Postgame: Richmond Debacle

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The Result: The Bonnies lost to Richmond by a score of who gives a fuck to 41,  60-41 today in a game that I could barley even stand watching it was so ugly…Thank God the NFL playoffs were also on. This is the EXACT type of game Richmond wanted and needed to play to win…they did just that and happened to embarrass us in the process. Richmond took our guards out of the game completely (see stats below for more information), Ndoye may as well have not made the trip down south (4 points, 6 boards, 2-6 from the field), and you could have turned the game off with ten minutes left. This loss really has me wondering how bad the Bonnies are. This was a pathetic, pathetic effort by the Bonnies. There’s no other way around it. Richmond doesn’t blow people out…except today when they laughed us off the floor.

Quoting Myself in the PreGame: “I fear Richmond winning this game by a score of say 61-54 after forcing the Bonnies into 16 turnovers and holding us to a low shooting percentage. Richmond wins these type of ugly rock-throwing games year after year. They force our guards into dumb turnovers late in the game and win on the backs of some bullshit foul calls…we’ve seen that play out before down there.”…..Yup, looks like my fears came true. Ugly game? Check. Turnovers? Tons. Fouls? Yup. Us coming back to Olean after losing? 100%. The only thing I got wrong was us scoring 54 points…other than that, I was dead on for the third game in a row. I was three for three in terms of their point total, our turnover number and shooting percentage.

How it Went Down: The first half was everything I feared it would be. Ugly. Slopping. Refs calling bullshit touch fouls. Bonas missing shot after shot and turning it over time after time. Ndoye picked up his second foul (it was a double foul?) 75 seconds into the game and then sat the rest of the half leaving Chris Dees to go at it for the rest of the frame. Dees did well enough to be honest (7 boards, four points), but he was gassed by halftime and had picked up three fouls of his own.

The Bonnies didn’t score a point until 15:17 left in the half and at the break SBU had been whistled for 11 fouls and had six turnovers. This shit was ugly. We were shooting 40%….Posley and Jay Adams were a combined 2-9 for four points (I said they needed to play well for us to win, at the half they were not)…Richmond’s match-up zone was giving the Bonnies issues and not having Ndoye was really hurting us inside as Gregg and Dees were shooting a combined 3-8 from the floor but they aren’t our all-conference seven footer who you thought, could have a day for himself.

At the half, down 25-23 you could have said one of two things: A) We’re in great shape- we played like total shit, didn’t have Ndoye are only down a bucket or B) We’re screwed, this is the exact type of game Richmond wins- low scoring, foul heavy, ugly games and this is headed that way….I honestly wasn’t sure which way I was leaning at the break. I certainly didn’t like the low scoring tempo and the ticky-tack stuff the refs were calling….To the second half.

After the break, the Bonnies came out just as cold as the first half, making one of their first eight shots. Nothing changed with Ndoye back in the game as he struggled to do anything but take up space. A T.J. Cline three pointer gave Richmond a 34-27 lead before the Bonnies got to within five at 36-31 after a Dion Wright lay-up. Still at the under 12 timeout I would have put our chances of winning at about 20%. Just never got the sense during this game that the Bonnies would pull it out….And they didn’t as the second half was even worse than the first. A pair of ShawnDre’ Jones three pointers sent the Bonnies packing their shit up with a 44-31 lead in the second half. From there it only got worse as Richmond continued to scored and Bonas continued to look like a bad CYO team who happened to show up at the Robbins Center.

You Knew It Was Over When: ShawnDre’ Jones buried a three pointer with 11 minutes left following an offensive rebound to give Richmond a 39-31 lead. The next possession Alonzo Nelson-Ododa scored a lay-up giving Richmond a ten point lead (41-31) with 10:14 left. After that it was another Jones three pointer to ice it (44-31). I knew the game was over given the pace and our inability to throw the ball in the ocean today.

