Towson (16-8 SU, 12-12 ATS, 8-3 CAA) is back home on Wednesday night to host Hampton (6-18 SU, 6-12-1 ATS, 3-8 CAA) at 7pmET from SECU Arena.
Last year, these teams met in non-conference play with Towson winning 78-54 as an 8-point favorite at home.
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Pirates lose to old rivals
Hampton was beginning to get the hang of it in the CAA. They started out 0-7 before beating Monmouth on the road by 17, Delaware at home by one as a 10-point dog and William & Mary (62-57) at home on Feb. 2 in their last conference game. They did lose to Stony Brook 71-66 at home on Jan. 28 before the win over the Tribe. The bottom line is that the Pirates were playing better, before falling at home to Norfolk State 83-71 in the Legacy Classic. This was the second time these now non-conference rivals played including a 78-66 win for the Spartans on Dec. 17 in the Battle of the Bay. Marquis Godwin led the Pirates with 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting, while Jordan Nesbitt added 19 points and eight assists. Hampton shot 52% from the field (8-22 3pt). They also committed 13 turnovers and allowed Norfolk State to shoot 51% from the field.
The nice finish by Jordan Nesbitt gets @Hampton_MBB back within one.#CAAHoops on @FloHoops:
— CAA Basketball (@CAABasketball) February 3, 2023
📺 https://t.co/wNpIZzBZpS pic.twitter.com/sDEeRsmW6K
Maybe Hampton has figured out their new league. A road win over Towson should position themselves out of the last two spots in the CAA (12/13), which means they would avoid a Friday play-in game. Hampton has been shooting the ball better lately, but they still rank last in the league in field goal percentage (39.1%) and 12th in field goal defense (46.8%). They also struggle defending the three-point shot, ranking 12th (37.2%). They rank last in rebounding margin (-4.58), last in assists (11.08), but they rank 7th in turnover margin (+0.17).
Nesbitt leads the Pirates with 15.3 points per game with 6.5 rebounds on 36.3% shooting (29.9% 3pt). Goodwin, who began his career at ODU, adds 12.8 points on 41.7% shooting (41.8% 3pt).
Tigers get rare weekend break
When you lose a tough conference game on a Thursday, you normally want to get back at it. For Towson, they probably could have used a few days off after losing to Hofstra 76-72 to break a 6-game winning streak. The loss was devastating to the Tigers in a lot of ways because it probably prevented them from winning the regular season title for the second straight season and from garnering a top-two seed considering they finish the season at Charleston and at UNCW. Both teams are ahead of the Tigers, but with Drexel losing over the weekend to Monmonth, they have a solid shot of getting a top-four seed, which means a bye on Saturday when 5-12/13 plays.
Timberlake AGAIN! Towson on an 8-0 run to take a 61-54 lead. He has a career-high 28 points#GohTigers | #UnitedWeRoar pic.twitter.com/5Ybuy01pJI
— Towson Men's Basketball (@Towson_MBB) February 3, 2023
The Tigers had played great defense in their winning streak, but they struggled against the Pride last Thursday, who shot 50% from the field and 11-of-28 (39%) from long range. Nicolas Timberlake led the way with 32 points on 12-of-21 shooting (7-of-11 3pt), but he was the only Tiger player to score in double figures. Cam Holden, who just produced a triple-double in their previous win over William & Mary, was held to six points, 11 rebounds and seven assists on 3-of-10 shooting (0-3 FT).
Towson's strength is on the boards (+5.13 margin), where they rank second in the league. They also rank third in the CAA in three-point shooting (35.5%), but seventh in three-point defense (34.2%) and 10th in three-pointers made per game (6.96).
Timberlake leads the team with 16.5 points per game on 43.3% shooting (38.4% 3pt). Holden adds 13.8 points and 6.7 rebounds, while leading the league with 4.8 assists per game. He's taken over the point guard or point forward role with Jason Gibson (back) out for the season.
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That's a lot of points to give for a team that had the weekend off. Sometimes that's a good thing for the legs, but Towson is normally a slow-starting team and that could translate into an ugly first half. The Pirates have covered four of their last five in the CAA and have looked like a different team since losing to North Carolina A&TÂ on Jan. 16 by 12 at home. This league can be so up-and-down that you play for first place one night against the best player in the league (Aaron Estrada) to meet a brand-new team in the league that you handled easily last season. The motivation won't be as great for the Tigers, who will struggle to win this one.
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Hampton has gotten better as of late, but their defense has been a struggle, especially on the road, where they are allowing teams to shoot 49.8% from the field and 40.4% from three-point range. In terms of pace, they are at 117th in Adjusted Tempo according to KenPom. Towson runs a slower tempo, but they've gone over in three straight and four of seven as they've averaged 76.2 points per game over their last five games.