Post Game: Siena (L 73-70)

The Result: The Bonnies lost to Siena tonight by a score of 73- 70 and fell to 1-1. The game was not nearly as close as the final score would lead you to believe. Unless you’re a really big optimist, then go ahead and feel good about it.

 The Rundown: There are some games in a season that are “throw away” games. This was one of them.

Honestly, the Bonnies played F basketball tonight. They didn’t defend. They didn’t shoot it. They didn’t take care of the ball. They didn’t work the ball inside to Ndoye or Wright and when they did it wasn’t effective. They showed some fight and grit inside the last five minutes or so and finally made so shots but honestly the game was out of reach by that point and you could tell Siena had kind of put this on cruise control.

There honestly,  were almost no positives to be taken from this game at all in terms of a team concept…The complete opposite of Saturday night. This SBU team is young and so games like this are going to happen but when they do…it’s a train wreck. Don’t go off the deep end, this won’t be the last non-competitive game this team plays this year because they are young and green…it doesn’t make it less annoying when it happens.

For as excited as folks were for the Adams Brothers games last weekend they likely feel that disappointed now. They shouldn’t be…just be somewhere in the middle…They weren’t that good…they aren’t this bad. Freshman are freshman and are going to experience growing pains. They’ll take one step forward and thee back…As Schmidt says, “the best thing about freshman is they become sophomores”. We’re going to watch this class have more bad games than good ones, it’s just how it is.

What’s more concerning to me is this team’s consistent inability to score vs. a zone defense. The turnovers inside are mind blowing. Their inability to work the ball inside to Ndoye was puzzling. The 7 foot center didn’t get a post touch in the first ten minutes of the game. This was a team he should have feasted on and he was basically neutered by their zone. And as much as it wasn’t his fault for not getting the rock; when he did get the ball he stunk tonight. I can’t be any more blunt about it. We said going in SBU was more prepared and rested, well throw it out the window. It didn’t matter. Siena kicked our ass tonight, give them credit. Like I said, they are a solid team, but not a really good team..this is a team we should beat and didn’t. This was a game where the final score was no indication of how not close this game was. There was honestly never a moment in the entire second half I thought we were winning this thing…if you want to say you got all giddy when we hit back to back threes to cut it down to five with a few minutes you can. You want to get happy we made some meaningless threes with seconds left? Go ahead. Siena was in control of this game for almost the entire duration.

What the result means for the Bonnies: It means they need to spent a lot of time working on playing against a zone defense…again. I could put this on loop honestly. It means they need to watch the film for about 6 hours tomorrow (which they honestly may) and tear it all apart and figure it out…if this happens again this weekend I’ll really be alarmed. If I’m Jim Baron SBU is getting nothing but zone looks this weekend until they shoot me out of it. It means we are not as good as you thought we were Sunday morning and we’re also not this bad…but right now it certainly feels like it.

Player of the Game: Posley though he scored his points more to being a volume shooter. He did have a spurt in the first half that gave us a the lead and shows flashes.  He looks like he could be an Eric Mosley type scorer if he can gain a more consistent shooting touch…let’s hope he finds it sooner or later because this team needs his shooting in the worst way and cannot afford to have him shooting it 35% this year.

Good Stats: Bonnies did a nice job on the glass tonight but that was in large part due to grabbing boards off misses, so take it with a grain of salt. The Bonnies were +20, yes plus TWENTY on the glass and still lost. Damm, that ain’t easy to do.

Bad Stats: 16 turnovers. 38% shooting overall. Forced only five turnovers. Trailed by 10 at the half, felt like 20. Ndoye had four points. Gave up 32 foul shots.

What we Liked: Honestly I don’t know….Posley shows signs of being a scorer but also needs to improve his shot selection a bit. We need outside shooting in a big way but not at the expense of good offensive movement. Cumberbatch had a decent game for sure…..plain and simple there was basically nothing to take from this game..burn the tape.

What we Didn’t: Holy hell, where do I even start with this tonight? Let’s see…we have no idea how to beat a zone defense. We seem to never get the ball into the seem and we have poor passing inside and turn it over a ton in the paint vs. help in that zone. We didn’t defend (they shot 40% but were at 48% at the half)…We missed a ton of free throws (14 of 24). We didn’t value the ball at all (turned it over 16 times)…which has been a staple for this team in losses the last seven years or so. I hate to be this simple but we didn’t shoot the ball well whatsoever (38%, 34% from three and 58% from the line). When we lost Wright this spring we knew SBU would need to find a shooter for this fall…we’re still looking through two games. Posley has shown flashes, yes. But as a team we need to knock down shots. It’s really, really hard to beat anyone when you’re shooting it in the 30 percent range. If guys like the Adams Bros and Posley/Alston cannot knock down shots it’s going to make Youssou’s job that harder inside…we’ve seen it already. Let’s also note that those stats are inflated by four three pointers in the last two minutes.

Ivan Kovacevic Unsung Hero Award: Cumberbatch played well tonight and has played well for two games this season which has been a nice lift. The senior went for 24 and 11 tonight and was aggressive hitting the glass. If he keeps playing at this level Gathers may get less time whenever he returns.

Anthony Solomon Head Scratching Moment: I’m sure it wasn’t by design but SBU’s inability to get the ball inside early was really shocking. When you play a team from the MAAC with a 6-8 center you need to go at him with your 7 foot senior. Ndoye was nowhere to be found tonight and that makes me scratch my head. I mean I said days ago the kid should go for 20-11 and he went for….4-8 on 1-4 shooting….Jay Adams ill advised three pointer with 1:37 left in the game was a typical freshman shot…not a good decision for the situation. As soon as he brought it up I said, “don’t just take a quick three” and that’s exactly what he did. You can’t kill the kid for having the stones to take a big shot down the stretch as a freshman but it’s something he will learn in times…there’s a difference between showing some stones and making a good basketball play.

Prediction Records:  Vinny and Shane fall to 1-1…Silver Lining? I had Siena winning this game a month ago. Sucks to be right sometimes.

What’s Next: Canisius this weekend at 4 PM. Bonnies are at home and need to get back on track vs. a poor team.

Noteworthy: Bonnies lost the Franciscan Cup for the second straight season. Gathers was a DNP once again and I’m starting to wonder at what point he returns. The Bonnies failed to cover the spread. Vinny made it back to Olean from Buffalo this afternoon after spending a day/night with workers in an Apple Juice Factory. I’m going to Mexico on Sunday morning so I’ll keep telling myself about that to make me feel better about this game.