard Darious Moten, who injured his arm in the early seconds of the game and sat out the rest. Hallice and Nwamu, who both destroyed us last time out at Cameron, each had 19. I thought Coach Hoffman told his players to cool the engines with about 10 minutes to go, but our press was so horrid and attenuated that Mercer had no choice but to convert on wide open layups. We were also 10 of 17 (59%) from the line tonight, an appropriate statline to finish the season.
Our three seniors (sans Michael Donovan, who did get some playing time tonight) will certainly be missed. Brian and Chris were very emotional on the bench in the waning seconds (no need to go into that any further). I really felt bad for them and hate to see us perform so poorly. It looked like the days of old, in the forgetful era of Bart Bellairs and Joe Cantafio. We had no energy and simply lacked the athleticism and pure basketball talent to win.
It will be interesting to see what becomes of Eleby in his final two seasons. We have two scholarship guards coming in next season: Austin Vereen, a 6'4 combo guard from D.C.-powerhouse Maret HS, as well as Quayson Williams, a talented 6'1 pointguard from North Carolina. As far as I can tell both players will compete for playing time and one might just take Eleby's starting spot. Julian certainly showed some bright spots this year, with the 43-point game at Western Carolina, and another 25-point performance against Chattanooga. Despite this he doesn't have the ball-handling skill or play-making ability to be a reliable starting PG. But there's always room for improvement in the offseason.
QJ is almost certainly coming back next season, good news for sure. We definitely could've used his scoring tonight. It's certainly true that QJ struggled mightily in comparison to last season. He got his point-scoring average but the shooting numbers (34% FG, 27% 3PT) were woeful. Quite simply he was playing in an unnatural position and had to take on an entirely new role in the matter of two weeks after that Elmore fiasco. I think he was incredibly uncomfortable in the PG role. Hopefully, he matures this offseason and comes back stronger than ever. We're really gonna need him.
Aside from QJ, next season depends on the play of Marshall and Anglade. Unless you're Kentucky you cannot expect freshman to come in and dominate. Tim had an up-and-down year (mostly down than up), making a living from behind the arc. In his senior year I expect a much more accurate three-point shot. Phil was immensely improved from his Rat and sophomore year. Despite being only 6'3 or so (our roster erroneously gives him a couple of inches), he battled with some of the best big men in the conference all year long and for that should be appreciated. A lot of folks say he isn't a great rim finisher, which is true only if you are comparing him to last year's Covington. Anglade, mind you, led the entire league in overall FG percentage at just a shade under 60%. He certainly has work to do at the free throw line as well, but improved tremendously in the last five games or so. He ended the season connecting on 24 of 35 FTs, boosting his percentage from 35 to 47%. The man is definitely getting better.
Thanks to our four seniors - Brian Brown, Christian Burton, Jarid Watson, and Michael Donovan - for all their contributions to VMI. It's disappointing that Brian was the only one of the four to see consistent playing time over his career. The other two simply weren't good enough to get in, but did what they could in their senior season. Nonetheless, Brian will go down as one of the top ten three-point shooters in program history, and he will be missed greatly. I wish him the best as he commissions into the military upon graduation.
I could talk about Weethee and the freshman and a lot of other things but this article is getting way long and I'll leave it for an end-of-season recap tomorrow (or sometime in the short future). This season will be one to forget, but I'm sure everyone who made it out to a few basketball games can come away with at least a couple good memories. Here's to hoping the baseball team can get VMI athletics back to their winning ways!
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