City of Basketball Love

Daniel Hughes (@dan1el_sun)
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After this year’s Holy War, Saint Joseph’s has some soul-searching to do.

On Saturday, the Hawks (3-4, 0-2 Big 5) lost their fourth straight game, 88-57 to nationally-ranked No. 2 Villanova (8-0, 2-0 Big 5) in their annual Big 5 matchup at the Pavilion.

Although St. Joe’s opened up the season with three consecutive wins, it’s now dropped games against Ole Miss, NC State, Big 5 rival Temple and most recently the Wildcats, who will likely become No. 1 in the country after Kentucky’s loss Saturday to UCLA.

Beating a reigning national champion on its home court is a tall order for any team, as is winning two out-of-conference games on neutral territory and slowing down a Temple squad that had just defeated two nationally-ranked teams.

But four straight losses are four straight losses.

“I hope that everybody is willing to self-examine,” Hawks head coach Phil Martelli said. “Anger doesn’t do it, frustration doesn’t do it.”

The Hawks have struggled finding ways to score after losing valuable pieces from last season. This is the first year in Martelli’s 22-year run as head coach where he has not had a player that scored at least 10 points per game the previous season. The only three who met that requirement last year, DeAndre Bembry, Isaiah Miles and Aaron Brown, combined for 45.9 points per game.

“One of the things I do in my scouting report is I put up last years result and I’ll say this is how many points they have coming back, and this is how many points we have coming back,” Martelli said. “This year, (Villanova) had 60 points coming back...we had 16.”

Adding on to that, the Hawks leading returning scorer from last season, junior James Demery is unavailable for some time after suffering a stress fracture in his left foot in the season opener. He is currently in a boot, and Martelli doesn’t have a timetable for his return.

Individually, junior Shavar Newkirk and sophomore Lamarr Kimble have made great strides this season, with Newkirk averaging 20.3 points per game and Kimble putting up 14.4 points per game. However, their 34.7 points per game is still a significant drop-off from what the trio of Bembry, Miles and Brown was able to accomplish. They are looking for help from forwards Charlie Brown and Nick Robinson, but they are still only freshmen.

The Hawks have improved their 3-point percentage up to 36.8% from last year, when they shot 32.7% from behind the arc. However, their 2-point percentage is only coming in at 294th in the nation at 44.2%. That was one of the strengths of the team last year, as they shot 52.3% on 2-pointers, good enough for 46th in the country.

“The thing we really have to zero in on is our 2-pt shooting,” Martelli said. “We just shot 16-47 on twos, and when you’re playing this level game you have to make those shots.”

Brown drilled a three on St. Joe’s first offensive possession of the game. On their next chance with the ball, the Hawks missed three shots, two of them layups.

“To me that’s it,” Martelli said. “Make your two-point shots.”

Not only was St. Joe’s inefficient from the floor, they also allowed Villanova to score 44 points in both halves on Saturday.

The Hawks are allowing their opponents an effective field goal percentage of 54.2%. That ranks 281st in the nation. Martelli expressed worry in this area, particularly when going up against the Wildcats.

“(Villanova’s) two point efficiency is what I feared in the game,” Martelli said.

“We’re not going to be able to stand up and play man-to-man well enough,” Martelli continued. “The numbers are just going to get away from us. We can’t have 40-point halves.”

Although the Hawks do not return home to Hagan Arena until December 22, they have six days off before their next game against Drexel (3-4), which is only one train stop away from St. Joe’s campus and should be well attended by the Hawks’ cheering section.

Looming in the distance of course are difficult conference road tests against VCU, Dayton and Rhode Island. However, city games like the loss today are in Martelli's eyes a way to prepare for those away games.

For the time being, Martelli is going to have to call on his young team to be patient and introspective.

“We have to work on our own game,” he said. “So the mindset is that you start with the man in the mirror and go from there.”