Columns, Your Phil of Hoops

Yale must move on following a devastating season-opening loss

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Yale can go one of two ways following Saturday’s devastating 85-82 loss in overtime to Sacred Heart. The Bulldogs led by 24 a few minutes into the second half and blew the lead, and then led again by five halfway through overtime before the Pioneers took over and won. That it happened in the season opener makes it a particularly interesting test for this team.

The challenge for this team will be to move on from the disappointment of this game. It’s never easy, and having more games ahead, including very soon, offers a chance at redemption but also a chance to let the disappointment linger.

“We’re obviously disappointed,” said senior guard Austin Morgan, who led the Bulldogs with a career-high 28 points. “I think each and every one of us is accountable. I totally take this one on me, I made some defensive lapses and missed a free throw.”

The Bulldogs’ frontcourt should be their strength, despite losing an anchor in Greg Mangano, who averaged close to a double-double last season. Senior Jeremiah Kreisberg, the most reliable complement to Mangano in the frontcourt last season, isn’t even starting, although he was injured before practice began and the missed time probably set him back. Instead, sophomore Brandon Sherrod and freshman Justin Sears started on Saturday, and there’s little reason to expect that to change anytime soon. The Bulldogs also have very capable players in Armani Cotton and Greg Kelley.

Even with that, though, the Bullogs were out-rebounded 41-29 on Saturday, which has to raise a little alarm. Sacred Heart also had a 42-30 edge in points in the paint, so for all the riches, the Bulldogs’ frontcourt left something to be desired on Saturday.

Sears, in particular, has the potential to be an All-Ivy League player before his career is over and showed some of that in his debut with 19 points on 7-12 shooting and seven rebounds in 27 minutes. That’s one bright spot that can be taken from this game, but the loss will overshadow it.

The backcourt is where the Bulldogs don’t have quite the riches. Morgan was 6-11 from long range and is a known quantity, while Javier Duren had a nice afternoon and looks like he may get a jump in minutes this year. There’s also senior Michael Grace at the point and classmate Sam Martin as another shooter, but this isn’t as good as the frontcourt by a long shot. But their play will be big, and not just from the standpoint of balancing out the frontcourt. Guards control the game, and thus teams tend to go as they go.

What Jones noticed the most was why the Bulldogs were the better team by far for the first 30 minutes. They had 15 assists on their first 19 field goals, when they built the aforementioned lead. The rest of the way, they had just three assists and nearly the same number of turnovers that they had leading up to that point.

“Anybody that’s watching this team play and watched this game, when we shared the ball and played together, we were very good,” said head coach James Jones. “There were situations there where, several times, guys went off on their own, and it didn’t look very good and we weren’t very good.”

Jones noted that the Bulldogs didn’t win a championship with Mangano or their other key departure, Reggie Willhite, and no one on this team is as good a one-on-one player as those two were. Hence, there’s added importance to teammates playing off each other this time around.

“For us to be really good, we have to share the basketball and try to make plays for each other,” Jones said.

We’ll find out pretty quickly how well Yale manages the morale of the team from this, as Jones was quick to note with their upcoming schedule. They play at Atlantic 10 contender Saint Joseph’s on Monday, then play three games in three days in Evansville in the NABC Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. Jones had a sense of perspective about the fact that it was the season opener, leaving plenty of opportunities to win games and make this a distant memory.

“It’s early right now. It’s not like you just lost a championship game or something like that,” Jones said. “There’s time to build up and make yourself better.”

One player was quick to note that a night earlier, fellow Ivy League team Penn was in a game that had a large swing. That game went in favor of the Ivy League team as Penn turned a big first-half deficit into a double-digit win, but the general point is the key. It’s also a sign that the players have a little perspective.

The Bulldogs can go one of two ways. They can let it drag into the next game, and possibly the next time they have a lead that dwindles in a game, as one option. The other option is the one Jones and the players will try to take, which is having a short memory and knowing that since it happened in the season opener, they have plenty of chances at redemption.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.