Category: MAAC

Marist Jeff Bower on Early Season Struggles

Marist head coach Jeff Bower knew he was challenging his team early through the non-conference slate.

Taking on a difficult schedule out of the league as well as playing the presumed top two teams in the MAAC in December only added to the adversity Bower wants his team to fight through in his first season as head coach. Despite the winless start, Bower said he has seen his players improve against tough teams.

“I think the ability for our players to understand that they’re getting better and they’re improving while they’re playing against strong competition is really at the front of everything,” Bower said. “Who we’re playing and how we’re doing and where the payoff will be for us in big picture is a challenge, but I’m pleased with how we’ve handled everything so far. I thought we competed very hard against both Manhattan and Iona in the last two games and there were many bright spots for us to point to and build off of in those games.” Continue reading “Marist Jeff Bower on Early Season Struggles” →

Marist’s Jeff Bower on Isaiah Morton Leaving Team

On Wednesday junior point guard Isaiah Morton officially announced that he is leaving the team to be closer to his family.

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Junior Isaiah Morton (right) will be leaving Marist after the first semester of the 2013-14 season.

Morton, who committed to Marist from Saint Augustine Prep in New Jersey, told head coach Jeff Bower early this week of his decision to move to be closer to his family. Morton’s family recently moved from his hometown in New Jersey to California.

“He hadn’t talked about that or made us aware of any discomfort,” Bower said expressing that his decision came as a surprise. “That was the first that he had talked about it but, after listening to him hearing how he had discussed it with his family and everything, it seemed like that was the best thing for him. We have to respect that and move on.”

Morton will finish the semester, as the school is currently in finals week, before leaving school.

“That was the message that I tried to relate to him was how important it was the finish the semester strong and to take care of his finals, which were in this week, so that he has as many options as possible for his future,” Bower said.

“We’ll try to help him with whatever we can. He didn’t go in to what his future plans would be when we talked, I don’t think he really has that firmed up to be quite honest, beyond the idea of going out to California.”

The junior started the first three games of the season, scoring a season-high 15 points against Stony Brook in the opener, however his playing time had dwindled and struggled to crack over 20 minutes per game after being taken out of the starting lineup. He started 58 of the 72 games he played in during his career at Marist, totaling 505 points.

Bower said that he will look to redistribute the minutes Morton played, who appeared in 52.6% of the teams minutes this season according to kenpom.com.

“We will have to redistribute minutes and roles, but I think it’s going to open up opportunities for Manny Thomas to be a bigger part of the rotation,” Bower said also noting that T.J. Curry will get more minutes at both guard spots.”It will give couple of other players, like Chavaughn [Lewis], the opportunity to handle the ball more to get us into offense. We’ll have to redistribute roles a little bit, but we’ll move forward and fill the gap.”

Marist is 0-9 and continue their season, after finals week, with a trip to the College of Charleston on Sunday before hosting Bucknell and Penn to close their non-conference schedule.

Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and America East conference for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.

Niagara’s Chris Casey on Offense, Antoine Mason

Niagara head coach Chris Casey promised a team that would get up and down, perhaps even more than his predecessor, as the Purple Eagles lead all MAAC teams in scoring with 81.5 points per game.

For a team that has scored over 90 points four times already this season, they have been held to under 75 points in their other four games. The inconsistent play has lead to a 1-7 start despite the offensive showing.

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Junior Antoine Mason (left) leads the country with over 30 points per game in Chris Casey’s up and down offense. (photo courtesy: Niagara University athletics)

“I think we’ve been successful at it for some games, not all of them,” Casey said of the offense he would like to play. “I would like to try to get up and down the court and I think for the most part we’ve done that. Now we have to be able to do it and handle the ball a little bit better and finish a little bit better around the basket. As a foundation I think we’re doing a pretty good job of trying to get the ball up and down the floor.”

The Purple Eagles will be formidable pushing the ball and their tempo of 75.6 possessions per game is sixth highest in the country. Junior Antoine Mason has been unleashed on the country, leading the nation with over 30 points per game.

“He’s doing some really good things and what he’ll start to learn now is, as the season goes on, he’s going to get a lot more attention,” Casey said. “He’s going to have to be able to still pick his spots and also continue to learn how to get others involved, because the more plays other guys are making, the more it’s going to even loosen up for him further. That’s something that he’s learning and that’s part of his evolution and his growth as a player.”

Mason and senior Marvin Jordan have provided the punch at the guard positions for the Purple Eagles, while freshman Wesley Myers has provided a quick scoring guard presence off the bench. However, they have yet to get consistent inside play. Graduate transfer Marcus Ware and freshman Ramone Snowden have shown off their ability in scoring, but never in the same game together.

“Some of it is youth and some of it is being new playing together,” Casey said. “We need to get consistent performances from everybody and we also need to get a consistent performances individually, but also consistent performances collectively as a team.”

