After a slow two halves for the Bobcats that saw them shoot thirty-three percent for the game, sophomore forward Nijal Pearson led his team in a tight contest down to the final overtime buzzer only to fall short by two.
The final and game-winning bucket came from a backdoor cut created by Coastal Carolina’s point guard, who drove into the heart of the Bobcat defense and offered up an easy game winning bucket for the Chanticleers.
“The story of the game was our poor shooting,” Head coach Danny Kaspar said. “We had seventeen turnovers, and that’s one area I’m really disappointed in. This is the kind of stuff that causes us to lose games early. Self-inflicted turnovers.”
Kaspar was quick to point out that the Bobcats did outrebound the Chanticleers, and played good defense, which is something he demanded his team to do.
“We just didn’t look like we were in sync tonight,” Kaspar said. “Our two guys with the ball in their hands the most had five turnovers and were 6-24, and you can’t have that and win. We kinda shot ourselves in the foot today.”
Kaspar noted that the Bobcats needed more out of their guards from a shooting perspective.
“Our guards are 2-18, how about that?” Kaspar said.
Kaspar was quick to point out that some key bench players did well in the time they were given, and that he might have even made the mistake of not giving them enough minutes of playing time.
“I maybe should have given Eric more time,” Kaspar said. “My assistants and I felt that Immanuel’s experience would be more valuable to us, but he missed those free throws. I also probably should have given Nedeljko some more minutes too.”
Going forward, Kaspar addressed the easiest way to change the teams shooting percentages for the good was put ‘simply’.
“We’re getting a lot of shots from Nijal and Tre’ that aren’t falling,” Kaspar said. “They shot virtually half our shots, and they made less than half. So, they’re gonna have to shoot better. How about that for a simple answer?”
“They’re mature enough to know when they haven’t played very well,” Kaspar said. “And we still had a chance to win there at the end.”
“They were doing a lot of different things on defense,” junior forward Alex Peacock said. “And our shots just weren’t falling.”
The Bobcats will look to end their two-game losing streak Saturday, Feb. 3, when they play host to Appalachian State.