Rider’s game-winner and why Monmouth feels teams ‘don’t want to see us’
An abridged Saturday roundup for Super Bowl Sunday.
WEST LONG BRANCH – I was unable to take in two games as planned Saturday, as the impending ice storm prompted Rider to move up its home game against Siena from 7 to 2.
I stayed with Monmouth, but over in Lawrenceville, the Broncs got the thrill of a buzzer-beater to end a two-game losing streak.
With the game tied in the final seconds of regulation, Flash Burton drove the right side and put up a shot that bounced off the rim. Tank Byard batted the rebound down to himself and threw one last prayer up with less than a second on the clock. It bounced off the back iron and dropped straight in for a 61-59 victory, setting off a celebration near center-court as the Broncs mobbed Byard.
Siena led for 65% of game time compared to Rider’s 32%, and the Broncs’ largest lead was a mere six points – 59-53 with 1:11 to go. They nearly collapsed, giving up six straight to Siena in the final minute while Burton and Ruben Rodriguez missed free throws.
“We’ll enjoy it, but we gotta close out games right,” coach Kevin Baggett said postgame. “We gotta make free throws, we gotta take care of the ball. But again, I’m not complaining because every win has been hard and this league is tough, man.”
It’s almost definitely not how Baggett would have drawn up the win. Twelve players saw game action and only six managed to score – including just three starters. Big man Tariq Ingraham was held scoreless and guard Zion Cruz went 0-for-6.
T.J. Weeks Jr. (23 points) was all over the highlight reel, and Byard had a standout game off the bench: 10 points (5-of-7 shooting), nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Baggett said Siena’s plan was to double Ingraham “and I don’t necessarily know if that was the plan for Tank,” leaving Byard to take advantage. (Read Kyle Franko’s game story if you’re interested in more.)
It wasn’t pretty, but this is the MAAC. It isn’t supposed to be pretty. A win is a win for this Rider group that improved to 5-8 in conference play, putting it right in the mix for a lower seed in the conference tournament.
The Broncs ended last season on a seven-game winning run to shoot up the standings and clinch a No. 4 seed. While that shouldn’t be the expectation again, it’s comforting for them to know they have holdovers from that team in the form of Weeks, Ingraham, Rodriguez and others.
“Whatever we did today, whatever led up to today, carry that to the next, last seven games,” Weeks said. “I talked to the guys from last year to (ask) what they thought, what they saw before we went on that run so I could help these guys this year.”
Monmouth’s close call vs. CAA leaders
If you relied on metrics alone to judge a mid-major league like the Coastal Athletic Association, you wouldn’t pay Monmouth much mind. Due in large part to the Hawks’ 2-11 nonconference slate, they’re down at No. 282 in KenPom, 12th of 14 teams in the CAA.
That is in no way representative of how they’re playing these days. Since roughly the second week of January, Monmouth has been in almost every game it’s played, picking off wins against top teams like Charleston and putting a scare into others, like current CAA leader Towson.
The Hawks fell 73-67 to Towson on Saturday, and the visiting Tigers picked up their 10th win in a row, one of the longest active streaks in D1 basketball. Their shooting numbers were nearly identical (26-of-60 for Towson, 25-of-60 for Monmouth) and the Tigers committed more turnovers than the Hawks.
But Towson made tough shot after tough shot, in the second half in particular, and eight more rebounds and three more 3-pointers spelled the difference in the game.
“They killed us, not killed us, but got us on the boards in the second half,” Hawks coach King Rice said. “We were up one (in rebounds) at halftime. Then the second half, their grown men just kind of grown men’d us. And, you know, we’ll be better for it.”
Abdi Bashir Jr. knocked down five 3-pointers en route to 19 points, Madison Durr had 17 points and three assists and Jack Collins continued to make clutch plays in his 10-point, five-rebound, three-assist, three-steal outing. Durr, who had a fantastic individual run last week and won the USBWA’s national player of the week honor, scored 12 of his points in the second half, continuing to get badly-needed buckets against a stellar Towson backcourt.
When I asked Rice what positives can be taken from playing the league leaders this close, he was adamant that his program, now in its third season in the CAA, is receiving more respect around the league.
“Let’s not act like they – People don’t want to see us,” Rice said. “Everybody can talk all that nonsense. Teams don’t want to see our team, all right. And I’m not out here talking junk. We play, we do some different things. We got some kids that can get going too. And everybody ain’t signing up to play Monmouth. You know what I mean?”
