Category: NEC

Wagner Looks Strong in First Mid-Major Test

After losing to St. John’s and Penn State, two teams residing in a “power” conference, and defeating Division II participant Chestnut Hill, Wagner traveled to Baltimore on Monday evening for their first mid-major test. Coppin State, a MEAC team coming off an impressive upset over Oregon State, would serve as a terrific early season litmus test for the Seahawks. Continue reading “Wagner Looks Strong in First Mid-Major Test” →

Weekend MAAC and America East Observations

After taking a road trip to Connecticut and a long first week of basketball, here are some extra thoughts on the two conferences I cover for Big Apple Buckets, the MAAC and the America East. In addition, Ryan Peters shared his thoughts  on UMBC, who stunned Mount St. Mary’s on Sunday afternoon with a come from behind victory. Continue reading “Weekend MAAC and America East Observations” →

UMBC 90, Mount St. Mary’s 84

After a challenging start to the season that included West Virginia, Villanova and BYU, all teams in Ken Pomeroy’s top 80, it was business as usual for Mount St. Mary’s, at least in the early going. Despite only having nine scholarship players on the roster for the remainder of the season, Mount Mayhem was in full effect.

Their up-tempo and frenetic pressing scheme was a shock to UMBC’s system, as the Mount raced out to a 19-6 lead after eight minutes and maintained that lead into halftime. With half of the game in the books, the Mount had forced 11 UMBC turnovers and scored 15 points off those Retriever miscues, while draining 62% of their shots. The team showed little effect after having to play BYU in Utah less than 48 hours prior.

The momentum carried into the second half, and after a three-pointer by Rashad Whack extended the lead to 23 points with 14 minutes left, it appeared all but over. This was, after all, a UMBC team that has struggled to shoot the basketball and had just suffered a heartbreaking overtime loss at American. One of the youngest teams in the nation would surely concede victory to their veteran opponents, right?

Not exactly. Foul trouble and tired legs began to infect the Mount’s resolve. An inexperienced, yet feisty UMBC group, led by promising freshman point guard Rodney Elliott, slowly began to carve the lead down. The resurgence was partially due to a flurry of second chance opportunities on the offensive glass.  For the game, UMBC won the rebounding margin by an astounding 20 rebounds. A 20 to 2 edge on the offensive glass led to 19 second chance points for UMBC (versus only 1 point for Mount St. Mary’s), and kept UMBC alive.

“That was a key to us in the game and we did a much better job attacking the glass in the second half,” said UMBC head coach Aki Thomas, now in his second season. “I think with the athletes we have and the rebounding nature of (players like Houston, Plummer, Taylor, etc.), that’s something we can hang our hats on every night and get us some second chance points and make teams foul us.”

With the Mount’s big men, particularly Kristijan Krajina and Taylor Danaher, in serious foul trouble late, UMBC held a distinctive size and athleticism advantage in the frontcourt. The Mount didn’t have an answer for UMBC forward Devarick Houston, who tallied 11 points and a career high 14 rebounds. He, along with freshman Charles Taylor, Jr. (17 points, 7 rebounds), terrorized the Mount late with their jaw dropping athleticism and never-say-die attitude down low.

In addition, Thomas and his staff adjusted to the Mount’s attacking style by putting more ball handlers on the floor. Throughout most of the second half, Elliott, Joey Getz, and Aaron Morgan made up a three guard rotation capable of breaking the press.

Thanks to the rebounding edge and the aforementioned adjustment, UMBC outscored the Mount 37-14 in the final 14 minutes to improbably send the game into overtime. The comeback didn’t seem possible, but an acrobatic layup by Getz in the final 10 seconds of regulation sent the UMBC crowd – mostly quiet during much of the game – into an absolute frenzy. Elliott’s seven points after the last media timeout certainly was critical.

In the extra frame, a short-handed and tired Mount bunch couldn’t keep up with the now rejuvenated players of UMBC. It was one of the more impressive, catch-your-breath type of comebacks, but Thomas remains focused on getting his team to play a complete game.

“The bottom line is we have to figure out how to put together two halves,” said Thomas. “And I think we have a really good team brewing.”