“We have stretches in games where we play really well and then we’ll have a stretch where we’ll turn it over three out of five possessions, or miss two or three layups, or not get stops defensively and those are all things that we have to get better at. Our performance has to become more consistent. We’re doing some very positive things, we’re not doing them for long enough stretches or consistently.”

One issue that has defined Casey’s tenure so far has been fouling. The offense gets to the free throw line at a top 20 rate in the country, but the defense has allowed teams to get there just as much through eight games. Casey’s debut as head coach against Seton Hall saw a game that is now infamous for the new rules in college basketball: 73 total fouls and 102 free throws in a 40 minute regulation 83-72 loss on November 9.

“We have some guys who are coming off playing a lot of zone and, not that one’s better than the other, it’s just different so there’s different concepts to learn and to get good at,” Casey said of playing his style of defense while acknowledging fouling has been an issue. “We have improved. Arkansas State was a very good offensive team and we held them to 43% from the floor, I think it was 33% from 3 which those are lows for us on the season, so there has been some improvement in those areas. It has to be more consistent than awareness of in game situations defensively, so that we’re being proactive instead of reactive.”

After notching a victory over Buffalo in their home opener, the Purple Eagles were away on a six game, 14-day road trip across the country. Despite not getting the results they wanted, Casey said that he feels his group came even closer together on the trip.

“We have a very good group, a hard working group, and a very positive group,” Casey said. “I feel like we did come closer together and I think that’s a good personality trait for your team. We’re hopeful that as we continue to approach it like that, that the results are going to improve.”

Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and America East conference for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.

St. Peter’s John Dunne on Young Offensive Core

It is certainly noticeable that St. Peter’s this season has a large group of talented offensive players.

For a team that struggled to crack into the 70-point total on most nights, head coach John Dunne now has assembled a team of weapons including Fordham transfer Marvin Dominique who has proven in a short time that he can do almost anything. Combine him with a freshman point guard Trevis Wyche, freshman big man Quadir Welton and a group of junior college transfers and the Peacocks are completely revamped from their 2013 team.

“It’s just going to take some time,” Dunne said of his group. “Clearly we have some pieces and it’s just a matter of getting the experience together, learning how to win close games, trusting each other, all the things good teams do to win tight games, but I like our talent. I like our chemistry and our work ethic.”

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Marvin Dominique leads the Peacocks with 18.3 points per game and head coach John Dunne said he is still exploring his high talent level. (photo courtesy: St. Peter’s)

A key piece of that puzzle has been Dominique so far, the transfer who has led the team with 18.3 points per game has played as advertised so far through six games. However, Dunne said the rust still needs to come off for the redshirt junior who hasn’t seen full game action for almost over two years since playing sparingly at Fordham under Tom Pecora.

“It’s a catch-22 because he is very talented and he’s a good shot maker,” Dunne said. “It’s very easy for him to get his shot off because he’s so long and he’s got such a high release. I think it’s just he has to find that balance between making sure he’s getting his shots, making sure he’s being aggressive, especially when he’s feeling good, and playing well and then learning how to [distribute] at the same time.”

“He’s unselfish it’s just sometimes you just need that experience and learning how to, when to make that aggressive move versus moving the ball to an open teammate. I think that will come with time.”

Meanwhile, Dunne entrusted true freshman Wyche with the starting point guard spot and he has not disappointed so far, posting the team’s best assist rate and filling the role offensively.

“I think with him the ball moves, he creates good shots for his teammates for sure,” Dunne said. “I think it’s helped him that we’ve we’ve split the time between him and (Fairfield transfer) Jemel Fields a little bit. Jamel is just a tough kid who gives us great energy off the bench so the whole load hasn’t had to fall on Trevis, which is a good thing when you’re a freshman so he can just kind of play loose out there.”

The other freshman that has impressed so far is Quadir Welton who posted a double-double in his first career college game against LIU-Brookyln. He has been a solid rebounding presence for the Peacocks to go alongside Dominique’s game.

“He’s gotten in a little bit of foul trouble at times, but he’s extremely reliable,” Dunne said. “There’s no mystery why he’s playing effectively as a freshman because he does the right thing every day in practice.He just gives everything he’s got all the time, so he’s just going to get better and he’s going to have a really nice career.”

Dunne said that he knew that Welton would go after rebounds but that the freshman from the Philadelphia area has “a much higher basketball IQ” as he has worked with him every day and said he finishes in the paint better than expected so far.

Add a healthy Tyler Gaskins, who Dunne said recovered from a partially torn ligament in his knee, who scored 13 points in just his third game this season and the Peacocks have a litany of offensive options.

“He’s not even near playing shape and he’s only about two weeks in to playing and he was pretty efficient against BU,” Dunne said. “He’s getting healthy and our rotation is just starting to get fit now. I feel like we’re coming together a little bit, we’ve got a long ways to go as far as gaining experience and focusing for 40 minutes, but certainly I like where we’re at at this point.”

