By Sean Kennedy
Yesterday’s Action
Villanova 90, Mount St. Mary’s 59
Mount St. Mary’s coach comes from the coaching tree of VCU’s Shaka Smart, and is trying to install a version of VCU’s ‘havoc’ defense which he calls ‘mayham’. After watching it in action, it’s safe to say that it only causes mayham for his own team as Villanova carved up the full court pressure of the Mount on their way to an easy victory.
The Wildcats consistently broke the trapping defense, and with no help coming from the back line, guys like JayVaughn Pinkston (game-high 21 points), Darrun Hilliard (18 points), and James Bell (12 points) were able to get easy finishes at the bucket time and time again. Villanova finished the game shooting 62.7% from the field and actually scored more points in the paint than Mount St. Mary’s scored total, which is absurd.
Couple other notes…Phillies broadcaster Tom McCarthy was on the play-by-play call on CBS Sports Network; his shtick works better with basketball where you actually need almost non-stop talking based on the flow of the game, rather than baseball where you’d just like him to shut up half the time. Pinkston really has great footwork in the post. Any time he had a smaller Mountaineer defender on him, it was basically an automatic two for him down on the blocks. Daniel Ochefu does a decent job rebounding and defensively but his offensive game has no polish finishing around the rim; the Wildcats will need him to continue to develop to help provide some offensive balance against better opponents. Villanova will remain at home to take on Towson Sunday.
Saint Joseph’s 81, Marist 62
As expected, St. Joe’s jumped out to 12-0 lead and never looked back, cruising to an easy victory against an overmatched Red Foxes squad, moving to 2-0 on the season. Once again, the Hawks were led by Langston Galloway (20 points and 8 rebounds) and Ronald Roberts, Jr. (16 points and 10 rebounds, while senior forward Halil Kanacevic nearly had a triple-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists. If it looks to you like that’s a lot of rebounds to go around, you’re right, as the Hawks were simply too big for Marist, nearly doubling them up on the glass 46-27.
All systems have been go so far this season for St. Joe’s after taking care of business here at home, and the solid road win against Vermont. Their toughest test of the season yet will come this Saturday against Creighton and star Doug McDermott. I’m looking forward to see how the Hawks respond to that early season challenge.
Today’s Action
7:30 PM: Temple (1-1, 0-0 AAC) @ Towson (2-0, 0-0 CAA)
The Owls have struggled to start the 2013-14 campaign, barely squeaking past Penn, before losing to Kent State at home. With the loss of all the departing talent coming into the season, it’s only natural for there to be some growing pains early on in the season. Guys like Anthony Lee, Will Cummings, and Dalton Pepper have certainly stepped up their games to fill the void left by Khalif Wyatt, Scootie Randall, and others, but players on the back-end of the rotation need to rise to the occasion and give the Owls good minutes. Aside from the three players I mentioned, Temple is shooting just 22-66 (33.3%) on the season. The Owls need the freshmen and sophomores on the team to grow up in a hurry and provide quality production if this season is to end with an NCAA berth.
On the other hand, Towson has demolished a couple of lower-tier opponents in Navy and Morgan State to jump out to a 2-0 start to the season; Temple will provide the first real test of the season for the Tigers. 6’8″ senior Jerrelle Benimon has put up some absurd stat lines, averaging 13.5 points, 15.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 2.5 blocks per game. Benimon averaged a double-double last season and will be a huge challenge for Temple’s Anthony Lee on the blocks. 6’3″ senior Rafael Guthrie has come off the bench to lead the team in scoring thus far at 18.0 ppg, and the Tigers have a number of players who can drain the long ball, sporting a 48.6 percentage on three-pointers through two games.
These two teams met last season with Temple winning 72-61 despite 30 points and 18 rebounds from Benimon. However, Temple’s top three scorers in that game have all moved on; this contest will provide an early litmus test for the Owls as to how far removed they are from last season’s team. It should be a close battle but I think Towson pulls it out in the end at home.
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