PC Opened “Tough, Ugly, Sloppy” - Now What? — Kevin Stacom

PC Opened “Tough, Ugly, Sloppy” - Now What? — Kevin Stacom

Kim English did not sugarcoat his characterization of the game, which he had just completed, versus Central Connecticut State at Monday night’s press conference. He described it as “tough, ugly, sloppy.”

It was your proverbial rock fight. But what it lacked in artistry, it made up for in dramatic suspense, as the almost 10 thousand fans were at least treated to a gutsy come-from-behind win due to four key free throws by junior guard Jayden Pierre and a couple of clutch rainbow 3s by Miami senior portal transfer Bensley Joseph, which finally gave PC the lead with 18 seconds left. 

The Friars were thin. First-team All-Big East player Bryce Hopkins is getting close to full recovery from last year’s ACL injury but is still not cleared.

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Graduate portal transfer Jabri Abdur-Rahim was out recently due to the passing of his uncle, Amir Abdur Rahim (head coach of USF). Both point guard Jayden Pierre and sophomore Rich Barron are nursing practice-limiting injuries; it’s understandable that English said there’s a lot of work to be done to bring some continuity to their play.  

English said, matter of factly, how during the last couple of weeks they haven’t had enough guys to even scrimmage 5 on 5 at practice. You can do drills all you want but there is no substitute for getting out and competing in full court action against similar high level athletes to arrive at a rhythm and comfort level as an individual player and as a team. 

With scheduling these last two games, Coach English knew they weren’t going to be as easy as they looked to the average fan. The exhibition game against UMass and this one vs. CCSU featured two very experienced coaches, Frank Martin and Patrick Sellers. Martin is entering his 18th year as a head coach, including stints at Kansas State(5 years) and South Carolina(10 years). He is now in his third year at UMass, with numerous NCAA appearances and a Final Four team at South Carolina. 

Sellers has been coaching at a number of mid and high major schools since 1999, including UConn, Hofstra, Creighton, DePaul, Fairleigh Dickerson, Fairfield, and now CCSU. 
I mention this to explain that both these guys have developed broad contacts and relationships through all their years of recruiting with a lot of AAU and High School programs to hunt down players that might be a bit under the radar. It was obvious from watching both games that both coaches have done that. They are each expected to compete for their conference championships this year in their Coaches' pre-season polls (UMass, the MAC, and CCSU, the NEC)

Something else was very noticeable in these two contests. Lower and mid-major teams used to be where, in general, you would find a lot of very skilled players, but because of their relative lack of high-level athleticism, they would usually get physically overwhelmed when they ventured up against major conference teams. No more
On both these teams there was a good amount of speed, quickness, and jumping ability at just about every position. 

It’s becoming less surprising that teams such as these, filled with players who have been laboring in relative obscurity, get a chance to compete against their more highly acclaimed peers in an NCAA game. These teams often present a major headache to a possibly unsuspecting team from a power conference. Not to mention the added economic incentive now to earn some coveted NIL money if they show well versus a highly ranked team.         

Whatever the ever-changing “metrics” the NCAA committee utilizes in determining who’s admitted into their tournament, you know it can’t be good to lose a game to a lower conference, which is another reason getting out of the AMP Monday night with a win was a relief. 

There were some glimpses of hope in this disjointed, frenetic game, as PC, as a group, played very hard, pulled for each other, and kept the fans in the game with a lot of floor-burning hustle plays on defense to offset the frustrating barrage of turnovers 16 turnovers) 

Both of the bigs (Erhunmwunse and Essandoko) showed flashes of promise. I’m sure the coaches, after praising Essandoko for some tough rebounds in traffic, will emphasize the need not to bring the ball down below his waist in the lane. He did display some creativity in passing the ball, even though a few resulted in turnovers. (He made a key pitch out to Joseph for a 3-pointer toward the end of the game).

The next four games at home will be valuable for both players and coaches to get some reps in with different combinations. Everyone hopes to continue to get healthy before venturing down to the Bahamas, where their first game with Oklahoma awaits them.