Friday, Nov. 15, William and Mary men’s basketball (3-3, 0-0 CAA) traveled to compete in the Winthrop University-hosted Rock Hill Classic tournament at Rock Hill Sports & Event Center in Rock Hill, S.C. The Tribe lost heartbreaker contests to Winthrop (4-2, 0-0 Big South) and North Carolina Central (1-4, 0-0 MEAC) before blowing out Georgia Southern (4-2, 0-0 SBC).
To open the weekend, the Tribe faced off against the host, an experienced Winthrop team expected to finish second in the Big South. The Green and Gold fell into a substantial hole early in the game, making just two field goals in the first four minutes, but it stormed back before halftime, scoring 10 unanswered points and taking a 46-39 lead into the break. Junior guard Kyle Frazier poured in 11 first-half points for the Tribe, connecting on 60% of his three-point attempts, while senior guard Gabe Dorsey and graduate student forward Keller Boothby made two three-pointers each.
As the second half began, a sloppy play from William and Mary gave Winthrop a new lease on life. The Tribe turned the ball over five times in two minutes as the Eagles clawed within two points. Timely three-pointers from Boothby, Dorsey and freshman guard Isaiah Mbeng seemed to put the Green and Gold back in the driver’s seat, taking William and Mary to an 84-77 lead with two minutes, 20 seconds remaining in the game. However, Winthrop roared back, making four free throws in 25 seconds to keep the game within three.
Neither team would score again until the 13-second mark, when William and Mary junior guard Kyle Pulliam made a free throw to put his team up four. Winthrop senior forward Tommy Kamarad responded with a layup, but with just six seconds left on the clock, the Tribe was primed for a victory. According to basketball analytics website kenpom.com, William and Mary’s win probability at this point in the game was over 94%. Winthrop had no choice but to foul Frazier, a career 80% free throw shooter who improbably misfired on both of his attempts from the line, allowing the Eagles to get a shot off at the buzzer. As the clock wound down to zero, Winthrop junior guard Bryce Baker drained a transition three, vanquishing the Tribe and sending the home crowd into a state of pandemonium.
William and Mary head coach Brian Earl was frustrated by his team’s turnover issues and continued late game struggles. The Tribe also blew a second-half lead in a Nov. 8 loss to Radford.
“It’s just a matter of taking a deep breath and making a winning play at some point. We’re a work in progress,” Earl said. “I thought we played hard, I thought we were starting to get how we do things, but turning the ball over 22 times and giving up the ESPN highlight at the end is just indefensible.”
Earl emphasized the team’s need to continue dominating on the court.
“I thought at the beginning we were getting some good shots, but [we were] maybe a little nervous,” Earl said. “We need to see the ball go in and, again, not turn it over as much.”
The Tribe returned to the court Saturday, Nov. 16, taking on North Carolina Central. Once again, William and Mary built a substantial first-half lead, jumping out to a 22-15 advantage on the backs of impressive shooting performances from Pulliam, senior forward Noah Collier and senior guard Matteus Case. Case would continue to dominate after halftime, making all four of his field goal attempts and all five of his free throw attempts in the second period.
“He played hard,” Earl said regarding Case, who finished the night with a career-high 19 points. “We’ve been trying to get Matteus to get to the rim and finish there, and he did it tonight. He took it personally and got all the way there.”
However, Case’s effort was not enough to keep NC Central at bay, as the hot-shooting Eagles erased the Tribe’s early deficit and vaulted ahead, leading by as much as 11 in the second half. William and Mary mounted a frantic comeback at the end of the game, even taking a 73-72 lead with 1:55 remaining on a Collier hook shot, but failed to make another field goal. With the Tribe trailing 78-76, Case attempted a buzzer-beating half-court heave, but the ball bounced off the backboard. The Green and Gold lost its second consecutive one-possession game.
The Tribe failed to effectively execute its up-tempo, run-and-gun style, shooting just 4-18 from beyond the three-point arc compared to its opponent’s 10-29. Earl attributed the discrepancy to the game’s slow nature, which featured a combined 49 free throw attempts. Earl also highlighted NC Central’s success in limiting William and Mary in transition and the Tribe’s simple failures of scoring.
“They just didn’t let us get out and go,” Earl said. “We were just stuck in mud, and every possession in the first half ended in a foul. We tried to figure some things out in the second half, but [we] just didn’t have enough.”
Sunday, Nov. 17, William and Mary took on yet another set of Eagles: those of Georgia Southern, a Sun Belt team that entered the afternoon undefeated in the Rock Hill Classic, having beaten both Winthrop and NC Central. After a back-and-forth start, William and Mary took yet another significant first-half lead. As was the case in the Tribe’s first two games, its opponents quickly responded. This time, the Green and Gold bent but did not break, weathering the storm, outscoring the Eagles 54-42 in the second half and winning the game by a score of 102-87.
The Tribe played much truer to its identity than it did in the NC Central game, launching 44 three-pointers at a 36.4% clip while turning the ball over just 11 times. Collier led in scoring with 19 points, Dorsey followed with 17 and junior guard Chase Lowe paced the Tribe in rebounds (8) and assists (4).
“I thought it was a great way to respond to a couple tough games this weekend,” Earl said. “We weren’t sure what we were going to see, but I thought we played hard, and some shots went in. It was good to see in a rough environment where we were 0-2 with two close losses.”
Earl further emphasized the team’s need to play hard.
“I think most everyone who went in there did that,” Earl said. “We still have some errors we have to work on. We go so fast that we need to see the video to see exactly what happened, but it was good to see after two close losses that the guys could come back punching.”
William and Mary’s road trip continues Friday, Nov. 22 against North Carolina State (3-0, 0-0 ACC) at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C.