By Connor Wilson (@Conman_815)
FAIRFIELD, Conn. — “Is there panic? No. Urgency? There’s got to be urgency from the beginning of the season until the end and we have to have more of that.”
A disgruntled Anthony Latina sat in his office on Sunday afternoon, seemingly searching for answers.
His Sacred Heart basketball team, picked to finish third by his peers in the MAAC preseason poll, had just dropped to 1-6 in league play with a 70-60 loss to Quinnipiac at the Pitt Center.
The Pioneer offense got out to a red hot start in the first half, but fizzled out in the second and went the final 5:19 without a field goal, allowing the Bobcats to go on a 14-1 run and make the final score look like more of a rout than it really was.
“We turned it over a couple times, can’t score if you don’t get a shot (off),” Latina said. “Credit to them, they turned up their defense. Their length is tough and they turned it up defensively.”
For the first 35 minutes, the Pioneers had solid success on that end of the floor. Nyle Ralph-Beyer had his best half he’s had perhaps all season in the first 20 minutes, scoring 17 points with five threes, including a buzzer-beater that sent the Pioneers into the locker room up by six, at 32-26.
In the second half, Ralph-Beyer went scoreless, a testament to the defensive adjustment that Quinnipiac and head coach Tom Pecora made at the intermission.
“Our adjustment was to just not give him any space,” Pecora said. “We always play five-man defense and play low to the ball. We just stayed home with him and made sure we were never too far from him.”
Ralph-Beyer had just 13 points in his last three games combined, coinciding with the Sacred Heart offensive struggles during that time. Latina was searching for how to fix the poor play and slow starts, and he settled on sending Ralph-Beyer and Mekhi Conner to the bench, replacing them in the starting lineup with Fallou Gueye and Jaden Slaughter.
“We got off to a couple poor starts in a row, so we shook it up, had a good start, and ran with it,” Latina said. “Obviously, we probably have to rethink that again.”
Another player that has come off the bench the past two games is Anquan Hill as he returns from injury. Hill had a game-high 21 points, a majority of which came in the second half while the game was still competitive. He hit the Pioneers’ lone three in the second half.
Looking bigger picture, there is potential quickly for Sacred Heart to salvage its slow start, with three of its next four games against Rider, Niagara and Canisius. Granted the Pioneers just got swept on their trip to western New York last weekend, you can’t overlook the fact that there is a great opportunity to turn things around.
“Every game is gonna be a battle,” Latina said. “Canisius beat Manhattan at Manhattan, Niagara played someone (Manhattan) competitively today, and Rider lost by a few at Fairfield.”
Dashon Gittens and Yann Farell didn’t have their best performances in the loss, each scoring just seven points. Despite this, they’ve been two of the most reliable players in what's been an inconsistent offense all year and still brought intensity on the defensive end. Farell, in particular, was tasked with guarding Amarri Monroe and held him to just 4-for-16 shooting from the field.
“We tried to limit (Monroe’s) shots at the rim,” Latina said. “He was 3-for-11 (from two-point range), so we just tried to make him take tough twos and contested threes. He still affects the game in so many ways.”
Even with the six-game skid both in the league and overall (because the MAAC plays two early December league games, skewing the schedule), the Pioneers have been keeping things close for the most part. That’s usually the last thing you want to hear as a coach, never wanting to accept moral victories, but their worst loss in league play was by 12 against Iona and Sunday was just their second in conference by double digits, and it didn’t feel like it.
With a healthy Hill and the potential resurgence, or breakout if you will, of Ralph-Beyer, the writing is there for Sacred Heart to turn things around the rest of the way and make something out of the season. Remember, not every team makes the MAAC tournament in Atlantic City, only the Top 10 in the standings. At 1-6, it’s not time for a fire drill-esque response for Sacred Heart, but it may sneak up on them.
“There’s certainly a level of urgency,” Latina said. “Next game is at Siena, perhaps the toughest place to play (in the league). None of these games are gonna be easy.”
The Pioneers look to get back on track on Wednesday, when they travel to Albany to take on Siena.
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