City of Basketball Love

Joey Piatt (@joey_piatt)
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Hopes were high for Drexel men’s basketball entering the 2021-2022 campaign. Zach Spiker’s program was coming off of a 12-8 season that saw the Dragons win the CAA tournament with three convincing victories. It wasn’t until the NCAA Tournament, when Drexel faced off against Big Ten basketball superpower Illinois, that the Dragons’ season finally came to a close. 

Even though their final game of that 2020-2021 season was a blowout loss, that season served as a beacon of hope toward what a 2021-2022 season could be. Perhaps it would be a year free of COVID-related game postponements, a year to win back-to-back CAA titles, and a year to become a March Cinderella story. 

It certainly looked like the team had the talent to make their goals happen. The Dragons returned their top-two scorers in senior guard Camren Wynter and graduate forward James Butler, and a few key departures were to be offset by some new additions and players returning from injury. They also had underclassmen contributors like sophomores Amari Williams, Lamar Oden Jr. and Xavier Bell ready to build on their freshman campaigns. 

But so far, Spiker’s group hasn’t quite found the mojo it displayed last March. A home loss to one of the CAA’s worst teams Saturday was just the latest sign that Spiker’s program still has work to do on its journey to defend its conference crown. 

“We have to figure out what we need to do, quick turnaround,” Spiker said. “We have to find a way to be more successful.”

Drexel entered Saturday coming off a convincing 77-49 defeat of CAA-foe Elon, one that gave the Dragons their third conference win of the season. The Tribe, on the other hand, traveled to West Philadelphia with a 3-15 overall record and a three-game losing streak. Though the odds were stacked in favor of Drexel, it was Dane Fischer’s William & Mary program that escaped the DAC with an 83-75 upset victory.

The final result on Saturday was a surprise to most, and it’s one that was largely made possible through the absence of Butler. After missing the Dragons’ last four games with an injury, Butler was dressed and seemed set to enter the game off the bench. While the two-time Third Team All-CAA selection did see action early in the first half, he struggled to be effective, scoring just three points on 1-2 shooting in his 11 first-half minutes. 

Butler didn’t figure things out as the game went on either, as he played only three minutes in the second half. While he might have been back in the rotation, Butler was clearly not back at full strength. That wasn’t surprising to the Drexel staff, who credited him for even trying to contribute.

“I think certainly we all know what [Butler] is capable of at 100%,” Spiker said. “JB at a different percentage than that is better than no JB. I love what that guy has given and sacrificed for our program. He gave us what he could, and I think he’ll continue to evolve into the version of him we all have seen and are accustomed to.

“I think a lot of guys in that situation wouldn’t even play right now, and I credit him. He wants to do whatever he can to help his teammates. I appreciate that a great deal.”

When healthy, Butler has been one of Drexel’s most potent offensive weapons. He entered the game averaging 13.4 points per game and 9.7 rebounds per game, and in Drexel’s last matchup against the Tribe, Butler scored 21. His absence on Saturday gave Drexel (8-8, 3-3) a hole that William & Mary used to turn a potential blowout loss into an upset victory.

Williams tried to fill the hole left by Butler by doing his best to put up a Butler-esque statline of 15 points, nine rebounds, and four blocks. But Williams also showed his inexperience at times on Saturday, making mistakes at key junctures in the contest. One such mistake came toward the end of the first half, when Williams committed a traveling violation in the process of slamming down a breakaway dunk.

Even without Butler, the Dragons were not short on talent. Drexel still had the trio of Wynter, Martin and Coletrane Washington on the floor, and all three made an impact on Saturday. Wynter, who ranks in the top five in the CAA in both points per game and assists, paced the Dragons with 26 points. Washington and Martin each added eight, with the latter also adding nine rebounds and three steals to his stat line. 

Martin in particular has been key in adding balance to the Drexel offense this season. 

“I feel like we’re better with him on the floor than [when] we aren’t,” Spiker said. “It doesn’t always equate to ‘he got the ball’ or ‘he got the rebound,’ but I think he’s playing really hard.”

With Bell also chipping in for 12, there were plenty of playmakers on the floor on Saturday, even without Butler. The Dragons are undoubtedly better with their star big man on the floor, yet talent was not their issue against the Tribe. 

“I think that we missed some layups,” Spiker said. “I think if we go back and watch this, we’ll see a large number of layups…18 turnovers, tough to win [with those]. They might have had 22, but I thought the 18 turnovers really hurt us. So, we have to take better care of the ball, [and] I think we’ll shoot it a little bit better some other times.”

A look at the stat sheet confirms Spiker’s suspicion. The Dragons have outrebounded opponents on the season, but they lost the battle to the Tribe, who won the rebound battle 42-33. Drexel was also outshot by William & Mary both from the floor and beyond the arc, despite outshooting opponents in both of those metrics on a season-long basis.

From a statistical view, Saturday’s game was an outlier in Drexel’s season. Even their opponent, whose leading scorer is averaging 11.9 points per game, had nearly three players score 20+ points. The Tribe’s upset bid was propelled by Connor Kochera, Ben Wight, and Brandon Carroll, who scored 23, 21, and 18 points, respectively.

With just over a month of conference play to go, there’s still time for Drexel to find its identity, but the games are running fewer and fewer each week. 

Over the next few weeks, the Dragons will have several chances to move back up the CAA standings; Spiker’s squad will play a pair of contests with UNC Wilmington, who is sitting atop the CAA with a 5-0 conference record. The Dragons will also have a chance to complete the sweep over Towson and right their Jan. 11 loss to Delaware. 

This season might not have started the way Drexel expected it, but with plenty of conference play left, the mentality is the same for the reigning champs. 

“Our goals remain the same,” Spiker said.