He went on to compare how Towson reacted to beating Monmouth last season vs. Saturday’s scene.
“A lot of celebrating. That tells me we got closer,” Rice said. “When they beat us last year they walked off the court. Now this year they’re grabbing their faces, taking pictures. So that means they see we’re coming. And we’ll get there, we’ll get there. Doesn’t feel good today, even though we played them well.”
Just six regular-season games remain for Monmouth, including four on the road, where the Hawks have just two wins this season.
“It’s us versus the world when we’re on the road,” Durr said, going on to point out that the next two road games are against teams (Stony Brook and Towson) they’ve already played. “We have to go get both of those, and that puts us at 8-6 in the conference and right where we want to be. Yeah, we dropped this one today, but we’ve won road games before. It’s nothing new.”
………
Happy Sunday, and thanks for reading! I kept it concise this morning for a few reasons, the obvious one being that there may be less of a collective attention span for mid-major college hoops when the literal Super Bowl is coming up in a few hours. In that spirit, let’s jump right into Cleaning the Glass (and P.S., Go Birds):
I want to start with FDU, which like Rider is back in the win column after a two-game slide. The Knights beat Wagner 69-58 thanks to grad transfer Bismark Nsiah’s best all-around game yet: season-high 18 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals.
The forward powered a huge stretch early in the second half after FDU had fallen behind by five. It went like this: Nsiah two free throws, Nsiah 3-pointer, Nsiah block and assist on Jameel Morris’ 3-pointer, Nsiah dunk, Nsiah assist on Jo’el Emanuel’s layup through a foul. This sequence put FDU in control for good and started a 21-5 Knights run.Saint Peter’s didn’t have Rider’s same luck playing at Manhattan. In an incredibly tight game, the Peacocks led by four in overtime before managing to fall 84-83. The Jaspers were playing for the last shot, they missed a jumper and Saint Peter’s Zaakir Williamson was called for a foul on the ensuing rebound, yielding the game-winning free throw. The Peacocks had their best offensive showing in a D1 game all season, but – as usual for this team – turnovers (16) and fouls (24) did them in. At 2-10, they’re tied with Canisius for last in the MAAC, two games out of 11th place.
Oh, and Seton Hall played Saturday, too. The Pirates scored a season-low 46 in a 14-point road loss to Georgetown and are now an unbelievable 1-12 in the conference. Isaiah Coleman was back to his old self, putting up 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting and 10 rebounds, and he and freshman Jahseem Felton played all 40 minutes as Shaheen Holloway utilized a very tight rotation (in part because Dylan Addae-Wusu, Chaunce Jenkins and Scotty Middleton all remain hurt). Prince Aligbe had a run of strong performances end, as he only scored three points in 24 minutes.
Savannah Catalon had 11 steals. Eleven. One-one. It’s the kind of stat that’s at once plausible and utterly ridiculous. I wrote about the Seton Hall women’s team and their defensive execution the other week, but come on. Eleven?! It marked a program record, and the good people at Seton Hall even made what we used to call a supercut of Catalon’s 11 steals at different camera angles. The team beat Xavier 72-47, rebounding nicely from a 72-56 loss at Creighton the other day. Some big home games on the horizon: Marquette this Wednesday, UConn the Wednesday after.
Finally, Princeton. I didn’t believe Jenn Hatfield’s tweet when I saw it: Ashley Chea had 21 points in the first half of the Tigers’ home game against Penn, on 8-of-11 shooting. The 74-60 final score in no way indicated how one-sided this game was. Chea’s 25 points were a career high, and she and Skye Belker combined to shoot a crisp 17-of-24 from the floor.
And as you surely know by now, the men held off the Quakers 61-59 at the Palestra on Friday, with Jackson Hicke making two free throws at the end after an unwise Penn foul. Xaivian Lee reached 1,000 career points, and funny enough, Caden Pierce is now at 998. Combined with Yale’s major win over Cornell Saturday, it puts Princeton in a tie for second with Cornell at 5-2 in the Ivy. I’ll have more to say about Princeton in the coming week – first in Tuesday’s N.J. bracketology update, and then next weekend, as I’m heading up to New Haven to cover the Tigers’ road game at mighty Yale.