America East Notebook
The first full week of America East play is in the books. Already, just two teams have emerged without a loss in conference play as Boston University and Vermont both sport 4-0 records. By the end of next week, there will be no more than one, as the two teams will meet in Burlington next Sunday.
Well-Tested Teams On Top
If the early action and non-conference play is any indicator, it looks like this season will come down to two-time defending champion Vermont and Boston University, two teams that were well-tested in non-conference play. The Catamounts nearly knocked off Kansas to open the season, played at North Carolina, and also have a win at Holy Cross among their mid-major opponents. The Terriers played six straight road games after opening with two at home, including a close loss at Boston College and a win at Michigan. Right now, it looks like the non-conference challenges are paying off.
Impact Transfers
A couple of backcourt transfers have wasted little time making their presence known. Albany has received an instant boost from Lucious Jordan, who transferred from Loyola-Maryland, and Maine’s leading scorer is UNLV transfer Ernest Turner. Albany head coach Will Brown said that Jordan was “our best player every single day in practice” last season, and the junior guard hasn’t stopped as he is fifth in the conference in scoring. Turner ranks tenth in the conference in scoring and had a career-high 28 points against Vermont on Saturday.
Close to Redshirting
Two of Boston University’s freshmen, Ibrahim Konate and Ben Coblyn, have been injured for much of the season. Head coach Dennis Wolff is high on both, but Konate has been out with a leg injury and a bad back has shelved Coblyn for much of the season. As they may not be well enough for game action just yet, Wolff said he is very close to deciding to redshirt both players.
“Even if they were to come back now healthy, we’ve got a nine-man rotation, it might be difficult to get them into that rotation,” said Wolff, who also noted that they would be quite out of sync due to inconsistent practice because of the injuries.
Player of the Week
Taylor Coppenrath, Vermont
The senior forward is the nation’s leading scorer and did nothing to hurt that this past week while leading the Catamounts to two more wins. He had 28 points and 6 rebounds against Northeastern, then followed that up with 25 points against Maine.
Rookie of the Week
Antwan Hardy, Stony Brook
The team’s leading scorer had 16 points against UMBC and 15 against New Hampshire. Sunday, his efforts helped them to their first conference win of the season.
Albany (6-7, 2-2 America East)
The Great Danes have certainly made strides this season as expected, as they have already topped last season’s win total. The most notable area is the offensive end, where they are second in scoring and field goal percentage and lead in three-point shooting by a wide margin. The three-guard attack of transfer Lucious Jordan (17.8 ppg, 45.9% on three-pointers), sophomore Jamar Wilson (16.8 ppg, 5 apg) and sophomore Jon Iati (11 ppg) pace the offense. Another transfer, Kirsten Zoellner, leads the team in rebounding with 5.8 per game, with Levi Levine right behind him at 5.7 per game.
On Thursday, Wilson (22 points) and Jordan (14) led the way in a 73-51 blowout of host New Hampshire. The Great Danes scored 14 unanswered points to open an early 25-7 lead and were never threatened after that. On Sunday, they allowed Northeastern to shoot over 63% from the field in the second half, including 6-9 on three-pointers, as the Huskies took home a 73-70 win.
The Great Danes host Binghamton on Wednesday before they hit the road for three games, the first of which is at Maine on Sunday.
Binghamton (4-9, 1-3)
The Bearcats have one of the real mysteries of the conference thus far – what has happened to Nick Billings? The senior big man, who has attracted the attention of NBA scouts, has played limited minutes and has not been very productive in that time. Head coach Al Walker, likely asked about Billings on a regular basis, would not comment on his play.
Billings isn’t alone in the frontcourt’s overall struggles, though one of his mates has recently picked it up. With high-scoring junior Andre Heard and sophomore Troy Hailey leading the offense, senior Alex Adediran has been on a roll since being suspended for their loss to Vermont. Since that game, he has averaged 12.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, including career highs of 18 points and 9 rebounds in their 65-52 win over Maine last Thursday. The win over Maine is their only home game of their last eight.
Early on, the guards took most of this team’s shots, a surprise considering the veterans the Bearcats return up front. Heard didn’t fare well in the first half of the team’s two Boston contests, as he scored all of his points in both games in the second half. Although he hasn’t shot the ball well over the balance of the season, this past week he especially hit a slump as he was just 7-33 from the field against Maine and Boston University.
Despite all of the frontcourt struggles, turnovers might be the biggest issue this team faces. Only three players have more assists than turnovers, and for the season the Bearcats give the ball away more than 15 times per game. Turnovers are one thing Hailey must do to reach his potential, as he has plenty of it but has 22 assists and 36 turnovers on the season. Walker thinks this may be the one thing keeping the team from being a serious contender in the conference.
