The Towson men’s basketball team will play host to the Northeaster Huskies tonight at 7PM. At this point, it feels redundant to keep calling each game “important” or a “must-win,” type of matchup, but that’s life in the CAA. However, I’m going to take things a step further with this matchup because of how the Tigers performed in their last game against Elon.
The 66-62 victory down in North Carolina was an extreme head scratcher for Tiger fans. If you follow my twitter (@AVGSeanMedia) you will have seen how angry I was that the game was that close. Elon has two wins on the season, neither of which are against Division-1 opponents. Towson shot 36.8% from the field and an unusually high 42.3% from 3. On the other hand, they held the Phoenix to 38.5% and 23.8% in the same categories. Want to dive further than percentages? Think about this: Elon had 20 made field goals, five made 3’s, and 17 free throws. Towson had 21, 11 and 13. You would think that having 6 more 3s than your opponent would lead to a larger spread than a measly four, right?
That’s why this game is not just a must-win, it’s a game where Towson needs to perform at their top level offensively and defensively. The Tigers are favored by 10.5 over the Huskies, but don’t get it twisted, Northeastern is consistently one of the better coached teams within the conference. They’re right in the center of what is a very mushy middle as my podcast co-host would call it. What this tells me is that this team is hard to predict, and the safest option is to bring your A-game and put them away early.
These are the kind of games that need to be won, and they need to be won convincingly. Towson is on their home floor, they have five days of rest, and you have all but one piece back on your squad. It doesn’t look like Jason Gibson will be back anytime soon so the boys may as well consider this the full roster anyway.
Unlike Charleston, Towson has no chance for an at-large bid. That means it’s conference championship or bust. Tonight is a night they can take a major step forward towards the consistency they’ll need to win that title and make it to the NCAA tournament.
Goh Tigers
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