Late-season updates
As we’re approaching the month of march, the action is heating up as some teams make late charges for potential at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament, while other teams play for seeds in either their conference tournament or the NCAA. Still others are playing more for next year than right now.
As crunch time comes, here is a look at a few notes from around the country as we head into the final week before conference tournaments get started.
Next Phase for the Lions: Being Targeted
It’s tough for Columbia to sneak up on teams nowadays. The Lions two years ago won two games and went winless in the Ivy League. The Lions moved forward last year, going 10-17, and have already surpassed that win total this season.
That won’t be enough, however, for a team that started the season 7-1 and was once in second place in the Ivy League. The Lions have not won a game in the month of February, losing seven straight after Friday night’s 68-59 home loss to Princeton. Second year head coach Joe Jones knows the team can work out of its funk, and this weekend would be a good time for it with league leader Penn coming in on Saturday.
“Sometimes when you lose, it kind of snowballs on you, and we’ve just got to work ourselves out of it,” Jones said. “We have great character, and I feel good about the fact that we can work ourselves out of it, because we have a good attitude about it.”
One aspect of this has been the very fact that the Lions are not the league doormats they were two seasons ago, though they have fallen into last place with their recent struggles. Now that they have a new coach, an improved talent base and are more experienced, the Lions have a target on their back. While teams don’t write off opponents at the bottom of their league anywhere, it’s natural for athletes to come out with that much more effort against a team at or near the top. The Lions now need to adjust to taking better shots from opponents.
“We need to really understand that people are ready to play against us now,” Jones said. “I think people respect how hard we play and the effort that they give, and kids come in ready to play.”
Said senior Matt Preston, who leads the team in scoring and rebounding: “We’ve got to approach each game with a high amount of focus.”
Jones said seniors like Preston need to lead them out of this, and he’s confident they can do it. In so doing, they will help the talented freshman class that Jones and his staff brought in to be contenders in the future.
“We’re in this situation right now because they put us in this situation,” he said. “Now that’s another step they’ve got to take, and they’ve got to get it done.”
The future is bright, as freshmen Mack Montgomery, Brett Loscalzo and Ben Nwachukwu all have shown promise. Loscalzo has a 1.5 assist/turnover ratio, good for second in the Ivy League, while Montgomery is fourth on the team in scoring and Nwachukwu already has a solid frame and should be a force on the low post in the years to come.
Irish Need a Little Frontcourt Help
Notre Dame isn’t lacking for capable bodies in the frontcourt. They are healthy there, and with the addition of Arizona transfer Dennis Latimore, they are more talented and certainly deeper than last year. Even so, that area has been a trouble spot all season long, and it’s the missing link for a team that will be dangerous with its perimeter trio of Chris Thomas, Chris Quinn and sharpshooter Colin Falls. Head coach Mike Brey is trying to see the bright side of things.
“We need our frontcourt to step up and establish themselves,” he said. “It’s February, and we’re still searching a little bit. But I like the fact that we’ll throw anybody in there, and if one guy is going, we’re going to ride him, and the other guys are going to watch.”
Last Saturday at Providence, the player they rode was senior Rick Cornett. With Latimore, Torin Francis and Jordan Cornette, it’s easy for him to get buried amidst the talent they have up front, and on the season his minutes average in the single digits. Saturday was a career game, as he posted his first career double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds to help the Irish pull out a 62-61 win on the road. Latimore and Francis didn’t play many minutes in that game because Brey wanted to keep his best defender, Cornette, on Providence senior Ryan Gomes. It paid off, as Gomes was just 5-18 from the field.
The Fighting Irish are in a position to make the NCAA Tournament, but a few more wins in the final weeks would certainly put closer to being a lock. Their most notable wins are over Villanova, Connecticut and Boston College, so they’re not lacking in quality wins. They could add another non-conference win on Sunday when UCLA comes to the Joyce Center. While a loss doesn’t doom the Irish, a win will put them a little closer to being a lock.
Huskies Look to Grab Second Place in America East
Northeastern completed its first season sweep of Boston University since the 1998-99 season with a 63-48 win over the Terriers at Harry Agganis Arena on Sunday. With the win, as well as both teams picking up home wins on Thursday night, the Huskies and Terriers are tied for second place in the conference, with the Huskies having a tiebreaker by virtue of their season sweep. A win over improved Albany on Sunday will clinch the second seed.
The Huskies were simply the tougher team in a game that won’t win any awards for beauty. They held the Terriers without a field goal for the final 8:18 of the game, and in the second half they forced nine turnovers. Neither team shot above 34% from the field for the game.
“Obviously it was kind of a scrappy, possession-by-possession fight type of game,” Terriers head coach Dennis Wolff said.
The Huskies are not known for their defense, but held the Terriers to about 20 points below their season average of points allowed.
“We applied a lot of pressure, and I think we forced them to be a little uncomfortable, at least in the last four minutes of the game,” said Husky head coach Ron Everhart.
Early on, the Huskies’ propensity for quick shots in the possession hurt them, as they shot just over 23% in the first half. But they didn’t allow the Terriers to break the game open and went into the locker room down by just five. That gave them a chance to come back, but they never made a serious charge until near the halfway point when they scored eight unanswered points to tie the game at 41.
The Huskies took the lead for good on a layup by Shawn James (16 points, 10 rebounds) with 6:26 left to start a 6-0 run. In the final minutes, the Huskies continued to get stops and made just enough free throws to seal the victory. While the Terriers struggled from the line, going just 7-16, the Huskies were hardly aces as they were 15-25.
Marcus Barnes led the Huskies with 20 points and 4 steals, and Jose Juan Barea had 10 points and six assists. Barea survived a scary play in the second half when he was hammered going up for a layup and went down, then got stepped on by a teammate. He stayed on the floor rolling his head, then got up and returned after sitting out briefly.
At the moment, this meeting is the last regular season one between the two schools that is certain, but both coaching staffs have indicated that they intend to continue the rivalry next season when Northeastern goes to the Colonial Athletic Association.
Other Notes
- Add Marquette to the list of teams with a player lost for the remainder of the season that will doom their hopes for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles have very little time to prove they can win consistently without him, which would be tough enough as it is considering how much he meant to their success.
- A bad case of history repeating itself: twice this season, Missouri-Kansas City lost to Chicago State on last-second shots. Early in February, a 60-foot shot as time expired fell to give the Cougars the win, then on Thursday night, a jumper by Tony Weeden with one second left gave them a 74-72 win. Despite the heart-breaking losses, the Kangaroos are still in the driver’s seat to get the top seed in the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament next weekend.
- A season after coming back to earth, Winthrop is back on top of the Big South Conference. Much like Holy Cross in the Patriot League, the Eagles had been the team to beat until last year, winning four straight conference titles. This year, the Eagles have once again rolled through the conference with a 14-1 record. They haven’t just beaten up on conference opponents, either; they have a 23-5 record and wins over Providence and East Carolina.