Julian Norfleet led the Mount with 28 points and six assists. Rashad Whack broke out of his shooting slump to score 20 on only 11 shots. Their efforts weren’t enough to carry the Mount, however, yet head coach Jamion Christian isn’t using the short turnaround time as an excuse for his team’s poor play late.

“I don’t think fatigue was an issue at all. We’re very well conditioned.”

Added Christian, “For 32 minutes we were probably the best team in the league. That’s where we are, and that’s where you have to base yourself at. And so you say, ‘hey we have to find a way to get eight more minutes.’ For 32 minutes I don’t think anyone thought about the travel (from BYU on Friday night). We’re a mentally tough team, a physically tough team, and we’re going to find a way at the end.”

Still, it has to be somewhat concerning for the defiant Christian that the Mount’s roster depth is dangerously thin at the moment. There have been some positive moments from freshmen Bryon Ashe, Khalid Nwandu, and Will Miller, but asking them to produce on a consistent basis isn’t terribly ideal.

Will the depleted depth force Christian to alter his pressing, up-tempo style down the road?

“We’re going to continue to play that way and then we can always back off and play a little zone,” answered Christian. “Our nature of our team is to attack and stay aggressive, and we’re going to continue to do that.”

You can follow Ryan on Twitter @pioneer_pride

Should We Be Concerned About Mount St. Mary’s?

From a mid-major perspective, you’d be hard pressed to find a more challenging non-conference schedule than Mount St. Mary’s. All three games have been against clubs in Ken Pomeroy’s top 100, with two of those landing inside the top 30 in BYU and Villanova. Despite the fierce competition, it’s unlikely Jamion Christian is pleased with his team’s effort thus far. They’ve been outscored by an average of 26 points and have allowed 1.27, 1.22, and 1.27 points per possession, respectively. Even though they played 32 times last season, these games the past week have been among the three worst defensive performances of Christian’s young coaching career.

Jamion Chrisitan's team has struggled in the early going. (Photo Credit - Associated Press)
Jamion Chrisitan’s team has struggled in the early going. (Photo Credit – Associated Press)

Still, is it time to panic? Big Apple Buckets, in particular John and I, chose the Mount to finish second in our NEC standings. In all honestly, I was a little reluctant with the ranking, but who else was going to supplant them near the top? Robert Morris or LIU Brooklyn with all of their roster turnover? Bryant after losing Frankie Dobbs and in desperate need of adding reliable depth? Instead, we chose a Mount St. Mary’s team that returned four seniors – three of whom could easily find themselves on an all-conference team at season’s end.

What exactly has gone wrong? Let’s explore the issues that have plagued the Mount in the early going.

1) The Defense Has Faltered
In all fairness to the Mount, BYU is an offensive juggernaut that recently dropped 112 points on Stanford. But the overall effort has been disappointing, to say the least, especially when you lay out the numbers. We already unveiled the points allowed per possession statistics in the opening paragraph. In addition, Christian’s group has only turned their opponents over on 17.8% of their possessions. Last year that number was 23.8%, which was 18th best in the nation. Furthermore, the Mount has gone through some troubling defensive lapses that have allowed Villanova (22-6 run) and BYU (23-5 run) to break open the game in the first half. With so many underclassmen, players are still finding their roles, but the defense needs to put forth a more consistent effort.

2) The Big Guns Are Struggling
With the exception of Julian Norfleet who’s been very good, most of the Mountaineers have struggled to score. Rashad Whack and Sam Prescott have combined to shoot 28.1% from the field and just 28.6% from behind the arc. Only the big man duo of Kristijan Krajina and Taylor Danaher are making more than half of their field goal attempts. The Mount has done a respectable job protecting the basketball (35 assists against 32 turnovers), but that’s primarily due to Norfleet’s sparkling assist to turnover ratio of 2.4. (I told you he was awesome.)

Christian has preached to his team to jack up a ton of threes throughout the game, but so far they haven’t tickled the twine. In regards to three-point percentage, I’d expect a progression to the mean as the competition weakens.

