Drexel shakes off first CAA loss by doing the things it does well in victory over NC A&T

There wasn’t going to be some sort of panic button. Drexel, which started its Coastal Athletic Association slate a perfect 7-0, wasn’t going to win all of its games.

So a three-point loss Thursday at Towson would be no bigger than it needed to be, especially with an experienced Dragons group. And especially because of how it happened.

Drexel coach Zach Spiker pointed to a few missed layups, a bad night at the free-throw line, and fouling a few jump shooters.

“We control it. We control that,” Spiker said the message was after. “Those are all things that have to do with us.”

Saturday, back home at the Daskalakis Athletic Center, Drexel went right back to the things it can control during its 62-47 win over visiting North Carolina A&T.

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Any flowers Drexel gets for its defensive effort Saturday needs the added caveat that NC A&T was without top scorer Landon Glasper, who scores 21 points per game and had that total when these two teams played in North Carolina two weeks ago.

Without Glasper, the Aggies had all kinds of trouble scoring against the CAA’s best defense.

Midway through the first half, NC A&T had five points and finished the first half with just 19. The Aggies never really got into a groove offensively until the game was long out of reach. They shot 33.3% from the floor overall, including just 8.3% from three-point range.

Drexel has the CAA’s top effective field goal percentage against at 44.6, according to KenPom, and ranks in the top 20 nationally.

What’s working so well?

Spiker pointed to the physicality on the perimeter with Justin Moore and Jamie Bergens, and Mate Okros defending opposing teams’ best players.

“I think we’ve got guys that are really committed to moving their feet and defending,” Spiker said. “And then, let’s be honest, we have two shot blockers.”

Amari Williams and his backup, Garfield Turner provide that. Their effectiveness is masked sometimes in the box score. Williams had one block and Turner two, but their presence impacts plenty of shots.

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Drexel has started so strong because it is deep. Really deep.

During Saturday’s win, 11 Dragons played at least 12 minutes, and 12 players scored. Shane Blakeney led the way with 12 points in only 12 minutes.

This relates to the defense, too.

“It takes a lot of stress off you,” said graduate transfer Lucas Monroe, who had seven points, eight rebounds, and two blocks. “You can go into the game and you don’t have to worry about hitting shots. You don’t have to worry about doing anything but playing hard because you know there’s going to be other guys; if you’re not on that night, they’re going to make up for it.”

All of that is helpful for a coach, obviously. Williams, the conference’s preseason player of the year, played just 16 minutes. The Dragons will be fresh in March. There are pros and cons, as Spiker pointed out.

“We can manage some things differently,” Spiker said. “But when you got a lot of guys, it means you got a lot of combinations, a lot of options. We got to continue to make sure we got the right people out there that complement each other.”

A work in progress there, but it’s a challenge any coach would want.

Drexel has been an elite offensive rebounding team. The Dragons are top 30 nationally in offensive rebounding percentage and third in the CAA.

They pulled in 13 offensive rebounds Saturday — while out-rebounding NC A&T, 47-34, on the afternoon — and had 11 second-chance points.

“You can’t win a championship, you can’t get a ring without rebounds,” Spiker said.

Drexel plays at Monmouth on Thursday (7 p.m., NBC Sports Philadelphia) and then has next weekend off. After that, it’s road games at UNC-Wilmington and College of Charleston, the two teams behind them in the CAA standings.