Throughout the year, we, as students, struggle with the daily grind; keeping up with homework, trying to eat healthy, writing papers, and if you’re me, you have an image to maintain (oh, hey ladies). We can all remember that one time, however, where we’ve stayed up late cramming for a test, and walked in prepared to ace it. It gets placed on your desk, you look it over, and write down your answers. You guessed on a couple of the multiple choice questions, but you should still be okay. You think you went on a run with the true/false, and might not have fully answered the essay question. You get the grade back next class, and scored a 68 out of 70. So, so close.
If you have follow men’s basketball this season, you’ll realize that the test you just took is almost identical to how their season has gone. They’ve second-guessed their shots, and they’ve gone on big runs, but that essay question is still the kicker. In the Little East Conference, if you don’t play all forty minutes, or ‘answer the entire question,’ you won’t win. This is a good basketball team, folks. In-conference, their overall point margin is only at -8.4 points; they aren’t being blown out. Statistically, however, the gap isn’t in the offense. In fact, the team’s shooting 43% from the floor and they’re out-rebounding their opponents. You can say that the Panthers do have seven steals per game, but that doesn’t erase the 42% from behind the three-point line that their opponents have been shooting, and the near 50% they’ve been shooting from the floor.
With a team coming off a four game in-conference losing streak (five games overall, counting a loss to Bowdoin in which they scored 47 points in the first half and 21 in the second), what’s going to happen? They have one game left in the regular season before they enter the tournament. They just came off a loss to in-state rival Keene State, a game that was controlled by Plymouth for the entire first half, and a game where Keene finished both halves on a run that would ultimately be the deciding factor. Keene State missed a lot of wide-open shots, and they still shot 33% from behind the arc.
Excluding the game before that (a 86-62 loss to UMass Boston where most of Plymouth’s best players recorded single-digit points and played less than 20 minutes) was a 70-68 loss to the University of Southern Maine. USM hit 10 threes, shooting 42% from the three-point line and 46% from the floor. Before that? A home loss against Western Connecticut. Plymouth had a night, shooting 70% from the three-point line, 40% from the floor and scored 81 points. 81. Western Connecticut shot 53% from three, and 61% from the floor, scoring 92. The last conference game was against Eastern Connecticut; first in the conference with 12-1 LEC record, and at the time, was ranked 22nd nationally. ECSU had three guys in double digits and eight guys in the scoring column, they shot 36% from the floor and 33% from behind the arc.
You starting to get it yet?
Plymouth State is last in the division in both opponent field goal and three point percentage. They’re 5th in steals per game, and last in defensive rebounds per game. But, they beat the best team in the LEC, and one of the top 25 teams in Division III. They played all 40 minutes, wore down all 35 seconds defensively on the shot clock, and put the ball in the hoop when they needed to.
If this men’s team wants to turn some heads heading into the tournament, they need to know exactly how to pass the test. Defense wins games because it gives extra opportunity to score, both off the steal and in the half court. Alex Burt (Dover, NH) had a great first half, then slowed down before getting his 1,000 career point at PSU. We saw a glimpse of the old Alex against Keene; rolling off screens, and having full confidence in his shot. Jack Preston (Nashua, NH) has proven to this conference that he knows what he’s doing, and that if he’s out of foul trouble the paint’s his. They’re good, guys.
Just wait and see.