New England Round-up
As Christmas has just come, here’s a look at what’s going on with many of the New England schools. Most will get right back on the hardwood within a couple of days of the holiday.
Huskies can’t finish what they start
Northeastern can be awfully good at times – the first 16 minutes or so of Tuesday night’s loss to Providence proved that, as well as their 6-1 start. But the final minutes of the first half and all of the second half of Tuesday’s game showed that the Huskies can also look ordinary.
The Huskies made their first six shots of the game en route to an early 16-8 lead, and later built a 39-28 lead. They moved the ball well and got good shots, and were shooting well as a result. But the Friars came back to tie the game at 17 thanks to some offensive rebounds, then scored 31 unanswered points after the 11-point lead the Huskies built up and it was never a contest after that.
“I feared exactly what happened in the second half,” head coach Ron Everhart said after the game. “I never would have imagined a 31-0 run, but we just couldn’t make a shot and we couldn’t get a rebound.”
Everhart noted the lack of patience by the offense as well as the rebounding difficulties – both constant problems for this team in recent years. The Huskies came into the game as the nation’s fourth-best scoring team and one of the nation’s top shooting teams at 51.6 percent. On Tuesday night, they shot just 25 percent in the second half and just over 34 percent for the game, and were out-rebounded 51-37 – even bigger than their margin coming in (as foes grab more than four boards per game more than they do).
Top two scorers Jose Juan Barea and Bobby Kelly combined for just eight points in the second half after each had 12 in the opening stanza. Barea had seven points in the opening 16-8 run, and though he had 11 assists and two turnovers, he was 6-19 from the field.
During the Friars’ big run, Northeastern missed 15 consecutive shots and didn’t score for over ten minutes. That’s not a stretch that they are likely to repeat, but it is a concern since their impatience is not an isolated case and they won’t always get plenty of chances to run. The Friars shot nearly 62 percent from the field and committed just two turnovers in the second half, thereby denying them an opportunity to run.
The Huskies hit the road to take on Wright State on Dec. 27 before returning home to play Holy Cross three days later.
Terriers reach holidays on a good note
With Wednesday’s 69-56 win at Canisius, Boston University reaches Christmas having won four of five after starting off with four straight losses. In that game, the Terriers took advantage of their size as they had a 36-18 edge in points in the paint, riding that to victory.
The Terriers also get a personnel boost as sophomore forward Tony Gaffney will return from his suspension in their next game. Gaffney has the talent to be a breakout player for the Terriers, who could use a go-to guy since they have several complementary scorers. Freshman Corey Hassan leads the team in scoring at 11.5 points per game, with Kevin Gardner not far behind at 11.0. After that, there is a noticeable drop-off, as Brian Macon is next at 6.8 points per game. Not one of the top three scorers is really a go-to guy; Hassan is a shooter, Gardner never has been a big scorer, and Shaun Wynn is a solid second or third option but not a go-to guy. Gaffney could conceivably develop into that kind of player, but now he will be playing for the first time in a month.
The Terriers head west after Christmas to play in the Cable Car Classic at Santa Clara. They first have a tough matchup with defending Patriot League champion Bucknell on Wednesday night, then play either of Santa Clara or UC Riverside on Thursday night.
Minutemen are ready to start playing
UMass hasn’t had many chances to see how good this year’s team may be. Friday night’s win over Siena at the Mullins Center was just the team’s seventh game thus far, and their second game in about three weeks.
“We’ve been practicing so much,” said senior forward Jeff Viggiano. “When you’re beating up on each other every day, that gets a little old.”
The Minutemen go into Christmas with two consecutive home wins, a 64-45 decision over Boston University on December 12 and Friday night’s 78-69 win over Siena. They took over in the second half against Boston University, while having to hold off a late charge by the Saints in the second half on Friday night.
On Friday, the Minutemen couldn’t shake the Saints until late in the first half, never getting a double-digit lead until they went into the locker room up 44-34. They would later go up by 15 before the Saints started to come back steadily. The Saints got within 71-69 late, before the Minutemen scored the game’s last seven points, starting with a tough off-balance jumper by freshman Chris Lowe.
Rashaun Freeman (23 points, 12 rebounds against Siena) has been the key post presence for the Minutemen, who got a little deeper on Friday night. Pittsburgh transfer Dante Milligan made his debut, scoring seven points and getting eight rebounds in 20 minutes. He gives them ten scholarship players, which is the most they will have this season, and head coach Travis Ford was happy with what he got out of Milligan.
