Saints try to make the most of their long break
Siena’s game Saturday at Colgate is its first in 10 days
The Siena men’s basketball team hasn’t played a game in a week since the tripleovertime loss at Yale last Wednesday. The Saints next face an opponent on Saturday at defending Patriot League champion Colgate.
While the competitive instinct might be to wash out the bad taste of a loss as quickly as possible, Saints head coach Carmen Maciariello said the extended time between games is exactly what his team needs.
That way, the Saints (2-3) can use the practice gym as a laboratory to correct the mistakes that cost them in back-toback close losses to Harvard and Yale. Siena is going 39 days between home games and plays only Colgate and then at Cal Poly on Dec. 7 before returning to Times Union Center against Bucknell on Dec. 21.
“I love it,” Maciariello said before Thursday’s practice. “I love it. It’s funny. Everyone wants to know why lack of home games here, lack of home games there. We have to play 13 or 14 home games. When it’s all said and done, the more time we have to grow and prep and get ready and work on ourselves, the
better we’re going to be. So I don’t want to have a time where we just continue to play game, prep, game, prep, game, prep. That way you’re not working on yourselves. You’re always worrying about your next opponent. We have enough talent in this building to win. We have enough talent in this building to lose. It’s what we do with it.”
Siena junior guard/forward Manny Camper, coming off a 22-point, 19-rebound effort against Yale, said the Saints have worked on shot selection and defense during the break.
“The biggest thing is just discipline, knowing when we have the lead, value every possession,” Camper said. “We had a lot of possessions we wasted with turnovers and bad shot selection. So just learning from our mistakes and trying to wrap things up when we have them in the bag.”
Maciariello has also emphasized to his team taking the right kind of 3-pointers. The Saints are shooting 28.4 percent from 3-point range, which ranks second-to-last in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Maciariello would prefer his team to attack inside before passing the ball outside for open 3s, rather than settling for jump shots early in the shot clock.
“I think we’re just taking a lot of early shots in transition,” sophomore guard Don Carey said. “We’re not getting our 3s inside-out, which is what coach talked about.”
Carey said the team is staying game ready by competing hard in practice. Graduate forward Elijah Burns said he didn’t mind waiting so long to play after a loss.
“It’s OK,” Burns said. “We’re going to have stretches where we have a long time in between. Just trying to get used to long stretches when we have them and be able to compete the next game.”
Siena seeks bench production
While noting the Saints have to improve their late-game execution, sophomore guard Jalen Pickett did note the starters are shouldering much of the burden early in the season.
Pickett is averaging 37.4 minutes, including 55 against Yale, while Carey and Camper are logging 36.4 and 35.4 minutes, respectively.
“We have guys playing a lot of minutes, so we might be a little bit fatigued, but we’ve just got to find a way through that,” he said.
Maciariello noted this time off is a good chance for the reserves to earn more playing time through practice.
“Hopefully, let them play through some more mistakes and use them and let them grow by throwing them into the fire,” Maciariello said.
Team gets opportunity to share Thanksgiving with Maciariellos
Maciariello and his wife, Laura, hosted Thanksgiving for the team at their home in Ballston Lake.
“I gave up carbs, so I can’t have stuffing and bread,” Maciariello said. “So I’ve got turkey and cranberry sauce.”
He said his wife made some side dishes and the rest was catered.
“You get four turkeys and you’ve only got two ovens, so you’ve got to make sure you’re getting the food out at the right time,” he said. “But I guess that’s a little easier than probably guarding Colgate’s 3s when they make 19, a school record, (in a win at Green Bay) last night.”
Tchougang out for six weeks
Maciariello said junior forward Denzel Tchougang, who hasn’t played this season, had a screw put in his foot and will probably be out six weeks. Sophomore guard Georges Darwiche also hasn’t played this season following off-season Achilles surgery.
“Georges is still dealing with the Achilles,” Maciariello said. “I don’t know if he’ll ever be 100 percent.”