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Buies Creek, NC- As conference play begins across the country, leagues and their games are at their best thus far. Across the landscape of college basketball, there are not many leagues as strong and competitive as the CAA. On the opening night of league play, you had three road teams come out victorious, and four of the seven games were decided by ten or fewer points. Of all the games, there was arguably no better place to be than Buies Creek.
Drexel and Head Coach Zach Spiker are one of the most experienced programs in the CAA. This is the first season in three years that the Dragons are without the league's Defensive Player of the Year Amari Williams, who took his talents to Rupp Arena to play for Kentucky. As has been established, Coach Spiker has an eye for talent and always trots out a team that plays hard for 40 minutes. This year’s team is no different.
The Dragons had a sloppy first frame committing turnovers but the shots were not falling for the Camels to take advantage of those uncharacteristic mistakes by Drexel. The game's first basket wasn’t until the 17:46 mark of the first half. It was back and forth most of the way until the final frame of the first half. Drexel went on a run to close the half where they led by as many as 9 with 2:23 left in the half. They would eventually lead by 4 at half, 31-27. Drexel was led in scoring by Jason Drake with 9 points, while the Camel's lone bright spot was Jasin Sinani who had 8 points.
The second half was much of the same until Campbell tied it up with 8:17 remaining in the half. Colby Duggan continued his blistering scoring run in the last two games with a pair of field goals where he was fouled and would complete the first and one and miss the second. The game was capped off with a deep Jasin Sinani three-pointer to give the Camels the lead with 57 seconds remaining. After the game, Jasin was confident in his ability to make that shot stating:
"I think I can make any shot in the gym and trust my work ethic. Me and Luchi [Campbell Player Development Coach Luchiano Gomez-Joseph] were in the gym yesterday and we worked on that exact shot. I feel good about every shot I take and this one happened to go in and give us a lead. 1-0 from there." -Campbell Guard Jasin Sinani
Head Coach Kevin McGeehan said, "We trust Jasin to shoot every shot he can get. Big time shot by a big-time guy."
After the Camel’s sixteen-point loss at North Carolina, Head Coach Kevin McGeehan spoke about the team's consistency, specifically regarding responding to adversity and moving on to the next play, good or bad. They did that well to lose by a respectable margin in Chapel Hill and it is also what helped them win this game today. I followed up with Coach McGeehan regarding his team's ability to respond to adversity in games:
"Sometimes I need a bird in my head to tell me to move on quickly as well. That is definetly the motto [next play mentality]. We had a stretch there where we were sloppy and if you get down...it deflates the other guys and you're not going to be as good as you can be on the next possession. The next play mentality is good and bad. You can't get too high and you can't get too low. I think we did that." -Campbell Head Coach Kevin McGeehan
Kevin also credited the crowd for their intensity in the final moments: "When called upon, they were there and they were loud. It was like they were one of us. It was like the bench started wrapping around the arena... it's a huge advantage when we are like that." The crowd helped Campbell get a defensive stop and a missed free throw by Drexel's Yame Butler that would have tied the game at 55 with 12 seconds left. Before the final defensive possession for Campbell, Coach McGeehan motioned to the crowd to get loud and pumped the place up. It was a cool moment to see the fan base loud and proud to help the Camels fight to the end and start CAA play 1-0.
Drexel's next game is at North Carolina A&T on Saturday, January 4th, 2025 at 2 p.m. Campbell's next game is the first matchup of the Fight for 421 as they head to Wilmington on Saturday, January 4th, 2025 at 7 p.m. Both games can be viewed on FloCollege. Follow along on X (@TrevorEverette) for live game updates, and for more of my work on House of College Hoops and House Enterprise, head here.
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