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Siena 80, Rider 54
LAWRENCEVILLE – This was an all-out lashing – an emphatic reminder of which team has won back-to-back MAAC titles and which team is 8-9 in conference play.
Siena’s 80-54 win at a sold-out Alumni Gym didn’t merely put Siena on the precipice of setting the record for regular season MAAC wins and give Rider no margin for error tomorrow against Canisius.
The rout, decided by the mid-way point in the first half, left Rider a team searching for answers and lacking in confidence as it approaches next week’s conference tournament.
“We just took a beating,” Rider coach Tommy Dempsey said. “We got taken apart in pretty much every aspect. Siena played great, we played poorly, and the results speak for themselves.”
The Broncs, winners of five of their previous seven MAAC games, entered last night’s game looking for a confidence boost against the MAAC standard-bearer.
Instead, it played out in similar fashion to Siena’s 84-62 rout of the Broncs on Dec. 23 in Albany: The Saints scoring at will, bullying Rider in the post and serving notice that the gap between the teams has grown much larger over the past year.
Edwin Ubiles scored 21 points to lead four Saints in double figures. Clarence Jackson had 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting and Ryan Rossiter had 14 points and 13 reounds. The Saints also got 12 points from Alex Franklin and eight assists from Ronald Moore.
Siena outscored Rider 40-20 in the paint and won the rebounding battle 39-30, bouncing back after a 70-53 loss last Saturday at No. 15 Butler.
“We didn’t play very well last time out but I thought we practiced with a great level of intensity this week in preparation for a team that we have a lot of respect for,” said Siena coach Fran McCaffery. “You could see from the beginning that we were focused.”
Novar Gadson scored a career-high 25 points off the bench for Rider, which needs to beat Canisius tomorrow to avoid the MAAC tournament play-in round.
Gadson provided the Broncs (15-15 overall, 8-9 MAAC) with its only positive. The sophomore, talented but raw, had the most efficient game of his college career, finishing 10-for-17 from the floor and 3-for-6 from 3-point range.
“Gadson’s always giving us problems,” McCaffery said. “The thing that was upsetting wasn’t what he did inside, but that we didn’t match up with him on the perimeter.”
Gadson, though, was the only Rider player who played well. Ryan Thompson entered the game on a prolific stretch but was a non-factor last night, finishing with 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting. No other Broncs were in double figures and only Gadson, Thompson and Brandon Penn (eight) had more than five points.
posted by Kyle Franko at
9:54 PM
19 Comments:
How soft is this team? 4 FT attempts? In your building in a big game. And the senior leader of this team had no FTA in 37 minutes and 1 rebound.
Talk about not showing up.
Nice effort by RT. I hope the pressure of senior day won't be too much for him tomorrow.
Nice effort by Tommy Boy last night. Way to wait until it's 45-23 to call a TO. Way to stand there mute while the fouls are 8-1 against you. Were you to busy trying to decide which Irish pub in Trenton to go to after the game to put up a fight over the one-sided, pro-Siena officiating. Way to take Penn out at the first media TO when he had 5 boards. Way to get get outcoached by Fran, again.
Yaahhhhhhhhh. TMD has appeared. Been waiting all morning for the excuses. I have news for you. You could have put Phil Jackson on the sideline last night. He is not making up 26 points.
Maybe the Wizard of Oz could have helped. He could have gave RT a heart.
Good news is RT sneakers will be ready for Sunday. Go no paint on them last night. No FTS no Defensive Rebounds. Great Job MR. NBA.
TMD39, if Brandon Penn is now our primary defensive rebounder, I don't think Dempsey's coaching is your problem, it may be his roster.
#1 Rider Fan: when you play 2 4's and no 5, someone better rebound. My point is Penn has been playing well the last few weeks and still doesn't get minutes. Last night he got yanked after 4 minutes (in which he got 5 boards) and played only 13 more. He has nice range on the jumper, rebounds and has some size. But Tommy Boy pulls him and Jonathan Thompson (a 2/3) and Patrick Mansell (a 2) come in instead. I think he does have a roster problem; he likes 1's, 2's and 3's and doesn't think he needs size.
No Sack: Did I mention RT? I don't think so, moron. Personally, I think RT needs to get an order of protection from you; you are obsessed with him. And once again, you are the only one making excuses - for Tommy Boy! I guess coaching counts for nothing and it's all on the shoulders of college kids.
Did you think RT played well last night?
No, I didn't. Do you think Tommy Boy coached a good game last night?
TMD, I think Rider has 5s, they just stink. Jackson and Ezuma are fives in the MAAC.
