SOUTH KINGSTON, R.I. – To listen to Gary Waters after his team’s 67-45 blowout of Rhode Island on Sunday, you would get the sense that it was a picture-perfect game. It fit the way the Cleveland State mentor wants his team to play, from the style of play to what the stat sheet would show to the final result. And while his team is now 6-1 on the young season, Sunday’s game showed some things about this team.
“I thought that was one of our better defensive efforts,” Waters said. “We really focused in and defended. I’m still a little perplexed about the rebounding, and I think we can do a much better job there, but I thought our guys did a good job of doing what we do: turning people over and finishing at the other end.”
Waters’ mention of the rebounding referred to Rhode Island out-rebounding the Vikings 39-28 on the strength of 20 offensive rebounds. But the Rams never made that a factor as they turned them into just 16 second-chance points. The Vikings, on the other hand, turned 21 Rhode Island turnovers into 26 points and had a 22-4 edge in fast break points.
Even with the rebounding advantage Rhode Island had, this was a game dominated by Cleveland State. In humbling the young Rams, the Vikings were more physical, more athletic, and simply put, the type of team Rhode Island hopes to eventually become since they try to speed teams up as well.
“That’s what we want to get to, what Cleveland State is all about,” said Rhode Island head coach Jim Baron.
The season opener for the Vikings got a lot of national attention as they went to Nashville and took down a Vanderbilt team that some feel is a sleeper Final Four contender. They have also knocked off improved St. Bonaventure and Kent State (the latter on the road). Their non-conference schedule isn’t loaded with quality win opportunities the rest of the way, but they won’t have easy ones as Robert Morris (road), Akron (home) and a Bracketbusters game (home) are among those still ahead. The win over Vanderbilt will surely have shelf life later on if the Vikings stay relevant.
While Cleveland State likes to play fast and ride the play of their athletes, Sunday’s game showed another dimension that they have. Rhode Island had no one to guard senior Aaron Pogue, a 6’9″, 265-pound post player who dominated in the early minutes when the Vikings got him the ball. He had 20 points on 8-10 shooting, with 13 of those points (6-8 shooting) coming in the first half. The beefy post player came into the game not exactly sporting gaudy numbers on the season – he leads the team in rebounding but scores less than one of their reserves – but was a big factor on Sunday and can be the X-factor for this team.
“When we have him, we’re a totally different team,” said Waters. “We’re a guard-oriented team, but when we have Aaron doing what he’s doing we become even stronger.”
The other important aspect to Sunday’s game was that the Vikings bounced back from their first loss of the season a day earlier. It was the first serious adversity for this team, as they had yet to lose, and Hofstra beat them convincingly 65-53. They forced 17 Hofstra turnovers, but otherwise were not good at the defensive end as they allowed the Pride to shoot 51 percent and were pounded on the glass by a 38-19 margin.
“I think our guys got a little distraught by what happened yesterday,” Waters said.
The Vikings start four seniors and a junior, but the picture is quite different with the bench as there are two sophomores and six freshmen on the bench. The number of freshmen may be more like five, as Marlin Mason has yet to appear in a game and thus would seem to be a redshirt candidate. Waters normally does wholesale substitutions, but didn’t on Sunday in part because of how the game went. He is getting more comfortable with them as the season goes along, and his plan is to play them for good minutes so that they will be able to contribute more later in the season and in the future, knowing that four of the five starters will be gone next season.
Cleveland State is athletic, physical and seems to fit Waters’ preferred style of play. They’re also a veteran team in the starting lineup, and thus far they have been able to implement the game plan as teams are turning the ball over more than 21 times a game against them. Now they have shown that they can overcome adversity, which is critical for any team that will go far. That’s one more positive in what was a very good month of November for the Vikings, one that ended with a game they played exactly the way Waters wants them to.
