Rider routed by NJIT for 4th straight loss
LAWRENCEVILLE » For the past three seasons, Rider men’s basketball fans were treated to one of the best shows in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference when the team played at Alumni Gymnasium.
It’s a good thing those same fans aren’t allowed in the gym this season.
At least not after an uncompetitive 81-66 loss to NJIT on Wednesday afternoon that went down as the Broncs’ fourth straight setback and third in a row at home.
“We’re not playing as a team, we’re playing as individuals,” coach Kevin Baggett said. “We’re certainly not playing any defense. It’s embarrassing.”
A season with 12 newcomers and all the quirks created by Covid is going to be a challenge. There wasn’t preseason to get guys acquainted with each other or in the weight room. Outside of a three-point loss at St. John’s and the first game against Manhattan, the Broncs (1-6) have looked out of sync all over the floor.
On Wednesday, they fell behind by double digits in the first half for the third straight game, couldn’t keep anybody in front of them and fouled way too much. NJIT (1-1) shot 50% overall, 50% from 3, marched to the free throw line 30 times and led by 21 with four minutes remaining.
“I don’t know what DNA they’re made up (of) when you don’t show up to the start of the game ready to go,” Baggett said. “That’s all I know how to play basketball whether you coach or you play, you’re ready to go from the start. We’ve not been ready to go. I don’t know. That’s something we’ve got to figure out.”
It’s been equally hard to watch offensively. It took until the 49-second mark of the first half for Rider to make a 3-pointer, and at that point it was two of its last 18 from beyond the arc.
Opponents are packing the paint to cut off driving lanes for Dwight Murray Jr. and Christian Ings and daring the Broncs to
shoot 3-pointers.
“We’re just getting stagnant and they’re watching us dribble around for 15 of a 30-second shot clock,” Baggett said. “We go into a ball screen and we try and ram it in there ... we’re not doing the things we’re asking our guys to do. They’re not doing it and I’m not doing a good enough job coaching it.”
Murray, who finished with five points and missed his first eight shots, said the team has to play with more effort, especially at the start of the game.
“We just got to compete from the start,” Murray said. “That’s the only thing we have to do from the get-go. The first four minutes until the media (timeout) we have to make the other team match our energy instead of us matching theirs. Our coaches tell us that
all the time and we have to change that.”
The Highlanders were picked to finish ninth in the 10-team America East, but certainly looked better than that.
Dylan O’Hearn scored a game-high 19 points and Zach Cooks added 17. Cooks led the Atlantic Sun in scoring last season at 19.7 points per game and is netting 17.5 through NJIT’s first two games.
The Highlanders shot 21-for-30 from the free throw line and 10-for-20 from beyond the arc.
O’Hearn tallied six straight points after Rider had scored eight in a row and cut the lead to 17 with 7:32 remaining.
Baggett handed college debuts to freshmen Jordan Smalls, Lawrence Foreman and RJ Weise.
Smalls, a 6-7 win from Jonesboro, Ga., hit a pair of 3s and scored nine points in 10 minutes before fouling out.
“He came in and did what we asked him to do,” Baggett said. “He had not been playing because we’ve been trying to work on developing him and getting him better. All he did was compete. It was nothing about his scoring, he just competed. He was the only guy who competed today on this roster.”
Weise, a walk-on who was the CVC Player of the Year at Allentown High last season, came on in the final minute for his first college minutes.