Much to like in the first contest for a very young Tribe squad, but offensive miscues caught up to them in the second half.
We did not quite know what to expect from this William and Mary team until they took the floor. We didn’t even know the starting lineup. But we did know that they would be very, very young.
Indeed, they were — starting three freshmen and playing the fourth significant minutes. All four showed flashes of promise. But that inexperience certainly showed, and probably cost them the game. A mid-second half run propelled by W&M turnovers gave Old Dominion a commanding lead that the Tribe, despite its valiant efforts, could not overcome.
Final score: ODU 86, W&M 78
- First things first: Thornton Scott was out tonight with an ankle injury. The Tribe missed him a ton for stretches on the offensive end. Dane Fischer called his injury day-to-day after the game.
- Luke Loewe was good overall on the day, scoring 16 points on nine shots and dishing out 10 assists. I thought he could have been a little better defensively, but it’s hard to say, with how much youth the Tribe had on the court.
- The freshmen were freshmen… but certainly showed their promise! Yuri Covington got a start at the point guard position, and you could tell it was his first collegiate game – he turned it over four times and shot 3-for-11 from the floor. But, he also looked like he belonged, getting to the paint with relative ease and putting up four assists. Jake Milkereit came off the bench and scored three points, but also looked like he was working into the speed of the game.
- But a separate bullet point for CONNOR FREAKIN KOCHERA. Does he maybe remind you of another W&M Connor that maybe was the best three-point shooter in the country? Kochera hit six treys, scored 19 points and just overall was a stud.
- One of the biggest concerns for the Tribe this season was inside, where the graduation of Nathan Knight and Andy van Vliet left a dearth of size. But redshirt freshmen Ben Wight and junior Mehkel Harvey look just fine, thank you. Strength and physicality is the name of the game for ODU, but the Monarchs only outrebounded W&M by three over the course of the game.
- Harvey also flashed an offensive touch that he hasn’t shown in his first two years in Williamsburg. There’s still plenty of room for growth, especially in his movement without the ball, but 4-of-5 from the field for 8 points is not a bad start. Wight was in foul trouble from early on in the game and never really got his feet under him offensively.
- Speaking of, fouls were a problem for the Tribe. They’re deep enough to withstand it to some effect, but 12 fouls in the first half isn’t going to work, especially when you put the other team in the bonus nine minutes into the game.
- Another big issue for W&M: turnovers. The Tribe turned the ball over 15 times, which you probably could expect with four freshmen seeing significant minutes in their first college game. ODU cashed in for 29 points off turnovers, including a bunch in the 24-10 run that extended the Monarchs lead to 15 with eight minutes to play.
- One more observation – a lot more zone defense from Fischer and the Tribe tonight. I was curious to see what he meant when he said they’d mix it up more – for most of the game, W&M played a soft 1-2-2 three-quarter court press, dropping back into a sort of uber-rotating man-to-man or matchup zone. But they showed some 2-3 zone in the second half, and put more pressure into the 1-2-2 press when they were trailing down the stretch.
William and Mary now travels down to Raleigh, N.C., to take on the NC State Wolfpack Monday night. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.!