3) Where’s the Bench Production
While I still believe the defense will improve and the seniors will produce, I’m most concerned about their second team. Kelvin Parker and Shivaughn Wiggins aren’t walking through that door. With only ten scholarship players in uniform this season, the team is an injury or two away from finding themselves in the same position Central Connecticut or Bryant was in last season. Due to injuries and ineffectiveness, those two squads were forced to roll with seven man rotations, which inevitably did them in by February. The Mount’s top 6-7 players match up well when compared to the rest of the NEC, but if Christian can’t employ a 9-10 man rotation, he simply can’t play Mayhem. Fouls would quickly rack up, legs would wear down, and the thin bench would be exposed in no time. There’s a lot of pressure on freshmen like Byron Ashe, Will Miller, and Khalid Nwandu to produce right away.

The next four games – UMBC, UMES, American, and Bucknell – will be critical in accessing the Mount’s future. I hate to put a number on it, but a ready-to-win, veteran squad needs to win three of the next four games, especially when considering the inexperience of the first three programs. I’ll have a seat on press row for at least two of those, and I’ll be curious to see if the Mount’s failures thus far have been mostly due to a brutal schedule.

I’m still on the Mount bandwagon, but I’ll have one foot out if they fail to impress, or at least win, before they head out to Michigan State after Thanksgiving.

You can follow Ryan at Twitter @pioneer_pride

Hartford 74, Fairleigh Dickinson 60

Sophomore Evan Cooper tied a career-high scoring 18 points off the bench and making four of Hartford’s 10 three-pointers Friday night as the Hawks used a 43-point second half to lead the Hawks to a 74-60 victory in their home opener over the Fairliegh Dickinson Knights at Chase Family Arena Friday night.

Wes Cole and Yasin Kolo added 11 and 10 points respectively, for a team that scored 46 bench points, which helped erase a deficit as large as 13 in the first half.

“We’ve been through a lot of different situations,” junior Mark Nwakamma said who scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half. “We’ve been down 15, 10, it doesn’t phase us. We just keep grinding back.”

COOPER
Evan Cooper (with ball) tied his career-high with 18 points in Hartford’s 74-60 victory.

The Knights jumped out in front early, scoring on their first five possessions, and opened up a 15-2 lead. The Hawks struggled against Fairleigh Dickinson’s 1-2-2 press early in the game after being forced into a shot clock violation and 10 second violation on back to back possessions.

“We didn’t even prepare physically to break it,” Hartford head coach John Gallagher said because they played on back to back days on Tuesday and Wednesday. “We made a few adjustments, we sent the guys to the dead corner and made the defense more spread, then we attacked it from there.”

Hartford turned the ball over seven times in the first eight minutes of play, but closed a gap as large as 13 by making five three-pointers. Cooper scored eight straight points and 10 points throughout a run that cut the Knights lead to two.

“We were attacking with poise instead of playing on the back of our heels,” Gallagher said of the key to the first half run. “We were attacking and that’s what you do against pressure, you have to make them pay.”

Corban Wroe made a quick pass to Nwakamma who laid it off the window to cut the lead to 27-25. The Hawks tied the game at 29 courtesy of two free throws from Yolonzo Moore II after being fouled by Mike Owona. Evan Cooper at the top of the key received a hand check from Jayde Dawson with 5.4 seconds, his two bonus free throws gave the Hawks their first lead at 31-29.

In the second half the Hawks traded baskets with the Knights until Cole drained three-pointers on back to back possessions to extend the lead to 44-40, forcing a timeout from head coach Greg Herenda.

“Tonight the shots were there on the perimeter,” Cole said. “First half they were collapsing on Mark every time, opportunities were there to make shots, tonight we were shot ready. They were making great passes and we just found a rhythm.”

Cooper, after making a transition layup to extend the Hawks lead to 53-45 took a hard spill underneath the basket. He would exit the game, with what he said later was a calf problem, but he returned with just under seven minutes left and his three-pointer from the left wing gave the Hawks an 11-point lead.

Nwakamma, who was held to just two points and one rebound in the first half, came out with a vengeance scooping up three offensive rebounds and scoring 12 points in the second half.

“I think, personally, I was trying to rush my shot,” Nwakamma said. “Second half I did a better job when they were coming to me.”

Sidney Sanders Jr. led the Knights with 13 points as Fairleigh Dickinson shot 55.3% from the field for the game. However the difference in the game came at the free throw line where the Knights went just six times, the Hawks made 18 of 25 from the free throw line to go with shooting 56.1% from the field.

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