Long Island is now 5-6 this season after a 73-62 loss at MEAC contender Norfolk State last night. The Blackbirds are 2-0 in the NEC, but Robert Morris seems to have replaced Jim Ferry’s squad as the favorite in the conference. It wasn’t supposed to be this way for the Blackbirds. Sure, title defenses are never easy, but with a bunch of key players coming back expectations were high. What’s changed? Can the Blackbirds turn it around?
First, both the offense and the defense have regressed this season. LIU is ranked 110th in adjusted offense and 222nd in adjusted defense according to Ken Pomeroy following last night’s loss. That’s down from 77th and 198th last season.
On offense it’s a little bit of everything, but the biggest change is that the team has fewer opportunities to score now because LIU is grabbing fewer offensive rebounds and committing more turnovers. Kyle Johnson and David Hicks were excellent at holding onto the ball last season. They both ranked in the Top 300 in the country. Removing them from the equation has given the ball to more turnover prone players that have struggled with their new roles.
That’s especially true for Jason Brickman. The Blackbirds’ point guard is now turning the ball over on 40.5% of his possessions, up from 28.3% a season ago. That’s a huge jump. His overall game on offense has suffered because of it. Against Columbia on Saturday he committed five turnovers. It looked like Brickman was pressing and looking for the spectacular pass on the break instead of taking the easy one. He cut down on the turnovers against Norfolk State, committing only two to go with six assists. With games coming up against St. Peter’s, Texas State and NJIT we’ll be able to get a good sense if he’s turned the corner.
In terms of offensive rebounding, it mostly comes down to Kenny Onyechi grabbing a few more boards. It’s not too concerning, but it could improve. Overall LIU is down from 14.5 offensive rebounds per game to 12.3 last season. There’s two extra possessions lost.
Then there’s the defense. Last season the defense wasn’t good, but it’s gotten even worse this season. Of particular concern is that teams aren’t turning the ball over against LIU, which prevents the Blackbirds from getting out and running. C.J. Garner averaged 1.2 steals per game in 24.8 minutes per game last season, but now he’s down to 0.7 per game in 28.8 minutes. You know who is generating a lot of steals when he’s on the court? Brandon Thompson. He’d be amongst the national leaders in steal percentage if he had played more minutes this season.
It all comes down to turnovers. This season LIU is averaging 18 turnovers and six steals per game (-12). Last season it was 15 and seven (-8). While four possessions doesn’t sound like a lot, four easy possessions per game could’ve made the difference in a number of the Blackbirds’ games this season. It’s time to find a way to get out and run with a purpose again.
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LIU has definitely been up and down through the first third of this season. I’ve watched all there games thus far, you’ve hit almost every nail on the head. The amount of turnovers this team is committing is alarming. The defense has been brutal. Jason Brickman, if he continues as their starting PG, needs to start protecting the ball better and quit constantly trying to hit the homerun pass. His overall game is down from his freshman year. I think it is time to make an adjustment to the starting lineup and put him back to coming off the bench and put Brandon Thompson in as a second SG. The problem scoring lately has also been a concern. It’s Julian Boyd and Jamal Olasewere and then everyone else right now. Michael Culpo and CJ Garner has struggled as of late, these two need to pick their games back up. The next 3 games at home are going to prove vital to getting things sorted out before getting back into NEC play.
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Yeah. I think the next three games are a crucial stretch for this team. It’s worth noting that Jamal Olasewere has been extremely impressive early in the season for LIU. He’s taken on a lot of the burden on offense lately and helped keep the team afloat.
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