“Dante, tonight, really made things happen,” said Ford. “He was out there, hitting balls away – it seems like he was in the right place at the right time about three times – he was batting balls, getting deflections, just doing a lot of hustle plays. That’s all he needs to concentrate on, because his skill level is probably game-rusty, but if you get in there and just work hard and try to make things happen, that’s all I need from you.”
Lowe continues to come along at the point, a position where the Minutmen entered the season with no clear incumbent. Maurice Maxwell has started there, but hasn’t been the same player this year although he offers a height advantage. If Lowe can continue to come along, that would let Maxwell play on the wing more, where he seems better suited. Lowe had ten points, but none bigger than his jumper with the shot clock running down that started the game-ending 7-0 run.
“That’s when you gain your respect, in tight situations – when you get 20-point victories, you don’t gain a lot of respect,” said Ford of his freshman floor leader. “When you handle the ball and you do the things you had to do in the second half – he never came out, and he was fatigued but he fought through it.”
The Minutemen will now play a few more games, starting with two in as many days at the Panasonic Holiday Festival in New York on Tuesday and Wednesday. They play St. Peter’s on Tuesday, then either St. John’s or Columbia on Wednesday. After the new year comes, they play their next-to-last non-conference game with a trip east to Boston College on January 3.
Young Bulldogs show some promise
This year’s Yale team has a little different look than in some recent years, namely in that it’s a lot younger. Only two seniors dot the roster, and three starters in Thursday’s 76-63 loss to Providence are sophomores with freshman Ross Morin joining them. Part of the reason for the young starters is the recent eye injury to junior Sam Kaplan, as well as the very recent return of senior center Dominick Martin, who was playing in just his third game.
Martin has yet to start a game, but he surely will before long. He’s their most proven post scorer, and he wasted no time doing that in his first game back as he scored 14 points in 18 minutes against Hampton. He had 13 points and seven rebounds against the Friars, but struggled as he went 5-13 from the field. How much of a boost he ultimately gives them is unclear, as they haven’t had him and Kaplan, who was the Ivy League Player of the Week in the opening week of the season, together on the floor yet.
“We’ll see how big an impact he has when Sam gets back,” said head coach James Jones.
The post figures to be less of an issue for the Bulldogs going forward. They committed 18 turnovers against Providence and lead the Ivy League in that category by nearly two over Brown. It offsets their league-leading assist total and then some, and takes away from their league-leading rebound advantage.
“We have to do a better job of taking care of the ball,” said Jones, who added that this is the most important issue for the team to address as the season goes along. “If we take care of the ball, we’re a pretty good basketball team. If we don’t turn it over 20 times a game – if we cut it down to 15 times a game – we’ll be in pretty good shape. We’ll be in a lot of games.”
The young Bulldogs have a sophomore and a freshman at the point guard spot, but that’s not the only position where the turnovers come from. Only two regulars, freshmen Travis Pinick and Chris Andrews, have more assists than turnovers.
At 5-5, the Bulldogs have shown some promise thus far, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they’re at least going for the top half of a down Ivy League when it’s all said and done. Later in the week, they head to Corpus Christi, Texas for the Flint Hills Invitational and matchups with James Madison and either Savannah State or Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Other New England Notes
- Harvard couldn’t quite set a new record for non-conference wins in the Frank Sullivan era, as they were blown out by Boston College on Thursday. Brian Cusworth’s wrist injury is not thought to be serious, and he should at least be back by Ivy League play. The Crimson will have one more chance at setting the record, as they play at SMU on Wednesday in their final non-conference game.
- Rhode Island rebounded from its loss to Wagner thanks to a career night from Dawan Robinson. In their 87-72 win over Quinnipiac on Thursday, Robinson had 37 points on 14-21 shooting and added five assists and five steals. Robinson didn’t have a very good game against Wagner, just further demonstrating that the Rams need him to play more like he did two years ago if they are going to contend in the Atlantic 10. Will Daniels also continued to come along, posting a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
- Fairfield got a boost with the return of senior DeWitt Maxwell, who missed the first semester after being declared ineligible for a violation of the Student Code of Conduct. In a guard-dominated MAAC, a player like Maxwell who can rebound and play bigger can be a difference-maker. The Stages are being out-rebounded by more than six boards per game, and that’s where Maxwell likely gives them the most help, as he is their leading returning rebounder from last season.
