Wildcats stand tall in loss; Gibbs, DiLiegro shine
by Sam Perkins
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass – Coach Bill Herrion isn’t one to turn a loss into a win, as he bluntly said “I’m not in to moral victories” after Saturday’s game.
On paper, New Hampshire lost by ten to a freshmen laden team missing two of its best players (power forward Shamari Spears and point guard Tyrese Rice, both suspended for the game). But looking at a box score won’t do an ounce of justice to the performance the Wildcats put on Saturday evening, one in which the positives far outweighed the negatives, and gave New Hampshire fans hope for the first time in a long time about the future of their team.
Herrion put a freshmen-laden squad, which lost nine players from last year, and was one of the biggest disappointments in the conference, on the floor and they played as a cohesive unit. But more than that, New Hampshire, picked to occupy the basement of the America East, went toe-to-toe with an ACC school and competed as equals for 40 minutes, as Herrion noted, “I’m not going to lie to you, that’s an ACC team, they have players.”
New Hampshire’s 67-57 loss to Boston College gave Herrion and all Wildcat fans a lot to look forward to.
“It was a positive for us, I saw a lot of great things out there,” he conceded. “The biggest fear I have, when you coach a young team, and a bunch of new guys, is just do they understand how hard they have to compete at the college level. We came down here and lost by 40 last year, and I saw a lot of good things today.”
New Hampshire took the floor as a team with few expectations and no hype, and the buzz among the media before the game was whether Boston College would win by more than they did when the two teams met last year (39 points). The Wildcats were smaller across the board than the Eagles, not to mention that UNH had been picked to finish last in the America East coach’s poll. In the early going, the game looked like it would be a repeat of last year, as 6’11” senior Tyrelle Blair set the tone early by rejecting two shots and deterring several others. UNH couldn’t seem to hit water if they collectively fell out of a boat, and the Eagles were taking advantage of their superior size, as 6’5″ guard Rakim Sanders and 6’7″ wing Tyler Roche had no trouble shooting over smaller UNH defenders while Biko Paris filled in as a stunt double for Rice.
With 11:35 left in the half Sanders stripped freshman Tyrone Conley of the ball and took it coast to coast for a dunk, putting the Eagles up 20-5. Sanders’ dunk seemed to be the back-breaker, as Herrion called a timeout immediately, and the Eagles left the floor with all the momentum. This was not a new position for Herrion, as the Wildcats found themselves in almost an identical situation last year when they opened the season at The Heights, and a year ago when BC punched New Hampshire in the mouth, the Wildcats wilted.
Herrion wouldn’t elaborate on what he said during the timeout, but when they emerged from the timeout, it was clear that this was a different Wildcat team from last season.
“It was one of those danger points,” said Herrion “where either the floodgates are going to open, or your going to make a decision to dig in deep, play some defense, make some stops and get back in it. The kids did a great job.”
In true “gut-check time,” the Wildcats left the huddle with no fear in their eyes, and took the ball right at the Eagles. No one exemplified New Hampshire’s determination more than junior guard Tyrece Gibbs, as he nailed back to back three’s over Sanders coming out of the timeout to make it 22-11. Gibbs scored nine of New Hampshire’s first 11 points.
The turning point came one possession later, as following an Eagle free-throw, Gibbs penetrated down the middle and kicked it to freshman Dane DiLiegro on the right block. DiLiegro’s approach epitomized the new Wildcat attitude of “never say die,” as having already been stuffed twice, he launched himself towards the basket with 6’10” center Josh Southern standing in his way. But DiLiegro, who won the opening tap over Blair, out-leapt Southern and emphatically slammed it home a two-handed dunk.
DiLiegro let out a yell as he ran down the court that made the message clear: UNH was there to play forty minutes of ball, and they weren’t backing down from anyone.
After DiLiegro’s dunk, it was back to the Tyrece Gibbs show, and what a show he put on. After nailing early threes over larger defenders, Gibbs took a different route, as he crossed over from his left to his right and left Corey Raji in his wake, and nailed his fourth three of the game to make the score 24-16. The next time down the court Gibbs took the ball at the top of the key, drove in on Sanders and banked a double-pump jumper off the glass to pull UNH within six. After a BC miss, Gibbs once again took it right at the Eagles, shaking Sanders out of his shoes before hitting a twisting lay-up around Southern to cut the lead to 24-20. Point guard Eric Gilchrese, a junior college transfer, then got into the action, as he went coast to coast and scored in traffic to bring the Wildcats to within two.
Following a Blair turnover, Gibbs hit Gilchrese with a perfect pass and Gilchrese knocked down an uncontested three to give New Hampshire its first lead. BC answered back with two free-throws, and was in position to once again take control of the game. However, DiLiegro forced Blair into traveling on two straight possessions, the second of which set up the play of the game.
