As Texas State (9-8, 2-4 Sun Belt) and Coastal Carolina (10-7, 3-3) exited the Strahan Arena floor Thursday night following the Bobcats’ 78-66 win, Chanticleers head coach Cliff Ellis approached Danny Kaspar to congratulate him.
“(Ellis) just came to me and said ‘You got me,’” the Texas State head coach said. “‘I never prepared for the zone.’”
The maroon and gold jumped out to a 17-8 lead by the 12:19 mark in the first half but saw it crumble in less than three minutes. The visitors homed in on the basket from outside the arc, shooting 8-13 on 3-pointers by halftime.
The hot shooting resulted in a 20-point swing. Texas State went back to the locker room trailing 43-34.
“I probably got as angry at my guys as I've gotten in a long, long time at halftime,” Kaspar said. “You know, I try to talk to them like men. But tonight I talked to them like a drill sergeant at halftime.”
“Before he came in, (senior guard) Nijal was on us tough, you know, because he's a winner,” sophomore guard Caleb Asberry said. “And I just feel like us talking together as a team kind of pushed us to do better.”
Kaspar instructed his team to run a 3-2 zone on defense in the second half to limit Coastal Carolina’s deep range looks but also to help his point guards. Sophomore Mason Harrell and redshirt junior Marlin Davis were both in foul trouble with two each. Kaspar moved them to the right side of the zone, with Pearson at the top, hoping the pair of guards wouldn’t guard the ball as often.
Harrell fouled out with 11:14 remaining, but the plan was working. The Chanticleers had only taken two treys during the stretch, missing both of them, and weren't finding much success inside.
Kaspar also wasn’t worried about losing Davis anymore, who checked in for Harrell with four fouls. The Bobcats didn’t necessarily need a point guard to run the offense. Pearson was carrying the team, obliterating the visitors’ box-and-one defense for 27 points, moving up to No. 2 on the program’s all-time scoring list and cutting the score to 54-50.
“Our guys played the zone with energy and they played on both ends of the court with energy,” Kaspar said. “And that's the thing we've been really talking to our players about, ‘You're not playing with enough zeal and effort to win, to beat really good teams.’”
CCU missed another nine 3-pointers to end the half, failing to make any of their 11 total attempts. Pearson made one more jumper to end the night with 29 points. Texas State surged back in front with offensive outbursts from Asberry, Davis and Small, who each finished with 14 points, to win the game, 78-66.
Davis never picked up his fifth foul. Small posted his first career double-double with 10 rebounds.
“Rebounding, I'm big on it. But it's like, the coaches always want me to get rebounds. Even at practice, like every day, like 'Get rebounds, get offensive rebounds, get offensive rebounds!' But it's like today, I actually had a double-double. That's my first time getting a double-double. But honestly, I was pissed off, so it's like 'Aight, let me get these rebounds so they can get off my back now.' I had to go get up.”
The Bobcats will host Appalachian State (9-8, 3-3) on Saturday at 4 p.m. Kaspar said he hadn’t scouted the Mountaineers much but was looking forward to it after Thursday’s victory.
“They have a great shooter, (junior guard Justin Forrest). This new coach (Dustin Kerns) came over, he's a very good basketball coach. And the previous coach left him some good players,” Kaspar said. And so, you know, they're a good basketball team … We're expecting a hard-fought game.”
