When Fordham takes on St. Joseph’s tonight in Philadelphia the Rams need to concentrate on playing a strong for all 40 minutes. While Tom Pecora’s team has been competitive in the majority of its games this season, Fordham has let games get away due to big runs at inopportune times. In most of the losses (with the exception of Syracuse), there’s a definable moment at which the young Rams dug themselves into a hole they’d struggle the rest of the game to get out.
Sometimes that run happens at the beginning of the game. At Loyola (Ill.) the Rams were down 15-3 after the first eight minutes. The same thing happened in two key road games at Manhattan in the Battle of the Bronx and at Monmouth. In the game against the Jaspers the Rams were down 10-2 in the first four minutes. The crowd got into the game and Fordham never recovered. In Monmouth against the Hawks Fordham got down 12-0 after the first three minutes.
Those deficits forced the team to play uphill basketball all game long. It made the odds really tough too. Fordham gave those three teams double-digit head starts. Not only did the Rams have to beat the team they were playing, but also a pretty intimidating margin. If I told you that you could have any team in the country and 10 points you’d be pretty tempted to take it.
Thus Fordham has to avoid that early-game run against St. Joseph’s tonight as the Rams attempt to get their first Atlantic 10 victory over the season. Staying away from that first misstep will help the Rams settle into the game and allow them to forgo playing reckless, which can lead to turnovers, or force up a number of three-point shots.
But the first few minutes are just the beginning. Unfortunately the Rams’ struggles haven’t been confined to the opening of games. Here’s when the run happened in four other losses:
- vs. Lehigh — Three minutes in the second half it went from tied to down seven
- vs. St. John’s — The final three minutes of the first half led to nine-point deficit at the break
- vs. UMass — A three-minute stretch (15:47-12:31) in the second half allowed the Minutemen to go up 14
- vs. Xavier — Between 6:18 and 3:42 in the first half the Musketeers stretched their lead from two to 11
In most of these cases Fordham managed to battle back and make the end result close. The lone exception was against Lehigh as the Mountain Hawks pushed the lead to as many as 21 and finished with a 78-60 victory. After the St. John’s game Pecora took responsibility for the team’s poor finish to the half noting that he probably should’ve called timeout, but his young team can’t be shepherded through every big moment.
“It’s our lack of 40 minutes of total intensity and that comes from inexperience and inexperience on how to win games too,” Pecora said after the Xavier game. “Even our veterans don’t know how to win. They’re learning how to win and that’s all part of the process.”
Well, the time to learn how to win is over. It’s time for Fordham to stop the droughts and take home an Atlantic 10 victory.
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