That was just flat out ugly. The Retrievers shot 37% from the field, 21 for 57. That is just awful and these shot were not that bad. UMBC missed at least 8 layups. Which ironically if they would have made all of them they would have won by 2.
The first half was very competitive. For the first 8 minutes of the game almost every made shot swung the lead to each team. The game turned when Chase Plummer picked up his second foul with 10 minutes to go in the half. Then Saint Peter's just went off. It seemed as if they made every shot for the rest of the half. They shot 57% in the first half. The Peacocks went into the break with an 7 point lead.
I don't know what happened to the Retrievers at halftime. They came out and just played awful in the second half. They couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. The shot 28% in the second half, 8 for 29, and 22% from 3, 2 for 9. The lead was stretched all the way to 22 at one point. The final score at the end of the game didn't tell the story. The Retrievers were just embarrassed on their home floor.
After the game I was able to catch up with coach Tucker and he had this to say, "We need to work on our finishing at the rim. We had 9 offensive rebounds and had 4 second chance points. We can't just waste those golden opportunities. And don't even let me get started on our defense. I know they shot the ball well but that was because we just left them wide open. That was just an awful effort. Hopefully we can get this solved before our next game."
The Retrievers will travel to Philly to play La Salle next and St. Peter's will travel Lehigh.
In the first half UMBC came out very strong. They took a 9-4 lead with the help of Ryan Cook's 7 points. However the lead wouldn't last very long as the Explorers would take a 17-11 lead which led to a timeout. The Retrievers responded out of the time out with a 8-0 to take the lead back causing La Salle to call time out. This time La Salle would make an 15-2 run causing a UMBC timeout. The Retrievers were able to fight by to make it a 2 point game going into half time. Chase Plummer had 4 3's in the first half.
UMBC scored the first 4 points of the second half to take their first lead since the 7 minute mark of the first half. This would be the last time UMBC would have the lead. The Retrievers went ice cold after they took the lead. They shot 34% in the second half, 11 for 32.
After the game at the press conference coach Tucker said, "I loved how we were able to fight back into this game in the first half. However we need to play all 30 minutes or we have no chance to win. If we play well for 30 minutes there is no reason we should lose."
The Retrievers will go to Richmond next and the Explorers will go to Mount St. Mary's.
There isn't much to say about this game other than the Richmond Spiders can really shoot the ball. When a team shoots 64% against you, you have pretty much no shot of winning and that's what happened today. On the bright side for the Retrievers was senior shooting guard played the game of his life with 17 points coming off the bench.
After the game coach Tucker had this to say, "What can you do? What can you do? We played pretty good defense they just had much better offense. It's always disappointing when you have a game like this but what can you do it's basketball. Games like this happen every now and then. I will say that I loved how we played offense in the second half if we could just play like that every half we could really make some noise.
Next Tuesday night, the Retrievers will take on Lafayette from the Patriot League. The Spiders will travel to Texas to take on Rice.
This will not be easy. I had a horrible Radford team in my 1st season last year. We went 9-18 but even we beat UMBC.
Good luck though, you should be able to pull in some nice recruits with your location.
I feel like I'm the same spot you were this team just sucks. They just leave people wide open all the time when I'm trying to play man to man. I can't wait for this season to be over. Thanks for the support.
It was a great day for the Retrievers as they were able to dominate the Lafayette Cougars on Lafayette's home court.
The first half was close. Both teams were trading baskets. Until the Retrievers started played intense defense and before you knew it the Retrievers were up 16-8. The Cougars than switched to a 2-3 zone to try to stop the Retrievers and it work for a little. It allowed Lafayette to make it a one point game. Then UMBC went on a 10-1 run to increase their lead to 10, 30-20. In that stretch Lafayette didn't score for 3 and 1/2 minutes. However Lafeyette would go on a run of their own and make it a four point game. The Retrievers would score the last 4 points of the half to take a 39-31 lead into halftime.
The Retrievers came out like a bunch of crazy dogs in the second half. They started the half on a 14-2 run. With this cushion UMBC had their largest lead of the season. The Retrievers thought this game was over but it wasn't as Lafayette was able to make it interesting at the end but they weren't able to pull off the comeback.
After the game coach Tucker couldn't control his smile. He didn't meet with the media instead he celebrated his first win as a coach with his players.
The Retrieves will go back to Baltimore to take on George Washington and Lafayette will take on Central Connecticut at home.
That was just bad. It hurt my eyes. Coach Tucker might have nightmares for weeks, or at least until UMBC wins again. The Retrievers had 16 turnovers and it seemed like GW converted on every opportunity as they had 28 points off of turnovers.
George Washington was just 100 times better than UMBC today. They were amazing. In the first half they were unconscious as they shot 71% from the field. UMBC just couldn't do anything right and it showed on the scoreboard as they went into the half down by 27, 54-27.
The second half was much of the same but George Washington seemed to come back to life as they only shot 61% from the field. UMBC actually cut the lead to 20 at the start of the half and then George Washington stopped messing around.
After the game coach Tucker had this to say, "Changes are coming. I can promise you that."
The Retrievers will try to rebound against Morgan State at home next Wednesday and the Colonials will fly out to Los Angeles to take on the #4 UCLA Bruins.
03-28-2013, 09:08 PM
