College of Charleston
The Citadel
Wiedeman Powers Cougars To 83-64 SoCon Victory Over The Citadel
12/2/2011 4:09:00 AM | Men's Basketball
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO
CHARLESTON, S.C. - College of Charleston used a career-and game-high 22 points from sophomore big man Trent Wiedeman (Suwanee, Ga.) to take an 83-64 victory over The Citadel in both team's Southern Conference opener on Thursday night in front of a sell-out crowd of 5,101 at TD Arena.
The Cougars improved to 6-1, 1-0 on the season, while The Citadel fell to 2-4, 0-1. They have now won the last three-straight meetings in the crosstown rivalry series with the Bulldogs.
Wiedeman shot 11-of-16 from the field and corralled 10 rebounds for his sixth career double-double and second of the season. Senior Antwaine Wiggins (Greeneville, Tenn.) scored 20 points for the fourth time this year, while junior Andrew Lawrence (London, England) netted 14 points while dishing seven assists and pulling down five rebounds.
The Bulldogs were led by Mike Groselle who scored 20 points and pulled 19 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive glass. Three other Bulldogs scored in double figures as Barry Smith, C.J. Bray and Ashton Moore each contributed 10.
Both teams started the game on shooting droughts with only four combined field goals made in the first four minutes of the contest. The Bulldogs built their largest lead of the first half with a three-pointer from Moore to make it 13-9.
However, the Cougars quickly responded with two three-pointers from redshirt junior Matt Sundberg (Kennesaw, Ga.) off the bench and a jumper from Lawrence to take a 17-15 lead at the 12:06 minute mark. After trading buckets for several minutes, the Cougars went on an 8-2 run punctuated by a Lawrence-to-Wiggins finish on the fast break to lead, 34-27.
The Citadel went on a 6-0 run of its own, but CofC responded with a 7-0 run to finish the half leading 41-33, as Lawrence found Wiggins for a layup at the buzzer.
The Bulldogs never pulled closer than their halftime margin of eight points throughout the second half of play. CofC built its biggest lead of 21 with just under three minutes remaining in regulation.
The Cougars shot 51.4 percent in the second half and finished the game at 50 percent from the floor. For the game, the CofC defense forced The Citadel to commit an opponent season-high 21 turnovers and converted those into 22 points. The Cougars were especially effective in the paint, scoring 34 points on 30-of-46 shooting from inside the three-point arc.
CofC will continue its SoCon homestand with preseason North Division favorite Chattanooga (2-5, 0-1) on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 4 p.m. (ET) at TD Arena. The game will be televised live locally on FOX 24 Charleston and online on ESPN3.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the seventh consecutive game, CofC used the starting lineup of junior Andrew Lawrence, sophomore Jordan Scott, senior Antwaine Wiggins, sophomore Trent Wiedeman and freshman Adjehi Baru (6-1).
• CofC saw its 16th all-time sell-out crowd at TD Arena with 5,101 fans in attendance. The Cougars have now won their last 10-straight games on John Kresse Court since an 87-66 win over The Citadel on Jan. 15, 2011.
• With the win, the Cougars improve to 48-39 in the all-time crosstown rivalry series with The Citadel and have now won the last three-straight meetings between the two schools.
• Trent Wiedeman registered a career-high 22 points and 10 rebounds against the Bulldogs to mark his sixth career double-double.
• Antwaine Wiggins turned in his third consecutive 20-point outing with 20 versus The Citadel. He is now 63 points short of reaching 1,000 career points with 937 to date. It marked the second time this season to have two Cougar 20-point scorers in the same contest next to 23 points each from Wiggins and freshman Anthony Stitt against UMass in the Battle 4 Atlantis on Nov. 26.
• Andrew Lawrence, who is currently one of the nation's best ball handlers, recorded 14 points and dished out seven assists with three turnovers (2.33). He also made a career-best five steals against the Bulldogs.
• CofC made a season-low 10 turnovers in the ballgame, while The Citadel committed an opponent season-high 21 miscues on the court.
• For the fourth time this season, the Cougars shot 50 percent-or-better from the floor (50.0).
• The Cougar Sports Television Network officially debuted on the air with Voice of the Cougars Jeff McCarragher handling play-by-play duties and veteran broadcaster Nate Ross and legendary CofC head coach John Kresse providing color commentary on MyTV Charleston and ESPN3.
• Former CofC great and current Los Angeles Laker Andrew Goudelock joined play-by-play announcer Everett German as a guest color analyst for the Cougar Sports Radio Network.
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Bobby Cremins
On the game ...
"We are happy to get our first conference win at home. The Citadel came to play. We had a lot of difficulties (in the first half of play). We knew about (Mike) Groselle and knew he would be difficult to handle. We were in trouble and then we made a great run led by these two guys (Andrew Lawrence and Trent Wiedeman) and our bench, Matt Sundberg and Anthony Stitt. They did a great job and ignited us. We hung in there and made a great run right before the half. In the second half, they cut it to eight or 10 and we made some defensive plays. The score is no indication of the game. That was a tough game for us. (Citadel Head Coach) Chuck (Driesell) did a nice job with his team. Groselle is a handful. He is an all-conference player. I'm proud of our guys for hanging in there and fighting."
College of Charleston Sophomore Forward Trent Wiedeman
On his double-double performance ...
"One big thing was I was getting the ball inside. My teammates were doing a really good job of passing to me, Andrew (Lawrence) especially as well as Antwaine (Wiggins), Anthony Stitt and (Matt) Sundberg. Everyone was giving me the ball inside. That was huge and I was making shots tonight."
College of Charleston Junior Point Guard Andrew Lawrence
On the slow first half for the Cougars ...
"At the beginning, we just weren't making shots. We weren't ready to play right out of the gate. They (The Citadel) were pretty pumped up. They are a good team, so it was a combination of all those things."
Citadel Head Coach Chuck Driesell
On the loss ...
"You know, as hard as we played, they still shot 50 percent from the field. That just tells me again how good they are. That's a very good basketball team Bobby (Cremins) has right now. They have a lot of weapons. (Trent) Wiedeman looked like a pro tonight. We knew he was good, but he really played well tonight. That's not to take anything away from the other guys who played well. He really stood out. We didn't have an answer for them. We didn't shoot the ball well either. Forty percent from the field isn't going to win you too many basketball games."
