Hoops - Jackets Beat Charlotte

So the Jackets are now 1-0 in true road games........................ 1-0 in neutral sites..................... and 0-1 at home............. Go figure.

Jackets beat Charlotte in a tight game throughout by a final of 82-77. Tech never led by more than 6 and was only up by two with 2 minutes left. Some key take-aways from this game:

• De'Andre Bell played PG for most of the 2nd half with Mo Miller nursing a back injury sustained in practice. Turns out Bell looked half-way decent in that role. He certainly hit a couple of key shots down the stretch as well as some key free throws. He ended the game with 12 points and a team high 8 boards. If Bell has a breakthrough year that would be quite a pleasant surprise. While I do not see him logging many minutes at PG with a healthy Causey and Miller available, it is nice to have him as a defensive stopper who can pop an occasional shot and feel comfortable running the team.
• Anthony Morrow continues his hot offensive output, leading the team again with 19 points. It would certainly be fantastic to see him have a breakthrough season as well. I have always like A-Mo in terms of his attitude. It appears that he has made a step change in his defensive play and his sharp-shooting looks to be............ well......... sharp
• So how does a team shoot 52% overall, 50% from long range, 71.4% FT, and hold their opponent to 37.3% overall, 39% from long range and 61% FT yet only win the game by 5 points? Well, Charlotte ended up with 9 more shots that Tech. How? Well, first Tech turned the ball over 4 more times than the 49ers. Also, Tech was outrebounded by 1 board. More importantly, Charlotte had 7 more offensive rebounds than Tech. Charlotte ended up with a lot more 2nd chance points and a lot more points-off-turnovers. In addition, Charlotte hoisted up 18 more 3-pt shots and made 6 more than Tech. So there you have it. We gave the opponent more possesions ending in a shot. We allowed them to grab their misses more often and hoist it up again, and they also had more 3pt shots......... Voila, tight game.
• You know, with all the bodies Coach Hewitt has to plug in, it's easy to remember that we are missing Ra'Sean Dickey, Zach Peacock and Mo Miller. That's a lot of important players. What it means is that Causey, Sheehan, Lawal and Bell better get their minutes now and make the most of them.
• Next game should be Sunday at about 6:00pm on Fox Sports South. Watch it folks!!!!