WORCESTER, Mass. – Hartford needs some confidence, and they’re not getting it on the bottom line. An 0-5 start, thanks in large part to a lack of baskets at the offensive end, has made that hard to come by. The latest example was Wednesday’s 80-66 setback at Holy Cross, where the Hawks fell behind in the first half and couldn’t rally enough in the second.
The Hawks are shooting just over 34 percent from the field on the season. Wednesday night’s 36.1 percent boosted it by a small amount, but they shot below 30 percent in a first half that saw them fall behind by as many as 18 after Holy Cross ran off 18 unanswered points to take the lead for good. In that run, the Hawks missed seven shots, four of which came from behind the arc.
While the Hawks got within ten twice in the second half, one never felt like Holy Cross was in danger. Head coach John Gallagher likes some of what his team did but knows they didn’t do enough in the first half.
“We go in lapses. But there are also times where young kids are playing at a level to get it back and make it competitive,” said the second-year Hartford mentor. “My overall thing is, I’m looking at the qualitative, not the quantitative. I’m looking at the shots we’re getting, I’m looking at the effort. I wasn’t happy with our defensive transition. That was embarrassing, that’s what we addressed in the half. We made a few adjustments, and we started to compete at what I thought was a Division I level.”
Getting buy-in hasn’t been a problem thus far. The staff feels like the team has run the offense with no problem, but simply hasn’t been able to make shots. The practices have been solid and competitive, and the younger players have picked up the offense, but with shots not falling the confidence hasn’t been there. If they made a few shots, it might change a lot.
Hartford is already challenged by virtue of having seven freshmen, four of whom start. With that, they need veterans like Andres Torres, Genesis Maciel and Clayton Brothers to be leaders as well as good players. In Torres’ case, that is magnified since he is the point guard. Early on this season, his body language was not positive, and Gallagher benched his senior guard to let him know they need him to be better and the freshmen to know that there will be accountability. They need him to have more than one speed and, more importantly, to be a good leader for the young players.
“Andres Torres in my opinion can be the best point guard in our league,” said Gallagher. “He’s going to have to be for these young guys, so he’s got to be an extension of me.”
Fortunately, Torres showed more of what they need on Wednesday night. He led the Hawks with 15 points and had five steals, but more importantly had a lot of energy and looked to be trying to make plays to help this team out. He played more like a leader than he has all season, and that along with the adjustments Gallagher talked about are a reason to be positive going forward.
Gallagher loves his team and feels the intangibles are as good as they can be for one with so much youth. He’s a good guy for the job, as he loves basketball, is full of energy and can draw on a lot of experience from all over his life. A Philadelphia native, he’s from a basketball-rich family and is very easy to like, and that energy is big for a program that has still never made it to the NCAA Tournament. So there’s a lot in place for this team to succeed, and Gallagher is taking a long view even though he knows his team can win games now.
One thing that can help his team win now would be some confidence. A basket here or there might make a big difference for this team, and that could come when they play local rival Central Connecticut State on Saturday. Gallagher said Torres will be back in the starting lineup for that game, and if he plays like he did on Wednesday, he might get them some shots that can go and start to change something about this season.
