City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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It’s too soon to say whether or not something truly special is brewing in University City. 

Zach Spiker has gathered all the right ingredients, has all the necessary equipment to blend them together, and the expertise to assemble them into a noteworthy product. The first taste that emerged this season might not have been the intended one, but a few tweaks to the recipe — and a little bit of maturation — seemed to have done the trick.

“I think our guys kept working, maybe worked a little more,” the Drexel men’s coach said. “We may have tweaked a couple things, maybe a few more minutes here and there, put a guy in the lineup, but you’ve got to adjust — and the guys, to their credit, I thought have handled that really well.”

Oh yes, the Drexel men are on the verge of breaking through. And if they keep it up, there could be something truly delicious down the road.

An 86-67 win over archrival Delaware on Saturday moved the Dragons to 14-6 on the season, a perfect 7-0 in Coastal Athletic Association play. They did it in front of a sold-out crowd at the Daskalakis Athletic Center, a massive student section occupying the entire south bleachers. 

It’s more energy than there’s been in the DAC in over a decade, since the 2011-12 season when Bruiser Flint’s group went 29-7 (16-2 CAA) in a year that saw them lose their first two conference games and then rip off 18 straight, including two in the CAA tournament. 

“It’s definitely exciting,” said senior forward Amari Williams, the CAA Preseason Player of the Year. “The student section’s packed, sold-out game. It’s just keeping an even keel right now — we’re enjoying it right now while it lasts but we know as soon as Monday hits, it’s a whole new mindset.”

The last time the Drexel men were 7-0 in their league, it was as a member of the North Atlantic Conference, now known as the America East Conference. Malik Rose was patrolling the paint as the Dragons won their first eight league games that season, one which ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. 

Spiker’s eighth team was projected to be his best yet — picked third in the CAA preseason poll, its veteran core all returning, Penn grad transfer Lucas Monroe the only new face in the rotation. There were bumps early, a loss to La Salle in the season opener a let-down, then another one to Temple which had Drexel playing in the Big 5 fifth-place game, not exactly what it had anticipated a month prior. 

The non-conference schedule ended with another disappointment, Bryant hanging 104 points on Spiker’s group on Dec. 22, the most Drexel had given up in six years. 

They haven’t lost since.

“I think guys are learning to play with each other more,” Monroe said. “There’s some guys that didn’t play as much last year and they’re playing this year, and there’s a few core guys that  were back [...] I think that’s the biggest part, we’re hitting a good spot right now.

“Some of the struggles at the beginning of the year were, we’re so deep and coaches were trying to figure out a good rotation for us,” he added. "Right now we have a solid rotation when guys know when they’re coming in and coming out, and they know what to do on the court.”

The win over Delaware was another impressive showing for Drexel, which has won five of the games during the current streak by at least 15 points. The Dragons placed five in double figures, shot 60% from the floor (33-of-55) and 50% from 3-point range (10-of-20), and won the rebounding battle 35-24.

Sophomore guard Justin Moore led the way with 18 points, adding seven assists without a turnover in 31 minutes of play. Monroe tied his career high with 14 points, adding 12 rebounds for his first double-double in a DU uniform; Williams (14 points), sophomore Kobe Magee (15 points, 6-7 FG) and fifth-year Mate Okros (12 points, 3-5 3PT) rounded out the group.

The Dragons led for all but about three minutes, taking the edge with eight minutes left in the first half and never giving it back. They got the advantage to double digits for the first time with 14:30 remaining on a 3-pointer by Moore and finished it out going downhill, getting wide-open dunks from Moore and Monroe in the final couple minutes, Monroe spreading his arms wide and sprinting around the court after his exclamation point with 10 seconds left.

“We’re doing a really, really good job right now and we’re not even playing our best,” he said. “This team has a lot more potential, and our ceiling is higher than we’ve shown.”

There’s a number of factors one can point to in terms of Drexel’s surge. One notable one has been the play of Magee, who went from a few scoreless outings early in the season to three double-digit outings during league play. Another one has been Okros, who was hitting 33.3% from deep in the opening 10 games but is 22-of-45 (48.8%) since.

Perhaps the most important has been the play of Moore. The Archbishop Wood product shot 34.7% overall and 15.0% from 3-point range in November but has been much more efficient since; he entered Saturday shooting 43% overall in December and January (37.5% 3PT), then was 6-of-13 from the floor and 2-of-4 from deep against Delaware. 

“You really want to know the secret? He wasn’t healthy, he wasn’t healthy at all last year,” said Spiker, who went on to explain how Moore suffered from multiple injuries, undergoing offseason surgery that kept him off the court all summer. “I think we’re seeing the best version of Justin not because he’s doing something different, we’re just seeing a healthy version, and I love it.”

Despite all the good vibes afterwards, Spiker was unwilling to engage much with the success his team is experiencing at the moment. He was focused on a turnover his squad committed with less than 90 seconds left, on all the things he didn’t like about the win.

He knows the season, as good as it’s going right now, still has two months left. A positive taste can turn sour, in an instant, without warning, and never return. 

“We can play better, “ Spiker said. “The guys have a growth mindset [...] we’ve got some work to do.”