Tigers’ inexperience shows as Hawks pull away in second half
By: Justin Feil
WEST LONG BRANCH – Konrad Wysocki did as he was told.
"Coach said, ‘When you get out there, just try to grab as many rebounds as you can,’" said the Princeton University freshman. "That’s what I tried to do. And try to keep the ball out of the big guys’ hands."
Wysocki corralled a game-high nine rebounds Saturday against Monmouth. He also added a much-needed spark off the bench in his 24 minutes of action.
It’s a start, but he fouled out with seven minutes to play trying to provide tough defense down low and wasn’t around for the end of Tiger men’s basketball team’s 70-59 loss to the Hawks. The effort from guys like Wysocki was there, but execution was lacking.
John Thompson needs a few more of his youthful players to make some big plays in order for the 0-2 Tigers to get their first win under the first-year head coach. The Tigers face Weber State in the first round of the First Merchants Bank Classic at Ball State University 5 p.m. Friday.
Somewhere or somehow, Princeton needs to find their missing playmaker. It was obvious that one thing the Tigers sorely missed was someone to step up, take control and get the team back on track. When Monmouth, led by Gerry Crosby’s 24 points, went on a run Saturday, Princeton had no answer.
On the sidelines were a pair of those possible answers. Nate Walton, the senior captain, and Ahmed El-Nokali, the starting point guard the past two seasons, sat at opposite ends of the bench and met in the middle sometimes during timeouts to discuss the hoops action. But other than an occasional word of advice to a teammate, there was little they could do to change the tide of the game in their street clothes.
"Our lineup had nothing to do with what happened out there tonight," Thompson said. "Obviously (the unsteady lineup) is a factor. We need Nate in the game. We need Ahmed in the game. But the guys we out there have to play better than they did today.
"I think we have a lot of guys out there that have to play in games," he added. "They have to play in games. That’s what I mean when I say they have to get better. We hit a couple stretches there when we needed someone to step up and help us out. We just couldn’t do it."
C.J. Chapman tried his best. It’s expected of a veteran. The senior guard scored 19 points on 6-for-11 shooting from beyond the three-point arc, but several of his misses were from well behind the three-point line, out of comfortable range. Princeton had just five two-point baskets, and the Tigers had 17 turnovers, 11 of them in the second half when Monmouth pulled away.
Princeton held its last lead, 19-18, with 4:18 to play in the first half on a three-pointer by freshman Andre Logan. The Hawks closed the half on an 8-1 run to pull out to a 26-20 lead. That lead would shrink by just one point in the second minute of the second half before Monmouth eased out to as large as an 18-point lead.
"Monmouth was up by six (at halftime), but we knew we were still in the game," Wysocki said. "Everyone was focused and we wanted to get out there and make everything better in the second half. We concentrated on the post guys because we knew they were going to throw it down again. We tried to get out on the shooters. Unfortunately they made some tough shots."
In the meantime, Princeton did not. Mike Bechtold, who was limited by two fouls to just six minutes of action in the first half, had 11 points in the second half to finish with 14 total points. But it was a case of too little, too late for PU.
Though the Tigers shot 54 percent in the second half, 21 of their points, including six of their 15 three-pointers made, came in the final 4:20 of the game as the Tigers pulled within eight points. Defensively, Princeton gave up more points, 44, to Monmouth in the second half than the Hawks had in all of last year’s game, 35, in a two-point victory.
"They just had too many open shots and made them," Wysocki said. "On the other side, we didn’t hit our open shots. We made up our mind way to late in the game to start shooting and making them.
"We can’t really say why we didn’t make shots. Sometimes it comes, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s uncertainty. You never know. Sometimes a player is hot, and you get him the ball. Sometimes he’s not. In the first half, in the first several minutes, we just didn’t have the player that took the ball and just said, ‘Hey, I’m going to do it. I’m going to help you guys out of this.’"
Wysocki would like to be one of those take-charge players. His size at 6-foot-8 is already needed. He also blocked two shots Saturday and scored five points. It’s not unreasonable to believe that an inexperienced collegiate player like Wysocki will eventually have to be the one to help Princeton out more.
Looking at the Princeton team, everyone’s a candidate to step up because no one stands out. As decimated by injuries as last year’s team was, it still had the advantage of experience over this year’s early season squad. Ed Persia and Andre Logan joined Wysocki as freshmen that played significantly. Sophomores Kyle Wente and Pete Hegseth, both who played a combined 38 minutes last season, also saw minutes Saturday night. And Terence Rozier-Byrd made his first career start at center.
In all, Thompson played nine players Saturday, eight who spent 12 or more minutes on the Boylan Gym court. The early season playing time could actually help Princeton down the road, but the Tigers are anxious to get their full team back.
"First of all, all the injured players have to come back," Wysocki said. "Right now, I think every player is going to get an opportunity to play. Everything is tightening up. The chemistry on the team is great right now. We’re trying to help each other out when we have some disadvantages with other teams. We’re just trying to make them disappear and just play hard."
But with a young team, the hard truth is that there may be more nights like Saturday than not until the team is more experienced. Thompson, who said that El-Nokali could resume practicing this week and listed Walton as "day-to-day and week-to-week" just hopes the improvement shows sooner than later.
"We’ve made improvements to this point," Thompson said. "In the individual workouts to the start of practice, finally to this point, all the guys are making progress and getting better. I just want to expedite that process. Guys are working hard. They are improving. To get to the point where you want them to be, as a coach you want to expedite the process."
It’s the Ivy League that matters, Thompson has maintained. For that, Princeton has time. The Ivy schedule doesn’t start until Jan. 12, when the Tigers host Cornell. But Thompson and the players understand there is more work to be done. Princeton’s loss to Monmouth, just their second ever in the teams’ series, proved it.
"Coulda done better, shoulda done better," Wysocki said. "There’s still a lot of games to go."
Wysocki was evaluating himself harshly in his first significant action, but he might as well have been speaking for the entire Princeton men’s team.