SMITHFIELD, R.I. – This one probably hurt a little more than many of the others.
Bryant hasn’t had an easy second season of Division I; one can probably figure that just from a look at their 0-26 record. A big part of why it hasn’t been easy isn’t the wins and losses per se, but how they got there. It’s not like they haven’t played hard, or can’t play. But they came in without a huge margin for error, and what little they had just about evaporated as soon as Cecil Gresham sustained a knee injury that would ultimately end his season. It’s one thing to be a team in a conference like the Big East or ACC and lose your best player to such an injury, but another to be a team like Bryant and have that happen. In the Big East or ACC, that might be the difference between going 24-8 or 18-14 because there are other very talented players around your best player; in a conference like the Northeast, where Bryant is, it could make the difference between going 16-12 or 3-25.
Given the record, most probably didn’t give the Bulldogs a chance, even on their homecourt, against Northeast Conference leader Robert Morris on Saturday. Even when the teams went into the locker room tied at 25, many probably figured the deeper Robert Morris team would probably wear them down and win going away.
Not only did that not happen, but Bryant scored the first five points of the second half and led for the majority of the latter frame. They looked like a team that had answers, as they didn’t just hang on to a one-point lead the whole time. Instead, they held a four-point lead on several occasions. And as they continued to hold the lead, it looked more and more like they could pull this off. Anytime the favorite allows the opponent to hang around or have the lead, the pressure goes up on the favorite.
And this was not against a bad team. Bryant did this against Robert Morris, the defending NEC champion.
So when the Bulldogs went eight minutes without scoring, and never scored again after an Adam Parzych three-pointer brought them within 44-42, it wasn’t quite like every other loss this season.
“We’re really trying to play hard every game and give us an opportunity to be in every game,” said senior guard Chris Birrell. “We did come out harder than they did, I thought.”
The Bulldogs have hit some scoring droughts this season, as putting points on the board has been a struggle. This one struck a damaging blow.
Despite the lack of a win, the Bulldogs have shown improvement, and that includes their young players. Vlad Kondratyev has clearly improved since the start of the season and has become the go-to guy in the frontcourt. Raphael Jordan had a game on Saturday that he probably needed, as early on he looked good but hasn’t been the same player since then. He was very much into Saturday’s game and played well at both ends with 11 points, four assists and three steals.
I think he knows now what it takes to play at this level, and I think he showed today,” Birrell said of Jordan. “He came out with intensity.”
Robert Morris eventually got its act together and played like the conference leader in the latter part of the second half, which included the scoreless stretch for Bryant. They won somewhat comfortably in the final box score, but know they got a scare put into them even after head coach Mike Rice warned his players about the Bulldogs’ record.
Most probably figured the Bulldogs’ best chance to get their first win in the final couple of weeks would be either St. Francis (Pa.) two nights ago or at Wagner next Thursday. Few probably figured Robert Morris, even at home, would be such a close call. And because it was a close call, where they led for a significant portion of the second half and against the conference leader, the loss to the Colonials probably hurts a little more than the others.
