Mids come up short at wrong time of season
Navy men’s basketball earned the outright No. 1 seed for the Patriot League Tournament for the first time since 1997. Sadly for the Midshipmen, the result was much the same as it has been for most of the past two decades: one and done.
Playing without starters Cam Davis and Richard Njoku, Navy put forth arguably its worst performance of the 2020-21 season and got upset by ninth-seeded Loyola Maryland, 76-68, in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals on Saturday.
Junior guard Jaylin Andrews scored 17 points, while sophomore forward Santi Aldama posted a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds for Loyola (5-10), which struggled throughout the regular season but put it all together when it mattered most and advanced to face No. 4 Army at West Point in Wednesday night’s semifinals.
“I didn’t think we played our best game, and that’s unfortunate,” Navy coach Ed DeChellis said. “At this time of the year you have to play your best game because it’s one and done.”
Junior guard Greg Summers scored 21 points to lead Navy, which finished 15-3 overall. After going 12-1 in regular season conference play, the Midshipmen dropped their Patriot League Tournament opener for the 15th time since 2002.
“It was rough finishing out this season this way. It definitely hurts, definitely stings,” Summers said. “We didn’t play the way we needed, especially on the defensive end. We didn’t play as cohesively as we wanted.”
Navy was put behind the eight ball before even taking the home court at Alumni Hall. Davis and Njoku were ruled out due to coronavirus protocols at some point late in the week, leaving a major void in the lineup.
Davis, the team captain and starting point guard, led the Mids in scoring, assists and steals throughout this season. The 6-foot senior scored in double digits in 14 of the 15 games he played and has 1,215 career points.
“Cam is a senior who has been around a long time and made a lot of big plays. He kind of takes over games at times and makes big shots,” DeChellis said.
Not having Njoku, a member of the Patriot League All-Defensive team, also hurt. The rugged 6-foot-7, 230-pound junior is a tough, physical interior defender and his absence was noticeable during Saturday’s contest.
The Greyhounds have three players that stand 6-foot-10 or taller and they had their way down low against the undersized Mids. Sophomore Daniel Deaver (6-8, 225) started in place of Njoku but got into foul trouble.
The 6-foot-11 Aldama, a first-team All-Patriot League performer, set the tone early by taking the ball strong to the basket for a layup and scoring off a put-back.
Loyola repeatedly pushed the ball inside to 6-foot-10, 257-pound Golden Dike on the low block and he was productive, scoring eight points on 4 of 5 field goal shooting.
Most distressing was the offensive contribution of 6-foot-10 freshman Alonso Faure, who entered averaging just 4.4 points. Faure made a wide-open 3-pointer and converted a three-point play down the stretch in scoring 11 of his 13 points in the
second half.
That inside scoring, coupled with 19 points off 12 offensive rebounds, helped Loyola shoot a sizzling 58% (32-55) from the field for the game. The Greyhounds scored 40 points in the first half alone and became just the third Patriot League opponent this season to reach 70 against the Midshipmen.
“I thought our defense was the biggest problem. I didn’t think we were very good defensively at all,” DeChellis said. “We couldn’t stay in front of the ball and for some reason our second rotations weren’t very good.”
Making matters worse was the fact John Carter Jr. was not 100%. The junior swingman, the team’s second-leading scorer, did not practice during the week because he was not feeling well and was a game-time decision.
Carter was pretty much a non-factor on Saturday, scoring six points and playing just 17 minutes. “You take three starters out of the lineup and now we’re going home,” DeChellis said afterward.
“I’m frustrated and our team is frustrated. You’d like to give it your best shot because I think we had a chance to really do something,” DeChellis added.
In the final analysis, Navy did not play the type of basketball that had produced such a successful season. The Midshipmen out-rebounded Patriot League opponents by a considerable margin and were allowing an average of only 66.5 points per game.
“I didn’t think we defended or rebounded, and those have been the trademarks of this team,” DeChellis bemoaned. “It wasn’t a good defensive effort at all. We gave up 40 points in the first half, which was disappointing.”
Depth and bench production have also defined this Navy club. The Midshipmen got 38 bench points in beating the Greyhounds on Feb. 28, but only got 18 in Saturday’s loss. Navy’s normal rotation was disrupted by the absence of two starters and Carter being limited.
“I didn’t think we had the flow off the bench that we normally have either,” DeChellis said. “All the things we’ve done leading up to this point, we didn’t do today.”
Trailing by 15 points early in the second half, Summers scored nine points to spark
a 20-6 run that got Navy within one at 49-48 with 13:32 remaining in the game. The Midshipmen just could not get over the hump, missing shots or committing turnovers on one end and failing to get defensive stops on the other.
“That was a big sequence when we had three chances to take the lead. If we take the lead, that changes a lot of things,” DeChellis said. “We all took our turns making mistakes. We were making elementary mistakes, which was just unfortunate.”
Davis enjoyed an outstanding career in a Navy uniform, playing in 107 games with 73 starts during his career. He was a two-time All-Patriot League pick and also amassed 226 rebounds, 192 assists and 70 steals.
“I just feel badly for Cam sitting in his room right now feeling miserable. I don’t know if he’s going to get to play again or not,” DeChellis said. “There’s a kid who has given so much to the program over the last four years and didn’t play in the last three games.”
Navy will lose three members of the rotation with the Loehr twins — Alec and Luke — also set to graduate. Luke Loehr suffered a season-ending knee injury six games into the season. Alec Loehr was the only senior to play in the season finale.
