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CAA Tournament Final - Stony Brook (20-14) vs. Charleston (26-7)
Nuts & Bolts
Date: March 12, 2024
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Entertainment and Sports Arena - Washington, D.C.
How to Watch: CBS Sports Network
Matchup History: Charleston leads all-time series 6-0
Last Meeting: Charleston def. Towson 93-87 on 1/6/24
Betting Lines: Via DraftKings
Spread: Charleston -9.5
Over/Under: 153.5
Prediction: Charleston 68, Stony Brook 63
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Head Coach: Geno Ford (6th season, 76-77 record at Stony Brook)
Record: 20-14 (10-8, 7th in CAA)
Last Time Out: Won vs. Hofstra 63-59 on 3/11/24 in CAA Tournament semifinals
Player to Watch: Tyler Stephenson-Moore
For just the second time in its history, Stony Brook will play for a conference tournament championship.
The Seawolves finished 7th in this year’s CAA regular season with a 10-8 record, never winning more than two straight games during the CAA slate.
That is, of course, until they got to D.C. for the conference tournament.
Geno Ford’s Seawolves have ripped off three wins in three days to get to this point, beating Northeastern 75-65, 2-seed Drexel in 2OT 91-88, and the 3-seed Hofstra 63-59 on Monday night.
Stony Brook caught the Pride on a rough shooting night as Hofstra shot just 35% from the field, which isn’t much better than the Seawolves’ performance of 38%.
SBU was led by Tyler Stephenson-Moore and big man Chris Maidoh, who combined to score 36 of Stony Brook’s 63 points, including 23 from Stephenson-Moore to go along with his 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks.
Hofstra’s star, Tyler Thomas, poured in 32 of his team’s 59 points, and never exited the game, but it still wasn’t enough.
Now, Stony Brook will look to get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016, when it was in the America East Conference and current Rutgers coach, Steve Pikiell, was at the helm for the Seawolves.
Standing between them and a tournament bid is the top-seeded Charleston Cougars, a team that Stony Brook has never beaten in its history (0-6).
In fact, only one of those six losses to Charleston was by single-digits, this year’s meeting back on January 6, a 93-87 victory for the Cougars.
In the three meetings between the two since Stony Brook joined the CAA, Charleston’s average margin of victory is 23 PPG.
In the regular season, the Seawolves lost to Drexel and was swept by Hofstra, the two teams it took out in the quarterfinal and semifinal to get to this point.
Does Stony Brook’s revenge tour have one more victim to claim? Or is the clock about to strike midnight on their Cinderella run?
Head Coach: Pat Kelsey (3rd season, 74-26 record at Charleston)
Record: 26-7 (15-3, 1st in CAA)
Last Time Out: Won vs. Towson 61-56 on 3/11/24 in CAA Tournament semifinals
Player to Watch: Ante Brzovic
Charleston survived a massive scare in the CAA quarterfinal win over Towson to extend its winning streak to 11 games, the nation’s second-best mark, and advance to the CAA Championship Game.
The Cougars trailed 55-47 with just over three minutes to go, and went the final 4:12 of the game without allowing a made field goal.
Charleston was led by Reyne Smith, who poured in 16 points. Bryce Butler picked up the slack off the bench for the Cougars with 13 points, the most he’s scored since a January 25 win over Hampton.
It was an uncharacteristic and low-scoring game for the Cougars, yet they still pulled out the win. Charleston leads the CAA in scoring with over 81 PPG, and was fresh off an 83-59 victory in Sunday’s quarterfinal against Monmouth.
Monday’s win could not have been more different, but it’s perhaps more important for a prolific scoring team to also be able to grind out a victory when you don’t play your best with the season on the line.
The gutsy comeback win sets up a date with 7-seeded Stony Brook in Tuesday’s CAA Championship Game.
For the Cougars and Head Coach Pat Kelsey, they’ll look to make it back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances with a win on Tuesday night, advancing to consecutive NCAA Tournament’s for the first time since 1998-99.
Last season, Charleston ended Stony Brook’s season in the CAA tournament quarterfinals; it wasn’t close.
Will Charleston end the Seawolves’ season once again?
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