The Stags lost for the 22nd time -- the most losses in program history for a single season -- as Fairfield once again faltered down the stretch en route to a 71-62 loss to Rider in front of 1,427 Saturday afternoon at the Webster Bank Arena. In addition, it was the 14th Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference loss, also the most in program history, as Fairfield (5-22, 2-14) missed a golden opportunity to escape out of the MAAC cellar and join Niagara in 10th place. And the Stags have just four more chances in the regular season to try and win two games, which would tie the fewest amount of wins (seven) as a Division I program, set back in 1988-89....
"I think that's indicative of a 43-point half by them," said Stags head coach Sydney Johnson after Rider outscored Fairfield 43-31 over the final 20 minutes. "Defensively we've been really, really good this year and obviously, you're going to have a couple of games where you're not great and this was one of them. We lost this, as much as anything, on the defensive end. We let them score 43 points. They were very good in the second half."...
The broken record continues. Fairfield tried. Fairfield competed. Fairfield got solid performances from players that hadn't been very solid of late. But when crunch time came and push came to shove, Rider pushed and Fairfield didn't push back.
"It's brutally evident of a young team," Johnson said. "Just the understanding. juniors and seniors that are feeling confident and they're going to keep coming no matter what, and freshmen and sophomores who haven't played a ton it seems at some level, we ride the wave of how well we're playing and at times, we pull back a bit. We've been a little bit better lately but we haven't learned it enough to win some of these single possession games that we're certainly talented enough to win."....
The only good news from Chris Elsberry on the Rider game:
NOTE:It was Bob Heussler "bobblehead" day at the Arena as Fairfield recognized its long-time play-by-play announcer with a bobblehead giveaway and the creation of a financial grant to a student in the Fairfield University School of Nursing in honor of Heussler's late wife, Marcia, who worked as a operating room nurse at Yale-New Haven Hospital for 20 years before passing away from cancer in January of 2011. The silent auction raised over $3,000 for the nursing grant with proceeds from ticket sales still to be counted.
In addition to the program's season record 22 losses and the record 14 MAAC losses (and still counting), this season will set the record for the lowest attendance average for Stag Men's Basketball at the WBA since the move to Bridgeport for the 2001-02 season. Only 1,427 at today's game.
In addition to game day attendance; TEAM Stag, the Stags Club, season ticket sales, alumni and student interest are taking a hit and are going to take an even bigger hit because of this year's performance. Getting more support for Stag Men's Basketball just got a whole lot harder.
In addition to the program's season record 22 losses and the record 14 MAAC losses (and still counting), this season will set the record for the lowest attendance average for Stag Men's Basketball at the WBA since the move to Bridgeport for the 2001-02 season. Only 1,427 at today's game.
In addition to game day attendance; TEAM Stag, the Stags Club, season ticket sales, alumni and student interest are taking a hit and are going to take an even bigger hit because of this year's performance. Getting more support for Stag Men's Basketball just got a whole lot harder.
Who do you think you are posting this? This can't be Stag basketball facts. We are much better than that! You hit the nail on the head!!!
For most of the second half, Rider was using an extended 3/4 court zone press. To beat this, Sydney had Rose and Chappell in the backcourt with the others lined up across the court in between the midcourt and the foul line of the basket we were shooting at. At first, I thought it strange that our players were relatively bunched close together, especially as Rose and Chappell managed to get the ball closer to the 10 second line. Having all 10 players on the court quite close to each other between the 10 second line and one foul line seemed to be an invitation to creating turnovers because Rider's players are much quicker than our players for the most part. As I watched Sydney wave Malcolm up to the sideline right in front of him, and then saw Malcolm receive a pass and attempt a cross court pass to what looked to be an open Chappell ---I thought what an excellent coaching move by Sydney --using Malcolm's height to break the press. Unfortunately, Malcolm's pass lacked zip and a Rider defender picked it off and went in for a layup.
Another time Chappell either had the ball taken away from him or stolen as he started to dribble (my view was blocked by the Rider defender).
That's when I realized the real reason for (what seemed to me) the strange alignment to break the press. It's Grennan's fault!!!! His lack of basketball focus and commitment forces Sydney to play non-superior ballhandlers like Chappell and Malcolm.
You have to admire Sydney's ability to keep the games close for most of the game, especially with such a young team.
I'm a bit confused by this postgame quote by SJ: "We've been a little bit better lately..."
In our last two games we've lost to Quinnipiac and Rider by more points on our home court than we lost to them in their gyms earlier in the season. Does SJ want us to ignore those results and "focus" on the fact we came very close to beating Siena in Albany after they had defeated us at WBA.
As far as the problems with winning with such a young team. Please don't let SJ know that Rider is now 9-7 in the MAAC and they started two freshmen yesterday. BTW, those 2 freshmen (Taylor and Thomas) shot a combined 12-20 from the field against us including 4-4 on 3 point attempts.
In SJ's defense, there was no way he could've possibly known that one of recruiting needs for this year's team was accurate shooters --- EXCEPT for the number of times last season he lamented our inability to knock down wide open jump shots.
Being inexperienced is not the only issue with the team. But when we win only 5 games its probably a combination of multiple things:
- Inexperience - Talent - Coaching - Skills
Our inability to play well down the stretch has cost us about 5-6 wins this year. IMO, the biggest factor has been that our lack of Skill-level in Ballhandling and Passing, has effected us so many ways..... taking the ball out of bounds, breaking the press, running the break, turnovers, quickness, being able to take our opponent off the dribble.
Until this issue of Ballhandling and Passing gets addressed, we will not win many games. It is the root cause of our problems. Player improvement and/or bringing in players with Ballhandling/Passing skills is a must. We have to have 3-4 players on the court at all times that can do this. Right now we have 1.5.
You hit the nail on the head!!!
