PHILADELPHIA – Niagara’s 103-63 drubbing of Hartford to win the Liberty Bracket of the Philly Hoop Group Classic is no accident. Nor is their 5-1 start.
“I just think Niagara is an excellent team,” said Hartford head coach Dan Leibovitz. “We’ve played ranked teams, teams from the Big Ten, Penn State and Rhode Island, and that was as good a team as we’ve played, point blank.”
The Purple Eagles are probably not 40 points better than Hartford, and scores like this are never really indicative of such a thing. Typically, such a score indicates that one team was at its best and the opponent was at its worst in a given game. But the Purple Eagles leave Philadelphia looking like a team that could challenge prohibitive preseason MAAC favorite Siena by the time conference play rolls around.
“We try to do some things that will get you ready for league play,” said head coach Joe Mihalich. “We were at Villanova, we were at South Florida, another Big East team. We also try to do some things like this, play in tournaments, so that at the beginning of March, when you’re in your conference tournament, you get used to that feeling where you’ve got to beat somebody, then play for a championship the next day. We love tournaments.”
How they got to their second 5-1 start in Mihalich’s tenure is the story.
It’s not as if this team is loaded with holdover stars from last season. In fact, they lost the nation’s second-leading scorer last season in Charron Fisher, who averaged 27.6 points per game, and easily forgotten is that they also lost their third-leading scorer in Stanley Hodge, who averaged 13.3 per game. Even if Niagara’s plan would be to win more with defense and score less, some of that scoring has to come from somewhere because they wouldn’t win many games scoring about 35 points per game (the Purple Eagles averaged over 76 per game last season).
It would have been easy to think that Tyrone Lewis could do what Fisher did, as he averaged over 16 points per game last season. But that was never the plan, and that’s a big reason the Purple Eagles are at this point.
“The first thing I did was in the summer time,” said Lewis, who led the Purple Eagles’ charge on Saturday. “I sat my team down, and I let them know the first thing was that we just lost 25 points and 10 rebounds, the guy that every team had to change their defense just for him. This year, who’s going to score the 25?”
Lewis said he wasn’t going to be that player, and it surely set a tone.
“I’m capable, but I’m not going to do it,” said the junior guard. “This is a team thing, we need everybody.”
Nowhere was that, or the tone it set, more evident than on Saturday. In their thorough domination of Hartford, Niagara had four players score in double figures, with Rob Garrison leading the way with 19, and every player who got in the game scored. Eight of ten Purple Eagles scored at least six points. But the most telling stats of all were 28 assists on 32 field goals, with just seven turnovers. In the first half, Niagara had 16 assists on 17 field goals.
“It speaks to sharing the basketball, making the next pass, and the old John Wooden saying – it’s amazing how much can be accomplished if nobody cares who gets the credit,” said Mihalich. “I think that’s the way our team is – I don’t think anybody cares.”
Lewis undoubtedly sets the tone. He came into this season as the unquestioned team leader and hasn’t done anything to dispel that notion. Not only does he lead the team in scoring, but he also leads in steals and is fourth in assists. But more important than any number you can find is his leadership. It’s clear this team has bought into the idea of defense as well as balance, and Lewis has something to do with that.
His opposing coach, who knew him when he was a high school player in Levittown, noticed his impact as well.
“I think sometimes, when there’s a void created by somebody leaving, it strengthens the person that’s still there,” said Leibovitz, a long-time Temple assistant before taking over at Hartford. “Some guys can’t handle it, and some guys can’t wait for it, and that’s what I see with him. Not that he’s a selfish kid, but he’s ready, he’s confident, he’s ready to say this is my team.”
The strengthening of Lewis has undoubtedly strengthened everyone else. After Saturday’s win, the Purple Eagles are averaging about three more points a game than last season, and they’re allowing just over 65 points after allowing 73 per night last season. Six players average at least seven points per game and four average at least three assists per game After allowing opponents to shoot nearly 44 percent from the field last year, this year opponents are shooting 37.3 percent from the field.
The defensive statistics are what Mihalich was banking on this season, in addition to a more balanced offense. He felt the team could be good if they defended, and thus far that’s been the case.
“If we can defend and rebound, I know we can have a chance to win games,” said Mihalich.
It’s early right now, and there’s only so much one can read into a game like Saturday’s. But on full display in that game was Niagara’s potential. They are very athletic all over and are not satisfied with this start, Lewis in particular, but looking beyond this game, it’s hard not to think the Purple Eagles can be contenders in the MAAC. A tone has been set for the season, and their 5-1 start, like Saturday’s win, is no accident.