This weekend, as his team embarks on the Buffalo swing to Canisius and Niagara, Dunne said he would like to see his team avoid the letdown that they have shown in parts of games as well as start to find their rhythm on offense.

“We shoot the ball so well in practice, that it’s just a matter of time until we find our rhythm in some of these games,” Dunne said. “I think each game we’ve played we’ve played 32 out of 40 really solid minutes and we just have to learn how to do 40. If we make one mistake we can’t come back and compound it with a second and a third and the good teams do that, the good experienced teams do that and the inexperienced teams that fall short don’t do that.”

Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and America East conference for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.

Fairfield’s Sydney Johnson on Lineup Shifts, Gilbert Brothers

Fairfield head coach Sydney Johnson said he had seen enough after a 49-point effort in 61 possessions at home against Holy Cross.

“We needed to play better I wasn’t just going to sit back and let us not play as well and not do things,” Johnson said. “Sometimes that’s reflected in the lineup, sometimes that’s reflected in stuff we do in practice. We’re shooting a lot more free throws, we’re shooting a lot more jump shots, certain things that just have to happen, because we weren’t performing.”

“I think I like the lineup where it is now, but if we can’t reach our potential as a team, we’ve got to look at some other guys getting some looks, but right now we’ll probably stick with this group for now.”

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Sydney Johnson (center) said the lineup he brought with him to Mohegan Sun will likely be the lineup he brings at teams all season long.

Johnson changed his starting lineup when his team reached Mohegan Sun for two games and has stuck behind a lineup with K.J. Rose, Doug Chappell, Marcus Gilbert, Coleman Johnson and captain Amadou Sidibe. Despite losing three games since – two to the likes of Louisville and Providence, Johnson said he has seen the offensive improve over the last three games. The Stags put together their best offensive performance last Friday at Providence scoring 0.97 points per possession in a 78-69 loss to the Friars.

“I like how fluid we were, how much we share the ball and it was our point of emphasis going into that game,” Johnson said of the offense’s improvement against Providence. “We were just more stagnant than I wanted us to be and I take the blame for that. I wasn’t stressing that enough and that made us predictable.”

With the new lineup the Stags bring senior captain Mo Barrow off the bench, a role that has led to two of his three double-digit scoring games so far and allows Johnson to have a reliable presence that can have an impact.

“I think we know what we’re going to get out of Mo, he’s so reliable,” Johnson said. “It allows some of the younger guys to start the game, and if they start well we can roll with it, if they don’t start as well Mo is the kind of guy who can rescue us. I think that’s going to hold all year long.”

The rotation has started to come into shape and Johnson said that the group that has played the last three games will continue to see action in the same way as long as they are healthy.

One player Johnson said he wants to see improve on the floor is sophomore captain Sidibe, who has averaged just six points and less than six rebounds per game, who he said needs to focus on his game as well as being a leader.

“His issue is as a captain you have to be responsible for so many other guys, but you also can’t forget your own play,” Johnson said of Sidibe. “I’ve spent some time just reminding him his worth and what he brings to the table and making sure he’s keyed in on those things then also lead us as a captain. I expect him to play better.”

“I would say he hasn’t played as well as he did as a freshman to this point, but six or seven games into last year we didn’t know how good of a player we had on our hands. I think Amadou is going to be a program guy, there’s no doubt about it. It’s just returning to simplifying it a little bit more and he’ll get back to producing the way we hope.”

One of the most consistent players on the roster has been Sidibe’s classmate Marcus Gilbert who has averaged 13 points per game and scored a career-high 26 points against Holy Cross.

“He’s maturing right before our eyes,” Johnson said. “He’s a guy that we could rely on to make a jump shot last year and gave us a little bit of defense, now he could he’s on track to be our leading scorer.”

“He may be the guy that leads us in points and he’s starting to be more vocal. He’s just more confident and a confident Marcus Gilbert is probably likely to be an all-conference player maybe this year, definitely as an upperclassmen.”

Meanwhile his older brother Malcolm, who will play three seasons of eligibility with the Stags, has had an impact on the game defensively while still working through his offensive game. Marcus registered eight blocks in his first game with the Stags and has shown the ability to grab rebounds after playing very limited minutes the last three years.

“I’d probably give him somewhere in the B range,” Johnson said of grading Malcolm’s performance through seven games. “We’re throwing so much stuff at him. He hasn’t played in almost three years, it’s crazy for him to have an eight block game and have some good dunks and effect the game so well defensively. I think he’s ahead of things offensively, I told people all along he’s a work in progress, but he is making that progress. I just think we have a really good player on our hands moving forward and he needs time to get some of that rust off.”

Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and America East conference for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryanarestivo or contact Ryan at rrestivo[at]nycbuckets.com.