PROVIDENCE, R.I. – New Hampshire hasn’t played as many games as a lot of Division I teams. Their sixth game of the season was played on Wednesday, and at times this looks like a team that hasn’t played together much. In knocking off Brown 69-56, the Wildcats picked up a road win after their coach had challenged them to do just that.
“The challenge that we’ve been handing to our guys is, can we go on the road now and win a game?” said head coach Bill Herrion.
The potential for this team isn’t hard to see. There’s talent on the perimeter with Jordon Bronner, Chandler Rhoads and Alvin Abreu, and Liberty transfer Patrick Konan has talent. Ferg Myrick has become something of a forgotten man, but he’s not lacking talent although he doesn’t have the best feel for the game. Up front, there’s steady senior Brian Benson, who led America East in rebounding last season. But they’re all flawed just like the team as a whole, and some of those flaws have been obvious thus far this season.
“I really like our team a lot,” Herrion said. “I think the ceiling for this team is really high.”
Bronner has more confidence and really competes, but also still has to learn the game and appears to have just one speed. He was one of the keys on Wednesday night, as he had six assists with no turnovers. A year ago, it was clear he has the physical gifts for the point guard spot but also had a good ways to go to be what he could. Now he’s progressed, and while there’s still a good deal of room for improvement, it’s easier to look at that as upside for him.
“He’s taken big steps,” Rhoads said of Bronner. “He really controls the game. His defense is what sets the tone for our team, pressuring the other team’s point guard and getting us into a flow. He’s playing really well, and he’s one of the keys to our team.”
Rhoads looks improved but has more turnovers than assists in the early going. Abreu too often settles for jumpers and hasn’t approached the 36 percent he shot from behind the arc as a freshman. Konan still has some rust to shake off after sitting out last year as a transfer, but gives them the option of going big with him at small forward or going small with him at power forward. And while Benson can rebound, he’s never been a big scoring threat.
Rhoads looks like one of the big keys. He’s a primary ball-handler and has improved as a shooter over time. On Wednesday, he did a lot of things to help the team, especially late as he grabbed key rebounds and got big baskets and free throws.
“I know all the time he’s going to figure out something,” Konan said of Rhoads. “He made big plays, and that’s what big players do.”
The Wildcats would like to get Benson going inside at the offensive end. He leads America East in rebounding by a wide margin and is helping them put up the second-best margin in the conference. Chris Matagrano has improved enough to be more than serviceable off the bench, so the Wildcats’ frontcourt is in reasonably good shape.
The Wildcats haven’t shown a lot of patience on a consistent basis. All too often, they would settle for jumpers after just a couple of passes and with a defender somewhere in the area. That was clear on Wednesday night, when they were aggressive in trying to go to the basket and moved the ball around at first. After that, a few jumpers went in. It was a far cry from their prior game a few nights earlier at Holy Cross, where Herrion felt they shot too many three-pointers and too often shot them early in the possession without moving the ball.
The physical effort hasn’t been in question, but the team hasn’t quite figured out the other aspects of the game. Herrion spoke of the team not playing 40 minutes, and in particular the start of the second half has been a trouble spot for them. On Wednesday night, they didn’t have a great start, but it was better than it has been and didn’t put them in a hole, so that was a step forward.
New Hampshire got the road win they were looking for on Wednesday night. Their hope is that it will boost them for more of the same later, and to keep moving toward the potential they have.
