Charleston Hits the Road to Face Towson Thursday Night

Thursday, January 20

Towson, MD

7 PM

College of Charleston

Towson

Charleston Hits the Road to Face Towson Thursday Night

1/19/2022 6:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Tip-off in Baltimore is slated for 7 p.m. ET on FloSports

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Charleston travels to Towson on Thursday night to take on the Tigers, who are off to a 4-1 start in league play. The Cougars' road test in Baltimore tips off at 7 p.m. ET on FloSports.

STORYLINES

Charleston Basketball heads back on the road to face one of the CAA's leaders in Towson. The Tigers are CofC's second straight opponent to enter the game riding a four-game win streak.
Charleston and Towson meet for the 21st time in their program histories. The Cougars have won six consecutive games in the series with Towson and eight of the last nine matchups. CofC has won both of the last two road meetings at Towson by at least nine points.
After a dropping its last game vs. UNCW, the Cougars will look to bounce back quickly yet again. Charleston is 4-1 this season in its next game following a loss. CofC did so in its last CAA victory, beating Elon after falling to Delaware. Pat Kelsey-coached teams have lost two straight games just once since Feb. 10 and Feb. 13, 2020, and both of those came against Power 5 squads UNC and Oklahoma State earlier this season.
CofC already has three road wins this season entering Thursday's tilt with Towson (at ODU, Chattanooga and Tulane). A win Thursday would give CofC two wins over Top-100 KenPom teams this season and three in the Top-135.
CofC has played in six straight games decided by single digits, going 3-3 in that stretch.
Senior John Meeks poured in a season-high 27 points in the loss to UNCW, the most points scored by a Cougar this season. He's scored in double figures in his last five game appearances, averaging 17.6 PPG on 55.9 percent shooting in that span.
Kelsey is just five victories shy of the 200-career win mark. He is now 111-46 league record in league play as a head coach, averaging an impressive 12.2 league wins per year over nine seasons. Over his last 40 games as a head coach, Kelsey is 32-8.
Thursday pits the two best rebounding teams in the CAA against one another. The Cougars have outrebounded 12 of 15 opponents this season. Towson is snagging 12 offensive boards per game and Charleston is snatching nearly 14, which is tied for eighth nationally. Towson has outrebounded seven of its last eight opponents.
After a pair of down-scoring games, Reyne Smith bounced back with five triples en route to 17 points vs. UNCW. He ranks second in the CAA in 3s made per game. Charleston has won seven of the CAA's 10 CAA Rookie of the Week awards this season, with Smith accounting for four.

REBOUNDING STILL A STAPLE FOR THE COUGARS

Despite the loss on Thursday, CofC outrebounded UNCW by one, 36-35, marking the eighth opponent in the past nine games to get outpaced by the Cougars on the glass. Charleston has been a stellar rebounding team this season, grabbing a CAA-high 40.8 boards per game. CofC is +86 on the glass through 15 games, going 9-3 when outrebounding opponents. Only North Carolina outrebounded the Cougars by double digits during noncon play.
The Cougars currently rank 14th nationally in total rebounds per game and eighth nationally in offensive rebounds per game (14.07).
CofC has now grabbed 9+ offensive boards in all 15 contests thus far this season after matching its season-high with 19 in the road win at Old Dominion and snatching 11 vs. Elon. The Cougars racked up a game-defining 22 second-chance points against the Monarchs.
The relentless rebounding has been a team effort as 10 Cougars are averaging at least 2.4 boards per game.
Charleston ranks third in the CAA in defensive rebound percentage (.754) after posting a defensive rebound percentage of 92 percent vs. Tulane. CofC has held two teams to three or fewer offensive boards in a game this season (Tulane and Lipscomb) after doing so just 17 total times over the last decade. Old Dominion managed to grab just six offensive rebounds total on Dec. 22.
Leading the rebounding charge of late has been senior center Osinachi Smart. When Smart snags at least five boards this season, CofC is 6-2.

UP NEXT

Charleston plays its second road game in three days when the Cougars face James Madison in Harrisonburg on Saturday.
Saturday's tilt at JMU will tip off at 4 p.m. ET on FloSports.