DENVER, Colo. - I'm not sure I ever witnessed a worse half of basketball in the NCAA tournament that what Winthrop just gave us. How bad were they? Let us count the ways.

The Eagles shot 4-24 from the floor, for 16.7%. They were 2-11 from long range, both in the last two minutes, which elicited cheers of sympathy from all in attendance. They were even 1-6 from the line.

Taj McCullough took 14 first half shots, but only got off three in the second. Chris Gaynor was 2-8. Michael Jenkins, the team's leading scorer on the season, was 1-9.

Washington St was led by Aron Baynes 19. Derrick Low hit 4-5 in the second half and finished with 11.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Winthrop finally hit a couple of shots to finish with an 11 point half in a 71-40 loss.

Meanwhile, the Brands, Andy Katz and I are crowded around a 12" TV with an hit-and-miss feed watching Belmont try to knock off Duke.

Back with stats in a minute.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 09:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - With 3:38 to go, Winthrop is still sitting on five points for the half. You can see the frustration and confusion on their faces. They have no idea what's happening to them.

They are 2-19 from the floor this half.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 09:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - The Eagles finally scored with 13:15 to go on a McCullough dunk in transition, but other than that, it's been hard for them to even draw iron. Wazzu leads 54-33 with 7:35 to go. That's four points for the entire half for Winthrop.

It's been so bad that after an intentional foul on Weaver (not sure why, never got replay) McCullough bricked the freebies so badly that the second one almost airballed.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Brand is monitoring the other games next to me, which have suddenly become exciting.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 08:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - Washington St has scored the first seven points of the second half to take a 36-29 lead. WSU started with what worked so well in the first half, a pass inside to Baynes for a layup. Cowgill added a jumper, and Low got on the board with his first three of the night. That caused Randy Peele to call timeout.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 08:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - We're all tied up at 29 at the half in Denver.

Taj McCullough had a monster half with 15 points on 7-14 shooting. Chris Gaynor had three long balls to give him 9. The rest of the team had four.

For Wazzu, it was all Kyle Weaver with 12 and Aron Baynes with 10. Derrick Low is lying low. He missed all five of his first half shots.

We are being entertained by the WSU dance team at halftime. As dance teams go, it's pretty small. There are only six girls. Maybe it's not the entire team.

Winthrop's dance team went out after that, and they have something I've never seen - a guy.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - This game has been dominated by three guys so far. Washington St has 10 points from Kyle Weaver and eight from Aron Baynes, mostly on dunks. Winthrop is being carried by Taj McCullough with 10 as well. WSU leads at the last timeout of the half 23-21.

I apologize for any errors in the previous paragraph. The Washington St cheerleaders just went flying past.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 07:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - We have our first "Airball!" chant of the day. Kyle Weaver of WSU just missed everything right before the timeout.

Taj Mccullough has six points to pace the Eagles to a 10-8 lead at the second timeout.

Supposedly, Dick Bennett, former Wisconsin coach and father of WSU coach Tony, is in the house, but we haven't found him yet.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 07:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - There hasn't been much scoring so far. Washington St is up 4-2 at the first timeout.

Cougar fans jumped out of their seats early when the team forced a shot clock violation. It's been tough going for both teams trying to get good looks at the basket.

The Eagle mascot is pretty limber and active for a guy in a big wool costume with a fiberglass head.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 07:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - We have half the crowd that we had for the morning sessions, although ND fans may not be here yet. Those that are hear are fired up for this game, especially the group of Winthrop backers behind me, which has already caught the attention of the CBS cameraman in front of me.

Our refs for tonight are Jeff Clark, Randy Heimerman and TV himself, Teddy Valentine.

The Eagle mascot wears a jersey with the name "Big Stuff"

The Cougar mascot has no name on his jersey, but neither does the players for WSU.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 07:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DENVER, Colo. - The game is still half an hour away, but the starting lineups are out for our first game tonight between Winthrop, the Big South champion, and Washington St of the Pac 10.

Winthrop starts three seniors, guards Chris Gaynor and Michael Jenkins, and forward Taj McCullough, along with sophomore forward Mantoris Robinson and freshman C Charles Corbin. The Eagles are coached by Randy Peele, who took over for Gregg Marshall, who left for Wichita St.

Wazzu starts three seniors as well, Robbie Cowgill (how much do you want to bet the kids in his neighborhood called him "cowgirl"), forward Kyle Weaver, and guard Derrick Low, from Hawai'i. The other starters are juniors Taylor Rochestie at guard and C Aron Baynes.

As Winthrop took the floor to warm up, the smattering of Eagle fans behind me gave them a rousing cheer. Washington St has twice as many fans here as Winthrop does at the moment, which, by my math, makes it two smatterings. The building is virtually empty 30 minutes before the tip.

The Winthrop band is here and playing. They are sporting basketball jerseys over white t-shirts, and goofy maroon and yellow hats varying from court jester types to cat-in-the-hat top hats.

Washington State's band has yet to make an appearance, although I assume they will because they do the National Anthem.

Posted by Jerry Palm at 06:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stop me if you've heard this one before -- the internet connection is down at the NCAA tournament site in Denver.

Last year St Louis had significant internet connectivity issues as well.

Then, on top of that, I had trouble connecting back in my hotel room, although you can tell by the fact that this is posted that I got that worked out. Not so sure about the arena.

The Pepsi Center seems like a nice place although its a bit strange to be drinking Coke here. Coke is one of the corporate partners of the NCAA. I wonder if they will give the building another name for the duration of our stay.