“This team, this year, will surrender possessions – that cannot result in a championship-caliber America East basketball team,” he said after the loss at Boston University. “We cannot surrender possessions. That’s where we struggle.”
The Bearcats have one more road game before returning home, as they head to Albany on Wednesday before hosting New Hampshire on Sunday.
Boston University (10-3, 4-0)
The Terriers are doing it with defense once again, as they are tops in America East in both scoring defense and field goal percentage defense by wide margins. They’re also efficient on the offensive end as the top shooting team in the conference.
The Terriers blew out Hartford on Thursday and pulled away from Binghamton on Sunday in just their third and fourth home games of the season. Their 69-54 win over Binghamton was a back-and-forth game for most of the first half, but they broke it open in the final minutes by scoring 11 unanswered points to turn a one-point game into a 39-27 lead. The Terriers used their press to slow down the Bearcat offense and create 16 turnovers, which they turned into 22 points. Along with star seniors Chaz Carr (8 points, 5 assists) and Rashad Bell (10 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks), role players Matt Wolff (team-high 15 points) and improving Kevin Gardner (12 points, 11 rebounds for his first career double-double) helped lead the Terriers to the win. They have never lost to the Bearcats in seven games against them.
This week, the Terriers finish their three-game home stand against UMBC on Thursday before traveling to Vermont for an early showdown with the Catamounts.
Hartford (5-8, 1-3)
The Hawks had quite a week, playing four games within seven days and splitting them, and with all games won or lost in spectacular fashion save for their 63-58 win over Longwood. Their 73-22 blowout loss at Boston University marked two historic lows – the fewest points in a game in the program’s history, and their largest margin of defeat. The Hawks showed great character on Saturday by bouncing back with an 80-54 trouncing of UMBC behind 18 points from leading scorer Aaron Cook.
The Hawks’ biggest area for improvement is defense, as they are next-to-last in scoring defense and last in field goal percentage defense. Thursday’s game, where they shot below 15% from the field, is purely an aberration.
The Hawks welcome Northeastern on Wednesday and travel to Stony Brook on Saturday.
Maine (7-6, 2-2)
The Black Bears have been carried by their guards thus far, though the post players look to have hit their stride. The backcourt due of Ernest Turner (14.7 ppg) and Kevin Reed (11.4 ppg) has led the way, with Reed being the conference’s top three-point shooter thus far (38.4%) and also the team’s top rebounder (6.8 per game). Mark Flavin has come along after a slow start, while David Dubois and Joe Campbell have played well in their roles all season.
The biggest problem for the Black Bears has been turnovers, as they average 18 per game. Until recently, senior Chris Markwood was the only player on the team with more assists than turnovers (the others are Campbell and freshman Jason Hight). Markwood suffered a broken hand in last week’s 73-60 win over Stony Brook, and will miss four to six weeks.
In their 65-62 loss at Binghamton, the Black Bears rallied from an early deficit to take the lead in the second half, but the Bearcats would later regain the lead for good and hold off every run Maine was able to make. Flavin led the way with 16 points, while Campbell had 12 points and 11 rebounds. The Black Bears nearly knocked off Vermont on Saturday, losing 67-66 despite a career-high 28 points from Turner. They built up a 48-37 lead with 9:37 left, but a 20-4 run by the Catamounts gave them the lead until the final minute. The Black Bears then took a 66-63 lead until the Catamounts scored the final four points of the game.
Maine is at New Hampshire on Thursday, then comes home to host Albany on Sunday.
New Hampshire (5-8, 1-3)
The Wildcats’ season started out with plenty of promise as they won four of their first five, but they hit a wall near the end of non-conference play and have started out 1-3 in conference play. They are near the bottom of the conference in scoring and have struggled on the boards, as only Northeastern has been out-rebounded more, but a good sign as conference play gets going is the health of Ben Sturgill. Sturgill is second on the team in scoring and fourth in the league in rebounding, and the senior captain is their best post threat. He broke his jaw in practice last week and missed their 73-51 loss against Albany, but returned in Sunday’s game.
For the third year in a row, Albany beat the Wildcats in Durham. The Great Danes out-rebounded the Wildcats 44-21, almost beating them with just their 19 offensive rebounds. Leading scorer Blagoj Janev led the Wildcats with 15 points. Sturgill’s return on Sunday was not enough to lift the Wildcats past host Stony Brook, as their second half played did them in after a good start. Janev and talented freshman Mike Christensen each had 14 points, with Janev also grabbing 10 rebounds. Sturgill played just 12 minutes, partly because of foul trouble.
