Night and Day: A Tale of Two Halves (and an Overtime)
Based on the way William and Mary (1-1) was playing throughout the first half, we shouldn’t have won this game. We shouldn’t have beaten George Washington (1-5) when we were down 15 points at halftime (46-31), and we were getting bullied in the paint, giving up rebounds, letting Colonials drive to the rim and throwing up bad shots down the stretch. The fact that we did win, however, is incredible and speaks volumes to our Tribe’s toughness and the core values that head coach Dane Fischer has consistently spoken of and has tried to instill in our Tribe’s DNA. Plus, I’ll take a Tribe win (and an upset!) against a good team any day of the week — I really couldn’t be happier, unless Kris Sears decided to give me a Luke Loewe jersey for free. (Size Medium, please.)
To understand this game and make sense of our Tribe’s stunning, beautiful comeback victory against a veteran George Washington team — one that had played four games while we hadn’t played a single opponent in 16 days — we need to divide this game into its two halves (and overtime) to see what went well and what went wrong for our Tribe. From this division, we’ll see a night-and-day difference between how our Tribe competed in the first half versus how it competed in the crucial second half (and in win-or-lose, do-or-die OT)
First Half (46-31, GW)
This half got real dicey down the stretch. For a while, particularly during the last five minutes of the half, we looked like a team that hadn’t faced someone in 16 days. We looked rustier than some of the old pipes (I imagine) down below our very own Kaplan Arena, opened in 1971. We managed to cut the lead down to 15 points at halftime — thanks to a huge hammer dunk by redshirt freshman Ben Wight with 0.3 seconds remaining — but less than a minute earlier, we were down by 19 points (46-27), making it our largest deficit of the night.
To me, what happened and what went wrong during the first half was that our defense got bullied in the paint. Our defense gave up too much penetration — Colonial forwards like Chase Paar and Matthew Moyer were driving to the basket at will and getting easy layups. After the first half, Paar led all scorers with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting, and Moyer added six points with two layups and two free throws. And Colonials guard Jameer Nelson Jr. also made a huge impact coming off the bench. Not only did Nelson grab four steals, but he also added six points on 3-of-5 shooting. And I saw Nelson blow by sophomore reserve Thatcher Stone, who struggled on defense, on numerous occasions, so I thought our individual defense could have been a lot stronger. Junior forward Mekhel Harvey — whom I praised after the Old Dominion game (Nov. 28) for playing some of his best basketball ever — was out of position several times and struggled on the defensive end. In total, George Washington outscored us in the paint 30-18 by the end of the first half.
Besides getting bullied in the paint, we gave up far too many rebounds to George Washington and turned the ball over too many times. Together, Paar (6-foot-9) and Moyer (also 6-foot-9) grabbed six huge offensive rebounds (three per man) and were frequently successful in converting on second-chance shots. In the first half, the Colonials outscored us 11-7 in second-chance points, and they also enjoyed the fact that we had seven turnovers, when they turned the ball over only once. Because of our sloppiness with the ball, the Colonials outscored us 9-0 (zip!) on points off turnovers.
On the offensive end, senior guard Luke Loewe and junior forward Quinn Blair had a decent start, combining for 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Each also made a huge three that kept us in the game. However, the absence of Connor Kochera (out because of illness) from the starting lineup hurt us offensively and weakened our ability to threaten George Washington from the perimeter. Junior guard Thornton Scott, who ultimately returned from an ankle injury and replaced Kochera in the starting lineup, struggled to make contributions offensively and scored only two points on 1-of-3 shooting in the first half, including two missed shots from three. Freshman guard Yuri Covington, our other promising young starter, also struggled in the first half, shooting only 1-of-7 from the field. Despite his speed and his athleticism in getting to the rim, frequently, it seemed that Covington (just 6-foot-1) just couldn’t finish over George Washington’s defenders. Thankfully, that seemed to shift in the second period. Covington also had three turnovers to three assists in the first half, so he still needs work on his ball-handling skills and passing skills if he’s going to be the primary distributor for us.
Second Half (75-75)
Despite increasing its lead to 18 points (51-33) early in the second half, George Washington seemed to implode on offense, and we managed to stage a 15-0 run that brought the deficit down to three points (51-48) with 11 minutes, 27 seconds remaining. Our defense started to play better, and Loewe and Covington began to make some huge contributions on offense. While Loewe had a decent start in the first half, as I mentioned, he really began to heat up in the second half, scoring 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting from the foul line. Meanwhile, Covington, who struggled all throughout the first half, began hitting his layups, turned the ball over only once, and made some key contributions on defense (with two steals). Scoring 10 points, Covington shot 4-of-6 from the field in the second half and hit both of his free throws. And Wight — our heroic closeout dunker and another key contributor who shouldn’t be overlooked — put up eight points on perfect 3-of-3 shooting from the field and near-perfect 2-of-3 shooting from the line. In the second half, Wight really showed us what he was made of and why Fischer saw him as a top talent. Altogether, we outscored George Washington 28 to eight in points in the paint, and we also outscored the Colonials six to zero in second-chance points.
While Colonial guards James Bishop and Jamison Battle continued to have a strong game — they combined for 21 points in the second half and 17 in the first — Paar, Moyer and Nelson all disappeared in the second half, and I think their disappearance devastated George Washington offensively. Combining for just four points, the trio shot just 2-of-8 from the field, including 0-of-3 from three. In addition, the Colonials turned the ball over 11 times in the second half, whereas we only had three turnovers. Playing much more carefully with the ball, we outscored George Washington 15-2 in points off turnovers in the second half.
Overtime (85–84)
Let me start by saying that I thought this game shouldn’t have gone into overtime. I thought that foul call on Blair, sending Colonials forward Sloan Seymour to the line to shoot three free throws, was a soft call that bailed the Colonials out of a terrible second half. “Soft like Charmin,” as the late great Kobe Bryant might say. I saw as much contact between Blair’s fingertips on the contest and Seymour’s shooting hand as I do when the gentle breeze “touches” the trees — none whatsoever.
Regardless, we play the game we’re given, and in overtime, Loewe and Covington staged a performance for the ages, combining for eight points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field. Loewe, especially, was incredible. Coming off our second-to-last timeout with 20 seconds remaining, Loewe managed to do what his former teammate Nathan Knight had been asked to do so many times: drive to the basket, make the layup and close the game. Making the layup with 12.3 seconds remaining, Loewe clutched this game, and it was his third huge layup of the night after scoring two others in the pivotal second half and overtime.
Ending the game ahead of all scorers with 24 points on 10-of-21 shooting, Loewe willed us to victory in an upset for the ages. But he couldn’t have done it alone. Without Bishop taking that bizarre step-back three from 3 or 4 feet behind the arc — maybe if you’re Kevin Durant or Damian Lillard you can make that shot — we wouldn’t have won this game. So thank you to Bishop for deciding to give us win. You’re far too generous, and I’m not sure why that shot was the one you chose, down one (85-84), off a timeout and with seven whole seconds remaining. But hey, I ain’t complaining. Your loss is my Tribe’s gain.
What’s Next for the Tribe
Assuming all goes well with scheduling in the year of COVID-19 — soon hopefully coming to an end with vaccines — the Tribe (1-1) travels to nearby Hampton, Va., to take on the Pirates (1-2). Tip-off is at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 16.