What we learned after Winthrop escapes Hartford game with ugly but important win
It never looked easy, nor did it remind anyone in attendance of Winthrop’s historic win over Washington this past weekend, but the Eagles defeated Hartford 82-75 on Wednesday night in the Winthrop Coliseum in Rock Hill.
The lead changed exactly twice after the 14-minute mark in the first half: Winthrop took a seven-point lead early. Winthrop watched Hartford take the lead at 31-30 with four minutes left in the first. Winthrop took it again. And then — by virtue of not great but timely shooting — Winthrop kept the Hawks a precarious four-point/six-point margin away the rest of the way.
Winthrop (4-3) shot 52.8% from the field; Hartford (0-7) shot 42.4%.
From three? Winthrop 5-for-14, Hartford 7-for-19.
The ultimate turning point? With 44 seconds left, Hartford missed five straight shots (collecting four offensive rebounds in the process) with the game at 80-75. The Eagles then collected a rebound on their fifth try and then eventually put the game away.
Here’s what we learned.
Micheal Anumba, Chase Claxton continue to get big minutes
With just about three minutes gone in the second half, Micheal Anumba had his moment. After a Winthrop miss, he rose up, snatched an offensive rebound away from a Hartford big man and made a layup while getting hit. And-one.
His converted free throw made it 48-44 and injected life in a team that needed it and in an arena more sparse than its final attendance of 950 people felt.
Chase Claxton provided a few moments of life, too, including the game-sealing steal off a Hartford baseline inbound play with five seconds left in the game.
And in their playng time — Anumba finished with nine points and three rebounds in 22 minutes (despite foul trouble); Claxton finished with two points and five rebounds in 23 minutes — you can see something interesting about this Winthrop team: Defenders play.
Mark Prosser’s predecessor Pat Kelsey, known for being enamored with the overlooked and undersized, recruited Anumba and Claxton. The former was a high school sensation in Europe but virtually unheard of in America. He started every game his freshman year because of his defensive prowess. The latter is an undersized big man from Greenville, adept at the inglorious parts of the game: rebounding, taking charges, perimeter defending. He started his first game as a freshman, too.
In a not-too-alternate universe, Anumba and Claxton could’ve been left in the dust with a coaching regime change. Neither are flashy. Rarely do either put together special stat lines.
But Prosser has decided to play them: They were two of seven players to get 15 or more minutes on Wednesday night — and they were on the court when it mattered most.
“I don’t think if you have guys like Chase and Mike that it matters who the coach is,” Prosser told reporters postgame with a smile. “They play with such passion and such hatred of losing, and they accept a challenge defensively in a way that it’s hard to find now. It really is.
“To say, ‘Hey look, you’re going to play a role where you get two or three shots tonight. You may not get a ton of stuff run for you. But can you stay engaged for (the entire game)?”
Prosser continued: “When you recruit, everyone was the best player on their high school team. Everyone was the best player on their AAU team. And it’s like, ‘Well, if I don’t have that role… I might look to transfer.’ They’re unique in that way. ...
“They could literally play for any coach in the country. It’s not about a regime change or anything else, their value is so high — as people first off, but as players — because they embrace their role. They embrace whatever it takes to win. And they did that tonight.”
Winthrop big men are important again
Cory Hightower, a big man with gusto and a pretty 3-point shot and who has quietly been one of Winthrop’s most reliable scorers to date, sustained the Eagles offense when no one else could Wednesday.
He led the home team with 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting and was 4-of-6 from three. He was big down the stretch, too, nailing two threes over the course of three possessions to keep Hartford at arm’s length when the Hawks made their push with about eight minutes left in the second half. The redshirt junior also added 13 of Winthrop’s 38 rebounds.
His partner-in-crime, DJ Burns, also had a good night: The Rock Hill native finished with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting. (He shot one three in the contest and missed. He was subbed out immediately afterward.)
Kelton Talford finished with eight points in 11 minutes — including a critical and-one conversion with 16:46 remaining in the game to extend Winthrop’s lead to seven.
Drew Buggs — ‘Coach Buggs’ — uncharacteristically leads Winthrop in scoring
Winthrop starting point guard Drew Buggs’ reputation precedes him. He’s the career assists leader at Hawaii. He was on the SEC’s Missouri roster last season.
But scoring? That was a pleasant surprise for Winthrop fans Wednesday.
Buggs finished with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 2-for-5 from three in 28 minutes. He was largely left open on the perimeter and attacked the basket anyway. That attacking mindset turned into a team-high six assists and resulted in easy points and open shots in a game where easy points and open shots were delicacies.
“It was just kind of like one of those games where couldn’t ever really get a rhythm, was a little awkward,” Buggs told reporters postgame. “The way they play, they play really slow and methodical, so at times it could take you out of rhythm offensively and make us force shots or rush shots because we feel like we’re on defense for so long. So that was something we had to battle.”
He added: “I know my shots and my opportunities are going to come. And like you saw today, today was one of those days.”
Buggs, by virtue of transferring twice and being a graduate student here, is quite a bit older than his youngest teammate. He plays a version of old-man basketball with a bit of a flair: He loves threading passes where players don’t seem open for an easy bucket. He loves the jump stop. He loves the pump fake. He loves playing under the basket, waiting to see what happens — on one possession, Buggs drove to the basket and completed a circle around the restricted area twice on Wednesday just to see how the defense would adjust.
His nickname, because of how he runs his team and is a vocal leader: “Coach Buggs.”
“I definitely want to play as long as I can. But my lifelong dream is to be a basketball coach,” Buggs said. “I’ve just always wanted to be one. I used to coach my sister’s teams growing up. I always wanted to be around the game of basketball. …
“I want to be a coach, being able to just build your team and coach them and just help players get better and help young men.”
Prosser weighed in on Buggs’ coaching aspirations: “He’ll be a good one.”
Last three notes
▪ The Eagles have shot poorly from the free-throw line this season, a strange reality considering they have shot well from the floor. Tonight, they ended going 16-of-21 (76.2%) and 9-of-11 in the second half.
▪ Hartford, a team that made the NCAA tournament last year, is better than 0-7. The Hawks lost to Winthrop Big South contemporary Campbell by one 68-67 and were a few open shots away from beating the Eagles Wednesday.
▪ Prosser shortened the rotation in the second half. Only seven players played 18 minutes or more — Sin’cere McMahon played 11, Kelton Talford played 11 and Josh Corbin (who started at the beginning of the season) played four minutes and not at all in the second half.
This story was originally published December 1, 2021 at 9:36 PM.
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