Nika Metskhvarishvili 3-pointer vs Lamar 2021-22
Luke Richard/ULM Athletics
64
La.-Monroe ULM 8-5,0-1 Sun Belt
94
Winner Coastal Carolina CCU 8-4,1-0 Sun Belt
La.-Monroe ULM
8-5,0-1 Sun Belt
64
Final
94
Coastal Carolina CCU
8-4,1-0 Sun Belt
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
La.-Monroe ULM 36 28 64
Coastal Carolina CCU 45 49 94

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

ULM Struggles Against Zone; Drops Sun Belt Opener at Coastal Carolina

CONWAY, S.C. – Vince Cole and Rudi Williams combined for 36 points and Essam Mostafa posted his seventh double of the season with 13 points and a career-high 17 rebounds as Coastal Carolina rolled to a 94-64 victory over ULM Thursday night in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams. Five different Coastal players scored in double figures.
 
The loss snapped ULM's six-game winning streak – its longest since the 2015-16 season.
 
Coastal Carolina (8-4, 1-0 Sun Belt) led by as many as six points early in the game, including at 17-11 on Josh Uduje's layup with 11:57 left in the first half. ULM (8-5, 0-1) answered with an 18-8 run and took a 29-25 lead on Nika Metskhvarishvili's reverse layup, off a feed from Koreem Ozier, with 5:51 on the clock. Metskhvarishvili accounted for 11 points during the stretch that lasted 5:58. The Chanticleers reeled off six-straight points and regained the lead at 31-29 on Isaac Hippolyte's left-handed hook over Luke Phillips with 4:08 on the clock. Johnnie Williams buried a 3-pointer from the right wing and Andre Jones finished the fast break with an alley-oop dunk from Ozier as the Warhawks built a 34-31 advantage with 3:03 remaining. Coastal outscored ULM, 14-2, over the final 2:36, including the last nine points of the first half to take a 45-36 lead into halftime.
 
The Chanticleers shot 50 percent (16-of-32) from the field in the first 20 minutes, hitting 5-of-12 3-pointers (42 percent). ULM made 13-of-33 first-half field-goal attempts (39 percent), including 5-of-16 from 3-point range (31 percent). Over the final 2:36, the Warhawks went 1-for-5 from the floor. In addition, Coastal outrebounded ULM, 25-13, in the opening half, with the Chanticleers holding a 10-0 advantage in second-chance points.
 
Coastal opened the second half with a 23-5 run to take control of the game. ULM's first field goal came 3:44 into the second half when Metskhvarishvili rattled home a 3-pointer from the top of the circle. The Chanticleers led by as many as 34 points after the intermission.
 
"They whipped us those last 2 1/2 minutes in the first half and all 20 minutes in the second half," ULM head basketball coach Keith Richard said. "The game turned on us when Coastal went to a 3-2 zone with about four minutes left in the half. Johnnie Williams made a 3 right after they got into it, but from there it went south. We simply couldn't make any shots. It didn't matter if they were 3-point attempts or 10-to-15-foot jumpers, our inability to make shots against the zone hurt us the rest of the way.  
 
"Those missed shots led to constant defensive transitions because Coastal really pushed the ball hard and they got some layups and dunks on the other end. Credit Coastal for going to the 3-2 zone and sticking with it. They wanted us to prove that we could beat it by hitting open shots and we didn't. That's why the margin of the score got so large.
 
"From watching film, Coastal is so help oriented on defense, both in man-to-man and zone, that I had a feeling that the 3-point line might be critical for us, and it turned out being disastrous for us. When you drive the ball against Coastal or throw it inside, you're going to get some open 3s when you swing the ball back outside. The four teams that have beaten them this season hit some 3s. We didn't shoot a good percentage from the 3-point line (26 percent). We shot a lot of 3s – 35 – and probably 30 of those were wide open. We tried using different people from the outside, but nobody – outside of Nika – could get anything going.
 
"As a coach, I asked myself are we taking good shots or can we run something different to help us score in there?" Richard continued. "We took a lot of good shots that just didn't go in. It just wasn't a good offensive performance, from about the 2 1/2-minute mark in the first half through the rest of the game.
 
"We might have to go back to the drawing board a little bit, in terms of attacking the zone, to identify ways we can do some things better."
 
For the game, Coastal made 32-of-62 field-goal attempts (52 percent), including 12-of-25 3s (48 percent). ULM shot 33 percent (22-of-67) from the floor, including a dismal 26 percent (9-of-35) from behind the 3-point arc.
 
The Chanticleers outmuscled ULM on the backboards, 51-26 (+25 rebound margin). Coastal held a decided edge in points in the paint, 34-20; second-chance points, 19-8; bench points, 33-23; and fast-break points, 23-16.
 
Coastal also got 13 points from Garrick Green and 12 from Uduje. Ten players scored in the game for the Chanticleers. Ebrima Dibba also recorded a career-high 12 assists.
 
Metskhvarishvili came off the bench to score a game-high 20 points – one shy of his career high (at SFA) – in 22 minutes played. He connected on 7-of-9 field-goal attempts, including a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range.   
 
"Nika's play was a bright spot," Richard said. "He really did a good job against the zone. He made all three 3-point attempts and scored on a couple of plays in the post."
 
Two other ULM players scored in double figures, as Russell Harrison finished with 14 points while Thomas Howell contributed 12 points and a team-best six rebounds, including four off the offensive glass. Ozier matched his season high with five assists.
 
ULM completes the opening weekend of Sun Belt play at App State (6-8, 0-1) on Saturday, Jan. 1, with tipoff set for 4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
 
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