2026 CAA MBB Tournament

[EvanJ]

Drexel's lead went down from 22 to 4, and they beat Northeastern 84-77. Northeastern had a great assist/turnover ratio of 16 to 7, and led in bench points, points in the paint, points off turnovers, fast break points, and second chance points. Northeastern's Mike Loughnane scored 29, and shot field goals 8-10 and free throws 10-10. He led all players with 6 assists. He played the whole game, and nobody else on either team played more than 32 minutes. Eli Beard led Drexel with 21 points, including 13 free throws. Despite being 5 feet 11 inches, he had 7 rebounds to tie for the most among all players. Victor Panov scored 16, but he only attempted 2 field goals and 2 free throws in the last 22 minutes. The second half had 100 points, with 55 by Northeastern, and Drexel scored 45 in the second half without any threes.

[Wags]

Very similar to the Northeastern-Drexel game, Towson led by as much as 63-40 before Hampton got it down 70-66 in the final seconds, but the Tigers move on, 74-68, to face Charleston tomorrow. 51 second-half points for Hampton after trailing 30-17 at halftime.

No surprises in this tournament so far. That bodes well for Elon's odds next, but expecting that Hofstra will meet W&M tomorrow.

[EvanJ]

Drexel's lead peaked at 22, Towson's lead peaked at 23, and they both went down to 4. Towson's Tyler Tejada scored a career-high 35 points, and I wonder if it is the first time that two players scored at least 35 points in the same day of the CAA Tournament. Dylan Williamson scored 20, which was more than the 19 that his teammates other than Tejada combined to score. Mo Seck had 9 rebounds without scoring. Towson's third leading scorer scored 6. Michael Eley led Hampton with 23 points, which was more than Hampton's next two players combined. Xzavier Long only scored 5, but he led all players with 10 rebounds. It was the second consecutive game that the losing team did better in assist/turnover ratio, second chance points, bench points, fast break points, and points in the paint. Towson had 9 steals, and Hampton had 3. I am surprised that the team with 6 more steals had fewer fast break points.

https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=652811 will have statistics of William & Mary vs. Elon.

[Wags]

Charleston is obviously the clear favorite tomorrow, but it will be interesting if Towson gets the Cougars into a physical, defensive game.

Towson led Hampton 30-17 at the half today. They were up by a similar 34-17 score at the half on Charleston when they beat them at home, 61-52, in their only meeting this year, on Jan. 15.

[EvanJ]

https://www.flohoops.com/live/239150 has video of William & Mary vs. Elon, and nobody scored in the first minute.

Edit: W&M led by 13, but Elon went down 2, and W&M leads 35-31 at halftime.

[Wags]

Pride vs. Tribe, it is. W&M beat Elon, 72-62.

Good quarterfinal matchups tomorrow:

(1) UNCW vs. (9) Campbell
(4) Monmouth vs. (5) Drexel

(2) Charleston vs. (7) Towson
(3) Hofstra vs. (6) William & Mary

[Wags]

Personal peeve: Five CAA tournament games, five times the lower seed has worn black uniforms (including two, Hampton and Elon, who don't have black as one of their regular school colors). Northeastern and Campbell do, but not as a primary for either. Annoying.

[JoeyBagODonuts1]

Charleston is obviously the clear favorite tomorrow

FWIW, ESPN has Towson as the slightest of favorites, with a 50.7% chance of winning.

Other games:
UNCW 74.0%
Monmouth 57.2%
Hofstra 62.7%

[triplec2195]

Personal peeve: Five CAA tournament games, five times the lower seed has worn black uniforms (including two, Hampton and Elon, who don't have black as one of their regular school colors). Northeastern and Campbell do, but not as a primary for either. Annoying.

Hate the Black uniforms we wore them in our last game at home. Towson could be the Cinderella in this tourney being picked for first and having just a 500 record during the season somehow they're believing in themselves and could upset Charleston. I don't think it would be a shocker.

[dutchPride86]

Charleston is obviously the clear favorite tomorrow

FWIW, ESPN has Towson as the slightest of favorites, with a 50.7% chance of winning.