Checking the Keys:

1. Knock down shots to get to 71 points- NO, HELL WE HARDLY SCORED 40 POINTS.

2. No more than 12 turnovers.- NO, WE TURNED IT OVER 14 TIMES.

3. Defend the three point line- Hold Richmond to 33% shooting. (Bonnies season average is 38.6%- 317th worst)- HELL NO. RICHMOND SHOT 48% FROM THE FIELD AND 33% (7-21) FROM THREE.

The Good: For the second game in a row I’m honestly not listing anything in this space. You tell me what was a positive from a blowout in which we had under 40 points at the under four timeout and finished with 41….Try….You cannot. You want to say Chris Dees came off the pine in the first half to give us some minutes while Ndoye sit his ass on the bench? Go ahead. That’s about all you’re getting. We didn’t defend, we didn’t shoot it, we didn’t value the ball, we didn’t compete. This game was a burn-the-tape type of effort.

The Bad: Where do we begin…Richmond’s match-up zone made us a look like junior varsity team. We couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean. Ndoye vanished like a seven foot Senegalese magician for the second straight game. We turned it over. We fouled too much. We played right into their hands all game long. We continue to try and post-up Ndoye like he’s a pure offensive talent and he just isn’t. Yes, he can score at times. But he’s not skilled enough to be a true back to the basket post presence. We are killing our offense by playing around him each game. As someone said on the wagon, this need really could use a stretch four because between Ndoye and Dion our bigs cannot make a shot outside of four feet…We are 1-2 in the league after beating UMass and after these two losses it’s time to wonder if the Bonnies aren’t one of the worst four or five teams in the league to be honest.

Bonnies’ Player of the game: No one. I refuse to put Cumberbatch in this space after his 10/6 effort. He was 4-11 from the field and seems to love passing up wide open three pointers for contested two pointers. He takes as many shots as anyone on the floor and I have no idea why this allowed game after game. I’m not sure why the senior gets to play every second of every game but he basically does. This tells you how little Schmidt thinks about Jalen Adams. I’m not trying to hate on Andell, but he seems to have the longest leash I’ve ever seen with Schmidt this year and I cannot figure out why.

Foe of the Game: Richmond forward substitute Alonzo Nelson-Ododa came off the pine to chip in a doube-double (10 and 11). Could you imagine a Bonnies’ sub having a double-double effort? Ha, get the hell out of here right?

Good stats: + 2 on the glass. Cowboys lost, thank freaking God. Couldn’t stand them in the title game next weekend. Also my brother got a dog, so he’s officially a father now. Congrats to him and his girlfriend on their big addition.

Bad stats: 0-10 from three. Did not make one single three pointer….When was the last time that happened? Someone let me know… Richmond shot 48% from the field. We had 14 turnovers. WE SCORED 41 FREAKING POINTS. Posley and Jay Adams were 4-19 from the field and 0-9 from three. Aint no one winning with that type of production. We needed our guards to hit some shots today and not only did they not hit some shots, they didn’t hit any shots.

What I saw Coming: This low scoring “rock fight” as people say. This sloppy, foul heavy game where Bonas never finds a rhythm in the game. This is Richmond basketball. Winning ugly. When they beat you, you walk away saying, “How did we not win this game?”. This was a little bit different since they mauled us, but still, it was the low scoring, ugly game I predicted.

What I didn’t see Coming: I’ve got to say I thought Marcus Polsey and Jay Adams would have a solid game today; we needed them to. To say they did not would be an understatement. Not a single three pointer. 4-19. Five turnovers, two assists. Bad.

Moment of the Game: Dion Wright saving a ball by jumping over the scorer’s table to Cumberbatch who throw down a two handed dunk with 9:25 to play in the first half. The announcers in this game were actually good but they totally failed to mention what a great play this was. That was like Jeter’s head first dive into the stands vs. the Sox type of stuff. Great effort by Dion, way to sacrifice your body for the program young fella…that was the high point of the day.

Someone Answered My Question on Twitter:

What’s Up Next: SBU will play George Mason at home, I mean in Rochester on Wednesday night. If SBU drops this home tilt it will be time to hit the full on panic button as far as this season is concerned.