City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The Saint Joseph’s men held the first local public exhibition game in the run-up to the 2023-24 season, defeating Manhattan 76-68 at Hagan Arena on Saturday afternoon. 

Some observations, stats and quotes from the afternoon, which raised money for St. Joe’s Kinney Center for Autism Education and Support:

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Essandoko flashes potential in win

No doubt the player everybody in the gym was most curious to see was St. Joe’s freshman Christ Essandoko. The 7-footer is the most high-upside big man to come through Hawk Hill in…well, maybe ever, and after sitting out last season, he’s expected to be a major piece for Billy Lange’s squad, getting the start on Saturday.

Overall, it was a strong debut with some negatives for Essandoko, who contributed seven points, 15 rebounds and six assists (against only two turnovers) in 26 minutes but left a lot of points on the board. He was just 1-of-8 from the floor, missing a couple 3-pointers but also some shots right at the rim, a couple layups rimming out and a couple hook shots not dropping.

“There’s still things that I’ve got to work on,” he said afterwards. “Got to work through a lot of stuff, finishing, but overall I think I did great.”

“He’s maybe the best NBA prospect St. Joe’s has had in a while,” said Manhattan coach John Gallagher, who played for St. Joe’s from 1995-99. “He’s gifted, he looks like a great teammate, he’s got great energy, he passes, he’s skilled.”

The big man’s first touch was an offensive rebound he easily grabbed over a couple defenders, then deposited in with his left hand. His passing skills were on display all night, including a few key feeds for 3-pointers as St. Joe’s closed the game on a 24-10 run over its closing 10 minutes.

The Hawks were clearly looking for Essandoko early and often, their guards putting him in pick-and-roll situations and feeding him on rolls to the rim, or just posting him up on the block.

“He missed more than a few [layups], but he got them,” Lange said. “And he provides us things that we have not had. I thought he did a great job passing the ball [...] his rebounding was impressive, his rim presence was good.”

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Shooting struggles

It was not a great afternoon from the floor for St. Joe’s, which shot just 26-of-64 (40.6%), including 10-of-37 (27.0%) from 3-point range. 

Erik Reynolds II, the Hawks’ returning all-league guard and leading scorer, was just 1-of-9 from the floor through the game’s first 30 minutes, though the junior took over down the stretch. A personal 8-0 run put St. Joe’s up 62-58 with under eight minutes left, and then he assisted on a Cameron Brown 3-pointer on the next possession to extend the lead to seven. 

Reynolds II finished with 13 points on 4-15 shooting, going 2-11 from 3-point range. Along with Essandoko, a number of other Hawks players also missed some open layups; Lange wasn’t too concerned, feeling like his team was finishing well in an earlier closed scrimmage at Providence, but he knows it was a weakness on Saturday.

“We missed a ton,” he said, adding that he’d like to see his teams convert at least 60% of their shots at the rim. “You’re not going to make 100% of your layups, the reality is some of them are contested, or semi-contested. I’m encouraged by getting there, the threat of the 3-point shot opens the lane up for that, but we missed easy ones.”

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Fleming produces at PF; Greer, Brown have strong afternoons

The main roster battle at this point is at the starting ‘4’ spot, with senior Kacper Klaczek and sophomore Rasheer Fleming both in the mix. Klaczek got the start on Saturday, but it was Fleming who undoubtedly had the better afternoon.

The 6-9 forward from Camden, who averaged 5.8 ppg and 5.0 rpg last season, finished with nine points and seven rebounds in 19.5 minutes of action on Saturday, going without a turnover while blocking a shot. He looked much more comfortable putting the ball on the floor, driving baseline a couple times to get to the rim. 

Fleming also put the exclamation point on the win, throwing down an alley-oop dunk on a lob from Lynn Greer III with 2:41 remaining to put the Hawks up 15. 

“I think [he’s] just understanding that he can do things like that, he can affect the game in different ways, catching and shooting or slashing, offensive rebound, blocking shots,” senior wing Cameron Brown said. “Even just handling the ball a few times, the evolution and the game slowing down for him is where he’s gotten better at.”

Klaczek, meanwhile, finished with two points, three assists and one rebound in 16 minutes. There was also a significant discrepancy in the plus/minus differential, with Fleming (+18) far outpacing Klaczek (-11). Lange did say that Klaczek had been dealing with a minor unspecified injury, and he was experimenting with different frontcourt lineups over the course of the game.

"I’m not looking at it positionally like they’re competing against each other for minutes, necessarily," he added. "That’s obviously part of it but our job is to find a way to keep them together and let them play together.”

Greer III (18 points) and Brown (17 points) both shot 6-of-10 from the floor and both made half of their 3-pointers (Greer 2-4, Brown 4-8) on the afternoon, their shot-making carrying the team offensively through much of the first 30 minutes. Greer was especially impressive, the former Roman Catholic standout grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out five assists in 29 minutes of action, consistently beating his man off the bounce.

“I thought he was great,” Lange said of Greer, who averaged 12.5 ppg last season but 16.1 ppg over the last 17 games. “He’s had a great September and October. I think he’s likely been the most consistent player that we’ve had in terms of his energy. I think he started to come on [against] Loyola here last year, from that point on I thought he was an all-conference level player. And then he’s just gotta keep going.”

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Gallagher’s cupboard not empty at Manhattan
Gallagher, a 1999 St. Joe’s grad, is in his first year with Manhattan; he spent 12 years at Hartford (2010-22) but departed after the school went from Division I to Division III, even though he’d just taken them to the NCAA Tournament. 

Though he’s had to replace most of the roster from last year, Gallagher already has some pieces to build around. Sophomore guard Brett Rumpel, a St. Bonaventure grad, was impressive with 15 points, six rebounds and six assists; freshman forward Xinyi Li came off the bench to drop in 13 points. 

“It’s no secret (Rumpel’s) going to be one of our better players, we can really build it around him and Danny Rouzen, from Weber State, both have three years [of eligibility remaining],” Gallagher said. “When you have those two guys, we have a chance to really build a culture quick, but there’s no shortcuts.”

Lincoln grad Shaquil Bender, who came to Manhattan by way of Fullerton College (Cali.), got the start on Saturday, scoring eight points and grabbing five rebounds in 23 minutes.

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Injury Report
Freshman point guard Xzayvier Brown was the only Hawk unavailable on Saturday. The Roman Catholic product suffered a sprained left ankle and is listed as day-to-day.

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