The Wildcats host Maine on Thursday, then head to Binghamton on Sunday.
Northeastern (7-6, 3-1)
The Huskies’ lone conference blemish thus far is last Wednesday’s setback against Vermont, a 75-60 defeat in which they had their chances. Their carelessness on offense hurt them throughout, and the Catamounts took full advantage of it.
The Huskies picked up a road win at Albany on Sunday to take sole possession of third place in the conference at 3-1. In the second half, they shot over 63% and made six of nine three-pointers to break the game open before hanging on for the win 73-70 win. The dynamic backcourt of Marcus Barnes (19 points) and Jose Juan Barea (17 points, 9 assists) led the way. Barea leads the conference in assists with 6.7 per game.
Freshman Shawn James, the nation’s leading shot-blocker, did not play in the last two games due to an academic matter. Head coach Ron Everhart said his return is uncertain at this time.
The Huskies head to Hartford on Wednesday before hosting UMBC on Saturday.
Stony Brook (6-7, 1-3)
Stony Brook was dealt a severe blow last month when sophomore guard Mitchell Beauford was lost for the season with a broken right foot. He was leading the team in scoring at just under 17 points per game. Since he played in six games, he should be able to get a medical redshirt.
The Seawolves have one of the conference’s top freshmen once again, as Antwan Hardy leads the team in scoring at just under 13 points per game, though he has stepped up to average over 16 points in conference play. Helping out has been the resurgence of junior guard Bobby Santiago, who isn’t shooting well but has capably run the show and leads the team in steals.
Last Wednesday, the Seawolves blew a 13-point lead in the final 12:21 as host UMBC scored a 74-67 win. 11 turnovers in the second half doomed them. Hardy had 16 points and Santiago added 15 to lead four players who scored in double figures. They turned the tables on Sunday, using a strong second half to beat visiting New Hampshire by a 73-64 margin. They took the lead near the midway point of the second half with a 12-2 run, then regaining the lead for good when they scored nine unanswered points to break a 56-56 tie. Hardy led the way with 15 points, Santiago had 12, and Jairus McCollum (10 points, 9 rebounds) and Cori Spencer (10 points, 8 rebounds) pulled double duty.
The Seawolves host Vermont on Wednesday and Hartford on Saturday.
UMBC (6-7, 1-3)
The Retrievers have been paced by the inside-outside duo of senior point guard Rob Gogerty, who leads the conference in assist/turnover ratio, and senior forward Andrew Feeley, the conference’s top rebounder (8.9 per game). Gogerty recently became the ninth player in the program’s history to record 300 or more assists.
Last Wednesday, an 18-2 run rallied the Retrievers from a 13-point second half deficit as they beat Stony Brook by a 74-67 margin. Rob Gogerty led the way with 17 points and keyed the run, but the game was won when they made 10 of 12 free throws in the final 55 seconds – after coming into the game shooting just 57.5% from the free throw line. Saturday was very different, as the Retrievers suffered their worst conference loss in their brief stay in America East, 80-54 at Hartford. Senior forward Cory McJimson led the way with 14 points before suffering an ankle injury late in the first half, which limited his second half play. Freshman Rashad Bilal added 13.
The Retrievers head to Boston to play Boston University on Thursday, then stay in town to take on Northeastern on Saturday.
Vermont (8-3, 4-0)
The Catamounts are off and running in conference play, helped by wins over two of the better teams last week. They picked up at 75-60 win at Northeastern in front of a capacity crowd at Solomon Court, then came home and barely knocked off Maine, 67-66 in a rematch of last season’s conference title game behind 25 points each from Taylor Coppenrath and T.J. Sorrentine.
Wednesday night, Coppenrath’s 28 points, 18 of which came in the second half, led the way, but David Hehn was a big contributor as well with nine points and 16 rebounds. Against Maine, the Catamounts had to rally from an 11-point deficit in the final ten minutes of the game and trailed 66-63 in the final minute.
While the veterans have led the way on this senior-laden team, the Catamounts have received important contributions from freshmen Josh Duell and Ryan Schneider. Duell had 8 points, including two big three-pointers, against Northeastern, while Schneider is third on the team in scoring.
“We know, in order to be there at the end, we’re going to have to get contributions from (Josh Duell) and Schneider, particularly. We know that,” head coach Tom Brennan said.
The Catamounts host Dartmouth in a non-league game on Monday before returning to conference play. They head to Stony Brook on Wednesday, then return home for an early showdown with Boston University on Sunday.
