Towson men’s basketball won just five nonconference games, struggling to find a consistent rotation amid injuries and illnesses throughout a 13-game slate.
However, the Tigers have turned it around in league play, winning five of their first six conference contests and looking more like the team that entered the season as the favorite to win the CAA.
“I think we’re in a really good spot. I feel like we’re starting to flow right now,” junior wing Christian May said. “We kind of put all that nonconference stuff behind us. We’re moving into conference. It’s a new season for us, so I’m excited where we’re going. We’re taking it day by day, team by team. I’m excited.”
Towson’s most recent victory was a 53-49 decision against Stony Brook on Jan. 18. The Tigers shot just 36.5 percent from the field and 13.6 percent from 3-point range in a grind-it-out affair — the two teams combined for a grand total of two fast-break points — meaning they had to win it with their half-court defense.
And they did. The Tigers held the Seawolves to 35.6 percent shooting from the field and forced 14 turnovers. The defensive effort was a continuation of how Towson defeated Hofstra, 65-60, two days prior, when the Tigers held the Pride to 19 second-half points.
Crunch-time buckets by sophomore wing Tyler Tejada and redshirt sophomore guard Dylan Williamson helped get Towson over the hump against Stony Brook.
“We certainly would’ve lost that game earlier in the year because we wouldn’t have been able to keep guarding because guys would’ve been disappointed in their offense, which is easy for guys to do in this day and age,” Tigers head coach Pat Skerry said. “Our defense was good, some timely shots.”
Defense figured to be a work in progress for Towson entering the season given the departure of center Charles Thompson, a defensive ace who disrupted pick-and-rolls and made life difficult for opposing centers in the paint despite giving up size. The center position is still a work in progress, with Messiah Jones, Abdou Samb and Caleb Embeya all getting looks.
That said, the Tigers are still fourth in the CAA in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom, a college hoops analytics site. Skerry believes his team is trending in the right direction in that regard.
“Defense is effort and concentration. We’ve got depth. We’ve got guys who can move. The assistants do a good job game-prepping. That has to be a constant,” Skerry said. “If we’re going to be a championship team, we have to get better. There are still six weeks of regular-season basketball. We told our players the other day, Charleston won our league last year. They were awesome on offense. They were an atrocity defensively the first half of the season and then they got really good at it in the second half and that probably helped them win a championship, so we’ve got things that we’ve got to keep getting better at.”
May drew the toughest assignment against Stony Brook in junior guard CJ Luster, who is averaging 14.3 points per game on 42.1 percent shooting from the field and 41.4 percent shooting from deep. May held Luster to two points on 0-for-4 shooting, no small reason why Towson was able to hold Stony Brook to 49 points.
May’s scoring is down this year — 6.7 points per game compared to 10.7 a season ago — but his defense and rebounding keep him in the mix.
“I wanted to emphasize my defense going into this game because I’ve been kind of lacking a little bit the last few games, so that was my mindset going in, not letting him score or try not to let him get the ball at all,” May said. “I thought I did a pretty good job of that. I think we all did a good job of that as a team.”
Now, Towson must figure out how to get rolling on the offensive end. The Tigers rank seventh in the CAA in adjusted offensive efficiency, playing at a pace that typically makes high-scoring contests unlikely. Tejada, Williamson and redshirt senior guard Nendah Tarke are all averaging double figures, but it’s Tejada who makes the Tigers roar when he’s playing well.
A 6-foot-9 wing out of Teaneck, N.J., Tejada is averaging 16.5 points per game on 40.8 percent shooting. He missed six nonconference games due to a sprained ankle, then returned to average 19.5 points in his first six games back. He has slowed down since then, averaging 13.2 in his last four.
Tejada only scored 12 points against Stony Brook, but nine of those points came in the final nine minutes of the game.
“I thought maybe he settled early,” Skerry said, “but he didn’t late.”
Photo Credit: ENP Photography