Old Spice Championship game Live blog
The Pack has made it to the Championship Game of the Old Spice Classic after some close games to get there. The Pack now looks to match the Women’s team and bring home a tournament championship. The Pack faces the #19 Villanova Wildcats.
7:05pm
The first tv timeout and the Pack leads 9-5. We started out well from behind the arc opening up 6-0 then McCauley hit the first free throw to stretch it to 7-0 before the Wildcats were able to score. We seem to be breaking the trap pretty well as we bring the ball up court.
7:15pm
The second tv timeout and the Pack’s lead has dwindled to 12-11. A couple of careless turnovers has allowed the Wildcats to climb back into it. Hickson has arrived into the game after the first tv timeout and has only been noticed on the defensive end with his block, but I look for the Pack to settle in and be able to get him the ball inside, especially if the Wildcats switch to their 3 guards. Right after the tv timeout and the Wildcats have taken the lead, but McCauley just got 2 on a put back to put the Pack back in front 14-13.
7:25pm
The Pack has lost their lead thanks to a 13-4 run by Villanova and now is down by 4. Hickson still looked a little flustered out there and is now sitting on the bench. He looks like he’s trying to hard to force something to happen. Hopefully Costner will be able to step up and continue the run he has had in this tournament.
7:32pm
The Pack now trails 28-23 and can’t seem to bring it even. They keep getting to with in two and can’t seem to get the stop at the other end. The Wildcat trap is really starting to take it’s toll on the Pack, forcing turnovers like crazy. McCauley finally looks more like his old self and is really driving the lane well and is up to 8 points.
7:45pm
Half Time and the Pack ends the half on an 11-0 run to take a 38-33 lead. The Pack has looked much better after the last tv timeout, and the Bigs have made their presence felt. This game will come down to the last couple of mins. We need to do a better job protecting the basketball, especially when we bring it up the court against their press. It will be interesting to see how we are able to settle in during the second half. Fells leads the team now in points after knocking down a couple 3’s. Let’s see if Lowe looks to continue to use the 3 ball or if we look to go inside.
8:12pm
So the second half has started a little slow for the Pack. They seem to be forcing some shots and the turnover bug continues especially on back to back offensive fouls, one which had Costner charged with his 4th personal foul with over 17 mins to play. Hopefully, Sidney will be able to use this timeout like usual to get his team refocused and start ballin.
8:20pm
The Pack takes the lead back 49-47 with a Fells 3 and a couple of Hickson baskets. Fells, Hickson, and McCauley all are in double digits and Hickson continues to use his size on the defensive end and come up with some big blocks.
8:33pm
The Pack now finds it’s self tied at 57 with Villanova about to take a free throw when we come back from the break. The Pack looked good for a while there, then the Wildcats were able to fight their way back into it. These are two well coached teams that are able to make in game adjustments and nether team can get a lead and keep it.
8:43pm
With less than 4 mins to play the Wolfpack lead by 2, 64-62. Our free throw shooting hasn’t been terrible, but we have been terrible on 1 and 1’s. I can think of 3 that we have missed the front end of, which could have given us 6points and an 8point lead to this point.