After going a mere 17.9% from beyond the arc, the Delaware Blue Coats were unable to pick up the victory on their home court, falling to the winless Greensboro Swarm 118-113 on Friday, Jan. 6.
The Blue Coats struggled on the offensive side of the ball throughout the game. Along with missing virtually every three point attempt, going 7 for 39 from that range, they were outshot in field goals, shooting a 39.4% compared to the Swarm’s 46.5%.
“I actually just looked at the stat sheet and I don’t think nobody made shots today, I think all of us had a rough shooting night,” Blue Coats starter Julian Champagnie said. “Shots didn’t fall, they got into a quick start.”
Greensboro took advantage of the Blue Coats’ rough shooting night right away, going on an 11-0 run in the first quarter to give them an early 14-8 lead. While Delaware was able to make it a more even 27-25, they knew defensive improvements needed to be made.
“We just had to be more physical with them,” Blue Coats starter Michael Foster Jr. said. “They came out, punched us first, but in the second half we came out and punched them first.”
Despite the struggles, the Blue Coats kept the game in reach, never allowing the Swarm’s lead to go above eight points in the second half.
The fourth quarter was the tightest of the game, with the Blue Coats pulling within two points multiple times. However, this was also the quarter where they would commit 12 of their 23 total fouls and Greensboro capitalized, scoring 18 of their 28 points off free throws in the fourth.
“It definitely hurts us, especially when they’re shooting free throws, it’s rough,” Champagnie said. “But, what can we do about it? If we could control all foul calls, we would win every game, but we can’t and that’s ok.”
While fouls did hurt the Blue Coats chances of completing their comeback, it was the bad performance shooting-wise that affected the game the most. In fact, not one Blue Coat starter made more than nine baskets throughout the whole game.
“You have off shooting days, it happens,” Champagnie said. “Probably could have drove more, tomorrow we’ll come in, look at the film and see what we could have improved.”
This loss now gives the Blue Coats a record below .500 only five games into the regular season. But the fact it is so early in the season gives Champagnie confidence that they will be able to change the momentum.
“We’re only five games into the season, so obviously looking towards the future, I think we’ll be fine,” Champagnie said. “It’s game five, we’re 2-3, not 0-5, so it’s always better than that. So I think we’ll just come in and figure it out, keep practicing together, keep chipping away. We’ll have games and then we’ll have ones we pull out.”
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