LAWRENCE, Kan. - Let's get the excuses out of the way.
The Towson men's basketball's team couldn't have opened with a more
difficult opponent (other than maybe facing North Carolina on an
aircraft carrier).
Even with the loss of
Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris amongst other starters, Kansas still had size, talent and athleticism. Towson had one
letter winner returning from the 2010-11 season. How significant is one
letter winner returning? Towson is the only team in the nation with one
letter winner returning and one of three schools (Texas, Boston College) with no starters back.
So it didn't come as a shock that the Tigers fell, 100-54, on the road at Allen Field House on Friday.
There were some positives that came out of this
matchup along with some obvious things Towson has to improve upon if the Tigers are going to be successful. I'll take a look at the
positives and negatives of each game this season, win or lose.
First off, let's take a look at the positives. Last year, Towson finished ninth in the
CAA in rebounding margin at -3.7. On Friday night, the Tigers
outrebounded the bigger and more experienced
Jayhawks, 33-32. Senior Robert
Nwankwo led the Tigers with 10 rebounds followed by sophomore Marcus
Damas, who grabbed seven boards.
Towson really struggled with its foul shooting in the first two
preseason games, shooting a combined 21 for 40 (52.5%). On Friday, the
Tigers 15-of-20 (75%) from the charity stripe and
Nwankwo, a 49% career FT shooter who shot 44% in the 2009-10, made six of eight attempts from the line.
Now to the negative. As expected, against a long and athletic
Kansas team, Towson struggled with handling the ball in traffic. The
Tigers turned the ball over 23 times and dished out just four assists.
The starting
frontcourt of
Nwankwo, Damas and sophomore
Erique Gumbs combined for 11 turnovers.
After the game, Coach Pat Skerry told Gerry
Sandusky on
WBAL radio that Kansas "feasted on our turnovers. We played hard
but I was disappointed in our turnovers. This team will struggle until
we take care of the ball."
With a freshmen backcourt, the Tigers are going to have their ups-and-downs, especially in the early part of the season.
After facing Kansas, Towson heads to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan on Monday at 8:30 p.m. Next Saturday, Towson travels to
Murfreesboro, Tennessee to face Belmont, a 30-5 team last year that lost at Duke on Friday night, 77-76.
Around the CAA
In CAA action on Friday
night, the league went 4-2. Northeastern beat rival Boston University,
82-74, in overtime at Case Gym. Joel Smith led the Huskies with 20
points.
Hofstra routed Long Island, 89-71, as Nathaniel Lester led the Pride with 33 points.
VCU, coming off a
magical Final Four appearance last season, struggled but found a way to
defeat St. Francis (Pa.), 63-57. George Mason needed overtime to beat
Rhode Island at home, 92-90, as Ryan Pearson led the Patriots with 28 points and 12 rebounds.
Other than Towson, the only other CAA team to fall was Delaware, who lost at
Radford, 58-54, as the Blue Hens shot just 28.8% from the field (15-52).
