{"id":7535,"date":"2015-02-05T06:40:58","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T11:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7535"},"modified":"2015-02-05T06:40:58","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T11:40:58","slug":"dukes-lifeless-in-loss-to-uncw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7535","title":{"rendered":"Dukes Lifeless in Loss to UNCW"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p>JMU&#39;s Ron Curry sums up this loss quite succinctly: \u201cThey just wanted it more, and they played tougher than we did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Nick Sunderland (@NSunderland4) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NSunderland4\/status\/563164049937293313\">February 5, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>The Dukes lost to UNCW 77-65 in the Convo last night. Heading into this home stand, JMU was tied for 3rd place with a chance to really leap into position for the CAA regular title. Instead, the Dukes lost two lopsided ones to CAA contenders UNCW and W&amp;M. The loss against UNCW leaves JMU at 6-5 in league play and 13-11 overall. UNCW moved to 8-3 and 13-9 overall. Ron Curry lead the Dukes with 21 points. Joe McLean and Tom Vodanovich chipped in 11 and 12 respectively. Here are three quick thought on the game.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Yuck<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Not sure how else to describe this one. Normally I can laugh things off and not get too upset about poor performances. For some reason last night&#8217;s loss was much more upsetting. JMU looked absolutely lifeless. The Dukes came out of the gate slow and let UNCW build up a lead. If not for the fact that the Seahawks weren&#8217;t particularly impressive in their own right, the Dukes would have faced an even bigger deficit. JMU was never really in this one. The game was tied for 40 seconds and JMU managed to lead for only 1:04. Translation, this was all UNCW.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Dangers of Not Protecting the Basketball<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It turns out that when you can&#8217;t hold onto the basketball you can&#8217;t score. And in fact you give the other team more opportunities to score. Crazy concept, right? UNCW jumped out to a first lead and never looked back because JMU couldn&#8217;t handle the press. They turned the ball over repeatedly, resulting in 18 UNCW points off turnovers before halftime. That was all it took. Despite a brief rally after the break, it was never really close. UNCW&#8217;s first half pressure was the difference.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What Ron Said<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Look at Ron Curry&#8217;s quote above. There a few things worse than fans and bloggers questioning players&#8217; heart or effort from afar. We&#8217;ve never done and we don&#8217;t want to start now. But we certainly wouldn&#8217;t want to contradict the best player on the team either. He said it. We just happen to believe it.<\/p>\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fjmusportsblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D7535&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=80\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height:80px;\" allowTransparency=\"true\"><\/iframe>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JMU&#39;s Ron Curry sums up this loss quite succinctly: \u201cThey just wanted it more, and they played tougher than we did.\u201d &mdash; Nick Sunderland (@NSunderland4) February 5, 2015 The Dukes lost to UNCW 77-65 in the Convo last night. Heading into this home stand, JMU was tied for 3rd place with a chance to really [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8364,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=8364","url_meta":{"origin":7535,"position":0},"title":"JMU Thrashed by CAA Leading UNCW While Awaiting Word on Curry&#8217;s Status","date":"February 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Really not all that much to say about this weekend's beatdown at the beach. The Dukes lost to CAA-Leading UNCW 78-68 in a game that wasn't really that close. The Dukes game planned well and tried to go inside against UNCW's smaller but more athletic lineup but gave up a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Basketball&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"keep-calm-and-bleed-purple-14","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/keep-calm-and-bleed-purple-14.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9247,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=9247","url_meta":{"origin":7535,"position":1},"title":"YoYo-less JMU Dukes Fall to UNCW","date":"January 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"JMU fell to UNCW by the score of 87-76 in the Convo tonight. Losses are never super fun, but it was actually a pretty entertaining game. We're still in January, but UNCW is looking like one of the best teams in recent CAA history. And in their first game since\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Basketball&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"HCLR","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/58894ee2b72b1.image_-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8399,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=8399","url_meta":{"origin":7535,"position":2},"title":"Men&#8217;s Hoops Downs William &#038; Mary, Ties for Third in CAA","date":"February 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Senior Days So this weekend brought senior days at the Convo for both the men's and women's teams. And while on the women's side a senior class that's been one of the best in school history pulled out a heart-stopping victory, their regular season isn't even over and we've got\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Basketball&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Curry","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Curry.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4882,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=4882","url_meta":{"origin":7535,"position":3},"title":"Dukes Blowout UNCW, But No Nuggets","date":"January 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"JMU suffered a rather embarrassing loss to Hampton on Monday. Tonight the Dukes flipped the script and sent UNCW home smarting from a 78-50 blowout. The win moved JMU to 8-8 overall and 2-1 in the CAA. Fans who put Monday's debacle behind them and watched this evening's game were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Basketball&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/EYTKFDBKHGNSHUC.20130110022615.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6522,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=6522","url_meta":{"origin":7535,"position":4},"title":"JMU Holds On And Earns Season Sweep of UNCW","date":"February 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Dukes held off a late surge from UNCW and secured a 64-62 win in the Convo. The victory wrapped up a regular season sweep of the Seahawks and got JMU to 10-17 and 5-8 in the CAA. UNCW fell to 8-20 and 2-11 in the league. JMU led by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Basketball&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"BFEDEMFWLYTZSBK.20130126235422","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/BFEDEMFWLYTZSBK.20130126235422.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7579,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7579","url_meta":{"origin":7535,"position":5},"title":"Dukes Crash Back to Earth in Wilmington","date":"February 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"JMU went on the road to face UNCW in a first place showdown tonight. It went, poorly. The Dukes entered the game in a four way tie for first place and a chance to capture the regular season crown with two wins and help. Instead, they got blown out 74-54\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Basketball&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7535"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7536,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7535\/revisions\/7536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}