A10 Plus: Dayton's Defensive Woes, GW's Struggles Inside and the A10 Rookie Race
February 3rd 2012
By: Doug Tifft
Defense Troubling Dayton
If Archie Miller had a tirade loud enough to reach the ears of those waiting in the hallway after his Dayton Flyers lost 86-81 to Rhode Island at UD Arena on Saturday, you can imagine what the message to his team was after the Flyers lost 83-73 to Duquesne on Wednesday evening.
It was the third loss in a row for the Flyers—the second consecutive at home—dropping Dayton from the glory of a tie for first place in the Atlantic 10 after a win over Xavier on Jan. 21 to a three-way tie for seventh halfway through conference play. Despite the frustrating downturn to the season, Miller appeared to have gotten his anger out by the time he arrived in the press room and turned toward self-reflection.
“Right now, the guy who is not getting it done is me,” Miller said.
“I’ve got to do a better job.” Miller was most critical of his ability to motivate his team defensively, where the Flyers have given up 52 percent (89-170) shooting in the three-game losing streak.
On Wednesday against Duquesne, an undersized team that likes to
run, part of the issue came in allowing poor offensive execution to
turn into easy points; the Dukes converted 14 turnovers into 26
points, and had 21 fastbreak points. But the issues have been
deeper than that for Miller.
Against Rhode Island, it was a shear inability to come up large on a single possession, with UD turning in just one stop in the final five minutes—and that only after giving up a pair of offensive rebounds earlier in the possession. And at Saint Joseph’s, on Jan. 25, it was 41 combined points for Hawks frontcourt tandem Ronald Roberts and C.J. Aiken.
“We just are not getting the job done at this point,” Miller said, tossing out possible reasons like a lack of interior size and overall depth.
Both are valid points.
The Flyers have had to rely on Matt Kavanaugh to play 23.6 minutes per game in the nine contests since Josh Benson was lost for the year to a knee injury. Kavanaugh would likely be logging more minutes, but he is committing 5.2 fouls per 40 minutes, and has picked up at least four fouls in five of those nine games.
Kavanaugh provides a big body to anchor a backline, but with Benson’s athleticism replaced by another ground-bound forwards in Luke Fabrizius and freshman Alex Gavrilovic, the UD interior defense loses a critical dimension.
As for the overall depth, Miller has been left wanting more bodies and more consistency of late. Senior swingmen Chris Johnson and Paul Williams have been shaky throughout the A-10 season. While Johnson has battled the aftereffects of a concussion suffered in practice, he has turned in games like the 20-and-12 night against Rhode Island and the 17-and-8 performance at Saint Joseph’s.
Yet, there have also been 5-and-5 (La Salle), 5-and-6 (Xavier) and 7-and-4 (Duquesne) games that have kept Johnson’s numbers from matching his first-team all-conference projections at the start of the season.
Still, Johnson’s struggles do not compare with Williams’ issues, as Williams has shot just 2-23 in the three-game losing streak. His jump shot has never evoked memories of Rick Mount or Jerry West, but the flat jumpers were hitting at 38.5 percent from three entering the slump.
Miller has already started tinkering, moving Williams to the bench in favor of Josh Parker against Duquesne, and stretching out Kavanaugh as much as the foul situation will permit. Yet, there might not be much time to adjust on the horizon, with the schedule showing four of the next five games away from UD Arena, including a trip to Saint Louis tomorrow and Xavier in two weeks.
Along the way, there might be a few more tirades.
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Accommodating the interior All season, through seven straight
losses in December and a rocky 3-5 start in A-10 play, George
Washington coach Mike Lonergan has been bemoaning his team’s
dearth of inside scoring punch. There have been bright spots, like
David Pellom’s 8.8 points and 4.7 rebounds per game before
going down with a knee injury and missing the last two games.
But there have also been plenty of dark nights.
