Herenda and FDU confident in rebound year, but highlight need to improve shot making

Greg Herenda and Mike Holloway field questions about Fairleigh Dickinson and their prospects, which include second-place prediction in Northeast Conference poll. (Photo by Ray Floriani/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Ray Floriani (@rfloriani)

BROOKLYN -- There are times in the course of analysis we over look a simple fact. Caught among the analytical formulas, spreadsheets and video study to see what happened, we miss a very easy detail. You must put the ball in the basket on a consistent basis.

In 2016, Fairleigh Dickinson made a late run, culminating in the championship of the Northeast Conference postseason tournament. This past season, the Knights dropped their final six games to finish 11-19 and exited the NEC Tournament in the first round. Adding to the frustration was the final loss coming at the hands of Wagner, whom FDU defeated in the prior year’s final.

“The difference from 2016 and last season was we didn’t make a lot of shots,” FDU head coach Greg Herenda said at the conference media day Wednesday morning. “In 2016, we made shots and got hot at the right time. Last year we had the defense and rebounding, but the coin flipped. We did not make shots.”

Moving ahead, Herenda is excited, not just optimistic, about the prospects this season.

“We have a good group of very athletic players,” he said. “This is a fun team to coach. Last year, we had a detour, but in our case, the train does not stop.”

Using the transit analogy, you could point to Mike Holloway as the team’s conductor. The 6-foot-8 junior scored 11.4 points per game last season. In addition, he grabbed a team-high 6.3 rebounds per outing. Holloway is considered one of the conference’s top returnees.

“Mike spoiled us early,” Herenda said. “He shot 57 percent from the floor his freshman year. At this point, he can be upper echelon in our conference. He’s had had two great years playing and academically. He’s a leader and our captain as a junior.” From his perspective, Holloway spent the offseason working on his body. At a formidable 260 pounds, there was no need to add bulk. Rather, the work was more specific. “I spent a lot of time with conditioning,” Holloway said, “and working on my jump shot.”  

Darian Anderson, a senior guard named the NEC’s Preseason Player of the Year, and the team’s leading scorer last year at 17 points per game, is also back. The key, however, is the newcomers, and Herenda is decidedly excited about what they bring to the program.

Jahlil Jenkins is a 6-foot freshman point guard with excellent quickness. Herenda likes how Jenkins is rapidly developing to the demands of the college game.

“He is a player who is really going to be special,” Herenda predicts of Jenkins. Tyler Jones, a 5-foot-11 freshman guard and Elyjah Williams, his 6-foot-7 classmate, are a pair the coach feels will be solid additions. Noah Morgan, a 6-foot-5 Mount Vernon product, is another promising freshman. “We could start two freshmen and bring two off the bench,” Herenda stated. Relying a lot on first-year players can be tenuous, but FDU’s fifth-year head coach has the feeling this group has an accelerated learning curve.

“The whole team connected over the summer,” Herenda said. “Not just in summer school, but off the floor as well. There has been a development of a family atmosphere and it shows on and off the floor,” to which Holloway added, “the freshmen have really adapted to what we want to do on and off the floor.”   

Freshman orientation will come soon enough. The Knights open on November 10 at Seton Hall. Non-conference meetings also include Penn State, Princeton, Saint Peter’s, Iona, Rutgers and Maryland.

“The other night I was watching the Nets game,” Herenda said. “(Rondae) Hollis-Jefferson and Aaron Gordon were playing. Those two were at Arizona, and the first game I coached at FDU was at Arizona. But that is what we want to do. We want a tough non-conference schedule to better prepare us for the NEC.”

Herenda terms the NEC an equal opportunity conference.

“I was an assistant at Seton Hall and the Big East had teams like UConn, Syracuse and Georgetown, who were powerful year in and year out,” he said. “As an assistant at Yale, we had to contend with Penn and Princeton consistently at the top. In those situations it is hard to win. That is a reason I came here. You have many good players and coaches in the NEC, but there is an opportunity to get better and move up. When we won it in 2016, we were picked ninth in the preseason poll. That is a great example of this league’s parity.”

Still, it all gets back to making shots, specifically when the game is in the balance. The Knights shot 33 percent from three-point range and 50 percent inside the arc in conference play but came up dry at inopportune times, which left them wanting.

“For us, the difference will be the ability to consistently make shots,” Herenda said. “That is what lets you win in March.”