Saturday, January 25, 2025

Paladins' defensive woes continue in loss at VMI

Ben VanderWal had 15 points and 12 rebounds in Furman's
91-82 loss at VMI. Photo courtesy of Furman

After winning by scores of 100-60 and 94-63 in its previous two visits to VMI, things went a little differently for Furman on Wednesday. The Paladins led for all of 41 seconds as the Keydets snapped their five-game losing streak in the series with a 91-82 victory. VMI hit 40.9 percent (9-of-22) of its three-pointers and dominated the paint as Furman's once mighty defense remained missing in action in Southern Conference play.

It's the third consecutive win for the Keydets (9-11, 3-4), a feat they last accomplished in SoCon play in the 2021-22 season - which was also the last time they defeated the Paladins. Thanks to missing 44 field goal attempts, there were plenty of chances for offensive rebounds for Furman and it grabbed 20 of them. However, the Paladins scored just 20 points off those and was outscored in the paint 40-20 as quite a few of those misses were layups.

In spite of the blown chances on offense, 82 points is usually enough to defeat VMI. Not when you allow the Keydets to shoot 51.8 percent from the floor though. This comes on the heels of allowing Chattanooga to shoot 60 percent over the final 30 minutes of that loss on Saturday. Much like the Mocs did in going 25-of-28 from the foul line to seal their win, VMI hit 24-of-27 free throws to help seal its victory.

"It's pretty clear that we aren't guarding anybody. If we're going to be so worried about our offense that we're just going to quit playing defense, then we're just going to continue to get the results that we're getting," Furman coach Bob Richey said on the Furman Radio Network's postgame show. "We couldn't guard the ball and keep it in front and we fouled. We had no connectivity on defense and ultimately, that's on me.

"We're not playing real well right now. That's pretty clear. You just exacerbate the problem when you have a refusal to guard the ball."

Wednesday marked just the second time since Jan. 21, 2022 that VMI scored at least 90 points against a Division I opponent. The only other time was a 134-96 loss to Samford last season. It was pretty evident from the start Wednesday that Furman (15-5, 3-4) wasn't sniffing 134 or any other triple-digit total.

Garrett Hien's tip-in at the 18:41 mark tied the game at 2-2 and that wrapped up all of the scoring for Furman's starters in the first half. The Paladins managed to stay competitive that half thanks to scoring from Charles Johnston and Ben VanderWal off the bench.

Johnston's three-pointer gave Furman a 29-28 lead with 4:59 left in the half. VMI's Linus Holmstrom answered with a three 24 seconds later. Another Johnston three put the Paladins up 36-35 with 1:47 remaining. Tan Yildizoglu's layup 17 seconds later started an 8-0 run to end the half for the Keydets. T.J. Johnson's three at the buzzer gave VMI a 43-36 lead at the half. Furman's starters went 1-for-15 from the floor and did not attempt a free throw in the first half.

Seven seconds into the second half, Yildizoglu's three-point play made it an 11-0 run and the Keydets - who shot 56 percent in the second half - never led by fewer than six the rest of the way. That layup and foul set the tone after halftime as it felt like VMI had a layup drill to wrap up the win. From the 7:45 mark until 13 seconds remained, the Keydets went 7-for-7 from the floor with six layups and made 11-of-11 free throws.

"Give credit to VMI. They were the aggressor. They came right at us. Every time we'd make a shot to try to get back in the game, they'd go get an uncontested back cut or just drive with no help (defensively)," Richey said. "It's gut check time. It's not going to get any easier. People can see that we're a little down on the mat.

"It's just unfortunate to see a boxscore where we get 20 offensive rebounds, 14 more shots than they get and win the boards by 15, by give up 40 points in the paint and let them shoot 27 free throws. ... We look like a poorly coached group right now."

While Furman's starters struggled, VMI's sizzled. Augustinas Kiudulas and Rickey Bradley scored 22 and 19 points, respectively, to lead the way. Johnson scored 12 points, while Yildizoglu had 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and no turnovers before fouling out. The lone starting Keydet to not reach double figures was A.J. Clark with six points, but he also had four steals and three blocks in 23 minutes of action. Holmstrom finished with 10 points off the bench.

Johnston had 18 points, 11 rebounds and four assists to lead Furman before fouling out. Leading scorer PJay Smith scored all 18 of his points on six three-pointers in the second half and also had four assists. VanderWal finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds. After making 7-of-8 three-pointers over the previous three games combined, Nick Anderson couldn't find that same stroke Wednesday as he made 1-of-9 threes and finished with eight points.

"I'm obviously not very happy right now, but we've got a good group of guys," Richey said. "Unfortunately, we've got a couple that just aren't giving the effort that they've got to defensively. That's on me to get that corrected. ... The surprising thing for me is this group has shown that they can come out correct and can guard."

Furman will try to get on track at Mercer Saturday at 4:30 p.m. After losing each of the prior 18 meetings in the series, the Bears swept the Paladins last season. Mercer (10-10, 3-4) snapped a four-game losing streak in wild fashion on Wednesday at UNC Greensboro. Over a nine-minute stretch of the first half, the Spartans went on a 35-6 run to take a 44-21 lead with less than five minutes remaining.

UNCG led by as many as 15 in the second half before Mercer stormed back to pull out a 79-78 win. The Bears never led in the second half until Ahmad Robinson's game-tying and game-winning free throws with seven seconds left. Robinson had 33 points, six assists, five rebounds and five steals to lead the comeback win.

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