Now 35 games into the 2016-17 season, the Coastal Carolina men?s basketball team hopes it has three more wins in its reserve tank to capture a championship.
With the Chanticleers? 72-63 come-from-behind win over Loyola University Maryland on Monday night, CCU has reached the semifinal round of the College Basketball Invitational and will host Illinois-Chicago at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the HTC Center.
The Chants (18-17) fell behind Loyola (16-17) of the Patriot League 18-2 before battling back to trail by two at halftime, take a lead early in the second half and pull away in the final minutes.
?I think this time of year your players start wearing down and I think the physical part of the game becomes the most important part of the game,? CCU coach Cliff Ellis said. ?How do you rebound, how do you dig in when you go to the rack because of your legs? It has been a long year.?
The 16-point comeback matched CCU?s largest of the season against South Alabama. ?This group is a gutty group, they?re determined and they want to win. They?re hungry,? Ellis said.
Coastal outrebounded Loyola 45-38 and outscored the Greyhounds 44-18 in the paint and 17-11 in second-chance points.
?The physical part of the game we did a great job. We got to the rack strong, we rebounded strong, our bench was strong,? Ellis said. ?It was a gut-out win. I?m glad to get it and I think that?s what we?ve got to do the rest of the way is just find ways to win.
?Every game gets tougher and this is a quick turnaround. The thing we have to do is just gut everything out.?
The Chants had hoped to have senior point guard Shivaughn Wiggins available for Monday?s win and the remainder of the tournament after he practiced over the weekend, but a knee injury did not respond well and will likely sideline Wiggins for the rest of the season.
In his absence, junior guard Jaylen Shaw of Hartsville has filled in at the point and has led the Chants in scoring in each of the two CBI wins with 22 points in each game. Shaw, who transferred to CCU after a year at South Carolina, has also added 13 rebounds, seven assists and five steals in the two games.
?He?s doing whatever it takes for us to win,? Ellis said.
Freshman 6-4 guard Artur Labinowicz has started the two tournament games after starting just one previous game and has contributed 23 points. ?I think our freshman are coming in and giving us good minutes,? Ellis said. ?I think Art?s presence allows us some athleticism, some rebounding and some defense.?
Illinois-Chicago (17-18), which finished sixth in the Horizon League at 7-11, defeated George Washington 80-71 at home Monday night after a two-point win over visiting Stony Brook in the first round of the CBI.
The Flames will be among the tallest teams the Chants have faced this season with seven players 6-foot-7 or taller including 6-9 Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year Tai Odiase, who led the league and was fourth in the nation with 102 blocked shots. Odiase also leads the team in scoring (11.4) and rebounding (7.0) while shooting over 58 percent from the field.
Freshman 6-4 guard Tarkus Ferguson was named the Horizon?s Rookie of the Year after averaging 10.7 points and a league-high 4.9 assists per game, and guards Dominique Matthews and Marcus Ottey also average double digits scoring as the Flames average 76 points a game.
UIC has improved from a five-win season in 2015-16.
Coastal will try to avoid a repeat of last season. The Chants? 2015-16 season came to an end at home against California-Irvine in the semifinals of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
?We?re very fortunate to even be in this position we?re in now because I know we didn?t have the season we wanted to have,? said senior guard Elijah Wilson, who has scored 1,840 career points at CCU. ?We?re really thankful we were able to play in this postseason tournament so we?re trying to make the most out of it each and every game.?
Wednesday?s winner will face the winner of the other CBI semifinal featuring Utah Valley and Wyoming. The finals will be a three-game series broadcast on ESPNU, with one team hosting two games, if needed.
Host teams pay CBI organizers and CCU director of athletics Matt Hogue said after paying a guarantee of at least $40,000 in each of the first two rounds, CBI organizers will take ticket sales minus sales taxes for the remaining rounds.
That allows CCU to possibly turn a profit through sponsorships, concessions and any television revenue.
