WORCESTER, Mass. – Sean Kearney didn’t react the way he might normally have in the situation. Holy Cross had a good lead in the second half and saw it get cut down, although it never reached single digits, but he wasn’t concerned about that. He was consumed by the bottom line, the Crusaders’ first win of the season after a few tough losses and a tough stretch on the road.
“I wanted it badly for them, and I know they wanted it badly,” said the first-year head coach. “If anything, when I came into the locker room, I think they were a little bit disappointed with the way the game ended. As a coach and as a perfectionist, I might agree somewhat, but for the most part, when you get a win in college basketball, you’ve got to be excited. I told them to go throw some Gatorade all over themselves, because we got a win, they’ve been fighting their tails off all this time, and I’m thrilled for them.”
The Crusaders lost their first six games of the season and were fresh off a tough road stretch. All three losses at Rhode Island, UNLV and Western Michigan were by double digits. Right before that, they lost a heart-breaker at home to Loyola (Ill.) at the buzzer and had fallen just short at Saint Joseph’s. The 0-6 start was the first since 1940-41, when they lost their first seven.
Since this is not a team for moral victories, one might wonder how they kept morale up through the opening stretch. Part of it was knowing that they had no choice if they want to start winning, and part of it was knowing that they’re having growing pains adjusting to a new system. They also felt they made progress in practice every day, using another metric besides wins and losses. They would rather have the wins, of course, but they had something to hang their hat on.
“Everyone’s a little bit down, but not too down,” said sophomore Mike Cavataio, who led the Crusaders with 19 points and eight rebounds. “We know we have to stay focused, we know we’ve got to keep our heads up. Coach always tells us to keep our heads up and we’ll get the next one.”
For his part, Kearney knew he and the staff had to be patient with the team. Not only are they playing differently than they had before, but they also had some key veterans from last year that meant a lot to this team. He also looked for areas of improvement, knowing that as much as the bottom line mattered, part of his job was to keep the morale up for the sake of winning the games that really matter come January and February.
The growing pains with the new offensive system were evident in Monday’s win. In the first half, they ran the offense vey well, shooting 61.5 percent from the field and turning the ball over just six times. In the second half, they still shot 50 percent, but had just 12 field goal attempts due in part to turning it over 12 times.
“We’re still adjusting to the new motion offense,” said junior forward Andrew Keister, who had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. “We’re still figuring it out, but when it clicks it looks good.”
As important as the offensive change is, the area the Crusaders have long hung their hat on is defense, and that was lacking in the early games. While the Crusaders had been shooting below 42 percent from the field entering Monday’s game and shot just under 58 percent in knocking off Marist, the stats that stuck out like a sore thumb are that opponents were averaging more than 78 points per game and shooting better than 46 percent against them. Additionally, the Crusaders were only forcing a little over 10 turnovers per outing. The former stat saw improvement on Monday, as the Red Foxes shot just 39.6 percent from the field, the lowest percentage of an opponent thus far this season.
“We’re putting up good numbers offensively, so we’ve got to just focus on our defense and play hard defensively and getting stops, which is going to lead to a win most of the time,” said Cavataio.
The Crusaders are out-rebounding their opponents, and the last two games have seen significant improvement defensively. Each has seen the team set a new low for points allowed on the season, and the opponents have shot a combined 40 percent from the field. That’s progress, and they hope the defense can progress the way they feel the offense is coming along. At that point, Kearney can be concerned about how the game ends if they win but don’t play well down the stretch.
