Spartans Drop the Ball and SoCon Opener at Western

UNCG 51 - Western Carolina 72

UNCG Athletics
WCU Athletics

Halftime: UNCG 29 - WCU 36

UNCG Stats
Leader Points: Cain (17) Leader Rebounds: Cain, Outlaw (Tied - 7) Leader Assists: Potts (4) Team FG: 17-43 (39.5%)
Team 3 Pt: 2-7 (28.6%)
Team FT: 15-17 (88.2%)
Turnovers: 23
Rebounds: 32

WCU Stats
Leader Points: Sumler (16) Leader Rebounds: King (6) Leader Assists: Brummitt, Sumler, Sinclair (Tied - 3) Team FG: 27-60 (45.0%)
Team 3 Pt: 9-22 (40.9%)
Team FT: 9-13 (69.2%)
Turnovers : 11
Rebounds: 30

Thoughts
Now, let's not throw the baby out with the bath water here. This was just one game. Granted it was an outright ugly loss. But it was on the home floor of one of the better SoCon teams. It's the kind of thing you would expect to see from a very young team playing it's first conference road game against a team with very experienced players. It's the roller coaster of following a team with some many freshmen and sophomores. There are the highs of Viginia Tech and NC State and the lows of a game like this.

Well, certainly we should start with the giant turnovers number. 23 is a ton. Way, way too many. This team needs to keep that number in 11-13 range to legitimately have a chance every night. Tevon Saddler had 9 turnovers alone. When one of your main ballhandlers does that you can kiss any chance of a win goodbye. In listeneing to the game, it sounded like the inside-out game that UNCG has played this seaosn was more of an inside-not out game. In order to defeat good teams, UNCG big men are going to have to kick it back out for shots and the guys need to knock down those shots. 2-7 3 point shooting (versus 9-22 for Western) just isn't going to cut it. G can't be outscored by 21 behind the arc and win many games.

I'm not planning on spending any mroe time worrying about thsi game. It was one of 16 left adn UNCG will have a few more nights like this before the year is over. Time to put it in the rearview and beat Furman. Go Spartans !!!