It seems like such an overly simplistic cliche that it is almost cringeworthy to say:
“Sometimes the ball just doesn’t bounce your way.”
Perhaps, if we were to take that statement and replace the word ‘ball’ with ‘rebounds’ it would suffice to describe the seesaw affair between the bottom two teams in the Big South Conference standings Wednesday night in the G.B. Hodge Center.
USC Upstate, who as has been well-established at this point, is a very young yet scrappy team that has been playing much better than their record reflects, hosted Taje Kelly and the Charleston Southern University Buccaneers in a game that many would say was a must-win for a few different reasons.
Number 1, it was a ‘winnable’ game between 2 ‘like teams’. No, not at all two bad teams. But teams that are on similar footing and can be competitive with one another – unlike the stretch of games Upstate just completed in which they played the entire top two-thirds of the league. Don’t get me wrong. The Spartans WERE competitive in some of those matchups. They lost to UNC Asheville by just a point in a game where they had to come back from being down 8 in the final 4 minutes. Upstate also dropped a close game at home 86-77 against the preseason conference favorite High Point Panthers where they just kept on fighting the whole way.
But for every step forward, there were a few steps in reverse. Against Gardner-Webb, USCU got into a 20 point hole in the opening 4 minutes of the game, never to have a chance to recover. At Longwood, it was almost a mirror of the GWU game, with the Spartans struggling to defend the perimeter and giving up a lot of threes while not making any of their own. In essence, the story has been what you would expect from a young team – inconsistencies that stem from learning to play the game.
“You are going to have some inconsistency. But, you can’t have it with your guard play”, said Upstate Head Coach Marty Richter. “They don’t have to shoot the ball and make the play, but they have to lead and direct. Part of my job is to keep teaching my guards how to lead. They are getting better, but you still see the inconsistency. Karmani Gregory has done a great job leading. So have Brit Harris and Andrew McConnell. As they keep learning how to play at the division 1 level, hopefully we will start flipping these games. But, when it comes down to winning at college basketball, it is determined by your guard play.”
The 2nd reason why this game could have been seen as a must-win is that with a win over CSU with both teams being at the bottom of the standings, the Spartans could have come away in either a three-way tie for 6th between themselves, the Bucs, and Presbyterian College (who did fall to 2-6 in the league with a loss to Winthrop Wednesday night). With a win over Charleston Southern, Upstate would have held the head-to-head over both (their lone BSC win came against PC back on January 8th) heading into the ever-critical 2nd half of the conference slate. That would be huge since having that 6th spot in the standings is the difference between playing in the first round of the conference tourney and having a bye to the quarterfinals come March.
Anyway, when it comes to a battle with all that on the line between two “like teams”, you could not have asked for a better show than what they put on in the Hodge Wednesday night.
Things got off to the most ideal start possible for the Spartans, who forced three CSU turnovers in the first 3 minutes and opened on a 10-0 run. Charleston Southern did not score their first points of the night until Kelly put in a layup at the 16:14 mark, and at the first media timeout it was the Spartans on top 12-2. After that, the polar opposite happened.
USC Upstate went on an extended scoreless skid that spanned 4 minutes, eventually snapped on a dunk by Mister Dean that cut into what was a 7-0 Buccaneer burst. Over the next 2 minutes, CSU completely erased the deficit with an equalizing 5-0 spurt that consisted of a layup and-1 from Daylen Berry and a Taje Kelly 2 point bucket.
Despite the rally from Charleston Southern, the Spartans still never trailed, eventually getting their offense back in gear with a 9-2 run over the next 2 minutes to go up 25-19. But, CSU hit on three consecutive triples with no answer from Upstate for almost 3 minutes to once again climb from the hole into the lead at 28-26 going to the final media stoppage of the first half. At the interval, it was 36-34 in favor of the Bucs.
The second half of the game was nothing short of a war of attrition with both sides exchanging blows and leads until the final 4 minutes – when the song on the Spartans’ iPod that has been stuck on replay in close games all season long started again.
Cold streaks at inopportune times. Inability to make free throws when the game is on the line. Lack of rebounding. Turnovers. They have piled up on Upstate, and like heavy snow, have packed down their chances at pulling off a win several times. This was no exception as in the end, the Spartans fell 82-75 despite having 4 players score in double figures – including a team-high 22 points from Mister Dean. In spite of forcing 16 turnovers and scoring 23 points off of them, shooting just shy of 45 percent from the floor as a team, and going 10 of 19 at the free throw line, Upstate found themselves on the short end of the stick.
Why? One has to look at the rebound differential. Upstate was out-rebounded 42-30, with 30 of CSU’s boards being defensive. Taje Kelly was an absolute machine, pulling in 17 of those to add to his team-leading 25 points, 7 assists, and 2 blocks. RJ Johsnon was also a huge scoring threat as the 2nd leader with 21 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal.
“I thought our guys did a great job of fighting all night long. Offensively, we did a good job of playing against their drop coverage. We got them to switch up on us quick, and we took advantage of that. We got out and ran in the first half and did some really good things. But, in the second half, we did not get enough clean stops to run on them. Tip the cap to Charleston Southern. Coach {Saah} Nimley did a really good job there and they won the last 4 minute war. They outscored us 20-13 in that span. We let him {Kelly} play too clean. When we trapped him, he was able to make clean passes out of it. That is why he managed to put up the stats he did. But, still our guys fought. At the end of the day, we got back to 62 all in a conference game. We wanted to be up with 4 minutes to go, but that didn’t happen. Now we just have to learn and grow from this and figure out how to close the game out”, said Richter.
With the loss, USC Upstate finds themselves in a huge bind heading into the back half of the conference season. At 1-7 in the Big South, they are solo in last place with a huge hill to climb to try and avert playing on day 1 of the tourney up in Johnson City. They will try to ascend to the challenge starting Saturday at 2:00 as Upstate heads to the Dedmon Center to face the Radford Highlanders.
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