Kansas City
South Carolina-Upstate
Spartans Defense Shuts Down 'Roos in Final Non-Con, 61-49
1/6/2015 10:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball
(Kansas City, Mo.) - The UMKC men's basketball squad played its toughest defensive opponent yet on Tuesday night in the final non-conference game of the season, and was held to a season-low 49 points, despite a good defensive effort of its own in a 61-49 loss to USC-Upstate.
“They did a great job, they had active hands on defense, more so in the half court,” Head Coach Kareem Richardson said. “Definitely when you don't give yourself an opportunity to score the basketball, that really hurts. The bottom line is offensively the turnovers really hurt us. We made enough shots to stay close, but couldn't overcome the turnovers.”
The 'Roos (5-12) committed 24 turnovers in the game, matching a season-high. USC-Upstate (12-4) ranked sixth in the nation in steals coming in (10.5 spg), and nabbed 12 of them in the game. UMKC really got after the Spartans on the defensive end, holding them to only 42 percent shooting, but could only shoot 38 percent itself, and came up short.
The opening half was back and forth with five ties and four lead changes, but after Martez Harrison went down with an injury for the final three minutes, the Spartans took advantage and went into the break leading 29-27. The 'Roos actually out-shot the USCU in the period, hitting 45 percent compared to 37 percent for the guests. The difference was turnovers though, with UMKC committing 12 and USC-Upstate turning those into 11 points, while the Spartans had only five turnovers. Frank Williams led the UMKC attack with 12 points in the half.
The second period remained tight until the final six minutes when the Spartans turned a five-point advantage into a 12-point lead by the 3:35 mark. Harrison returned for the final stanza, but USCU again took advantage of the injury plagued 'Roos tired legs, with Thaddeus Smith going down with 10 minutes to play and not returning. UMKC was already shorthanded before the game, with Noah Knight and Shayok Shayok remaining out due to injuries.
That forced UMKC to use freshman Ramon Rivas for extended periods of time in his first collegiate game. He responded well though, and scored eight points in 19 minutes.
The 'Roos were only able to score 10 points in the paint the whole night, while USCU had 28 points inside. The Spartans also finished with 20 points off turnovers compared to 12 for UMKC.
Williams led the way with 15 points for the 'Roos, while Harrison tallied 14 in the game. Reese Holliday helped the 'Roos compete on the glass, and finished with nine boards.
UMKC will now head to conference action on Saturday against defending WAC Tournament champion and preseason No. 1 pick New Mexico State.
“We got a lot of experience under our belt, in terms of different styles of play that we went against in the non-conference,” Richardson said. “We just have to get back to the drawing board and look at what we have and how we want to approach conference play.”
The NMSU contest will be televised on KSMO in Kansas City on Saturday at 8 p.m. from Las Cruces, N.M.
