Cool Shooting and Turnovers Plague Ospreys at Kennesaw State

Wednesday, January 30

Kennesaw, Ga.

7:00 p.m.

University of North Florida

9-15, 3-6ASUN

Kennesaw State

4-18, 1-6ASUN

North Florida

Kennesaw State

Coach Driscoll stands in the middle of the team huddle on the floor

Photo by: Todd Drexler

Cool Shooting and Turnovers Plague Ospreys at Kennesaw State

1/30/2019 9:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

OPENING TIP
Score: North Florida 64, Kennesaw State 81
Records: North Florida (9-15, 3-6 ASUN) | Kennesaw State (4-18, 1-6 ASUN)
Location: KSU Convocation Center (Kennesaw, Ga.)
The Short Story: The North Florida men's basketball suffered a disappointing loss at Kennesaw State on Wednesday night, 81-67.

GAMEDAY MEDIA CENTER
Final Boxscore

NOTABLE NUMBERS
- JT Escobar came off the bench and led the Ospreys with 12 points including three 3PM
- Garrett Sams and Wajid Aminu both finished with 10 points for UNF as Sams finished just one rebound shy of a double-double
- Freshman Carter Hendricksen, who made his first collegiate start, led the team with a career best 10 rebounds
- Noah Horchler added 9 points and 7 rebounds in the loss
- Kennesaw State saw 4 of 5 starters reach double digits paced by 17 each from Bryson Lockley and Bobby Parker
- North Florida was hindered by 24 turnovers that resulted in 21 points for the Owls
- UNF shot 34% from the floor and an even cooler 29% (7 of 24) from the arc
- Ospreys won the battle of the boards, 46-38, and also bounced back at the FT line converting 15 of 17 chances (88%)

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half Notes
- Hendricksen drilled a three to open the game followed by a jumper from Horchler as UNF seized an early advantage
- The Owls utilized a pair of 7-0 spurts around a three-pointer from Escobar to build an 18-10 lead just over eight minutes into the contest
- From there the two squads would trade baskets for much of the remainder of the period until a quick six point run gave KSU their largest lead of the half, 38-24, with two minutes left
- The Ospreys would score the final four points getting a layup from Ezekiel Balogun and a pair of FTs by Sams to trim the halftime deficit to 10 (38-28)
- UNF committed 15 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes which turned into 12 points for Kennesaw

Second Half Notes
- North Florida raced out of intermission scoring the first six points to cut the gap to four points less than two minutes into play | Sams drained a 3 followed by three FTs for Escobar, who added another triple to answer a three-pointer for the Owls
- Kennesaw State scored the next eight points as part of a 13-2 surge that saw the margin balloon to 54-39 at the 13 minute mark
- UNF responded with six straight points, but KSU pushed back with six points in a row of their own to keep the lead
- The Owls lead grew to as large as 20 later in the period before the Osprey defense held them scoreless for over four minutes and allowed UNF to shrink the final deficit

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- North Florida dropped its fifth straight overall and third consecutive on the road
- Ospreys have now lost last four visits to Kennesaw State
- Noah Horchler became the newest member of the 500-Rebound club with his fourth board of the night
- Carter Hendricksen and Ryan Burkhardt both made their first starts of the season
- Horchler was held to single digit scoring for just the second time this season

LAST WORD
"Getting the opportunity to have a week off and take a break is certainly going to bode well for us. We have to continue working and find a way to stop the bleeding and get back on the left side of the column. We have no better opportunity than playing the best team in the league at home and that's our next challenge. Our next game is what we need to be focused on." -- Head coach Matthew Driscoll

NEXT UP
North Florida has a week off from competition before returning to the hardwood at home against Lipscomb on Wednesday, Feb. 6.