Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas – Divisional Round
No. 18 Charleston (20-1 SU, 11-8-1 ATS, 8-0 CAA) hits the road to take on Northeastern (8-10 SU, 7-11 ATS, 4-3 CAA) from Boston on Saturday at 12pmET.
These teams met twice last season with the Cougars winning and covering both by double digits.
Ok, so that's an old Steely Dan song and it doesn't really represent the type of year Charleston is having so far. But the No. 18 Cougars have just won 19 straight games to earn their 20th win of the season in January. All that is great, but they actually dropped in the Net Rankings to 47th after beating lowly Monmouth (1-18) on Thursday night 69-55 on the road. The Cougars, who were a 21-point favorite, were down 31-28 at the half. But Reyne Smith (21 pts, 7 3-pointers) took over in the second half to keep the Cougars' streak alive. Charleston struggled from the field (36%), but did make 40% (12-of-30) of their three-pointers. They forced 14 turnovers, but committed 13.
Not that you need proof…#OurCity ???? https://t.co/sIgUiBzwnx pic.twitter.com/MXsFW45VfE
— Charleston Basketball (@CofCBasketball) January 20, 2023
The CAA has not had a team ranked in the AP Top 25 since Navy of the mid-eighties led by Hall of Famer David Robinson. This is not a team full of stars, but one of the deeper teams in the nation. There are some questions defensively as they allow 68.5 points per game to rank 6th in the CAA, but they lead the league in points per game (79.7). They also rank 8th in field goal defense at 44.2% and third in three-point defense (33%). They rank 6th in three-point offense at 33.4%. Where they separate themselves from the pack in the CAA is their rebounding margin (+6.10) and offensive rebounding percentage (.359%) where they lead the league. Dalton Bolon, a D2 transfer, leads the Cougars with 13.7 points per game on 42.5% shooting, while Smith adds 11.6 points on 37.4% shooting and 36.1% from long range.