Goooooood evening AU Hoops fans. We are 0-5. Zero wins, five losses. Boy oh boy. We knew it was going to be a rebuilding year, but I don't think anyone thought it would be quite like this. The recap to the game is here, and the box score is here. In any event, there is definitely some good, bad, and ugly tonight. It's hard to keep being creative to these introductions. It's also hard to keep losing, and I do feel bad for the team. Still, away we go
GOOD
Stephen Lumpkins - Snore. Lumpkins, have a bad game already so I can give you a rest from being in the good column. No, don't do that! Jesus Christ, I was joking Lump. 14 points and 9 rebounds, almost another double-double. Here's my concern though, he went 5-15 from the field. That's not getting it done. Know why? Because he's only 4-8 from the line, where he's also struggled. If you miss 10 shots from the field, you need to get to the line for more than 8 shots. He's making great moves inside, but he's not drawing the fouls. Still, when you tie for the game high points, it makes it pretty hard (and stupid) to put you in the bad column. This has been an issue in a couple of games now (the FG % issue) so hopefully he will start to resolve it. I'm a faithful member of the Lumpkin Patch, and I do appreciate the hard work he's doing inside. Opponents know he's our main weapon, and they're treating him as such.
Nick Hendra - Welcome back to the good graces of the AUHoops blog, Nick Hendra. 14 points on 5-6 shooting (3-4 from long range) with 7 rebounds, 2 assists (with 2 turnovers) in 35 minutes. Hell of a game, Hendra. Making the right plays, fighting for rebounds. Nice to see Hendra getting his head straight. That will be a big (and necessary) part of this team getting some wins (eventually) this year. Great game, Nick.
Rebounding - We did a fine job rebounding tonight. 37-27. Shows a lot of hustle on the Eagles' part. Solid job tonight.
Annnnd that's about it. Seriously, it was that kind of game. However, there's some of...
THE BAD
Blake Jolivette - Let me come clean, if I was setting the starting lineup for this team, I'd start Blake over Daniel Munoz. Why? Because he looks more confident out there. He sticks his chin out, forgets that he's a freshman, and pushes the ball. Tonight that hurt him. Blake did not respond well to Fairfield's full court press. He did not make smart shots in the lane (these circus shots where you just throw it up are cute, but if you're not absolutely sure you will draw the foul, you're better off kicking it out, or, better yet, trying to work within the half court set to try to set up a better shot). Blake went 1-5 from the field (0-2 from long range) for 2 points with 4 turnovers and 4 assists, and in a game where Fairfield scored 25 (TWENTY-FIVE) points off of turnovers, those 4 were costly.
All of AU against the full court press - AU forced 8 turnovers from Fairfield tonight and gave up the ball TWENTY times tonight. We did not respond to the full court press at all. Picking up the dribble when we had nowhere to pass to, trying to make the pass when there was open court available to dribble in, sloppy passing. Just miserable. Those 25 points we gave up off of turnovers really hurt us and kept us from establishing a real rhythm all game. We also gave up 15 steals (to only 4 for our side). Not good. Lopsided even.
The refs - Listen, I'm not a big fan of pinning problems on the refs. I think it's kind of a cop-out that people abuse. Tonight though, I have to call BS ("bologna sandwich" as my mother would say). In the second half the Stags picked up their 7th foul with 10:41 left to go. I thought this would really help us out because we'd be in the bonus for over 10 minutes. We would've been golden, except that the refs didn't call a foul for the next NINE AND A HALF MINUTES. They also swallowed their whistles on 5-second calls (both crossing mid-court and in-bounding). Overall, I thought it was a pretty shabby performance by the refs, who probably didn't cost AU the game but probably did affect the margin of victory for the Stags.
THE UGLY
AU's perimeter defense - I am so sick of writing about this in every recap. Fairfield only shot 7-19 (37%) from long range for the game, but they shot 5-12 (42%) during the second half. The problem that I have with this isn't based on percentages, but on the fact that we just GIVE UP on the perimeter. No effort to even get a hand up. Just stop and stare as they shoot. That's the part that makes me angry. I know you can't get all the way out there(!) and really defend, but at least get your arm up. We're getting killed on the perimeter. Killed. Killed dead. Dying. Am I clear? FOR GOD'S SAKE DEFEND THE PERIMETER.
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Anyway, there was a lot of mediocre play tonight. Not particularly warranting good, bad, or ugly. Most of the team fell into that. Sad to see us fall to 0-5, especially on a night where, quite frankly, I didn't see a ton of improvement over the FAU game. Still, we've got to keep trudging on. They'll find it eventually.
Good night everyone. We've got Manhattan on Wednesday, and my dad will be in town for the game! Very exciting! I will livetweet, per usual, but the recap might have to wait until Thursday or Friday to get up. Travel safely for Thanksgiving!
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
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