BOSTON – When Delaware has been on the wrong end of a final score this season, most of the time it has been a game like Wednesday night’s 62-61 loss at Northeastern. It’s tough because they’ve been so close, but the good thing is that they have bounced back. This time around, bouncing back won’t be easy, although there’s reason to believe they’ll do it.
In the final minutes of Wednesday night’s loss, the Blue Hens looked like they would be able to get a big win. While Northeastern isn’t a conference leader, this game was on the road and the Blue Hens came in looking for their first three-game winning streak of the season. They have won two straight on three occasions, but you get the sense that this team could really get a burst of confidence if they put together a three-game winning streak that could turn into more.
In the last minute, though, it all unraveled. A clutch three-pointer by Devon Saddler put them up 61-56 with 52.5 seconds left, and at that point they looked to be in good shape since they had not trailed since they were down one with 5:37 left. After two Northeastern free throws, Delaware turned it over and Northeastern got two free throws after an offensive rebound. With 11 seconds left, Saddler missed the front end of a one-and-one, setting the stage for Joel Smith’s heroics with 1.1 second left.
“We gave the game away, up five with under minute to go, up three with the ball and 25 seconds to go,” said head coach Monte Ross. “They went to the foul line and made their free throws; we didn’t do that.”
Saddler, one of the best players in the conference, is a very competitive young man. There’s little doubt that the missed free throw was bothering him after the game, but one can figure that if anyone will bounce back, it will be the Blue Hens’ leader.
Saddler and junior Jamelle Hagins are two of the best players in the CAA and have carried this team thus far, which was expected. They did just that on Wednesday night, with Saddler scoring a game-high 24 points and Hagins adding 19 with six rebounds and three blocked shots. Hagins, a dominant presence defensively and the conference’s top rebounder, has improved at the offensive end and now has to adjust to getting more defensive attention. Saddler, who is second in the CAA in scoring, is one of the team captains as a sophomore, which is not surprising given his competitive nature and character.
“I think those two had it going tonight,” Ross said of his dynamic duo. “In certain situations, your best players have to lead you, and I thought they did that tonight.”
Delaware looks like a team on the verge, although they may not get there this season. The Blue Hens have just two seniors, neither of whom plays much, and their four freshmen play over 43 percent of the available minutes. Where the growing pains come in is that three of the four freshmen play in the backcourt, and the fourth, Larry Savage, plays on the wing.
The Blue Hens are so experienced up front by comparison, they are redshirting the other freshman in the program, Marvin King-Davis. While that leaves them with three main bodies, they’re all good ones, and Hakim McCullar is a fourth option although he has never really gotten untracked since transferring from Rhode Island.
The support for Saddler and Hagins has been the question for this team entering the season. There are good veteran options up front in underrated junior Josh Brinkley and classmate Kelvin McNeil, an X-factor for them. The freshman guards have had some good moments thus far and look like they are a key part of a bright future based on their play thus far. But given that they are freshmen, they will make mistakes and have some inconsistency. On Wednesday night, they were a combined 2-12 from the field with eight assists and eight turnovers.
“Those guys have been good, they’ve helped us along the way,” said Ross.
Delaware will have to bounce back from a tough game to swallow. But they’ve had a few other tough losses, from the two overtime games they have lost (they have also won one) to a couple of others they have dropped by five points or less. The Blue Hens have only lost three games by double digits on the season. They bounced back from all of those, so there’s reason to believe they will bounce back from Wednesday night’s loss, although it won’t come easy as a trip to Drexel is ahead on Saturday and George Mason visits next Wednesday.