?Without a set guarantee the financials are more advantageous,? Hogue said. ?But I would stress the branding and exposure for our program, school and region is the overriding value.?
With the Chanticleers? 72-63 come-from-behind win over Loyola University Maryland on Monday night, CCU has reached the semifinal round of the College Basketball Invitational and will host Illinois-Chicago at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the HTC Center.
The Chants (18-17) fell behind Loyola (16-17) of the Patriot League 18-2 before battling back to trail by two at halftime, take a lead early in the second half and pull away in the final minutes.
?I think this time of year your players start wearing down and I think the physical part of the game becomes the most important part of the game,? CCU coach Cliff Ellis said. ?How do you rebound, how do you dig in when you go to the rack because of your legs? It has been a long year.?
The 16-point comeback matched CCU?s largest of the season against South Alabama. ?This group is a gutty group, they?re determined and they want to win. They?re hungry,? Ellis said.
Coastal outrebounded Loyola 45-38 and outscored the Greyhounds 44-18 in the paint and 17-11 in second-chance points.
?The physical part of the game we did a great job. We got to the rack strong, we rebounded strong, our bench was strong,? Ellis said. ?It was a gut-out win. I?m glad to get it and I think that?s what we?ve got to do the rest of the way is just find ways to win.
?Every game gets tougher and this is a quick turnaround. The thing we have to do is just gut everything out.?
The Chants had hoped to have senior point guard Shivaughn Wiggins available for Monday?s win and the remainder of the tournament after he practiced over the weekend, but a knee injury did not respond well and will likely sideline Wiggins for the rest of the season.
In his absence, junior guard Jaylen Shaw of Hartsville has filled in at the point and has led the Chants in scoring in each of the two CBI wins with 22 points in each game. Shaw, who transferred to CCU after a year at South Carolina, has also added 13 rebounds, seven assists and five steals in the two games.
?He?s doing whatever it takes for us to win,? Ellis said.
Freshman 6-4 guard Artur Labinowicz has started the two tournament games after starting just one previous game and has contributed 23 points. ?I think our freshman are coming in and giving us good minutes,? Ellis said. ?I think Art?s presence allows us some athleticism, some rebounding and some defense.?
Illinois-Chicago (17-18), which finished sixth in the Horizon League at 7-11, defeated George Washington 80-71 at home Monday night after a two-point win over visiting Stony Brook in the first round of the CBI.
The Flames will be among the tallest teams the Chants have faced this season with seven players 6-foot-7 or taller including 6-9 Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year Tai Odiase, who led the league and was fourth in the nation with 102 blocked shots. Odiase also leads the team in scoring (11.4) and rebounding (7.0) while shooting over 58 percent from the field.
Freshman 6-4 guard Tarkus Ferguson was named the Horizon?s Rookie of the Year after averaging 10.7 points and a league-high 4.9 assists per game, and guards Dominique Matthews and Marcus Ottey also average double digits scoring as the Flames average 76 points a game.
UIC has improved from a five-win season in 2015-16.
Coastal will try to avoid a repeat of last season. The Chants? 2015-16 season came to an end at home against California-Irvine in the semifinals of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
?We?re very fortunate to even be in this position we?re in now because I know we didn?t have the season we wanted to have,? said senior guard Elijah Wilson, who has scored 1,840 career points at CCU. ?We?re really thankful we were able to play in this postseason tournament so we?re trying to make the most out of it each and every game.?
Wednesday?s winner will face the winner of the other CBI semifinal featuring Utah Valley and Wyoming. The finals will be a three-game series broadcast on ESPNU, with one team hosting two games, if needed.
Host teams pay CBI organizers and CCU director of athletics Matt Hogue said after paying a guarantee of at least $40,000 in each of the first two rounds, CBI organizers will take ticket sales minus sales taxes for the remaining rounds.
That allows CCU to possibly turn a profit through sponsorships, concessions and any television revenue.
?Without a set guarantee the financials are more advantageous,? Hogue said. ?But I would stress the branding and exposure for our program, school and region is the overriding value.?
