City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Andrew O’Connor (@andrewoconnor23)
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LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. - Teddy Okereafor and Khalil Alford led the way with 13points apiece as Rider blew away USciences in an exhibition game, 65-44, on Saturday afternoon.

The Broncs, picked to finish third in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference after coming in second place in the MAAC last year, were without senior Zedric Sadler (injury) plus sophomore forward Kenny Grant and redshirt freshman Josh Williams (one-game suspension due to violation of team rules), but didn’t have any problems with the Devils.

Rider came out hot from the 3-point arc, knocking down five of their first nine long-distance shots to jump out to a 23-9 lead on USciences. For the game, they were 9-of-23 (39.1 percent) from beyond the arc.

The Devils wouldn’t get within single digits again, trailing by 21 at the half and as many as 30 in the second period before their reserves were able to close the gap a bit.

Senior wing Sho Da-Silva led USciences with nine points and four rebounds.

Here are several observations and quotes from the exhibition:

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USciences’ struggle to get shots
Too often against Rider, USciences failed to get a good look at the basket, especially in late-shot-clock situations. The only member of the Devils’ who was able to reliably create anything was senior Sho Da-Silva, who was limited by injury; other than that, there were an airball or two and a few shots that weren’t too on-target as the clock wound down.

Overall, the team shot 27.7 percent from the floor (13-of-47), and just 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) from the 3-point arc.

Part of that can be attributed to a stanch Rider defense, and part to a 30-second shot-clock that only exacerbated the differences in athleticism and overall talent between USciences and Rider.

“The five seconds is a bigger difference than you would think, and their defense is very good,” senior wing Wes Kerr said. “Late shot-clock situations, they happen all the time now, so we’ve got to learn from it and move on.”

For the last few years, USciences has had a built-in cheat code in Kerr’s brother, Garret Kerr, but the two-time D-II Player of the Year is now in his first year as a professional ballplayer over in the Czech Republic.

Without the school’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder, there’s still a lot of work to be done to find out who’s going to be the primary option when they need a bucket; Sho Da-Silva is the most likely candidate, though his brother Flo Da-Silva and Wes Kerr are options as well.

Head coach Dave Pauley took responsibility for the team’s issues late in the shot clock, mentioning that the team’s ability to practice with a full squad had been somewhat limited due to varying academic schedule conflicts.

“That’s totally on me, that’s totally on me, that will be corrected,” Pauley said. “I think we did some things that were good at the end of the shot clock, but I think everybody was scrambling to get their own shot and not looking to play off somebody.”

Lundy’s role continues to expand in junior year
It’s tough to use Rider’s minutes from the exhibition as a sign for the year ahead, considering the players that were absent (see above) and head coach Kevin Baggett’s ability to play reserves so much in the second half with a 30-point lead. So all nine of the Broncs who saw action on Saturday played between 18-28 minutes--including junior forward Xavier Lundy, who scored 11 points in 22 minutes of action.

But it would seem more likely than not that Lundy would be one of those whose minutes weren’t just due to the situation, as the 6-foot-7 Paulsboro native looks like he’ll become an even more integral part of Baggett’s rotation.

“I got the chance to actually play a lot this summer and get used to the game,” he said. “I’ve got to bring some experience and leadership into the team for this year.”

Lundy went from scoring four total points as a freshman to averaging 5.8 ppg as a sophomore last season, and according to the head coach it wasn’t just on the court that he made some big strides.

“I’m really proud of X, man,” Baggett said. “Because he really struggled his first year, we had a lot of heart-to-heart conversations, and he’s really grown up and matured.”

Rider's leading scorer from a year ago was its center, Matt Lopez, who's used up his collegiate eligibility after stops at Utah State and La Salle. With Lopez graduating, Lundy and forward Khalil Thomas will become more featured pieces.

It's still a guard-oriented group, though, with Teddy Okearafor, Zedric Sadler and Jimmie Taylor leading a strong backcourt for the Broncs. And Lundy is perfectly happy with that.

“I feel like with Matt gone the attention is going to be shifted to the guards,” he said. “It’s easier for guys like Kahlil and I to do our thing because the focus isn’t on us.”

USciences looking for quality depth
USciences coach Dave Pauley did not shy away from the fact that although 14 players received at least eight minutes of playing time in today’s exhibition,the end product was not up to standard.

“We are many, but are we much," Pauley said, in regards to this issue. UScience struggled to find consistency on the offensive side of the floor, making only 13 field goals throughout the game with 12 players taking shots.

“I just think we have a lot of guys,” Pauley continued, “We’ve got a lot of commas and semicolons, I don’t have many periods.”  

With Kerr gone, the Devils will need to find some interior scoring. Sophomore Will Gregorits and freshman Beni Toure each attempted seven shots and pulled down four boards, combining for a total of nine points. Toure lead the team in field goals made with three.

Senior point guard T-John Casiello, coming off a season where he was the national Division II leader in assist-to-turnover ratio, struggled to find scoring opportunities for himself, notching only one point, and for others as he was credited for only one assist and recorded two turnovers.

Also seeing minutes off the bench for USciences was 6-7 junior center Brendan Devine, plus the Kerwin twins, Dylan and Jack. Camden Catholic freshman Brendan Crawford, a 6-8 forward, is yet to be cleared by the NCAA but Pauley is expecting him to get the all clear on Monday.

When the Devils’ coach was ultimately asked what some good things he can take away from the game his only thought: “It was a good workout.”