I haven’t felt this good about something happening in Charleston since I ate at Hyman’s in 2004. We decided that Thursday night’s single-game record for offensive efficiency in the Tony Bennett-era wasn’t good enough, one-upping it with a 1.42 points per possession fireworks show that featured 55.7% shooting overall, 52% from three (on 25 attempts!), and 23 assists on 34 baskets. Transition was happening, offensive boards were coming down, and the guys took advantage of these “freedom of motion” rules to knife to the basket over and over again. Everyone contributed — all 11 scholarship guys scored for the second straight game, and 10 of the 11 assisted someone (Jack Salt was the odd man out) – and two thirds of the Green Machine got to finish things off.
Five guys hit for double digits. Marial Shayok set a career high with 17, scoring in double figures for the second straight game and both canned threes with impunity (3-4) and drove to the basket, where his wingspan makes a layup try pretty hard to stop. He threw in five assists. London had 15, Devon Hall had four second half threes to score 12, AG added 11, and Malcolm shook off a poor shooting night (3-11, 10 points) to tally seven assists. I know the competition hasn’t been great, but consecutive double digit scoring games from both London and Marial will only bode well. I don’t know if CTB is going to be able to shake Marial from the starting lineup now that he’s gotten comfy and picked up a head of steam.
Malcolm is shooting 38.1% overall and 25% on threes through four games. His arms are bending where they’re supposed to be straight, his feet are landing everywhere but pointed at the rim, and his release point is yielding a flat ball that doesn’t seem to be rotating quite enough. This is odd for me, but I’m not worried yet. His jumper’s been at least partially broken every season, and things always work out. I’m sure he’s aware and working on it, so I’m convinced he’ll get it humming at some point.
CTB sent some messages with the rotation in this game, which is something you can do when you have enough capable guys to field a football team. Mike Tobey sat out of the start of the second half after a listless first, and Evan Nolte was held out until garbage time. I think Tobey will be OK. He’s always needed a prodding to keep going, and this won’t be the last time he sits with Williford for a while, especially if Isaiah Wilkins keeps playing like he has over the last two games and Jack Salt continues to be a crew cut hippopotamus around the rim. If Tobey doesn’t show urgency on D and other guys do, he’ll sit some. The defense has been better without him through the first four games. As for Evan, well… I like him, I’m rooting for him, and I’ve buried him before only for him to return, but as this roster is constructed, there’s someone else who does everything he does better than he does it. I don’t see him as a double digit minutes guy moving forward.
The defense was a Pack Line clinic for the most part. Long Beach State only made one two point shot in the first half, and finished the game shooting 31.3% overall for 0.88 points per possession. Nick Faust made three threes and scored 13 points, but most of his damage came in the second half when we were playing out the string. Fouls were still a blight — LBSU went 15-20 from the line, as our guys are still adjusting to not being able to make contact on the perimeter — but other than that, it was an almost perfect performance on that end. We gave up some threes early again, but that dried up quickly.
George Mason is up next.
