Charleston (21-2 SU, 9-1 CAA) is now unranked after losing at Hofstra last week in their first CAA loss. They'll travel to Philadelphia to take on Drexel (12-10 SU, 6-4 CAA), who is ranked fifth in the CAA.
These teams met twice last season with Drexel winning by one at home giving 2.5. Charleston beat the Dragons at home 79-75 as a 3.5-point favorite.
Charleston (60 NCAA Net Ranking) could still get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, if they don't win the CAA Tournament. But they have very little margin for error after losing at Hofstra 85-81 last Saturday. The then-No. 18 Cougars had not lost a game since falling to then-top-ranked North Carolina on Nov. 11. Defense was an issue for the Cougars, who allowed Hofstra to shoot 50% from the field and 50% (11-of-22) from long range. The Cougars outrebounded the Pride by seven, but they shot just 5-of-31 (16%) from three-point range and that was the difference in the game.
“That’s a very, very talented team, very dangerous and they were better than us tonight,” said College of Charleston coach Pat Kelsey to the postandcourier.com. “We talk about second-half excellence, and winning time is the final eight minutes of the game.
“We couldn’t get a stop. Then when we did get a stop, they got some huge, crucial second shots on 50-50 balls. We didn’t get those when we needed to. We missed some opportunities at the free throw line, too.”
What Charleston has done this season has been incredible. Even starting out 9-0 in the CAA and being ranked in the top 20 is incredible for a mid-major program. They had won an incredible 20 straight games and had received national attention. Now, they need to focus on winning the rest of their games or at least the CAA Tournament in Washington D.C. in March.
Charleston is still first in the CAA in many categories including scoring margin (11.22), points per game (80.9), and rebounding margin (+6.13). Defense is now a concern as they rank 8th in the league in field goal defense (44.1%) and 4th in three-point defense (33%). They also rank 7th in three-point offense at 32.8% as the number has fallen in recent weeks.
This is a team that la cks true stars though they do have incredible balance with five players averaging in double figures led by Dalton Bolon, who averages 13 points and 4.6 rebounds on 41.4% shooting.
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