Morsell hasn’t lost confidence in his offense, and neither have his Wahoo teammates
Posted on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020, 9:21 pm
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By Jerry Ratcliffe
Virginia freshman Casey Morsell gets around South Carolina’s Jair Bolden (Photo by John Markon).
His teammates have watched as Casey Morsell’s shots have caromed off the rim most of the season. Wahoo Nation holds its collective breath every time the talented freshman launches another, almost trying to will the shot into the basket.
No one on Virginia’s basketball team has struggled with their shot more than Morsell. Tomas Woldetensae’s shooting touch from junior college seemed to abandon him for a portion of the season, but he has rediscovered it in recent weeks. Kody Stattmann has experienced frustration in finding a consistent shooting stroke.
Maybe it’s because Morsell arrived with such hoopla that most UVA fans expected immediate results. He delivered defensively, but the offense wasn’t there … until Saturday night in Chapel Hill.
Was Morsell’s offensive performance at the Dean Dome in the Cavaliers’ sixth consecutive win over North Carolina his coming out party?
The rookie guard from Fort Washington, Md., scored in double figures for only the third time in 24 games this season. Morsell posted 10 points off the bench, including a pair of key 3-point baskets in Virginia’s win over the Tar Heels.
There was a three-minute stretch where Morsell resembled a scoring machine. It came at an appropriate time as Carolina’s Cole Anthony, Garrison Brooks and Christian Keeling were almost scoring at will early in the second half and held a 39-36 lead.
At that point, Morsell’s offense opened up. He drilled a 3-pointer just before Anthony suffered a cut on his head and left the game momentarily. The long-distance shot knotted the game before teammate Francisco Caffaro put UVA up with two free throws.
Carolina tied the game but Morsell wasn’t through. He put up back-to-back buckets on a jumper and a 2-on-1 fast break layup on a pass from Kihei Clark.
A few minutes later, Woldetensae and Morsell hit consecutive 3-pointers that kept UVA in the lead.
For the game, Morsell connected on 4 of 6 shots from the floor — including both 3-point attempts — for 10 points.
It was his most productive game on the offensive end since Navy, when his 10 points helped the Cavaliers dodge an upset, and a 19-point performance to spark Virginia’s comeback to beat Arizona State in late November.
For the frustrated freshman, who is uncommonly good defensively, his shooting was a refreshing reboot.
“It felt good,” Morsell said. “It was much-needed. We work on those shots every day and to actually see it go in and pull out a win in this type of environment was a good step for our team.”
Tony Bennett is the first to point out that any help that Morsell or Stattmann can give on the perimeter makes Virginia more challenging to defend.
“I thought I saw [improvement] in the last game (Notre Dame, when Morsell was 2 of 5 for five points), he gave us a nice lift,” Bennett said of Morsell’s shooting. “Casey made some strides in the last game and has had a couple of weeks of some solid practices.
“His percentages aren’t great but that doesn’t matter. Every game starts anew. To bang a couple of those threes (vs. UNC) and make some plays, and we already know he can guard the ball, it really helped us.”
Fans have been wondering all season if Morsell would find his shot. Well, it has been even more worrisome for Morsell. Sometimes it’s forgotten that he’s only a freshman.
“A lot of us are still just trying to figure it out,” Morsell said. “Tom, me and Kody. Tom’s getting it, I’m trying to get it a little bit more. Everybody’s moving in the right direction.”
Morsell was referring to Woldetensae, who goes by Tom and Thomas, even though it’s spelled Tomas, and Stattmann.
It didn’t exactly hurt his confidence when his first shot of the night swished the Dean Dome’s nets in an atmosphere that seemed more like a tournament scenario than a regular-season game.
“It helped,” Morsell grinned. “I have to have a clear mindset for each shot and not have one shot effect the next shot. I think that was my problem earlier. I was like one shot would go in and then I would change something on the next shot. That’s why my percentages are lower. But now I shoot every shot the same and try to have a short memory.”
All shooters live by that mantra. If they have 10 straight misses, they’re confident that No. 11 is going in.
That wasn’t easy with Morsell’s percentages that he mentioned.
Presently, heading into Wednesday night’s home game against Boston College, he stands at 27.4 percent on his field-goal tries (40 of 146), and 17.1 percent on his 3-point attempts (13 of 76). He’s actually highly accurate on his free throws 83.3 percent (10 of 12), which suggests he needs to find a way to get to the line more often.
If one could put a percentage on his defensive effort, he would probably be off the chart with his efficiency. No one understands how his offense would help take this team up a notch more than Morsell, and so despite all the pressure — self-imposed and otherwise — he appreciates his teammates’ and coaches’ patience.
“Everybody in the locker room just stays with it,” Morsell said. “That’s one of the reasons I’m so glad I came here. [My teammates] never lose faith no matter how you’re shooting. Once they see you put the work in, they immediately believe in you.”
Clark completely understands the situation and some of the outside noise.
“We know Casey is capable,” Clark said. “In practice he really shoots it well. I just tell him to go out there and play with confidence. It was good for him to see the ball go through the hoop. It’s always nice to see your teammates make shots. We all play for one another.”
