Game two on the season was a bit of Jekyll and Hyde scenario, as this looked like a totally different Lady Camel team than the one that took the floor last Friday night in Gore Arena. I don’t know if it was being on the road, or the pressure of a televised game (ESPN 3), but we got off to a slow start. A very slow start. The Lady Camels finished the first quarter with 8 points on 27% shooting. That’s a rough way to start any game, but especially on the road, and especially against an experienced Mercer team.
These are the kind of games where you learn about your team. That being said, this is only the second game of the season and this team is young. Very young. Kahlia Lawerence for Mercer put up 29 points in 36 minutes of play and she was tough. She had one of the best jump stops I’ve seen in men’s or women’s basketball in quite some time and she was excellent at creating her own space. It seemed like no matter what we did all night we didn’t have an answer for her.
We seemed sluggish. The, “pop” and “hustle” that was there last Friday felt like a distant memory for most of the game. We seemed content to slow the pace and establish our offense after crossing half court (exactly the opposite of Friday as well). There wasn’t a lot of motion away from the ball–especially in the paint. We were successful last week when we pushed the pace and that style of play was not present tonight.
Hustle gets you points. Hustle gets you turnovers. We got out-hustled tonight. A quick look at some key indicators tells one all they need to know about who was pushing the pace: Mercer had 22 points off of turnovers compared to 5 from Campbell. Campbell had zero fast break points and only 2 second chance points. Our shooting wasn’t great, but our followup needed work as well. And. . .we were getting out hustled. That’s a recipe for disaster.
The game was closer than the 76-60 final score indicated, but it wasn’t ever pretty. The Camels need a solid case of amnesia after this one. There’s work to be done all around, but I’m more than confident they will bounce back. Coach Fisher will undoubtedly take this game back to the proverbial drawing board and regroup. Looking forward to seeing Saturday’s matchup at Gore Arena.
Since the final buzzer, I’ve been trying to think of something to say about tonight’s game. Well, truthfully I’ve been trying to think of several things to say about the game. I think this post may upset a few people (and believe me–while that isn’t my intent, if this strikes a nerve, maybe it needs to).
I was excited to see Coach McGeehan’s Camels take the court tonight. It was the first men’s home game of the season, and I was ready to see what we may look like. I missed the Oklahoma State game on TV because I was watching the Lady Camels last Friday. A look at the numbers from that game told me it went about like I expected it to. What the numbers didn’t tell me is how the team looked. How did they handle that loss? Were their heads held high? Did they show frustration? Were they a mess?
I hoped tonight would answer some of those questions. I was impressed with the offense. We seemed to have abandoned the half court offense we opened the season with last year and ran a lot more tonight. Last season, it felt like we were waiting until the ball crossed mid-court to start our offense. Tonight, we were moving well without the ball while the ball was coming up the court. THAT was encouraging. Really encouraging. The Camels looked like they were having fun, and that put a smile on my face and the faces of the few fans in attendance (more on this in a moment).
The Camels started two freshmen (Damontez Oliver and Cory Gensler) along with Whitfield (Jr.-R), Eudy (So.), and Clemons (So.–2015-16 Freshman of the year). Our freshmen starters combined for 20 points (10 a piece), and the rest of the starters put up 34 points (Clemons had 28 of those-4 for 4 from the 3 point line). We played all 15 that dressed tonight as well, which is to be expected in these early season games. Dunn’s own Nick Parker put up 9 points in 6 minutes of play.
All in all, it was a great night to be a Campbell fan.
Except when you looked around and saw Gore arena mostly empty. I’m realistic. I don’t expect every basketball game to be a sellout, but I do expect the student section to be more full that it was (and was all of last season). When I got to Campbell (a lot of years ago), “Lee’s Army” (named after former coach Billy Lee) was disbanding and there wasn’t a ton of interest in Campbell Games. I remember my sophomore year listening to an away game on the radio where we put up single digit points by halftime. I remember when we weren’t good–and by not good, I mean kind of bad. I also remember showing up to Carter Gym (yes, current Campbell students–we actually played our home games in Carter Gym). We started the Camel Crazies. There was a group of about two dozen of us at first but by the end of my freshman year if you weren’t in Carter Gym an hour before tip you didn’t have a seat in the student section.
It was hot. It was loud. It was small. We lost. A lot. We didn’t have a winning season 4 of the 5 years I was in Buies Creek (men’s). That didn’t matter. We supported our basketball teams (and soccer, and baseball, and softball, and wrestling. . .). We supported our classmates and our friends. I was close with a lot of the atheletes during my time at Campbell, and I loved supporting them. Why? Because they were my friends. I sat next to a lot of them in class. Studied with even more. We planned our weeks around sporting events. It was a priority to us, and let’s face it: there isn’t much else to do in Buies Creek (back then we didn’t have Starbucks, Moe’s, Chick-fil-a, Subway…really anything besides the two cafeterias, and Chelle’s Place). I’ve maintained relationships with a lot of those men and women (though admittedly not as closely as I’d like…such is life I suppose).
Notice that this game was, “standing room only”
A couple of hours of your life isn’t a lot to give to support your classmates. A couple of hours of your life isn’t a lot to give to support your University. Why is the student section so consistently empty? It shouldn’t take a t-shirt, or 400 sandwiches to get you to go to a sporting event. I don’t have the unreasonable expectation that every event on Campbell’s campus will be a sell out, but come on CU-we are better than this. This is free, and it is a part of your college experience.