A visibly upset Blair failed to get back on defense. As Gilchrese pushed the ball up court, Conley streaked down the right side behind the Eagles defense towards the basket. As Conley, whose 6’3″ listing seems a bit generous, took off, Gilchrese lofted a perfect pass from well behind the three-point arc. Conley seemed to hover with the basket at eye-level before catching the lob and throwing down a two-handed slam that left the Eagles in shock. Conley’s dunk gave New Hampshire the lead at 27-26.
Gibbs closed out the scoring with a free throw, and finished with a first half high 17 points, sending New Hampshire into the locker room with a 28-26 lead in one of the greatest first halves the Wildcats had played in recent memory.
The second half began with both teams ratcheting up the intensity, and neither willing to back down, as the Eagles and Wildcats traded shots, and the lead, several times. Boston College came out in he second half with a defensive strategy centering entirely on Gibbs, as they began to switch coming off of picks and double down on him as much as possible. While BC’s new defensive scheme limited Gibbs as a scorer in the second half, it also left other Wildcats open, with Gibbs taking on the role of a distributor. DiLiegro benefited from Gibbs passes early on, nailing two foul line jumpers to keep the Wildcats in the lead.
UNH looked as if they might pull away after senior Mike Christensen converted a lay-up to give New Hampshire a 39-35 lead. A Christensen steal on the following possession gave UNH a brief momentum boost, as the Wildcats had a three-on-two fast break, and a bucket there might have blown the doors off. Unfortunately they couldn’t convert, giving the ball, and the momentum, back to the Eagles.
Herrion felt the inability to convert and push the lead to six was a momentum killer, and impacted the outcome of the game.
“We had some opportunities to really create some separation, but we didn’t,” he commented. “We had one chance in the second half when we were up by four, and we had the momentum. We got out on the break and could have pushed the lead up to six, but we had poor shot selection and gave the game back to them.”
Following a BC bucket and free throw shot, UNH again pushed the ball and the tempo, but Christensen tried an ill-advised drive and turned the ball over, which led to a wide-open Sanders three at the other end, and a 41-39 BC lead. UNH fired back, however, as Conley nailed a jumper in traffic to tie the game at 41.
But BC began to wear down the Wildcats, as Raji and Sanders each scored four points apiece and Southern added a huge tip-in to give BC a 51-43 lead with eight and a half minutes remaining.
UNH clawed their way back, however, and with a little under five and a half minutes left freshman Alvin Abreu nailed a huge three pull UNH back to within three at 54-51. The Eagles scored four quick points, but Abreu once again nailed a huge three to make it 58-55. Unfortunately, that was a close as the game would get, as a final push put the game out of reach, and the Eagles closed it out 67-57.
Gibbs finished with 22 points (tied for the game high with Sanders), while DiLiegro finished with seven points and a game-high eleven rebounds and two blocks, while Abreu added ten points and Conley chipped in seven.
The loss was tough to take, but Herrion saw many things he liked, especially the play of his freshmen as he said, “Our freshmen were great. Great.”
Especially impressive was the play of DiLiegro, who forced senior Tyrelle Blair to commit several fouls, as well as turn the ball over several times. DiLiegro took Blair out of his game so much so that BC Coach Al Skinner kept him on the bench for almost the entire second half.
Herrion was clearly happy with the play of his young center, as he gushed, “DiLiegro played great, he’s a big physical kid, he plays hard he puts his body on people, I thought his post defense was terrific around the basket.”
You can only tell so much from a single game, as it can hardly be used as a barometer for the upcoming season. However, there appears to be much more hope than originally anticipated for the Wildcats. New Hampshire is much more athletic then they have been in previous seasons, which was not lost on their coach. Said Herrion: “We’re playing faster this year, up tempo… it’s a step forward, we had one dunk the whole year last season and we had two today.”
Gibbs, a junior captain, added, “We’re a lot quicker and more talented one through five.”
But the most significant discovery in the game had nothing to do with physical ability, it was simply this: the Wildcats, as a team, have heart. A lot of it. Once UNH fell behind last season, they never came back. Many UNH fans grew upset and lost faith in Coach Herrion following the departure of seven underclassmen from last year’s squad, however the word from behind closed doors was that the departing players did not have the physical toughness, nor the heart, that Herrion needed.
After watching UNH play on Saturday, it was obvious that UNH is in a much better position this year, and that it isn’t the time to lose faith in the third-year coach. Gibbs put it best, saying, “It would have been better to win, obviously, but they’re in the ACC and we played with them until the end, I thought it showed a lot of what our team is made of. We played harder tonight than we ever did last year, and were going much harder all year than we did last year, and were better as a team than we were last year. And we have heart.”
