City of Basketball Love

Zach Drapkin (@ZachDrapkin) &
Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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R.C. Kehoe doesn’t believe in moral victories.

The 6th-year head coach has built Holy Family from the CACC basement into a D-II powerhouse, but this year has forced the former Delaware assistant to be much more patient.

Gone are a group of nine seniors from last year’s program-best 26-6 team, taking with them over 99 percent of the team’s points and minutes.

Having ushered in a completely reshaped roster, which features just two returning players, it’s safe to say Kehoe has his work cut out for him.

Following a 90-74 defeat to No. 8 St. Thomas Aquinas on Wednesday night, the Tigers are now 0-3. The other two losses were to a pair of strong Northeast-10 schools in 13th-ranked Southern Connecticut State and American International up in Bridgeport, Conn. over the weekend.

“There’s no such thing as a moral victory. It just doesn’t exist.” Kehoe said. “What exists is growth by defeat, and that was something I talked about before the game with our guys. We grew with those defeats up at Bridgeport.

“It’s more about just understanding where we are -- not accepting it, we don’t accept it, but understanding where we are and what our issues are on the defensive end of the floor,” he added. “We’re not used to being 0-3 around here. And we’re not going to get used to that.”

Growth certainly does not seem apparent after the most recent loss to STAC, considering that the prior margins of defeat added up to just four points.

St. Thomas Aquinas dominated early on and at one point led by as many as 35 points in the second half. But Holy Family did mount an impressive 31-6 run, cutting the lead to just 10 with two and a half minutes to go, though it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit the Tigers had fallen into.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the fight,” Kehoe said. “Tonight, we were on the verge of spiraling out of control and you have to give our guys some credit in that they caught their breath and fought them to the end.”

The Spartans shot 56.5 percent from the field against HFU’s trademark 2-3 zone, capitalizing in the high post with Chaz Watler (21 pts, 10 ast, 5 reb) and forcing giveaways by way of full-court press.

It was quite the uncharacteristic defensive showing for Kehoe’s team, which had been one of the top teams in all of Division II basketball on that end of the court when he had experienced pieces. But it’s definitely the type of game that the Tigers will have to learn from in order to progress as a unit.

“It’s going to be baptism by fire, and they’re going to figure out how to play the zone because the taste in their mouth from losing is going to get so disgusting that they can’t swallow anymore. That’s the way they zone will mature,” he said. “It’s not going to happen overnight... As we get more mature with the zone, I don’t care who you put in the middle, you’re going to have problems against us. But right now, we’re not there.”

Getting there will be a testament to the maturation of this team, which is easily one of the youngest and least-experienced in the NCAA, at any level.

With an eight-man freshman class forming the nucleus of this program for the next four years, Kehoe has to lean heavily on the only one of three upperclassmen in the regular rotation, junior wing forward Dyllon Hudson-Emory.

A Harrisburg native and Bishop McDevitt grad, Hudson-Emory is yet another newcomer to the roster, having spent the last two years at St. Petersburg (Fl.) junior college. But he’s the only member of the rotation with any college experience, and so far he’s been playing like it.

The 6-foot-7 wing, after dropping 33, is now averaging 26.7 points and 7.3 rebounds through the Tigers’ first three games.

What he’s done is he has given every single ounce of energy in his body to us, and to this team,” Kehoe said. “ And the result is the confidence is glowing out of him. If you’d have watched him play in high school, or watched him play in junior college, you would have told me ‘R.C. you’re outside of your mind if you think he’s going to get more than 12 (points) a game.”

Hudson-Emory is enjoying playing the role of mentor to the younger Tigers, as well as serving as its’ on-court leader and go-to option on the floor.

“I think we’re getting a lot better,” he said. “We still have to a lot of the little things on the defensive end mainly… we have to get better, get more active, and get more aggressive. I think we’re doing really well.”

Also playing well for Holy Family through its first three games has been freshman Randy Bell, who’s currently averaging 28.0 ppg. The 6-4 scoring machine out of Timber Creek (N.J.) turned in impressive performances of 31 and 30 points to start off the season, being named the CACC Rookie of the Week. He had a rough game against STAC, going 8-25 from the field and 2-12 from beyond the arc en route to a 23-point output.

Bell’s shot selection will continue to improve as the Tigers begin to mesh better as a team, with third and fourth options in freshman wing Maliq Sanders (12.3 ppg) and redshirt freshman point guard Trai Greer (7.7 ppg). One more freshman, 6-8 Sean Griffin (Phil-Mont Christian) rounds out the starting lineup, and two others, 6-6 Austin Chabot (Archbishop Ryan) and 6-3 John Rigsby (Archbishop Carroll), have also seen minutes in Kehoe’s rotation.

With that much youth in the mix, it’s going to be a learning year for Holy Family, as Kehoe seeks to build this group into one that resembles the team that earned the No. 1 seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament’s regional.

Eventually, the Tigers are hoping that growth by defeat will turn into growth by victory.

“We’re going to get better and everybody’s going to do their part,” Hudson-Emory said. “Everybody’s working hard on and off the court, getting extra shots up. Time will only tell. We’re going to be good.”