Usually, I always try to find an interesting topic to talk about in my recap. If you have read any of my recaps before, you know that they sometimes can focus very little on the actual game. Take my last recap, for example. I talked about how big it was for me to finally get to a North Carolina A&T game. One thing I did not talk too much about however was the actual North Carolina A&T game being played. I never in a recap do a straight forward newspaper-like recap of the game. For one thing, that was against the guidelines against the 800 Games Project. It may be called on here a "recap", but doing a straight forward recap is kind of boring (and hence why that is against the guidelines). So I always tie the game into a greater subject revolving around the circumstances of the game or one of the schools playing that goes beyond the actual game. Sometimes these recaps have a tendency to ramble on, occasionally in excess of 2,000 words. I often know what I am going to write about in advance of the actual game. For example, I will soon go see High Point again as they play on Senior Day against Campbell. I know already that I will write about my frustrations as a recent HPU alum, but why I still root for my school and want to see it do well. And that game has yet to actually be played!
But going into this game between Coastal Carolina and Presbyterian There really was not much of angle to look forward to covering. This was the sixth time I had been to Clinton this year, so not much to cover in visiting Presbyterian. And I had seen both teams several times already, so not much there either in discussing a team or school. And there is no angle either between Presbyterian and Coastal Carolina. It's not a rivalry; it's not a close matchup or a mismatch. These teams were both not going to do much to their respective standing in the Big South this game either. There was really nothing going that made this game interesting. So maybe I would find something once there interesting to talk about!
I decided to leave on the early side to beat rush hour in Columbia. Columbia rush hour is particularly bad near and past the intersection of Interstates 26 and 20. The traffic stems from commuting traffic between downtown Columbia and the suburb of Irmo. And to get to Presbyterian, I would have to take Interstate 26 through the area where the heaviest commuter traffic intersects. My original plan was to try and get past the suburbs of Columbia by 5. But on the east side of Columbia, I got stopped by a train and had to find a different route to the interstate. Most of the time I have had to deal with traffic delayed by trains, it's in Columbia. Maybe this could be my angle to write about! Finding a new way onto the Interstate meant I would not get past Interstate 20 on I-26 until 5:15, so hooray for the Irmo rush hour I was trying to avoid. But while that was a bit of a delay, traffic cleared out once I got past Columbiana Centre's exit of 103 (Presbyterian is at Exit 54). I got to the Templeton Center at 6:10, still earlier than most people. So still no interesting angle to write about.
Once inside, there was still nothing that interesting. Wanting to beat game traffic coming in, I just ate pizza before the game at the arena. I thought Coastal Carolina might actually bring a bigger crowd than normal. Coastal's basketball team is nothing great, but the school is bigger and more notable than anybody in the Big South other than Liberty and possibly Winthrop from those who remember their glory days. But it was instead a typical Presbyterian crowd wit a typical Presbyterian atmosphere. The cheerleaders did not show up until about 15 minutes before the game, but were pretty active during it. The PC students were not as active however. When I first went to the Templeton Center four years ago when the Blue Hose were Division I newbies, the student section could get into the game. They weren't a great student section like College of Charleston, but they were there to do more than just socialize like the current students. You can see a picture of the sparse crowd below, listed officially at 710. It was a bit bigger on my side of the gym, but still not very active either.
So would the game have something interesting Coastal Carolina entered the game at 6-5 in the Big South, but 1-5 in conference road games. The only win previously for the Chanticleers on the road in conference was by eight points against last-place Longwood. Presbyterian is not much better than the Lancers, but could prove troublesome at home. Both teams were led by a senior leader, Khalid Mutakabbir for Presbyterian and Anthony Raffa of Coastal Carolina shown below shaking hands as we were about to get under way at what Kyle once dubbed the "Hose House" (or Hoseville, as actually used by Presbyterian).
The game started off somewhat high scoring, but very low tempo as the game was played very efficiently. At the second media timeout just over eight minutes in, Coastal led 16-13 with each team only having nine possessions nine minutes in. Maybe that would be something to write about! The pace picked up a bit as the first half went along, but not by much. Coastal initially looked to pull away quickly, but PC point guard Eric Washington was able to generate some offense to get the Blue Hose tied again late in the first half. A Tristan Curtis layup with just over 30 seconds left in the first half gave Coastal a 28-26 halftime lead. As low scoring as that was, the offensive efficiency was still pretty decent at just over a point per possession for both teams.
The pace would pick up early in the second half, just enough anyway for it to no longer be interesting. Again Coastal would take a slight lead before the Blue Hose caught back up. But eventually playing catch up all game would hurt Presbyterian. Coastal pulled out to an eight point lead with eight minutes left. PC stayed in the game enough to foul in desperation in the end, but that's all that was. Presbyterian did put a good effort forward trying to get an upset win, but Coastal would come away with a rare road win on a final score of 60-53. Neither team did particularly well, or particularly poorly either. It was game that you basically would expect from one of these teams. For Coastal, Raffa and Greenwood led the way as usual with Warren Gillis being the guy to step up and lead the team in scoring. For Presbyterian, Mutakabbir did well as usual and as typical only one other player did well for PC (this time being Ryan McTavish). It was the kind of average result you would expect.
So there it is. Nothing really to write about! I guess in someways that is the story of the game. I know some TMMers are having trouble trying to stay fresh in their writing, and I know Coastal season ticket holder Matt Cayuela has said he has had trouble trying to get something to write about now just seeing mostly Coastal again. Usually there is something unusually interesting that gives each game an angle. But all this game had going for it was winning the title of "Most Generic College Basketball Game". But I guess there is something to be said for that as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment