3 takeaways from Gulf Coast's 82-76 loss to South Georgia Tech
PANAMA CITY — It was meant to be a special night on Thursday at the Billy Harrison Field House, as Gulf Coast returned home for the first time in a month and was set to honor former assistant coach and college counselor Leon Miller along with several other alumni in attendance.
Unfortunately for Gulf Coast, the night didn't end with a storybook finish, though the Commodores came very close to completing an epic second-half comeback. Instead, it was South Georgia Tech that turned the tables on the home team after losing to the Commodores 75-71 at Chipola on Saturday, winning the rematch 82-76.
Gulf Coast (9-3) nearly erased all of a 21-point second-half deficit, getting to as close as two points at 78-76 on a tough driving layup by Chase Forte with just under a minute remaining.
However, Will Johnston answered with a mid-range jumper on the ensuing South Georgia Tech possession to make it a two-possession game, and Gulf Coast failed to get any closer after Jammy Pierre-Louis missed two consecutive 3-point attempts and the Commodores had to foul with 4.7 seconds remaining.
"It was a total breakdown," Gulf Coast coach Phil Gaffney said of the loss. "It was a great effort to come back and get it down to two at the end. That was pretty amazing, but where was that energy and adherence to our principles before then? We just went away from everything we're supposed to do. We got very selfish, we're a very selfish basketball team, then we got unselfish and worked hard and then we erased a huge deficit.
"But that's the way it is, it's who we are. We never play two consecutive halves of basketball. We have good spurts here and good spurts there, but it's just not good enough. It's not good enough from anybody on our team."
Pierre-Louis led Gulf Coast with 25 points, followed by Tauris Watson with 19 points, Chase Forte with 10 points, and Kyle Murphy with nine points. Malik Battle led the Jets (7-5) with 21 points. Johnston added 16 points and Matija Milivojevic scored 14 points.
Home is not a happy place
The Commodores have spent most of the first month of the season on the road, playing
10 of their first 11 games away from home and winning eight of them, including five
in a row heading into Thursday.
It was not a happy return to the Billy Harrison Field House on Thursday, however, with the Commodore falling behind by 12 points in the first half before cutting the deficit to four at halftime, and then giving up a 15-3 run in the second half to go down 71-50 with just under nine minutes to play.
Gulf Coast also struggled in its other home game this season, sputtering to a narrow 84-78 win over Florida Coastal Prep in the opener. Thursday's loss was especially stinging, however, given the night's festivities which honored Miller and members of the 1975-77 Gulf Coast basketball teams.
"Second home game of the year, we had a great crowd for Leon Miller so that was wonderful. I'm sorry to lose a game on his watch," Gaffney said. "We've got to get better all across the board on offense and defense. That's not to take any credit away from (the Jets), they're a good basketball team, but for us every single part of our game right now is awful.
"But we'll get better, we just have to have a good attitude and continue to work. It's just a shame on this night not to get a win. To have a great crowd here to honor Leon and to not get a win is extremely disappointing. You can't lose at home, you can never lose a home game, that's criminal, and we did."
Too little, too late
It was a bit of a role reversal for the Commodores, who have on multiple occasions
this season built up a big lead, nearly surrendered all of it, and then ultimately
closed out a too-close-for-comfort win on the road.
The shoe was on the other foot this time, with the Commodores going on a 26-7 run over a seven-minute span to turn a 21-point deficit to a one-possession game. Gulf Coast hit four threes during that span, including three from Pierre-Louis, and forced a handful of turnovers with its full-court press.
Jammy Pierre-Louis takes a 3-pointer during Gulf Coast's 82-76 loss to South Georgia
Tech at the Billy Harrison Field House on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021.
Gaffney was more concerned with what got Gulf Coast into the hole it had to dig its
way out of, that being primarily effort, or a lack thereof.
"Well, the biggest part was we played harder," he said of the comeback. "Why didn't we play hard in the beginning? I don't know, we don't play hard, that's who we are. I can't figure out why we don't play hard, and we didn't defend at all. We finally did for the last five or six minutes, but why didn't we do it for all 40? I don't know, but it's my fault.
"If we don't play hard and we don't play well, it's my fault. I have to figure out why we do't play hard, why we don't play well, why we don't adhere to what we're supposed to do. We have a game plan and we don't do it, I don't know why."
On to the next one
There will be no time to wallow in the misery of Thursday's defeat for the Commodores,
who will be back in action in their home gym on Saturday afternoon against No. 25
Florida Southwestern State at 4 p.m.
Gulf Coast has won its last three outings against nationally-ranked teams but will have its hands full against a Buccaneers squad that has won seven of its last eight games.
Gaffney said he wasn't sure exactly what the Commodores needed to do in their brief time before returning to action to get a better result, but said there needs to be more urgency to fix what ails the team with Panhandle Conference play just three weeks away.
"As a group right now we're just terrible. We're not playing well at all, but we've got to figure it out," he said. 'It's not easy, Florida Southwestern is a good team and they're next and then we're on the road for two games. We have to watch film, learn from it and get better, see what we're doing wrong because it's not working. It's a disaster, a total disaster. We're a selfish basketball team right now.
"We have to figure something out because whatever we're doing is not working and I'm not doing a very good job. I've got to do a better job and we've got to figure it out because it's not good enough."