“Cam, Al and Luke are incredible leaders. They’ve helped us along the way on and off the court. They’ve instilled multiple characteristics and attributes we’ll carry on,” Summers said.
Navy can only now hope to receive a berth in the National Invitation Tournament, which gets underway on March 16 with all games being played in the DallasForth Worth metroplex in Texas. Organizers recently announced this year’s NIT will feature just 16 teams as opposed to the usual 32.
In seasons past, Navy would have received an automatic berth into the NIT as the Patriot League regular season champion. There will be no automatic qualifiers for this year’s tournament with the field featuring 16 at-large berths.
“We’re 15-3 and we’ve got good wins over Georgetown and George Washington,” DeChellis said. “I think we’re a pretty good team and I think it’s a good story. I hope they give us a look, give us a chance. We’d be honored to be in the NIT and continue to play.”
Even before Under Armour announced plans last year to cut marketing costs and renegotiate athlete endorsement deals, the Baltimore brand and ballet dancer Misty Copeland had parted ways.
The sports apparel maker said Monday that the partnership with Copeland, a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, ended in 2019.
“We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished together during our partnership, and incredibly grateful to Misty for helping us evolve beyond traditional sports and into new arenas,” the company said in a statement.
Under Armour did not respond to questions why the agreement with Copeland was discontinued. A spokeswoman for Copeland could not be reached.
Last May, as the coronavirus pandemic began to exacerbate the brand’s struggles with sales and product demand, Under Armour said it was renegotiating athlete endorsers’ contracts.
“We’ve been negotiating and working with them, and we’ve been able to get some extended payment terms there, which are helpful just in general with our overall capital preservation efforts,” David Bergman, Under Armour’s chief financial officer, said at the time without disclosing details on specific athletes.
Just before the Super Bowl last month, Under Armour said it was dropping an on-field contract with the National Football League but that it has no plans to end or change its endorsement deal with legendary quarterback Tom Brady, who led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the Super Bowl title.
Under Armour had announced plans in June to back out of a record $280
million contract outfitting UCLA athletes. The university then sued Under Armour.
In an earnings report Feb. 10, the company said that cost cutting and strong online sales allowed it to turn in a stronger-than-expected financial performance for the final months of 2020, delivering a profitable quarter.
Copeland had been the face of Under Armour in marketing campaigns designed to attract more women customers. The trailblazing ballerina, who became American Ballet Theatre’s first African-American soloist in two decades when she joined in 2007, signed on with Under Armour in early 2014.
The dancer was featured in a nearly $15 million Under Armour marketing campaign, the biggest of 2014 for women’s apparel, as the brand worked to expand sales in that category.
She appeared with other female athletes in “I Will What I Want,” designed to underscore the apparel
maker’s commitment to designing for female athletes and athletic females alike in the 18-to 34-year-old age range.
An Under Armour senior vice president at the time described the athlete as a “game changer” in both ballet and for the brand.
Leanne Fremar, who served as a senior vice president and executive creative director, said Copeland would represent the brand’s strategy of infusing performance gear with style, and that she was “changing the world’s view of what it means to be a worldclass ballerina. She brings a modern athleticism to a very traditional art form and pushes the boundaries of the status quo definition of the word ‘athlete.’”
In 2018, Copeland launched a fall collection of her signature apparel line, which she had introduced earlier that year. It included outfits designed to go from yoga class to the office.
The Baltimore Business Journal first reported the end of Under Armour’s relationship with Copeland.
TUESDAY
NCIS The competitive business world of food trucks can be cutthroat, but the profession actually starts to rack up a body count in the new episode “Winter Chill,” which finds Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and his NCIS team launching an investigation after finding a man frozen to death in the back of one of these commercial vehicles. (TV14) 8 p.m. on 9 CBS 13 CBS 16 CBS
OUTDAUGHTERED A bombshell goes off in the new episode “Just When We Thought We Were Safe” when the Busbys learn that Dale Mills — aka “Uncle Dale” — has tested positive for COVID-19. That unwelcome news puts the whole family on edge, and sends them back into quarantine. With life on hold, Adam, Danielle and their children anxiously await their own test results. Danielle also learns the status of the girls’ upcoming school year. (TVPG) 8 p.m. on TLC
CHOPPED Frontline workers in the COVID-19 pandemic take the spotlight in the new episode “Cooked With Care!,” as four nurses beloved by their colleagues for both their compassion and mad kitchen skills bring their incomparable gift for TLC into the “Chopped” kitchen. In the entree round, the nurses must nurture a juice made from a vegetable and a prize protein, while a favorite hospital snack is an amusing surprise in the dessert basket. (TVG) 9 p.m. on FOOD
DELILAH Craig Wright, creator of the blockbuster drama “Greenleaf,” also is behind this new series, which revolves around headstrong attorney Delilah Connolly (Maahra Hill, “black-ish”), who left a powerful position with a law firm a decade ago to raise her two children, Maia and Marcus. Now, however, Delilah’s ready to get back into court, taking cases the big firms ignore, often going up against the privileged and the powerful. (TV14) 9 p.m. on OWN
LATE NIGHT GUESTS TUESDAY
THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON: Chrissy Teigen; Rory McIlroy; Pink Sweat$. (11:34 p.m. on NBC )
THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT: Actor Riz Ahmed; Janelle Monáe performs. (11:35 p.m. on CBS )