Pat Kennedy came to a painful conclusion this week: His team isn’t going to score many points.
Towson’s coach saw the team’s 39.1 shooting percentage and realized nearly two-thirds through the season, the Tigers weren’t going to make huge strides shooting about a month away from the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament.
His solution?
Play better defense.
“Defensive percentage of what we give up is going to be a huge key,” Kennedy said. “We have to keep games in the position we can win them. We wanted to be an up-tempo team, but haven’t reached that goal — so we have to focus on our defense.”
The Tigers (7-14, 2-7) are tied for 11th in the 12-team league, ahead of only William & Mary (6-13, 1-8), who they play on Wednesday night at 7 at Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg, Va. The key for Towson, according to Kennedy, is keeping the game low scoring. The Tigers are 6-5 when they hold the opposition to 70 or fewer points, but 1-9 in all other games. Towson, which has lost six straight and nine of its past 11, has a good chance of accomplishing its goal against the Tribe, which averages just 63.4 points per game.
“This is one of the best teams I have been a part of,” Towson senior forward Junior Hairston, who averages a team-high 12.9 points per game, said. “The record just doesn’t show it.”
One of the biggest reasons for Towson’s struggles is its inexperienced backcourt. Starting guards sophomore Brian Morris and freshman Troy Franklin average nearly six turnovers per game. Franklin, a former star at Mount Carmel, averages 8.6 points and a team-high 4.8 assists per game, but is shooting just 31.8 percent from the floor and a terrible 28.4 percent from three-point range. Morris, who sat out last season due to NCAA rules after transferring from Richmond, is averaging 5.7 points per game, but shooting just 30.6 percent from beyond the arc and an abysmal 52.8 percent from the free-throw line.
“We made a commitment to the younger guys to build the program,” Kennedy said. “We have to get our young guards cranked up again. We put a lot of stock in those guys and think they are good, CAA-level players. But we have to get them performing again at a higher level.”
