CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – It’s not often a long flight is a relief. But for San Francisco, their flight home after two games in Massachusetts is exactly that, and not just because they came away with losses in both.
December saw the Dons log some serious road time. They were at home for just one game, and even that was no picnic as they needed double overtime to knock off Long Beach State. They went 2-6 in the month, winning only at Boise State among their road games. And while four of the road games in the month were played in the state of California, two were not close by, and they ended the month more than 2,900 miles away from home.
“It’s tough, and I know it’s tough for our guys, because they’re away from home, they’re away from family,” said head coach Rex Walters. “They got to spend Christmas morning with their families, then we’re on a late flight to get out here for Holy Cross.”
If there are bright spots after the month-long struggle on the road, one is that the Dons are still 7-7 after Monday’s loss to Boston College. One win is against a transitional Division II school, but they can still finish non-conference play with a winning overall record as they have one game left against another non-Division I school on Saturday. Then they begin West Coast Conference play with two straight home games, but neither will be easy as San Diego and Saint Mary’s visit.
“It’s been a long month. We’ve done some good things, we have a chance to finish with a winning record in the non-conference schedule, and hopefully we’ll be able to do that,” said Walters. “It will be good to get back home, get on our practice floor, work on some things, and try to make a run.”
The Dons’ game at Holy Cross was a return game from last season, and Monday’s game came about in part from a desire to get another game while in the area. Additionally, Walters went up against Boston College last season when he was the head coach at Florida Atlantic.
While the Dons clearly have talent, a lot of it is at the offensive end. The Dons have four players who average in double figures, led by Dior Lowhorn, and they shoot over 38 percent from three-point range and average over 71 points per game. But they are allowing slightly more at the defensive end, and opponents are shooting close to 45 percent from the field against them.
Even more troublesome is that the Dons are outscoring teams in the first half, but being outscored more in the second half. They are also being out-rebounded, something Walters wants to see change, in large part by his team being tougher.
“I don’t know if we’ve out-rebounded any Division I team yet, and we don’t have great size,” said Walters. (The Dons have actually out-rebounded four Division I schools in 13 games.) “Coach Wooden, I remember listening to him talk, and he never talked about rebounding. We’ve got to be a great box-out team, physical and tough. It can be done; Coach Wooden’s first team didn’t have a guy over 6’6″.”
That, in short, is what he wants in the grand scheme of things.
“It’s got to be a mentality change, a culture change in terms of how we persist,” he added. “When the ball goes up in the air, tough kids look for someone to hit. You’re going to figure out a reason not to do it, or you’re going to figure out a reason to do it. We’ve got to figure out a reason to do it.”
Walters is big on toughness, and knowing that he inherited this team from a prior staff, realizes that this can’t change all at once. As much as he wants to win now, a little patience is probably necessary. That was perhaps evident in the loss at Holy Cross, where the Crusaders’ 97 points was the most they have scored since 2002 and the most against a Division I school in almost 13 years.
“We made it too complicated for them,” Walters reflected. “We’re in a first-year program; I kind of equate it to I was teaching a 400 level class and we’re a 100 level freshman team in terms of experience.”
While the Dons have a three-game road stretch coming up in the middle of January, they are first happy to be heading home. They won just two games in December, but are still at .500 overall, and are hopeful of making a run in the West Coast Conference. That won’t be easy, but with more time at home, they’ll be on better footing.
