What ETSU Must Do To Beat Wofford
Assuming the two teams meet in the Southern Conference semifinals, here’s what must be the Bucs’ plan for victory against the 22nd-ranked Terriers.
For East Tennessee State to go to the NCAA Tournament, they will in all likelihood have to beat Wofford.
A daunting task. No SoCon team has done it to date. Only four teams have done it this season; Mississippi State, Kansas, Oklahoma, and North Carolina.
Fletcher Magee is just 14 successful 3-point shots from the NCAA record (held by Oakland’s Travis Bader). They’ve covered eight of their last nine games, effectively won nine of their last 10 games by routs (the Terriers beat Furman 72–64 on Feb. 23, but the Paladins trailed for the final 30 minutes and in the final stages of the game were never a threat), and are nationally ranked.
The only team that gave Wofford the last five weeks of the season? ETSU, who took the Terriers to overtime on Feb. 7 before falling 78–76.
The problem is ETSU is not as good of a team now as they were a month ago. Patrick Good, once the Bucs’ leading scorer, has been hampered so much by a hip injury he is no longer effective, scoring one field goal in the last three games.
ETSU is a deep team, and therefore even without Good the Bucs have four quality guards that can take the court.
But the play has been lacking since the Wofford game. The Bucs fell to Furman and UNCG, and have at time struggled with some of the lesser opponents of the conference.
Consider:
On Feb. 14, ETSU trailed 10th seeded The Citadel 46–40 at the half before taking the lead for good five minutes in to the game.
On Feb. 21, the Bucs were tied with 20-loss VMI at halftime, 39–39.
On Saturday, 7–24 Western Carolina trailed led with seven minutes left and were tied 60–60 with five and a half minutes left before Bo Hodges and Tray Boyd III took over, scoring 15 of the Bucs 21 points from that point on in an 81–74 victory.
Hodges and Boyd’s performances against the Catamounts were emblematic of the Bucs’ recent keys to success. Though ETSU is not blessed with a 20-point per game scorer, Hodges and Boyd both scored more than 20 points in the victory.
It was Isiah Tisdale’s 20 points in the last 15 minutes of The Citadel game that allowed the Buccaneers to pull away, and similarly Hodges contributed nine points to ETSU’s 17–1 run to start the second half of the VMI game.
Assuming ETSU defeats Chattanooga on Saturday and Wofford beats the winner of the 8–9 game between VMI and Western Carolina, the Bucs and Terriers would meet in the semifinals on Sunday.
For ETSU to spring the upset and go to the SoCon Tournament final for the fourth straight year, the keys to the game for Buccaneers victory would be are:
A- A man-to-man defense where Fletcher Magee is shadowed. ETSU did this well to the likes of Bubba Parham and even Francis Alonzo with Hodges and Tisdale, respectively this past month, famously shutting out Parham and limiting Alonzo’s shots to just 12 points scored.
The lack of any 3-point defense whatsoever was how Furman was able to rout the Bucs last month. Magee has scored 56 points against ETSU this season.
True, Wofford is deep enough that they are 2–1 this season when McGee hasn’t scored in double digits, including their victory against South Carolina.
But that’s a lower winning percentage than the Terriers have had in their other games.
B- The emergence of a breakout star. One of the reasons ETSU scoring averages have been so low is their depth. Only Jeromy Rodriguez has averaged 30 minutes. Ten different players have started.
But one player in recent times has seemed to put the Bucs on their back, except against Western Carolina, where there were two.
The most likely candidate would seem to be Hodges, but in the case of Tisdale and Boyd often times starring roles come off the bench for the Buccaneers, almost like a secret weapon.
Which is what Patrick Good figures to be from now on.
C- Don’t start Good. Good is no longer a star this season, but figures to play a role.
For instance, he hadn’t scored against Western Carolina until the latter stages when Steve Forbes reinserted him in to the lineup. Good is the Bucs’ best free throw shooter, hence he returned to the court to make three of four free throws to secure the victory.
Imagine if, say, Good were to sit the first 30 odd minutes of the game, resting his hip. At this point Forbes puts him in to the lineup. Thinking he is not a factor, a defense does not focus on him, leaving him open.
And if ETSU has a lead, then he’s the one to get the ball to in order to capitalize on his 82 percent free throw shooting percentage.
Prior to Saturday’s game against Western Carolina Bucs assistant coach B.J. McKie told fans ETSU felt they could play with any team in the Southern Conference.
That’s soon to be tested.
Marky Billson hosts a sports talk show in the Tri-Cities from 12–2 p.m. ET weekdays. Watch him live or archived here.