DURHAM, N.H. – You can’t blame Bill Herrion for being concerned. A couple of post-game comments in summing up what he sees as a major issue for his team tells the whole story.
“We’ve lost something,” said the Wildcat mentor. “What I’m trying to explain to you as a coach is scary.”
Wednesday night provided New Hampshire with an opportunity to get a jump on the competition in hosting the America East opener. It was against Vermont, a tough opponent to be sure, but it’s better to be at home than on the road. They have also played Vermont tough at home in recent years. After a 64-51 loss to the Catamounts that wasn’t even as close as the final score, though, one might wonder if there will be a case of deja vu in more ways than one.
A year ago to the day, the Wildcats hosted the America East opener against UMBC and lost in a poorly-played game where they seemed to lack life. That set a tone for conference play as they lost the next two and four of the next five to start off 1-5, and never really recovered although they had a four-game winning streak in February that included a BracketBusters win over Towson.
While the Wildcats lost last season’s opener to a team projected to finish in the cellar and this time lost to a team picked to win the conference, the result was still the same: a home loss. It was an opportunity to start conference play on a good note. And for a while, Wednesday night’s game was within reach as the they stayed with the Catamounts for much of the first half and tied the score four times. But they never got over the hump for the lead, and once the Catamounts had a late run of eight straight, New Hampshire was never within striking distance again.
UNH has talent, they have experience and effort generally isn’t a problem. On Wednesday night, however, it was, as they had a difficult time coming back and looked like a team that is easily mentally defeated. At the defensive end, they’ll play you tough, as they hold opponents below 39 percent shooting on the year and force over 13 turnovers per game. But the problem, in a nutshell, can be seen by looking at the opponent on Wednesday night and finding a contrast: whereas Vermont is greater than the sum of its parts, New Hampshire is not.
Lots of teams in America East or a similar conference would love to have a post player like Chris Pelcher, who came alive in December after an inconsistent start. Plenty of coaches would love to work with a player like Ferg Myrick, who can get by anyone to score, has a good body and isn’t a bad shooter. Patrick Konan could play either forward spot for a lot of teams at this level and be a matchup problem. Chandler Rhoads is a versatile guard who can make a lot of teams better. Jordon Bronner is quick and can be a pest on defense.
Talent isn’t the problem, and there’s not a character issue, either. Herrion hasn’t had to suspend players for conduct issues. But many of the players, for all their talents, have important shortcomings that combine to put this team in another 0-1 hole in America East play.
And as if to prove all of this, with about seven minutes left in the game, Vermont’s Ben Crenca out-ran the Wildcats for a basket. Crenca never had much foot speed and in college has suffered numerous injuries to limit him even further, but he still got to the basket before the Wildcats did. It was symbolic of what Herrion talked about.
Herrion noted that this team doesn’t have a lot of leaders. Rhoads at times in his career has looked like he could be one, but no one else really strikes you as that kind of player. They have seniors, but seniors aren’t leaders by definition even though most coaches look to them naturally for leadership.
“That doesn’t mean, is a kid a senior – what class you are,” said Herrion. “It’s more about you as an individual person, the impact you can have on your team to get your team through tough times. We don’t have that right now.”
Herrion felt this was a good basketball team until recently. They had to go on the road a lot in non-conference play with stretches of five and three in a row away from Durham. Wins were hard to come by, but Herrion could see some potential in this group if they could keep their spirits up during the challenges they had. If Wednesday night’s game is any indication, they may not have done that.
The Wildcats opened with Vermont, but hard to believe though it may be, things don’t get any easier. A road date with Stony Brook is up next, and that’s one more reason why getting a win on Wednesday would have helped immensely. A three-game homestand comes after they go to UMBC following Stony Brook, which may allow them to get some momentum. Will it be too late by then?
