Three MAAC teams played last night and none of them put up much of a fight.

Canisius was in it early but quickly folded against No. 11 Syracuse and Siena never stood much of a chance at No. 3 Pitt.

But the Griffs and Saints were playing in hostile environments against two of the best teams (the Cuse's shocking loss to Cleveland State notwithstnading) in the country.

Rider, on the other hand, played a La Salle team that had defined mediocre over its first eight games, and looked completely lost for 40 minutes.

The Broncs fell behind 6-0 and 20-6 and never trailed by fewer than 11 after the first minute of the second half, suffering their most lopsided loss of the season and giving up what was easily the highest point total by an opponent this year.

So what's wrong with Rider?

Well, for starters, the Broncs need more from Ryan Thompson.

The good news on that front is that Thompson, who had been in a big-time shooting slump before last night, was 3-for-3 from beyond the arc against La Salle. The bad news is that Thompson frankly said after the game that everyone -- himself included -- became too reliant on Mike Ringgold to spark the offense.

Thompson, who had scored only 17 points in Rider's previous two games, scored 19 last night. But this was a game in which the Broncs could have benefited from additional assertiveness from the preseason first-team all-MAAC selection. Ringgold, his out-of-this-world bad free-throw shooting notwithstanding, has been all Tommy Dempsey could ask for and more offensively. But Thompson is the first-team all-MAAC pick, the leading returning scorer, and the go-to guy. Why, then, did he take only 11 shots last night, while Ringgold took 14, Novar Gadson took 12 and even the sometimes-trigger-shy Matt Griffin took nine?

But although everyone in the Zoo Crew would like to see Thompson do more, it isn't like he's shooting 30 percent from the floor and committing six turnovers a game. So what else is wrong?

One thing is this: I think it would be difficult to overstate the significance of the elbow injury Harris Mansell suffered in the season opener against Saint Joseph's. The injury is to Mansell's shooting elbow. It's caused Mansell to become a below-average outside shooter, which his stats demonstate. He's shooting 29 percent from beyond the arc and is 1-for-11 in his previous two games.

That has put a whole lot of added pressure on Thompson, which is why it's a problem that Thompson hasn't played like more of a star.

Then there are the knee injuries to Justin Robinson and Jermaine Jackson, both of whom had arthroscopic surgery in November and neither of whom are up to full speed.

I've never seen Jackson play at full-strength, but I'm certain Rider would benefit from him playing more than 4.3 minutes a game. I'm also certain Robinson's slugglishness has been a major problem.

I'm a big Matt Griffin fan, and think the offense sometimes runs more smoothly when Griffin is running it. But when Robinson has been forced to the bench, the Broncs have been forced to use Griffin more often than they would probably like, and though Griffin put on 10 pounds of muscle over the summer, he still often finds himself in defensive mismatches because of his size.

What does this all mean?

In some ways, it's hard to tell because we don't know how good players like Jackson will be when healthy, and we don't know when -- if ever -- Mansell will regain the elbow strength and confidence necessary for him to return to form.

One thing is certain, though: The Broncs, who have three non-conference games remaining before resuming MAAC play on New Year's Day at Iona, better get it together quickly. If they don't, the losses will start coming in conference games, and in this league and at this level, those are the ones that really count.