Here is a little preview of what we will see here tomorrow.

Continue reading "NCAA Tournament Preview: Denver" »

Posted by Jerry Palm at 09:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- Missouri State basketball coach Barry Hinson gave himself more than enough reason to light up his team during future halftimes.

After watching Winthrop guard Michael Jenkins thrash the Bears' defense for 18 first-half points, Hinson let it rip.

"I'm not even Catholic and I'm gonna have to go to confession for some of the things I said," Hinson said.

Continue reading "Catholics, Comebacks and a MSU Win" »

Posted by Ian Guerin at 04:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- Quite a turnaround -- not to mention confidence booster -- for Missouri State.

The Bears erased a double-digit lead in the final minutes of their game at Winthrop before eventually going on to win, 73-69. MSU trailed by 16 at half, and a combination of turning points in the second period led to the victory.

More to come.

Posted by Ian Guerin at 04:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- Missouri State forward Dex Manswell's three-pointer with 5:25 left in the game just made this game a bit more interesting.

Following a Winthrop missed shot (and a missed opportunity for an offensive rebound), Manswell took an open pass on the wing and drilled the three.

Following a Spencer Laurie three-pointer, Missouri State leads, 61-60.

Posted by Ian Guerin at 04:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- Courtesy of MSU center Drew Richards' layup and an accompanying free throw, the Bears are down 60-51 with 7:31 left in the game at Winthrop Coliseum.

Missouri State, trailing by 20 points during the first half, have relied on Richards and Deven Mitchell's activity inside while getting solid ball-handing from guards Spencer and Shane Laurie and Justin Fuehrmeyer.

Posted by Ian Guerin at 03:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- Missouri State is doing what it can to get back into the game.

Down 16 points at half, the Bears have started the second period on a 12-3 run to slim the Eagles' advantage to 48-40 after MSU guard Shane Laurie's three-pointer with just under 16 minutes to play.

Posted by Ian Guerin at 03:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- If Winthrop was picked to finish second in the Big South this season, opposing conference teams may want to watch out for High Point.

Winthrop is looking like an awfully solid second-place team right now, taking it to Missouri State 45-29 at the Winthrop Coliseum in a rematch of last year's ESPN Bracket Buster matchup.

So far, Eagle guard Michael Jenkins is leading the charge with 18 points on 5-of-6 shooting (2-of-2 from 3-point range). He also has five rebounds and two assists. Teammate Taj McCollough has added 11 points and three rebounds, and senior Antwon Harris has eight points.

For the Bears, they've had little outside of forward Deven Mitchell. The 6-foot-5 senior has 10 points, four of which came from the free-throw line. Junior guard Shane Laurie has six points and forward Chris Cooks has five.

Missouri State's going to need much more than that if it's going to get back into the game.

Posted by Ian Guerin at 03:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- Missouri State center Drew Richards probably isn't going to be teaching free-throw classes any time soon.

Richards managed to do something at least a couple reporters on press row can't ever remember seeing -- successfully banking consecutive free throws.

It's been one of the few bright spots for the Bears, who trail Winthrop, 43-24, with 2:01 left in the first half.

Posted by Ian Guerin at 02:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- Randy Peele doesn't need to explain his lime green tie.

Not yet anyway.

In a sea of garnet and gold (even if most of the garnet is empty seats at Winthrop Coliseum), the first-year Eagle coach's neckwear stands out to anyone with any sort of peripheral vision. Maybe it's just his lucky charm.

Peele and his Winthrop team are up 29-13 on Missouri State with 7:28 left in the first half.

Posted by Ian Guerin at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- In a game that has started somewhat sloppy for both Missouri State and Winthrop, Eagles senior Michael Jenkins is giving fans some good basketball to watch.

Jenkins, a 6-foot-3 guard, has scored nine points through the first eight minutes, pushing Winthrop out to a 16-5 lead. Missouri State has gotten four of its points from senior forward Deven Mitchell. The Bears have also not helped themselves by hitting just 1-of-6 shots attempts and adding five early turnovers.

Posted by Ian Guerin at 02:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- Maybe it's the fact that the majority of the Winthrop student population hasn't returned to campus after Thanksgiving break.

Maybe they simply forgot how hyped this matchup was last February.

For whatever reason, today's Winthrop-Missouri State game is going to be played in what is about a 50-percent full Winthrop Colliseum.

Posted by Ian Guerin at 02:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- While Winthrop and Missouri State have played just four games each, both teams come into today's game with a small web of opponents.

The Bears defeated UNC-Greensboro (Winthrop coach Randy Peele's old squad, by the way). UNC-Greensboro defeated Georgia Tech before Winthrop then defeated the Yellow Jackets.

About one hour until tip-off.

Posted by Ian Guerin at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- The rematch of last year's ESPN Bracket Buster game between Missouri State and Winthrop begins in about 90 minutes.

That game helped propel the Eagles up the national mid-major food chain, as well as add an increased confidence that certainly helped toward a stretch run resulting in an "upset" of Notre Dame in the NCAA tournament.

According to Winthrop's sports information department, only two injuries to note. All-Big South guard Chris Gaynor took it easy in practice upon the team's return from the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands last week. Gaynor was suffering from a sore thumb but isn't expected to show any effects today. The same can not be said for reserve center Andy Buechert, who in dealing with an Achilles injury.

Posted by Ian Guerin at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)