Through eight A-10 games, GW has been outscored in the paint 254-213 by its opponents, meaning the Colonials have been in the hole by more than five points per contest down low. It has led to offensive efficiency numbers staggering in the 200s nationally, and the distinct possibility that fans at the Smith Center could lose track of the memory of what it looked like to watch the Colonials shoot a free throw.
But, of late, Lonergan has found a nice response: the flex offense. The flex was especially effective on Wednesday night, as GW gave Xavier a one-point scare, perhaps fittingly losing because the Colonials could not convert on a few shots within five feet of the bucket in the final seconds.
“I told the team I wasn’t mad at you, because you got good shots,” Lonergan said after the Xavier game, as he looked over a stat sheet and pointed out that his post players combined to contribute two points in the game.
But the offense did produce good looks for Nemanja Mikic and Lasan Kromah on the wings, and Tony Taylor at the point. Mikic, who has shifted to power forward in part to accommodate Pellom’s absence, has made 17 of his last 30 3-point shots as GW’s offense has evolved. Meanwhile Kromah is averaging 11.6 points in the last five games, a significant contribution on the lowest scoring team in the conference.
With GW turning toward a rough patch in the schedule, including three of five games on the road, the sparks of confidence born out of the offensive alterations will be a key.
All-Rookie Race
A year ago, A-10 observers were opining about the glorious year of
the freshman guard. There seemed to be a backcourt star for every
taste—McConnell, Duren, Mills, Staten, McCall, Jett,
Galloway, Lindsay and Frazier. Add in frontcourt players like
Dwayne Evans, Aiken and Ronald Roberts Jr., and the field was
even richer. When the ballots for the All-Rookie team came out in
March, it was a laborious process of trimming and chipping to
arrive at a final list of five.
Well, a year later the conference is older, with nine teams in the
top-100 in the RPI rankings, and many teams full of upperclassmen
talent.
Still, there is plenty of youth roaming the court, especially on the teams residing near the bottom of the standings.
While 2011-12 might not have the overall depth of the freshman class that some previous years have had, there will still be a few tough calls when the top five are named. With a month to go, here is a thumbnail sketch of the top 10 contenders for the All-Rookie team:
• Kendall Anthony, 5-foot-8 guard,
Richmond
(13.8 ppg., 1.7 apg., 1.5 rpg., 1.5 TOpg.)
• Jerrell Wright, 6-foot-8 forward, La
Salle
(9.0 ppg., 6.0 rpg., 1.3 bpg., 1.5 TOpg.)
• Pierria Henry, 6-foot-3 guard,
Charlotte
(7.6 ppg, 3.3.apg., 3.9 rpg., 2.7 spg., 2.5 TOpg.)
• Jonathan
Holton, 6-foot-9 forward, Rhode Island
(10.5 ppg., 8.0 rpg., 1.2 bpg., 1.1 apg., 2.5 TOpg.)
• Bryan Smith, 6-foot-1 guard,
Fordham
(10.0 ppg., 3.0 rpg., 1.5 apg., 1.6 TOpg.)
• Mike Powell, 5-foot-11 guard, Rhode
Island
(9.0 ppg., 3.3 rpg., 4.0 apg., 3.3 TOpg.)
• Anthony Lee, 6-foot-9 forward,
Temple
(5.9 ppg., 6.6 rpg., 1.5 bpg., 1.2 TOpg.)
• Dez Wells, 6-foot-4 wing, Xavier
(9.3 ppg., 5.4 rpg., 1.0 apg., 1.2 TOpg.)
• Cody Lalanne, 6-foot-9 forward,
Massachusetts
(6.7 ppg., 5.6 rpg., 1.5 bpg., 1.6 TOpg.)
• Devon McMillan, 5-foot-10 guard,
Fordham
(7.6 ppg., 2.6 rpg., 3.2 apg., 3.6 TOpg.)
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Photo Courtesy of Xavier Sports
Information Department.
