Clemson shows promise and room for growth in loss at Boston College

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Brad Brownell’s body language said it all. The Clemson mentor watched Boston College miss two free throws and his team not hang on to the rebound, giving BC the ball back with a fresh shot clock while already having a ten-point lead late in the game. It was that kind of afternoon for the Tigers in their 75-68 loss to the Eagles, an afternoon that masks the potential this team has.

The Tigers never looked like you would expect a Brownell-coached team to and then seemed to lose their cool at times. They finally showed some life in the final ten minutes of the game, rallying to within one late, but they dug themselves too deep a hole to rally from. Perhaps this might just be a case of growing pains, something this team has had with only two upperclassmen on the roster.

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Behind young guards, Harvard’s offense has become a big part of the story

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Over the past few seasons, as Harvard has become an Ivy League contender and then champion, the Crimson developed an identity. They were known as a defensive team, one that would shut you down no matter the style of play. They became known as a team that lives off its defense. That’s still important, but this year’s team is making its mark on the offensive end in a big way, and that was apparent once again in their 67-64 win over Yale on Friday night.

Harvard is shooting a little under 49 percent from the field on the season, a figure that puts them in the top 15 nationally. They also shoot over 41 percent from long range, good for fifth nationally, and assist on over 60 percent of their made field goals. They average nearly 70 points per game, which won’t put them among the national leaders but is a pretty good number nonetheless. About the only knock on the stat sheet is that they have a few more turnovers than assists, though they closed the gap on that one Friday night.

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Missed opportunities make for a missed opportunity for Providence

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Thursday night was a missed opportunity for Providence.  The Friars had a lot of those on the evening, actually, but that’s what the 82-79 overtime loss to Connecticut amounted to as a result.

It was a missed opportunity to get back above .500 overall and simultaneously send Connecticut below .500 in the Big East.  It was an opportunity to stop a two-game losing streak and to do so against their rivals from one state away, at a time when they are very beatable.  And most of all, it was an opportunity to win a game where effort wasn’t the biggest issue.

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Making shots a key reason VCU is back in the win column

SOUTH KINGSTON, R.I. – The keys to VCU snapping a two-game losing streak were a couple of simple ones: make shots and hang in when the game gets tough.  The former is one they struggled to do in the two losses, and while an unexpected issue showed up, offensive rebounding helped overcome that as well.

VCU beat Rhode Island 70-64 on Wednesday night in large part because of 48.1 percent shooting and 17 offensive rebounds.  They had just a slight 18-15 edge in second-chance points on the evening, but that helped cover up for giving the ball away 19 times, tying a season high and a total head coach Shaka Smart described as “way too many turnovers.”  It also helped them overcome another tough night from long range, as they were just 2-11 on the evening.

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Better defense in the second half is just what North Carolina needed

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – North Carolina got a road win on Tuesday night that won’t help their NCAA Tournament profile, but could help them get there.  The Tar Heels came into the game just 2-4 on the road and hope that an 82-70 win at Boston College will help them pick up more of those later on.  To do that, they will need to improve on some things that they improved upon slightly in this game.

North Carolina hasn’t played well defensively in ACC play, and the first half of Tuesday night was no exception.  The Tar Heels force plenty of turnovers – nearly 15 a game, more than any ACC team except Duke – but when opponents don’t cough it up they tend to make shots at a good rate.  The Eagles turned the ball over nine times in the first half but shot 48 percent from the field, going 5-10 from long range.  In the second half, they shot below 42 percent and were just 2-10 from deep, and it was more important since they turned it over just once in the second half.

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Northeastern is very much in the driver’s seat in the CAA

BOSTON – Sunday night didn’t settle anything once and for all in the Colonial Athletic Association.  Each team still has ten games left before the conference tournament, and this is still almost certain to be a one-bid league when it comes to the NCAA Tournament.  But what Sunday did settle is that right now, Northeastern is very much the team to beat, as the Huskies moved to 8-0 in the conference by putting on a clinic to beat George Mason 71-51.

Northeastern is now three games ahead of George Mason and James Madison in the loss column in the CAA.  With a lot of time left, that’s a nice place to be since it gives them some margin for error.  What’s more, the Huskies are 4-0 against the projected top three teams in the preseason, having swept George Mason and won at Drexel and at Delaware.  They still have visits from Drexel and Delaware, and their only meeting with James Madison, tied with George Mason for second, is at home in about three weeks.

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Fordham 66, Rhode Island 63: A second look

BRONX, N.Y. – A game decided by a possession invariably tells you one made the plays in the stretch while the other team did not. In Saturday’s 66-63 Fordham victory over Rhode Island, you can say that was the case. A much closer look, specifically under the glass, tells us where the game was decided: the offensive boards. In raw numbers Fordham held an 18-6 advantage. In the offensive rebounding percentage Fordham held a 44-19% edge. That basically told the tale.

The possessions:

Rhode Island 68
Fordham 68

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Win over Richmond shows how UMass is adjusting after a key injury

AMHERST, Mass. – Perhaps the best way to sum up UMass’ 70-65 win over Richmond is that the Minutemen found a way to pull it out.  It won’t go down as a particularly memorable game for one reason or another, but it was still a win over a team that had some momentum, and along the way they did some of what they will have to do to win games the rest of the way.

UMass wasn’t a great jump shooting team, especially from long range, to begin with.  Now that Jesse Morgan is out for the year after suffering a torn ACL over two weeks ago, they have to change a little of how they attack other teams offensively.  They were 3-15 from long range against Richmond, but the 15 attempts is their second-lowest total of the season.  They have taken 33 shots from deep in two games this season.  Conversely, they have taken about 10 percent fewer free throws than three-pointers.

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Richmond can’t quite finish at UMass and keep the momentum going

AMHERST, Mass. – For a lot of the second half on Sunday, it looked like Richmond might keep their momentum going.  It looked as though the Spiders were knocked back at first, but they rallied and by the second half seemed to be in control of the game at times.  Then they went cold, and as UMass rallied to take the game away by a 70-65 score, the Spiders’ momentum may have gone with it.

UMass scored the game’s first six points and ran out to a 12-3 lead before Richmond came to life.  They would get closer in the first half, but it wasn’t until the second half that their aggressiveness had come back fully, and that was when they took the lead and held on to it for a while.  They got a number of key stops and baskets to keep UMass at arm’s length.

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A look around the country – January 27, 2013

Saturday had quite a bit going on among the 143 Division I games that were played. It continued a wild week that saw a number of ranked teams get knocked off and a few conference races get a little more interesting early on.

A few thoughts on some of the games and what has been happening around the country:

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