Other games:
UNCW 74.0%
Monmouth 57.2%
Hofstra 62.7%

I actually think the biggest lock to win today is Monmouth. Our game should be close. Towson might finally be playing their best ball and has already beaten Charleston this year that should be close. And believe it or not even though UNCW beat Campbell twice, Campbell held the lead for over 65% of both those games.

[Pbdutch]

If I’m a betting man, I could actually see Campbell beat UNCW and I’m hoping that’s what’s happens

[HUSID74]

Agree our black uniforms are hideous, can't read the numbers and when are we going to put our players' names on the backs of unis?
We're just about the only D1 team that does not do it and in this era of NIL etc. its hard to tell who the players are anymore.

[Pbdutch]

HA. I actually love our black uniforms and think they’re our best looking unis. As far as the names on the back of the jerseys go, I know before mihalich they didn’t have names and when he got here the players all had their names on the back of the jerseys.

I believe it was last year I noticed they didn’t have the names and they don’t this year either. I think they should’ve definitely get the names back.

[triplec2195]

Agree on the names. Names are important!

[EvanJ]

UNCW led 21-10, but Campbell got closer. UNCW leads 23-22 with 6:35 left in the half. UNCW's Patrick Wessler scored 10, and nobody else on either team scored more than 5. Nobody attempted a free throw.

https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=652812 has statistics.

https://www.flohoops.com/live/239157 has video.

[Polito]

I'm a fan of having your brand and sticking to it. Traditional truly always works best. There's a reason why the Michigans Ohio Sts Alabamas etc are so iconic and it certainly isn't because they change their unis to match whatever stupid trend is hot at the moment. It's because they DON'T follow that nonsense. Establish your brand and stick to it.

The names thing I think has been back and forth over the years - would certainly help in recognizing the players for us fans!

As for the games, could be some good ones here - not sure I see any upsets, but not sure I don't either lol I could see Monmouth and Drexel being a close match. I think the W rolls, can't see Siddle losing to Campbell when it matters, and I'm just not a believer in Towson anymore as a program - just feels like they had their opps under Skerry and never come through - history tells me they're good but not great, and won't be this year either.

Right now I just hope we aren't one of the shockers because our history is choking and being outcoached. With POY and ROY not any room for excuses.

[EvanJ]

Campbell tied it at 27, and made UNCW call timeout with 4:13 left in the half. If anybody other than UNCW or us wins the Tournament, the CAA team will get a worse seed. Looking at the NET, I think anybody other than UNCW, W&M, or us would get a 15 or 16, which would get a little better if other conference tournaments have upsets.

Edit: Campbell tied it at 31, but Patrick Wessler scored at the buzzer while falling to give UNCW a 33-31 lead at halftime. Wessler leads all players with 14 points, and he shot 7-10. Everybody else on UNCW made under half of his field goals. Christian May did not score, but led them with 4 rebounds. Greedy Williams had 4 points and 3 assists. They shot threes 1-8. Dovydas Butka led Campbell with 10 points, and tied with Chris Fields Jr. for the most rebounds with 7. Campbell's two leading scorers for the season combined for 5 points, which is fewer than when they combined for only 8 in the first half yesterday. D.J. Smith scored 3, and Jeremiah Johnson scored 2. Johnson led all players with 4 assists. UNCW shot free throws 2-3, and Campbell did not attempt any. Campbell had more rebounds, 21 to 15. UNCW had more points off turnovers, 9 to 2. Campbell used seven players, and all of them played the majority of the half. Muneer Newton played for the shortest time with 10:03.

[dutchPride86]

All 8 teams playing today are in the top 220 in kenpom (with Drexel the worst of the 8). Most years we're lucky if there's 4-6 CAA teams total ranked that high. No upset should be too shocking today

[Jojogunne]

Midway through the second half, Campbell is up by 11.

EDIT: Eight minutes to go, Campbell is leading by 18.

[dutchPride86]

Midway through the second half, Campbell is up by 11.

EDIT: Eight minutes to go, Campbell is leading by 18.

Wessler just airballed a FT. This may be happening