There’s a group of Crazy’s that I saw at nearly every game last year and they have been faithful at both home basketball games this season. To those few, I tip my hat. Keep up the support–you’ll never regret it. To those who aren’t coming to the gym, do it. You need to. You should support your classmates, your friends, and your University. Win or lose, these people are a part of your community. Treat them that way.
Ok. Fine. I’ll hop down off my soapbox (for now). I think the Camels are putting a good, “product”on the floor in Gore arena, and I’m excited to see what the coming months hold.
Man. I will openly admit. I was truly excited about tonight. Whatever. I don’t care. If you know me, you know I love Campbell sports–and I’ve always loved our women’s basketball team. I was a bit apprehensive walking in tonight. This is the first time in my lifetime (that I can remember) that Wanda Watkins wasn’t on the bench. I am a homer, and I have always been a fan of her–as a person, as a coach, and as a woman. She’s an amazing woman who recruited and coached amazing young women. To know that she is still with the University in some compactly gives me some relief, but I do miss her.
Ok. So I did my homework prior to the game and one thing that I noticed is this is a relatively young team (2 seniors and 4 freshmen). I was interested to see how this team would play together. Amanda Coffer is gone from last year (choosing to end her college basketball career early), and we graduated some of my favorite players. Two favorites remained, and I was excited to see them in action tonight. Summer Price, a Jr. guard and Sarah Smith, a Jr. forward. Last year they were the epitome of hustle for me. Every time either were on the court they gave 100% and it was just so much fun to watch. Price emerged as a on floor leader last year–always encouraging her teammates and always pushing the ball and the pace of play. I was interested to see how she would play tonight…
When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was Sarah Smith in an arm sling…not good. Already disappointed and I hadn’t even made it to my seat.
Starting line up announced, and Campbell started two Freshmen. Interesting. Off the tip, Summer Price turned the ball over on the offensive end of the court. She dribbled into traffic and got stripped. Not an excellent start. Campbell ended up stealing the ball back but was unable to capitalize on a couple of shots and the ball went back to St. Andrews. Ugggh. Slow start. The eternal pessimist in me lamented aloud, “this may be a long season.” We hit a layup, a few free throws, another layup and had a 6-1 lead. We brought in another freshman (Breanna Foster) and things took a turn. Foster can shoot. She hit 2 back to back 3’s and suddenly had a 12-1 lead.
First quarter ended with the Camels up 21-7. Ok. Not a bad start. The Camels really pushed the pace in the 2nd quarter. This was a lot of fun to watch. Some missed layups aside, it wasn’t a terrible quarter for the Camels. At the half, the Camels were up 41-14.
The same 5 ladies who started the game started the second half, but after only 3 points in right at 2 minutes, wholesale substitutions were in order. Almost immediately Foster nailed another 3 and an immediate turnover by St. Andrews led to an easy Campbell layup with a foul, “and one.” Six quick points and you could see the energy gone from the St. Andrews team. Campbell led at the end of the 3rd: 67-18.
The fourth quarter was much of the same with the Camels really pushing the pace. At some point in the fourth (and probably when she hit another three), I exclaimed, “Foster is my new favorite!” Premature–I know. But man she was a lot of fun to watch. I love the hustle. Love the fight away from the ball. Hustle ends up getting folks easy points. . .like this layup from Foster:
The camels dominated this game and ended up on the good side of a blowout:
Lots of positives from this game. So many in fact, that the negatives aren’t even going to be mentioned here. Here are some of the things I saw that make me look forward to the rest of the season:
Our Freshmen: Foster led all scorers with 19 points. Guard Kelly Post had some key minutes and added 4 points to the total. Hayley Barber only had 4 points as well but she also had an assist and a block. Taya Bolden also added 4 points to the total with an assist and a block. Overall, 31 points from our freshmen is more than positive.
Our pace: we put up 94 points. 94. That’s an amazing total for any basketball game, and one I’m not used to seeing in Gore arena. That’s exciting.
Cribb and Bowns: they put up 11 and 14 and those are great totals from ladies who didn’t put up a ton of minutes/points last season.
Free Throws: overall the Camels shot only 67.6% from the line tonight, but their best percentage by quarter was in the 4th. This is crucial because it tells me they still had legs in the 4th. Were it not for an abysmal 3rd quarter, they would have finished over 70% for the game. Still though, 23 points from the charity stripe is respectable.
Hustle: These ladies ran. And ran. And ran some more. I freaking loved it. There was a noticeable area of hustle that wasn’t there last year though and it’s a seemingly small thing, but man is it huge to me: any time a player went down, the other 4 on the floor sprinted to her on the whistle. They sprinted to a huddle on every stop in play. They sprinted to their spots on the floor on set pieces, and they pushed the ball with a purpose.
Point areas: Campbell had 32 points in the paint, 39 points off of turnovers, 23 second chance points, and 14 points off of fast breaks. These are all huge positives for me as a fan.
The bench: 68 points off the bench. The bench out scored the starters tonight by a pretty wide margin. I don’t expect this to be the case as these ladies continue to play together, but it’s encouraging that no matter who is in the game, we have offensive weapons.
Huge congratulations to coach Ronny Fisher and the rest of his staff (who were obviously upbeat all night) for being undefeated in this new era of Campbell Basketball.
I’m looking forward to the rest of this season. There is a big gap in the bench that will never be filled (in my heart), but this is a good start for this new look Campbell team.
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