WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – John Gallagher talked a lot on Saturday about building a program. There’s a good reason, since the third-year Hartford head coach is in the process of doing that with a young team. And while there’s a lot of potential in his team, there are some things they will need to do to start reaching it, some of which he talked about right away.
“I want them to be disappointed,” Gallagher said after his team lost its season opener 65-61 to Quinnipiac in the Connecticut 6 Classic. “I don’t want a locker room that’s like, oh, we almost had them. That’s ludicrous. We’re trying to build something, we want them to feel a little pain. We want them to realize that winning and losing really matters.”
The Hawks started four sophomores on Saturday, and that’s going to be the reality for this season much like the reality of playing and starting freshmen was last season. Their four co-captains are also sophomores as well, further illustrative of how much they are casting their lot with young players as well as how much the staff and teammates believe in them.
Hartford did what they had to do to win in the big picture on Saturday. The Hawks played a solid zone defense against a team that doesn’t have a very reliable three-point threat but several solid scoring options inside. It was a very active defense that at times was very disruptive to what Quinnipiac tried to do. They also did a good job of turning Quinnipiac turnovers into points, something they had to do to neutralize some matchup disadvantages in the halfcourt.
“We want to make them try to beat us by moving the ball,” said sophomore forward Nate Sikma.
Gallagher said he employed the zone for those reasons, and the 1-3-1 in particular in part because of his personnel.
“It’s a curve ball,” said the Hartford mentor. “We’re not built to throw fastball, fastball, fastball.”
The Hawks also did a good job of staying with Quinnipiac on the glass at times, and that helped keep them in the game. The Hawks were out-rebounded by seven a game last season, while Quinnipiac had the second-best rebounding margin in the country. As it stood when the game was over, the Hawks were out-rebounded 43-35, as the Bobcats asserted themselves on the glass in the latter part of the game. Gallagher said he was fine with their rebounding, and as they surrendered just 10 offensive rebounds and got seven of their own, he doesn’t seem to be rationalizing it.
For a good portion of the game, Mark Nwakamma was the best player on the floor. The sophomore forward largely battled Quinnipiac’s Ike Azotam, who nearly averaged a double-double last season, to a standstill. But an old problem showed up in foul trouble, as he spent stretches on the bench and wound up playing just 26 minutes, scoring 15 points on 6-15 shooting. Last season, Nwakamma fouled out eight times, and some of that can be chalked up to a learning curve when it comes to defending in college. Naturally, he wants to do better than that this season.
“I think I’m out of position too much,” said Nwakamma. “I’m costing my team, so I’ve got to do a much better job of staying in the game and being in position. I want to play, I think my teammates want me out there, but it’s kind of hard when you’re fouling every two minutes.”
Last season, the Hawks began with 13 straight losses before they were arguably the best America East team down the stretch. Gallagher felt they were going in the right direction and were a coachable group all along, and at the end of the year it was clear they were headed in the right direction and the bottom line was starting to reflect it. There’s plenty of reason to think this season should be a continuation of that, especially since he felt near the end of the season that he had a winning locker room.
“You want them to realize that it’s not okay to lose to Quinnipiac at home. It is not okay,” said Gallagher. “There is no other way I can say it. We have a home game; we have to establish it. I’m not trying to be negative; I’m just trying to set the expectation and the bar.”
The building process will continue, and that’s something Gallagher always has in mind as they go through the inevitable growing pains. He’ll continue to stress the need for intangibles to be strong with this group like he did on Saturday. If they play like they did for much of Saturday often this season, the Hawks likely won’t need to wait until the new year to get a victory.
