Radford had a tough weekend in Connecticut, losing both games in the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Highlanders have had some bright spots so far, but new head coach Mike Jones knows there’s a lot of work yet to do with this team.
Radford came to Connecticut with a 3-1 mark, with a couple of wins against non-Division I teams. Jones didn’t like the effort they had on Saturday, when they lost to a good Long Island team, but felt they responded better on Sunday, where they led for much of the first half before Marist took the lead. The Highlanders never really got untracked in the second half of that game, and that wasn’t the first time they got into a slump like that.
“I think offensively, we don’t have a lot of guys that can break you down and create off the dribble,” said Jones, who was part of VCU’s run to the Final Four last season before taking the job. “We’ve had some moments, but we’re not as consistent as we need to be on the offensive end.”
The Highlanders aren’t lacking talent, although they could benefit from someone providing complementary help. Sophomore Jareal Smith leads the team in scoring, while freshman R.J. Price has acquitted himself well at the point guard spot and classmate Javonte Green has contributed at both ends. Johnathan Edwards, one of just three seniors on the team, could be the second double-digit scorer this team could use. He averages just below double digits and leads the team in rebounding, but looks like he’s capable of getting there and showed some of it on Sunday.
“Sometimes he’s not as aggressive as he needs to be, and when he’s aggressive I think he’s good,” Jones said of Edwards. “He’s never been asked to do that as much; he’s just been a rebounder and in that type of role before.”
Jones knows this team is fresh off a season to forget. Last season, the Highlanders were 5-24 overall and 2-16 in Big South play, and didn’t qualify for the Big South Tournament. They were outscored by over 11 points per game, had significantly more turnovers than assists and shot below 39 percent from the field. They endured a nine-game losing streak early on and ended the season losing seven straight. It was a far cry from two years earlier, when the Highlanders won the conference title.
While this is a new team and a new staff, the experience the holdovers have isn’t positive. Jones can sense a carryover effect of some sort because the veterans haven’t had a very positive response to adversity in their careers, and that’s one thing the staff has tried to address with this team.
“Things aren’t going to go great in the basketball game,” said Jones. “You’ve got to be resilient, you’ve got to be able to bounce back quickly and make the next play.”
Jones felt they did a better job of that on Sunday, when they played well in the first half. Sustaining a level of play has been difficult for the team, and that comes from a couple of factors. One is the aforementioned experience. Another is style of play, as Jones wants them to play fast offensively after playing a slower style last year, and playing more man-to-man defense after they played a lot of zone. That’s a lot of change to handle, so it may not all come with entirely positive results very quickly.
That was true even before the weekend they just had, which along with Wednesday night’s loss at Kentucky probably humbled the team a little further. They have a little break in the action to work on some things, as they don’t play again until they open Big South play with a trip to Charleston Southern on December 1.
Radford has had success in the past and is a pretty good job among Big South schools. They went to the NCAA Tournament in 1998 and 2009 and have contended for the conference title several other times about a decade ago. Besides the past success, it’s good academically and there’s good support for the program. Jones also assembled a staff he likes, saying he stuck to his plan to hire experienced basketball people when he became a head coach. That’s all a combination that figures to put the program in position to challenge for the Big South title on a regular basis, although there are some growing pains right now.