You are not going to recruit a traditional 7 foot, back to the basket player in the MAAC unless he grows 6 inches in college. Those guys are at Nova not Rider. Who has a 5 in the MAAC? Rositter maybe. The big kid at Fairfield. Bacon. But those guys to me are Ringold with a better body.
I think Penn is a role player. He played 17 minutes and gave great minutes. Got 8 and 8. Not fair to say, "Well if he played 34 minutes he would have had 16 and 16." Those guys normally can give you five to six solid before getting exploited.
I don't think he coached well, and I don't think he coached bad. When a game is that bad a mismatch, you could have put anyone on the sidelines for either team and had the same result.
If you want to say he did a bad job motivating his team from Sunday to Thursday, fine. Do you want to say he recruited bad talent, fine. Do you want to say he needs a strenth and conditioning coach because his teams gets pushed around in the paint game after game, fine.
But to look at Xs and Os and rotations when you lose by basically thirty is crazy.
If he had played Penn longer in the first half was he winning?
And again, for the most part, winning and losing in college is on the shoulders of the players. The coach has two jobs 1)Get Talent 2)Keep them out of jail and academically eligible.
Did Roy Williams forget how to coach this year? No players equals No Wins.
#1 Rider Fan: I said no 5 plays, not that he doesn't have any. Jackson is a 4, Ezuma is a 5, but plays 3 minutes a night. Rider, under KB and Harnum, always had beefy 6'8" or bigger kids in the middle. Tommy is a perimeter guy.
And don't put words into my mout; I never said with 34 minutes Penn would have had 16 and 16. But I like what I see lately and would like to see him get more minutes.
No Sack: So now Tommy Boy is Roy Williams? Please. The game didn't have to be a blow out. Use a TO when it's getting out of hand; don't wait until it's done to act. Don't get pushed around by the usual pro-Siena officiating at home; go nuts and get a "T". It works sometimes; ask anyone watching Uconn-West Virginia this week. And, the last time I checked, the coach is responsible for who is on the court; the players don't check themselves in and out.
Go Stags!!!
So lets forget opinions for a second TMD or hypothetical situations:
In Riders 8 League Wins, Ryan Thompson averages 19 pts on 48% shooting. And if you take out the Marist home game, the number goes to 22.
In their 9 leagues losses, he averages 12.8 a game on 30% shooting.
In think he has great talent, and when he plays to his talent level, they are a top two team in the league.
When he doesn't, they are a play-in team.
So if Dempsey has something to do with RT inconsistent performance, than he is the problem.
Every player has bad games. But 50% of his games in league this year have not been good. That is unacceptable for a star who the NBA was looking at.
No Sack - Maybe the problem is that Dempsey hasn't built any secondary options or support. Maybe the game plan has made it's way around the MAAC that limiting RT limits the whole team.
And using facts:
loss at Loyola - bad from the field, but 12/13 from the line, 6 boards, the only reason the game is close.
loss at Iona - 50% from the field, 14 pts, 4 assists
loss vs. Iona - over 50% from the field, 17 pts.
loss vs. Fairfield - over 50% from the field, 3-3 on 3's, 18 pts.
This team has zero toughness. That's on the supposed leader....RT. A team follows its best player. And he is soft. That's why they got blown out. Not time outs.
Tmd, have you ever gone out for a beer after work? Especially when your team is performing like wusses.
Also, make sure your friend don knows that you are taking shots at his hand picked successor on a message board.
Anon - I think you missed the point of one of my comments, the Irish pub. It has nothing to do with going out for a beer after work. It has to do with looking so disinterested while he is at work. Friday night we were getting worked over by the officials, on national tv and at home, and he did nothing. No emotion, no nothing. Same as the Fairfield game when RT is being shown the gate on a BS call. I mean your best player is being kicked out and you do nothing. Do you think KB or Donnie would have handled the situation that way?
As for my friend Donnie, I do consider him a friend. He knows more basketball than me and I respect the position he's in. It's his call, and I will never tell him what he should do.
TMD, I appreciate your loyalty to Harnum but he never won 20 games and had a career record of 127-104 (.550 winning percentage).
Wasn't exactly Dean Smith. I think these "What would Harnum do?" comments are a little crazy
#1 Rider Fan - Harnum had some very good years and 2 losing seasons. 97-98: 18-10 (12-6), NIT bid; 00-01: 16-12 (11-5); 01-02: 17-11 (13-5 MAAC regular season champs); 04-05: 19-11 (13-5, tournament finals against Niagara). And he was the one who recruited Jason Thompson, not Tommy Dempsey. Think Dempsey would have the record (or 20-win seasons) without Jason or Ryan. And I never compared him to Dean Smith or anyone big-time coach. But Tommy couldn't carry his jock.
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