POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Freshman Adjehi Baru (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) registered his first career double-double and sophomore Trent Wiedeman (Suwanee, Ga.) grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds as College of Charleston showed a great defensive effort and stunned Elon, 63-44, in Southern Conference action held Saturday night at TD Arena.
With the win, CofC improved to 12-5 on the season and 4-2 in SoCon play, while Elon fell to 8-8 and 3-2.
Baru played the best game of his career as he set new highs in points (18), rebounds (12), steals (3) and blocks (3). The highly-touted freshman shot an efficient 6-of-11 from the field and an improved 6-of-9 from the charity stripe. Baru did not commit a foul nor turn the ball over in 28 minutes of play.
Wiedeman led the Cougars with 17 rebounds to go with 10 points for his fourth double-double of the season. He also made three blocks and three steals in the team's fourth-straight win in the series with the Phoenix.
Senior Antwaine Wiggins (Greeneville, Tenn.) joined Baru and Wiedeman in double figures as he scored 13 points while grabbing seven rebounds. Junior point guard Andrew Lawrence (London, England) scored eight points and dished out seven assists while only committing three turnovers.
Playing in their first game without the services of freshman guard Anthony Stitt (Charlotte, N.C.), who injured his left hand on Thursday night in a loss to UNCG, the Cougars stepped up the defensive intensity by holding Elon to an opponent season-low 16-of-67 shooting (23.9 percent) from the floor. No Phoenix player scored in double figures as Ryley Beaumont, Jack Isenbarger and Ryan Winters only managed a team-high six points.
CofC held a significant edge in the rebounding battle by outboarding Elon, 55-39. The last time the Cougars grabbed 50-or-more rebounds in a single game was a road win at Davidson, led by former star Stephen Curry, in February of 2009.
Sophomore Nori Johnson (Greer, S.C.) made his first career start in place of Stitt, scoring six points and tallying three rebounds in 22 minutes. Redshirt junior Matt Sundberg (Kennesaw, Ga.) tallied five rebounds and three points, while sophomore guard Jordan Scott (Darlington, S.C.) contributed three points. Freshman Trevonté Dixon (Florence, S.C.) saw a season-high seven minutes of action, while freshman Pat Branin (Richmond, Va.) made his first career shot at the 1:02 minute mark off the dish by Johnson.
The Cougars never trailed in the game as Baru scored seven of the team's first nine points of the contest. CofC's largest first half lead came at the 6:58 minute mark when Wiggins converted an offensive putback to make the margin, 22-7.
Free throws from Elon's Kevin Blake capped a 10-3 Phoenix run to make the score 25-17 with 1:01 left in the half, but Lawrence responded with his only three of the game and the Cougars led 29-19 at halftime.
CofC went on an 11-2 run in the early stages of the second half to build a 20-point lead at 14:54, capped by a steal from Lawrence and a three-pointer by Sundberg. Elon was unable to pull closer than 16 points.
The Cougars will return to action next Thursday, Jan. 19, as they travel to undefeated SoCon South Division favorite Davidson (12-4, 6-0) at 7 p.m. (ET) in Davidson, N.C. The game will be televised by the Charleston Sports Network and carried nationally on ESPN3.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the first time this season, CofC used the starting lineup of junior Andrew Lawrence, sophomore Nori Johnson, senior Antwaine Wiggins, sophomore Trent Wiedeman and freshman Adjehi Baru (1-0). It marked Johnson's first career start after freshman Anthony Stitt injured his left non-shooting hand against UNCG on Jan. 12 and will be out for six weeks.
• With the win, the Cougars extend their win streak in the all-time series with Elon to four-straight and are now 11-4 all-time against the Phoenix.
• Adjehi Baru reset career-highs in points (18), rebounds (12), blocks (3) and steals (3) against Elon. It marked his first career double-double and second time this season to lead the team in scoring.
• The CofC zone defense held Elon to an opponent season-low 19 first-half points and 18.2 percent shooting from the floor in the first half of play. For the game, the Cougars limited them to an opponent season-low 23.9 percent shooting (16-of-67) from the field and 13.6 percent (3-of-22) from beyond the arc. CofC also held Elon to 44 total points in the ballgame, the second-lowest by an opponent this season behind 43 at Furman on Jan. 7.
• Trent Wiedeman turned in his eighth career double-double and fourth of the season with 10 points and a career-high 17 rebounds versus Elon. It marked his ninth time this year to lead the team in rebounding.
• The Cougars brought down a season-high 55 rebounds against Elon. The last time CofC grabbed 50-or-more rebounds in a single game was 51 in a win at Davidson on Feb. 7, 2009. They outrebounded Elon by +16, their highest rebounding margin of the season behind +12 against Charleston Southern on Dec. 17.
• CofC also made a season-high tying 10 blocked shots in the game, its best tally in SoCon play.
• Freshman reserve guard Pat Branin scored his first career points as a Cougar with a jumper off the dish from Johnson at the 1:02 minute mark of the second half.
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Bobby Cremins
On the game ...
"It was a little unexpected, because Elon has played some great basketball. I think (Elon Head Coach) Matt (Matheny) was a little disappointed his team didn't play better. Hopefully, we had something to do with that. We are a new team and it's like a new challenge for us, because we lost one of our key guys (in Anthony Stitt). We started Nori Johnson, who is a work in progress, but he plays hard. I thought Adjehi Baru had tremendous energy tonight. My associate head coach Mark Byington has been working with him and he is a great coach. Whenever my days are up, I hope Mark Byington can coach here, because he is an outstanding coach. I don't know why he (Baru) had so much energy tonight. It was unbelievable. His energy was at another level and his confidence was at another level. I'm really proud of him. Trent (Wiedeman) had 17 rebounds and Adjehi had a double-double. It was nice to see. We are like a new team, because of the situation. Hopefully, Anthony will come back before the SoCon Tournament. We are going to make some adjustments and depend on these kids to play basketball. Trent is only a sophomore and Adjehi is a freshman. These guys are the foundation of our future."
On the team's defensive effort ...
"I give Mark Byington all of the credit. He is our defensive coach and had them ready. (Assistant Coach) Andrew Wilson had the scout. They did a fantastic job of getting this team ready defensively. We just played great defense. We know Elon is better than that. They beat South Carolina and we know they are good. There was a lot of NFL games going on, but we had a great crowd tonight."
College of Charleston Sophomore Forward Trent Wiedeman
On the energy and Adjehi Baru's performance ...
"In the last couple of conference games we lost, we didn't have a lot of energy. We had to make it a point to do that today. We had to come out with high energy and we did in warm-ups. Everyone came out intense. Adjehi (Baru) did a great job coming out in the game and was grabbing every rebound tonight."
College of Charleston Freshman Forward Adjehi Baru
On his energy and first career double-double ...
"I just felt good and was just ready to compete - to play another game and to win again. I hate losing."
